By Fabiola Büchele
The protesters outside St Paul’s Cathedral say their 200 or so tents will stay firmly pitched as they continue their peaceful call for social change.
No hierarchy and no leadership
The group is organised in what the participants call an “organic” coming together of people from all sorts of backgrounds. There is no hierarchy and no leadership, yet the whole event seems to be running smoothly.
There is a recycling area, a first aid post, a legal tent and a meditation tent. The area is clean and the tents are lined up in an orderly manner. And Bear the chef from the kitchen tent announced last night at 7 o’clock: “Hot Thai soup ready to be collected,” so no protester had to go to their camping mat hungry.
Calls for social change
At the general assemblies which are held twice a day, everything from toilet facilities to financial issues is discussed. The participants have hand signals for agreeing with proposals and can interrupt at any point.
The loose connection of activists seems slowly to be forming into a movement with a unified voice, calling for social change and not preparing to break down camp until they get what they ask for.