The City of London and assorted cronies are now about to evict Occupy LSX. I am not as wild about the OLSX movement's choice of location as some but I follow David Allen Green (http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/david-allen-green/2012/02/city-cathedral-camp-occupy) in his thoughts that they have performed a valuable service in exposing the fragility of both capitalism and law.
The laws and legal argument that has been used for the eviction are tenuous to say the least, and as always one ends with the suspicion that the outcome was inevitable and the argument irrelevant. Chasing Occupy LSX from St Paul's will not end their movement however, nor will it make capitalism any stronger or better. The Occupy movement is just one of a growing number of voices who point out that capitalism has gone too far, has been too successful, and now drives capital too quickly to too few participants. Whilst Occupy have been peaceful, unlike last year's riots, they are both singing different verses of the same hymn. Discontent is rising, too few of us are paying in to the system and in our old age we will feel even more cheated as there will be less to take out.
The Unofficial Big Society Green Paper (www.bigsocietygreenpaper.org) suggested ways to get ahead of the curve on this and deliver a fair and sustainable society for all of us. The alternative is more occupations, more riots and more discontent generally. As more and more people see less point in contributing to society, whether through taxation or practical help, the burden on those who are trying to save it rises inexorably. The rapid decline and then death of national and even continental civilisations historically comes very quickly after they peak. Unless you take bold action it is quite possible that we will peak in the next 10-25 years, taking a 1000 year view. Please do not think of the removal of Occupy as a victory, think of it as an opportunity to do the right thing without overtly giving in to them and before the next, possibly louder, wave of discontent breaks on our shores.
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