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Just double-checking what year we occupied Civic Square, and stumbled on this;
"In Wellington the people who were organising that protest were planning to do a five day live in or maybe a fraction longer, about a week down the center of Wellington and they stayed for 108."
#JonathanYoung, MP, NZ National, 2017
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/thehouse/555211/sitting-in-a-grey-area
I doubt Young spoke to anyone who was involved in any way, because this is pure invention.
(1/?)
The original instigators weren't planning an occupation at all. Just your typical Old Left rally; get a few dozen of the Usual Suspects to march around, listen to some dull, over-long speeches (or not), and go home. Which is exactly what they did on the day the Civic Square camp began.
(2/?)
But when a larger group turned up to the public meeting for the planning of what turned out to be another boring protest march, we overwhelmingly wanted to occupy in solidarity with OWS. The self-appointed organisers wanted no part in this, so a handful of us agreed to scout potential sites.
After we did that, we agreed that Civic Square would be the best option. Primarily for its proximity to the NZ Stock Exchange, just opposite, but also a decent amount of open space for camping.
(3/?)
On the day, once the march arrived at Civic Square and before the dull monologuing drove everyone off, we called a talking circle to discuss next steps. Again, there was a clear consensus in favour of establishing a protest encampment like the one in Zuccotti Park.
No fixed end date was every discussed. Not during the initial planning meeting, not in that talking circle, nor in any of the general assemblies held while the camp was operating as a self-governing body of citizens.
(4/?)
Planning to do a five day live-in my arse. Jonathan Young was full of shit on that one, and his anti-protest bill was voted down on the first reading. Unfortunately his sentiment is back with a vengence under the current regime;
https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/02/police-want-to-ban-protests.html
(5/5)
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