Next Debate - 27th October 2011 - This House Would Occupy The City

Location: Ye Olde Cock Tavern, The Strand, London, EC4Y 2AA
Date: Thursday 27th of October
Time: 7:30- 9:30
Motion: This House Would Occupy The City

Last week, thousands of demonstrators camped outside St Paul's Cathedral to denounce corporate greed and inequality, replicating the Occupy Wall Street movement in America that has rapidly spread across the world in a matter of days.

Several notable celebrities, including Salman Rushdie and Julian Assange, have signed an online petition, declaring their support for the worldwide occupy movement and calling on others to join them. Meanwhile, St Paul's Cathedral has been forced to close, reportedly costing one of London's prime tourist attractions thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

As the protesters show no sign of leaving any time soon, many questions remain: how sustainable is the 'Occupy the City' movement, spanning over 80 countries, united by a set of wide-ranging, but loosely defined aims and objectives? Are we witnessing the radical transformation of our politics and and our economy with more and more people expressing their discontent through protest and direct action? And do the protesters speak for the 99% as they claim or are they simply a vocal minority?

Should we join them and Occupy the City too? You decide.

Further Reading:

Background:
1) Occupy demo forces St Paul's to close (BBC)
2) Leading authors back Occupy movement (Guardian)
3) Occupy Wall Street's global echo (Council for Foreign Relations)

Yes we should occupy:
1) Why we should all be occupying the City (occupythecity.co.uk)
2) Protest is the only way to change the world (Naomi Klein)
3) Occupy movement is voicing the concerns of the silent majority (Guardian)

No we shouldn't:
1) Protesters have overstayed their welcome at St Paul's (Daily Telegraph)
2) Occupy London has got its facts wrong (London Loves Business)
3) Protesters should take their demands to the ballot box not the street (Economist)

Admission:

Admission is, as ever, totally free of charge. All are welcome, so if you know anyone who might be interested in this debate, do feel free to bring them along.

Joining the Central London Debating Society:

Membership of the Debating society is free of charge as is admission to each of our debates. If you would like to join, simply email us at central.debating@gmail.com

Once you're on our mailing list, you'll receive notifications of all upcoming events and will be eligible to speak at a debate or even try your hand at chairing.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter:

Join our facebook group and sign up for all our latest events and news updates. You can also follow us on Twitter to receive new updates and see who else is following us at http://twitter.com/centraldebating