RUTHFULLY YOURS

The end goal of many of the Occupiers, the end of capitalism, has not materialised, but rather we are all the more alert to the dangers of corporatism and state-led economic intervention

The Occupy London protestors were last night shifted from their makeshift commune, ushered quietly into the night – not with a bang, with a whimper.

The ‘protest’ has lasted for a measly 136 days, as scarcely coherent leftists descended upon one of London’s finest landmarks, leaving ruination and disappointment in their wake. The end goal of many of the Occupiers, the end of capitalism, has not materialised, but rather we are all the more alert to the dangers of corporatism and state-led economic intervention.

This was never more clear than during last week’s Question Time, when even this coterie of Guardianistas that the BBC corral together each week were tangibly less hostile to the bankers, to government policy on the Royal Bank of Scotland and receptive to the idea that government does not and should not pretend like it has all the answers.

So what is the legacy of ‘Occupy’? When we look back over the past four months, several things come to mind. None of which we think they hoped their legacy would be.

A SHORT HISTORY OF OCCUPY LSX

October 15th 2011 – A crowd of Occupioneers were thwarted in their attempts to occupy the London Stock Exchange – they settled instead for the nearby space belonging to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

October 21st 2011 – After initially announcing that protestors were welcome, the Dean of St. Paul’s announced the cathedral would close until further notice in light of falling tourist revenues and disruption to services. The cathedral reopened just a week later.

October 24th – The Daily Telegraph reported that only 10 percent of tents were occupied at night, implying that the so-called ‘Occupiers’ would go home each night.

October 27th 2011 – Dr. Giles Fraser resigns his position as Canon Chancellor of St. Paul’s stating fatuously that, “I believe that the chapter has set on a course of action that could mean there will be violence in the name of the church.” A part-time chaplain, Fraser Dyer followed suit the next day.

November 1st 2011 – The Rt Reverend Graeme Knowles resigns as the Dean of St. Paul’s.

November 2nd 2011 – The Commentator visits the camp, filming interviews with those present, resulting in a YouTube video with nearly 10,000 views so far.

November 2011 – Legal action against the illegal occupation steps up with increased pressure from the City of London.

December 2011 – St. Paul’s describes situation in camp as ‘desecration’ of the cathedral with graffiti occurring and human faeces found on cathedral grounds. Numbers had dwindled from the original few hundred to just a few dozen by this point.

January 2012 – The High Court ruled in favour of the City of London, giving them to right to evict the protestors.

February 28th 2012 – The remaining protesters were forcibly removed from the site, returning the area to its former glory.

And that was the end of Occupy London.

Of course, that’s not to say that their (lack of) ideas have been washed away, and we’d be surprised if a wave of ‘mini-Occupys’ doesn’t spring up – effectively just squatters looking for somewhere to live – but nevertheless it can be asserted that this vacuous protest is now for the most part, committed to history.