Bournemouth Town Hall: Occupied Land

Foreword: This is my written article for Occupy Bournemouth, as covered last week. It's still not up on the WINOL website, and may not be. I wrote it a bit differently than we usually write our news stories... this came about when one subeditor told me the level of writing for the written side was often poor. So I know it's a little bit different, and I know it's possibly quite a mistake - as Chris often says, originality is overrated. I tried to add some life to the story though, and this was the result. As I really put an effort into this one, I feel the need to show it off on my blog, even though it's now a dated piece.

Bournemouth Town Hall: Occupied Land

A slogan hangs over hedges between Bournemouth Town Hall and the surrounding roads. 'HONK 4 CHANGE', it shouts to commuters. Of the hundreds of cars passing through during the day, around one in every ten minutes has a sympathetic driver behind the wheel who beeps their support. On that cue, the protesters salute the passing traffic with a cheer and a wave.

The protests that began in Wall Street in September and spread worldwide hit Bournemouth on Saturday the 29^th of October, when the first protesters set up camp on the lawn outside town hall, proclaiming the beginning of the latest occupation: Occupy Bournemouth.

“I feel that our current political system stifles progress,” said Tom Wilson, 24, a recent university graduate. “We live in a world of gross injustice, where some own billions and many go hungry. This isn't due to a sparsity of resources, it's due to the way in which they're distributed.”

The people who make up the occupation are diverse, with a range from university students to pensioners coming from many walks of life. In this the protest breaks the boundaries of generational divides; some have protested since the days of the Thatcher government when they were in their youth, while others are only beginners of activism.

What unites these people together is their cynical perspective of the current political and economic climate, and their idealistic dream of a utopian society. Though the protesters stress that they can only speak for themselves and that there is no core ideology within the worldwide movement, in practice the vision of a better future tends to be fundamentally similar from one occupier to another. A list of visionary statements hang on one side of a tent, calling for an 'end to corruption and manipulation'.

“It may not even change in my lifetime, and it probably won't,” said Bob Earthwise, one of the senior members of the movement. “But, hopefully, my kids will carry [the protest] on and, by the time my granddaughter's got her kids, it will have changed.”

One criticism of the movement is that the lack of a concrete foundation from which all these protests are built from makes them hollow and incoherent, but some of the protesters see its lack of focus, beyond a better future for all, as one of the movements strengths. “Diversity of opinions seems to me to be a fundamental of the movement,” said Tom Wilson.`

Since Occupy Bournemouth's beginning, the protests have been peaceful, their relationship with the city council and police force civil. However it has not been without friction. On the afternoon of Tuesday the 1^st of November, Jack Flaxton, 20, said that though they had been at the council's doorstep for days, not a single official had tried to open dialogue with them. Yet by the end of the day, contact had been made when a public servant handed the protesters an eviction notice. The protesters refused to accept it. When the council's messenger left it by a tent, they called it littering, an offence they claim the council has charged them with.

The protesters have until Friday the 4^th of November to leave of their own accord before a court hearing is held and they face forceful eviction.