Occupy Brookes kicks off despite monsoon weather

Some 10-20 people set up camp at the front of Brookes Gipsy Lane campus, with large banners, several tents, and a couple of communal structures (hurriedly obtained and erected within a v.short time of experiencing the weather!). The group includes mostly Brookes students but many others of various backgrounds too.

This evening we had a lively samba workshop; Breach of the Peace samba band came and ran it; lots of people seemed to enjoy it and will probably get involved in the band, which means there's more chance they'll have the numbers to play at demos and actions all over the place. Even better, making some noise was good in terms of drawing attention to the camp.

The idea is to stay at least until Friday, and then review the situation and see whether people want to stay longer. Many sympathetic people have mentioned that they hadn't heard about it in advance, so hopefully it has the potential to grow quite a bit in the next few days. That effect may be offset a bit by the weather forecast, though, which promises even more rain to come.

Hopefully people will have the energy to do actions using the camp as a base, so that this can become something dynamic that gains attention and threatens the authorities. If we only have enough energy to maintain the camp itself (understandable, if people are cold and damp!), there's probably less chance of inspiring a wider movement.

Everything is possible! Come and join us :)

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