Looking out from the Bank of Ideas across at the UBS headquarters, the covered windows reveal a fitting display of ‘blind ignorance’. The finance industry is sick, and the occupy movement is the dull ache it knows is symptomatic of a diseased core, but chooses to ignore in the hope it will go away.
Power structures do have their own immune systems though, fighting back against that which would harm them with heavy policing, the removal of rights and legal action like that being brought by the City of London Corporation. With the serving of an eviction notice to occupiers at St Paul’s, a necessary discussion had arisen about how to keep the momentum of the movement going. Have things begun to stagnate? Would occupy out-grow the camp presence? And what would happen if and when it does?
The Bank of Ideas appears to be an excellent response to those questions. The move indoors illustrates the continuing energy and creativity of the movement. Rather than becoming complacent, the direct action team has demonstrated its willingness to explore new spaces, and make real, positive changes. It shifts the focus of our presence within the city away from the temporariness associated with tent cities and towards the idea of permanent discussion. It also focuses on important issues: the lack of communal and political space (something at the heart of all occupations) and the importance of education and child welfare. Some of the challenges the outdoor occupations have faced in recent weeks have also been addressed. The Bank of Ideas is to be a drug and alcohol-free space with a limited overnight presence, but still welcoming to all. This is what occupy looks like.
Not least, the repossession provides a basis from which to strategize the movement’s future development. The Occupy movement seems to be at a critical juncture, and the Bank of Ideas could become everything its name promises: a forum for open discussion about change, and about occupy’s role in engendering that change. The Bank of Ideas will no doubt be gone long before many of the financial institutions that have helped bring about the repossession of homes, collapse of economies and brutal austerity measures. There will be no bailout for this bank.
While the IMF lurks about Europe like the Grim Reaper; ready to swoop on frail economies condemning them to death and picking their bones for anything worth salvaging, the Bank of Ideas aims to put back some of what our government is stripping away: free education, youth facilities and child care. It’s a bank by name, but there are no hidden fees.
