Edinburgh National Conference - Official Statement

OCCUPY UK: SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE STATEMENT

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Members of Occupy camps from around the UK met in Edinburgh from Fri 16th to Sun 18th December 2011 for the second national conference of UK occupiers. All comers were welcome. In attendance were members of Occupy camps already established in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London (St Paul’s and Bank of Ideas), Newcastle, Norwich and Sheffield. The conference: 

1. Was pleased to note the growing support for Occupy around the UK and beyond; 

2. Resolved to share resources, skills and enthusiasm to help fellow occupiers negotiate the upcoming distracting period of court cases and bad weather as we move towards Spring; 

3. The foundations of Occupy in the UK had now been laid and the movement was now ready to forge ahead in 2012, with resources in place to enable new members and occupations no matter where they are in the UK; 

4. Expressed solidarity with Occupiers around the world especially those experiencing oppression this weekend in NYC; 

5. Unanimously dubbed the event “inspiring” and “a total success”.

Sessions were held on logistics, safer spaces, political campaigning, transparency and reliability in dealing with donations, media, social networking policy and winterisation, together with other ways to assist fellow members of the Occupy Movement. Among other decisions made were the agreement of a new safer spaces policy, a new autonomy statement for discussion by individual general assemblies, the compilation of an Occupiers’ Handbook, the foundation of a new cross-site women’s group and the design of a new national website to co-ordinate the dissemination of information.

The conference confirmed its commitment to campaign for a world that is no longer designed for the benefit of the 1%. We seek a more egalitarian and fair society, an open and peaceful environment for discussion, and inclusiveness for people of all backgrounds. We seek a twenty first century Enlightenment.

Conference looked forward to the third national conference which will be held 21-23 January 2012 in Sheffield.