As a freelance journalist I plan to sleep out at Occupy Sydney tomorrow night at Martin Place with several friends, to report on the Sydney manifestation of the new worldwide movement in collaborative support for a vision for a new global governance, to improve conditions for all workers: that includes the many thousands of “casual” academics in Australian who will, routinely, be made unemployed at the end of the semester, and the current industrial disputes of Qantas workers.
Occupy Sydney began on Saturday 15th October together with hundreds of Occupy events around the world in sympathy with Occupy Wall Street that began one month ago as a people’s movement opposed to corporate greed and corruption and calling for a world revolution for real democracy, closing the gap between the 99% and the 1% who control the worlds wealth and resources, and the banking system that brought about the Global Financial Crisis.
Sydney’s Martin Place is home to the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and Macquarie Bank, and is known as the centre of corporate Australia. The Sydney GPO and Seven news media centre are also located on Martin Place.
I’ve been advised to wrap up warmly. I will bring a camera, and plan to report on what’s happening in the public square!
24/10/11
Post-script. I didn't sleep out at Occupy Sydney as a journalist to report on the movement. When I went there with a friend we went to the George Street end of Martin Place, and I discovered an interesting 'optical illusion'. Martin Place is a disappearing public square. From the lower concourse of the southern end looking up, the upper northern end disappears from view. This effect is aided by the strategic placement of a long based fountain. From the perspective of where I was standing it looked as if Martin Place was unoccupied. Little did I know that there was an active camp site of peaceful protest out of my line of sight. The next night, Tuesday 18 October, I went alone after work in the evening. I found the site stayed for over two hours, talking to people and took the photos posted on this blog.
24/10/11
Post-script. I didn't sleep out at Occupy Sydney as a journalist to report on the movement. When I went there with a friend we went to the George Street end of Martin Place, and I discovered an interesting 'optical illusion'. Martin Place is a disappearing public square. From the lower concourse of the southern end looking up, the upper northern end disappears from view. This effect is aided by the strategic placement of a long based fountain. From the perspective of where I was standing it looked as if Martin Place was unoccupied. Little did I know that there was an active camp site of peaceful protest out of my line of sight. The next night, Tuesday 18 October, I went alone after work in the evening. I found the site stayed for over two hours, talking to people and took the photos posted on this blog.
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