‘You Can’t Evict An Idea’
The feature documentary You Can’t Evict An Idea – Occupy London on film, was screened at the Spring Uprising 2 day festival, organised by:
Extinction Rebellion
at a massive venue called Motion, in Bristol, on the 16th March. Word got out that it was worth seeing and XR then arranged another screening at the offices in London on the 7th April due to good feedback. Happy days.
The screening in Bristol was held in a work shop area that seated about 50 people. People were coming and going in a manner that was a little hard for me to take as a director but then again the base from the music from the bands that were playing in another area (a good 100m away) was overwhelming. About 40% stayed from start to finish and warmly showed their appreciation in the end. I was overjoyed.
The questions then flew my way as they often do in Q & A’s. Can I give an opinion about decision making – sure! Do I know what the right thing to do in each dilemma of a movement, given all the moving parts? I don’t and I am joined by everyone including god herself in that. Movements come to junctures each laden with advantages and disadvantages. The goal is to keep pushing forward, its to gamble, its to not dwell on “what if’s” , its to not be paralysed by indecision, its to swallow your pride and give all of what you got to the direction the movement as a whole, takes (even if you are utterly against it) or to get the fuck out of dodge and not sabotage it.
Activist Filmmaking
You Can’t Evict An Idea deconstructs the dilemmas that Occupy London faced. Given my experience in activism, these dilemmas were familiar, if more intense given the longevity and the main stream media attention. The reception from the screenings has re-invigorated my belief that the film has something valuable to offer to activists everywhere include XR.
I am heartened that XR are not using the 100% consensus decision making model and that they have given autonomous power to working groups (or so it seems) – these are moves in the right direction for change. There is no micro answer to why they block aid what streets. The block aids are clearly part of a larger objective to cause disruption; to rumble the powers that be to place climate change on the top of the agenda. Let’s hope, unlike Occupy, their numbers keep growing and the money, that enables their organisation, keeps going their way.
April 15th is a Monday after all and many people work on Mondays. No doubt they weighed the pros and cons and chose Monday. It’ss a gamble and the act of taking it, is admirable.
My next gamble, as a producer-director is to try and put the film on a pay per view platform. With over 70,000 hits on my landing page in the last few months, I feel its time may be nigh! I am doing all this blind.
