Our occupation has now lasted for 60 hours – not as long as others (like UCL! so impressed by you guys!) but still quite a while! We’re really grateful to all of those who’ve supported us; without them I don’t think we could have lasted. If you’d like to support an occupation, here are some ideas how:
If you want to donate things, the following would probably be welcomed:
* washing up liquid & cloths
* bedding
* extension cords
* food
* art & banner-making materials (paint/cloth/card/pens)
* first aid stuff
* entertainment (music, films, books, games)
* money
Please check what cooking facilities people have access to if you want to donate food; people are likely to have kettles and possibly have a microwave, but are unlikely to be able to boil water for pasta or rice. It’s also really helpful to mark foods as meat, fish, vegetarian or vegan, plus list ingredients.
Depending on how the university has reacted, occupiers may need different things. Our university has turned off both wired and wireless connections, so dongles are really, really useful. They also haven’t fixed the electricity, so at the moment we’re running a pedal generator so we can charge phones and laptops. It gets cold at night, especially if the heating’s off, so heaters, hot water bottles and bedding may be useful.
If you can get there, please consider joining us – especially in the evening or weekends when security might try to drag people out.
If you’re a lecturer, tutor or student society member, please consider hosting events there. Tonight the ballroom dancing society had their session there and we used a pedal generator to power their mp3 player. The occupiers don’t want to disrupt people’s educations and will go out of their way to help. If you’re able to, please consider leading a discussion, giving a talk or holding a workshop in the occupation.
If these things aren’t feasible, please consider emailing, tweeting or commenting on the occupations’ blogs in support. There’s a solidarity wall up in the Great Hall and it’s full of names of other university occupiers, organisations, university members, university societies, FE colleges, parents, university departments and so on who’ve offered us solidarity. It’s really inspiring to see – we cheer every time someone new gets added – and it reminds us that we’re fighting not for ourselves, but for others.