Economy

In what conservative columnists are describing as a martyrdom for Christian lefties, the iconic “jeans and T-shirt” canon chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Reverend Rev Dr Giles Fraser, has resigned in protest as the cathedral moves to evict Occupy London from its steps. Fraser, a lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford, has written for a number of radical newspapers including the Socialist Worker. Fraser advocates for marriage equality and understands the Christian message to mean solidarity with the oppressed.

Occupy Brisbane has been going strong since it was launched on October 15 international United for Global Change day, along with indefinite occupations in Melbourne and Sydney.

The Araluen Spirit crew took strong action on Thursday 27 October in defence of Australian shipping jobs.

Australian police in two cities now have decided to follow in the footsteps of their counterparts in the US and Europe and forcibly break up peaceful Occupy protests. But rather than deter this broad non-partisan movement of the 99%, it is helping it grow and re-occupy.

Occupy Melbourne and Occupy Sydney have regrouped since the brutal police attack on the two camps in the Melbourne and Sydney CBDs on October 21 and 23.

Show your solidarity with #OccupyPerth whiched kicked off today, October 28 amidst massive police and military mobilisation for the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Tom Waits, the 61-year-old veteran musical maverick, released his first album of entirely new music in seven years on October 25.

Occupy Melbourne released the statement below on October 27. * * * Occupy Melbourne’s 8th general assembly passed a proposal, put forward by the Indigenous Working Group, to support the creation of a treaty between the First Nations of Australia and the Australian Commonwealth Government. The call for recognition of Aboriginal Sovereignty gained public prominence in Australia with the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972.

Socialist Party Yarra City councillors Anthony Main and Stephen Jolly released released this letter below to Occupy Melbourne on October 27. * * * Dear Occupy Melbourne comrades, Thank you for your letter to Councillors requesting support from the Yarra City Council. On behalf of the two Socialist Party Councillors at Yarra we would like to offer the following brief reply.

Annie Leonard is the creator of the Story of Stuff project, a series of animated films that discuss our pressing social, environmental and economic concerns and the effort to build a more sustainable and just world.

Communications Workers Union secretary Len Cooper released this statement on October 25. * * * Melbourne Lord Mayor Doyle has been responsible for one of the most disgraceful episodes in this city's history. The Occupy Melbourne protesters were holding a peaceful, disciplined, well organised protest, largely confined to the city square, thus preventing inconvenience to most others.

Simon Butler, co-editor of the independent media project Green Left Weekly and an activist in #OccupySydney speaks about the global Occupy movment and the climate change emergency.