**** Update 7 June – The Finsbury Square occupation has been granted a stay of execution until Friday 15 June to lodge an appeal. Pop down, show support, bring supplies (food, bedding, cleaning stuff etc) ***

Finsbury Square eviction

The potential forceful eviction of the Occupy London Finsbury Square camp is expected to happen in the early hours in the next few days, with residents choosing to mark the eviction with peaceful resistance. The potential eviction follows Justice Hickinbottom ruling on Friday at the High Court that Islington Borough Council has the right to repossess the public space post Jubilee Bank Holiday.

Tom McCarthy, a resident at Finsbury Square said: “This camp makes a political statement about our society. Since Occupy opened the camp on 21 October, it has become a home and community for many homeless people, for whom the system has failed. In evicting this community, Islington Council – who have helped to re-home some people that have ticked certain boxes – are potentially leaving some people in a much worse position than they are already in. “We ask Islington Council to not go down the same route at the City of London Corporation – cleansing the City of homeless people is not the way forward. Helping to find real solutions is.”

Whatever happens in terms of the eviction, residents plan to continue occupying.

Pilgrimage for Justice starts Thursday 7 June – London to Canterbury

Starting, Thursday 7 June Occupy Faith, supported by Occupy London, faith groups and the Archbishop of Wales, will be undertaking a Pilgrimage for Justice. Walking from St Paul’s Cathedral to Canterbury Cathedral, arriving on 19 June, with a diversity of people taking part sharing a clear concern for the common good, all are welcome to join them along the way, as they walk and camp. The Pilgrimage ends with a conference in Canterbury looking at the concerns raised along the way.

The group will meet at 12.30pm outside St Paul’s where a blessing will be given to the pilgrims before they set off. Events en route include dinner at a Sikh Gurdwara, a debate with local business leaders, a discussion with the Bishop of Rochester, and an interfaith service at Canterbury Cathedral. More details and route are available at the Occupy Faith website (http://www.occupyfaith.org.uk).

Tanya Paton from Occupy Faith commented: “While Occupy London may have been removed from certain spaces, the economic crisis remains; and the Pilgrimage for Justice illustrates that occupiers will find new ways of challenging and addressing inequalities.”

Occupy benefit album Folk the Banks album out now – Pay what you can afford

Emerging out of Occupy London, Occupation Records – a record label set up to benefit the Occupy movement – has released its first album - Folk the Banks - featuring Occupy supporting artists including Tom Morello, Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Martha Wainwright, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Chumbawumba, Peggy Seeger, with iconic artwork by Jamie Reid – famed for the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save the Queen album artwork. The Occupation Records label is an attempt to bring the ethos of Occupy into the music industry in a very practical way, to raise awareness of social and economic inequality as well as explore alternative ways of doing business ethically. As such, Folk the Banks is available from quality record stores in UK and online, with ‘Pay what you can afford’ digital downloads now available from the Occupation Records website (http://occupationrecords.com), plus CDs, vinyls, limited artwork prints and ethical T-shirts. [1] [2]

Carnival of Dirt to hit London – 15 June

As a response to 21 occupiers being arrested for a banner drop highlighting corporate greed at the offices of the FTSE’s highest paid CEO in November 2011 – Xstrata’s Mick Davis – members of Occupy London have joined up with an unprecedented coalition of activist groups across the world to address the criminal behaviour of mining and extraction corporations. [3] [4] This coalition vows to challenge the complicity of western countries in corporate abuses in the majority world and on 15 June, are planning the first ever Carnival of Dirt in London.

A carnival like no other, the day promises to be a spectacular day of remembrance, learning and celebration and an example of how the Global Spring is seeing activists from the minority and majority world joining together.

In the morning, people will gather at 11am by St Paul’s to sombrely mark the countless activists who have died in the majority world, while standing up to mining and extraction corporations. In the afternoon, a teach out and picnic will be held where individuals will be able to provide their own accounts of how destructive these industries are and experts in the industry will be able to give their views too. Speakers include majority world human rights activists, journalists, scientists and legal experts. The evening, meeting at Embankment at 6pm, will see a return to the 90s with a spectacular party organised by Reclaim The Streets veterans, where people will celebrate the fact that there is a rapidly growing global movement that is challenging the unjust, undemocratic, unsustainable corporatocracy that the world is currently held in the grips of.

Notes

[1] Folk the Banks album available on a Pay What You Can Afford basis a thttp://www.occupationrecords.com/. Folk the Banks flyer -http://www.occupationrecords.com/shop/flyer_folkthebanks-A4.jpg. Occupation Records on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/occupationrecords / twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/OccuRecords

[2] Occupation Records is a benefit record label raising funds for, and spreading the messages of the Occupy and related movements through the release of benefit albums, alongside merchandise and live events. The label is an attempt to bring the ethos of Occupy into the music industry in a very practical way. It is run under the ethos of Occupy. All the profits from the album are distributed to the global Occupy movement and related and allied movements. Decisions are made by consensus, all members are represented by a union, finances transparent and open, with distribution and manufacture being ethical and transparent. The label has also initiated community engagement projects such as most recently “School of Rockupy” were young people are joined with music artists to write, produce, record and distribute a track in one day getting their message out utilising the processes of Occupy. The next School  of Rockupy will be taking place in June 2012 – details of the first edition with Kate Nash can be found at http://schoolofrockupy.wordpress.com/. Members of the collective behind the label are also actively involved in Occupy London.

[3] N30, corporate greed, Xstrata and the right to protest http://occupylsx.org/?p=1755

[4] Website - http://www.carnivalofdirt.org; facebook -http://www.facebook.com/events/340301169371483/; twitter -https://twitter.com/#!/CarnivalofDirt. contributing to the day include members of Climate Justice Network, Congo United for Freedom, Congolese Youth Action Platform, Earth Angels, Free West Papua Campaign, Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links, No Tar Sands, Hands Off Somalia, Lumumba Coalition, Latin American Mining Monitoring Programme, Government of the Dead, London Mining Network, UK Uncut, Occupy London, Reclaim the Streets and more.