An tea party on Parliament Square is scheduled in London at the weekend to
defend the symbolic right to protest outside the Palace of Westminster.
Many of you will be aware that this right has seriously infringed upon
recently by UK anti-terror legislation. Original listing to be found at
http://protest.net/imcuk/index.cgi?span=event&ID=530416&state_values=
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October 16th 2005 Special Event
Title Peoples/Creative Commons London
Location Parliament Square
Phone Contact 0785 439 0408
Topic / Issue Civil Rights
The MPs are back this week, so, please distribute widely and if you can -
please come along. [This is an edited version of last week's Invitation]
12 Noon Every Sunday, Parliament Square, London
Defend the Right To Protest- Creative Commons/Picnic/Tea Party
Ladies and Gentlemen, Help Us to Reclaim the Commons!
Invitation: You are cordially invited to join us for our weekly People’s
Commons Meeting/Mad Hatters Tea Party/Picnic-Protest on the Green at
Parliament Square, Westminster. We meet every Sunday at 12 Noon. Help us
to reclaim this symbolic space.
Background: Building on the sunny success of our previous meetings,
initially held in response to New Labour’s attempt to criminalise the
Right to Peacefully Demonstrate [without permission] in Westminster, we
are now striving to reclaim and create an alternative Creative/People's
Commons.
What to Bring/Wear/Theme: Bring whatever you think will help make the
party a success, but especially bring yourselves.Particularly useful are
food, drink, music, banner-making materials, games (cricket, frissbee,
croquet etc) bubbles, flowers and new ideas for the future. it's a party,
so depending on weather conditions, please dress up!
Edwardian/Suffragette, Keystone Cops and Robbers Doing Hard [New] Labour,
Clowns, 60s Revolutionaries, Children, Jedis (with or without light
sabres). Or just come as you are.
What Happens/Featuring:
Local - The Creative/People’s Commons Meeting (towards a DIY, non-
hierarchical participatory form of democracy) in which all those who wish
to take part are invited to sit together and speaking their minds on
whatever subject they feel moved to. One person Facilitates and another
takes Minutes, and these roles rotate each week.
Global - Free The Tea: in which a group of revolutionaries walk down to
the Thames and half way across the river throw tea bags (PG Tips, pyramid
shaped) into the river in support of the proposed tax on international
currency trade (Currency Transaction Tax or CTT) aimed at ring fencing
billions of pounds each year for international development. This feature
is a protest at our government’s (and the G8’s) neo-liberal attitude to
Trade Justice. See early Day Motion 500 currently before the House of
Commons for more on the CTT and www.tobintax.org.uk. No More Corporate
Representation without International Taxation!
Spiritual - Prayer Vigil for Justice and Peace: a silent moment asking for
help in the battle for a better world, for individuals of all faiths
and/or none. Takes place at/around 4pm.
Art - Banner Making: we will continue to challenge the workability and
justness of the new law by making banners. One idea recently suggested -
let's do a full demo but with 100% Peace and Love Banners and see what the
Met makes of that. Sounds like a great idea.
So please do tell your friends, spread the word and if you can come along
and join us for more creative, beautiful, peaceful acts of defiance, and
over time we will see what is possible. For more details, and links to
images and reports from previous weeks, please see www1.atwiki.com/picnic
(an easily editable web page in which everyone is invited to contribute
ideas etc regarding the organisation and direction of the event),
www.parliamentprotest.org.uk (a more general site that covers all aspects
of the Right to Protest movement), www.liberty-human-
rights.org.uk/issues/right-to-protest.shtml (Liberty website’s section on
Right To Protest etc)
Hope to see you there! 12 Noon, on the Green, Parliament Square,
Westminster, every Sunday, just behind Brian Haw’s banners. If we can keep
going, every week, with your help the Creative Commons will go from
strength to strength.
It's your parliament, and it's your Square, so if you can, please be
there!
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