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First public statement of Occupy Ōtautahi-Christchurch

Press | Occupy Ōtautahi Christchurch

Monday 17 October 2011
For immediate public release:

Welcome and haere mai,

This is the first official public statement of Occupy Ōtautahi-Christchurch, released by the consensus of our General Assembly. Our official statements will always be exclusively released through our website, http://www.occupychristchurch.org.

We stand in solidarity with the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, and other occupations taking place in over 1,500 cities around the world, including Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

Our intention is to create a society of true equality. We are acting to educate ourselves and the wider community about pressing issues that face our world.

The drive for profit has outstripped basic human and environmental needs, such as education, healthcare and the simplest of things like food and clean water. Excessive corporate influence has degraded our political system into governments composed of weak or corrupt representatives who support profit before people and planet.

We intend to release statements in future which discuss local, national and global challenges, with these factors in mind.

Our gratitude goes out to the lovely crowd who came to our opening rally on Saturday October 15th, the day called “United for Global Change”. Approximately 300 people peacefully marched down Riccarton Road in solidarity with our friends across the world, before returning to Occupation Corner for a great evening of music, dance and discussion. We would also like to thank the local authorities for recognising our peaceful intent and interacting with us in a friendly way. We hope that Christchurch recognises the importance of opening up channels of communication to help our city, our world and its people return to their feet.

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We make our decisions through consensus in daily General Assembly meetings at 10am and 8pm, where everyone is encouraged to speak in an open and welcoming setting. We encourage you to join us for a meeting and participate in an inspiring true democracy. During the day we hold discussion workshops and welcome passers-by to join us in thoughtful exchange.

We respect the area where we have chosen to base ourselves, and we are doing everything we can to minimize our environmental impact. We clear the wider area of rubbish each day and regularly move our tents to protect the grass. We also seek to engage with local residents through daily activities in art, culture and sport. We are a safe and child-friendly occupation!

Our diverse group includes people with a range of jobs, education, ages, family and friends just like you, and we are thoroughly enjoying engaging with a group of friendly and forward thinking people.

Come say hi—we’d love to see you.

— OCCUPY OTAUTAHI-CHRISTCHURCH

–Ends–

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