With the fifth of November upon us (known as 'Bonfire Night', celebrating the end of Guy Fawkes and his plot of treason to assassinate the king in Great Britain), we can see other themes of unrest and unhappiness with people and institutions of power four-hundred years later.
"Occupy London" is a movement made by a group of protesters angry with the banks and the financial crisis, which has been set up camp next to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. A second camp has since been set up in Finsbury Square. The protests were sparked off by similar protests made around the world. Topics ranging from banks sparking the financial crisis to unfair pay, job losses, and equality are addressed in posters and banners at the camp.
I visited the site a few days during the protests with my camera, and the results are below.
"Occupy London" is a movement made by a group of protesters angry with the banks and the financial crisis, which has been set up camp next to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. A second camp has since been set up in Finsbury Square. The protests were sparked off by similar protests made around the world. Topics ranging from banks sparking the financial crisis to unfair pay, job losses, and equality are addressed in posters and banners at the camp.
I visited the site a few days during the protests with my camera, and the results are below.
Popular images included many tents set up outside the cathedral, propaganda posted upon the walls near the shops next to the cathedral, protest banners and props (the Monopoly board), camera and television crew, activists dressed in the popular masks inspired by V for Vendetta, and tents set up for recycling and speeches and praying - including a library. Religious protesters were speaking on one of the days, and on another day, a bus circled the area with speaker phones.
I just wish I knew what the protesters want? The tents they claim to live in, the phones they use, everything around them has been made by companies funded by banks. Are they saying they don't want banks to lend to companies? What's the alternative? Yes, governments and banks are partly to blame, but surely we ALL saw the benefits over the last 10 years of easy credit, cheap mortgages, high LTV ratios, etc. We're ALL over-leveraged, so now it's payback time. And this so-called "Robin Hood" tax. You can be sure that the banks will pass that cost on to their customers, so pension funds will be hit, banking will be more expensive, etc...... I'm all for taxing the rich more. It's beyond my comprehension that a CEO or MD can justify annual pay in the millions.
Nice one, i bookmarked this page on Digg under "Photographs from 'Occupy London' - Jenikya's Blog". Kudos!