It was in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, that the thing happened which lightened my heart. A middle aged, dark-skinned, woman approached me for money – I guess a she could be called a beggar. This is not an uncommon occurrence in that part of Brisbane, not by any stretch on the imagination. For this woman it was be a routine she would have gone through many times before, both on that day and on many other days since gone. She asked me for a few dollars.

Not one to turn away someone in need, for whatever reason, I asked her to hold my motorbike helmet while I rummaged through my bag. Giving her my helmet was more an act of faith than a necessity. It was to show I saw her as another human being, to be trusted and respected. Someone not above or below me, not inferior or superior, but just another person walking this planet in slightly different shoes.

As I rummaged through my bag and she stood holding my helmet with the greatest of care I made light hearted conversation about her not running off with my motorcycle head wear as I would have to walk home. We both had a laugh. She then made a point of justifying her begging as a necessity because of something to do with her mother- to be honest the excuse didn’t even make sense. I wasn’t concerned anyhow, the ‘why’ was unimportant.

“How much do you need?,” I said.

“Ah, two dollars or whatever you have will be fine love,” she replied.

I extracted the princely sum of about $3.50 in coins from the lint and miscellaneous rubbish which had accumulated in the bottom of my bag. I put it in her hand. It was what happened next which surprised me.

She looked at the collection of coins, and some lint, in her outstretched palm with some confusion. After a moment a beaming smile of appreciation grew across her face. She looked at me with deep, soulful eyes and out stretched her arms in a pose which one can only interpreted as asking for a hug. I gave it to her. People looked on, judged, and tried to make sense of their now confused minds.

Who is this man in business attire giving a beggar a hug in the middle of the mall?

Still they watched as my new beggar friend thanked me with humble appreciation and we parted to continue with our separate lives.

It was the true appreciation in her heart which struck me. A recognition that this was more than a gift of money but an exchange of compassion from one human being to another. An interaction born from society’s requirement to own money but extending well past a financial transaction.

So this beggar came asking for money but gave so much more in return – as long as you were open enough to listen. $3.50 well spent.

The meeting was organised after a number of ‘campers’ last night decided to move from Musgrave Park to Orleigh Park in West End.

Occupy Brisbane coordinator, Kate Hasket, will be attending today’s meeting. She said supporters who were camping at the protest sites would make the decision amongst themselves.

“There was a group decision late [Thursday was] to hold a GA at 12pm [Friday] to make some decisions for the people who are actually camping right now about whether they stay or disembark,” she said.*

Occupation coordinator, Paul Seils, said the movement needed to find a new way to promote the protest.

“We just need to shake out the dead wood and move forward,” he said.

With the group now considering withdrawing from the city’s parks and the resignation of campsite coordinator Kathy Neuham, its raised questions about the long-term sustainability of the movement.

A number of supportrs are also angry with the decision to hold today’s emergency meeting in business hours. They calim it’s a bid to exclude those who hold full time emploment.*

Follow our live news blog for up to date news: http://freelancemediaupdates.wordpress.com/

-By John Corlett

*Facebook link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/TheOccupyBrisbane/posts/126316187477356

The meeting comes after the group endured a series of Police enforced evictions across the city, the first from Post Office Square last Wednesday morning. Since then the group has been plagued with internal conflict and pressure from the authorities to leave the CBD.

Occupy Brisbane Coordinator, Kate Hasket, said the meeting was  designed to create a framework to help unite the movement under a common goal.

“We just need to have a broader structure…there’s nothing that unites us a group,” she said.

Fellow Coordinator Paul Seils agreed. He said once a structure has been defined, other groups will be able to find their place to support the movement.

“We can then invite in unions, other organisations, and other groups to talk,” he said.

But for some, starting to build a framework nearly one month into the occupation may be a case of too little too late. Violence, gossip, infighting, and an inability to effectively engage the general population, the ’99 per cent’, may have hurt the wider community’s eagerness to accept the group.

This became clear when a number of people openly praised last week’s forced eviction from Post Office Square, commenting in favour of Council’s park clearing decision on the QLD Police Facebook page*. Others have used Occupy Brisbane’s own social media networks to condemn the movement as a lost cause. One movement supporter even claimed the group was resorting to physical violence amongst its members.

“This camp needs to be brought back into control…the occupier’s are always drunk and stoned.We have stand over tactics going on, its a mess and i give it a week till it blows up. There has been a  physical fight this morning police are involved and on the way.” – Stitch Jones, via Facebook, Monday Nov 7. **

But occupy core members claimed these rumours were false. They said personnel on the ground had not witnessed such events and accused this particular commenter of spreading misleading gossip.

Now keen to put the events of the past week behind him, Mr Seils said the group was ready to push on and enter the next phase of the movement. He said creating a clear purpose and structure with tomorrows visioning workshop would eliminate some of the internal problems the movement is currently facing and, like many who have walked in his shoes before him, Mr Seils hoped if the group began to look at the big picture, the smaller issues would start to disappear

“[A big picture plan will] stop people getting caught up in small picture stuff, like gossip and that sort of thing,” he said.

But many would argue that the movements biggest problem, the Brisbane City Council, is no small fry and isn’t going anywhere.

Follow this blog for an exclusive story on Occupy Brisbane’s fight with Brisbane City Council.

*Police Facebook post: http://www.facebook.com/notes/queensland-police-service/police-assist-brisbane-city-council-at-post-office-square/255196117861741

**Stitch Jones post: https://www.facebook.com/TheOccupyBrisbane/posts/124904664285175

The Brisbane arm of the world wide movement had camped at an inner park for almost three weeks but was yesterday evicted as part of a city council order. The Premier, Anna Bligh, has since offered a slice of parkland on the outskirts of the CDB as a safe haven for the group. The almost one hundred strong group last night fiercely debated the offer and at one point appeared to reach a decision, but the position of the group became unclear as members revisited the topic several times during the course of the meeting.

Occupy Brisbane Coordinator, Kate Haskett, said the group must discuss the finer details of Ms Blighs offer before any decision can be made. She said now was not the time to debate the issue as the group has worked long hours over the past fortnight and many were emotionally and physically exhausted. She believed it was time for the group to step back and regain a healthy, balanced attitude.

“A lot of the people here need to rest, they need to shower, and they need to make decisions not from their emotions but from a balanced, healthy perspective when we regroup again.”

The group was forced to abandon their original Post Office Square camp following a Police eviction yesterday. They relocated to Queens Park in the southern corner of the CBD only to be evicted again this morning. Tired and dwindling in numbers, the remaining supporters are now waiting out their time in King George Square where they intend hold a 5pm meeting to decide their next move.

According to Ms Haskett, moving the camp from park to park with no direction or planning isn’t a positive outcome for the long term future of the movement. She said the group needs to leave the city, reorganise, and carefully plan its next move.

“[We need to] regroup at a specific time, date, and place that’s actually been planned properly with facilities to make sure that this movement continues.”

Despite the evictions, authorities aren’t the only threat to the unity of the group. There appears to be political factions forming and some fear extreme socialist groups are hijacking the movement. The core organisational team today released this statement via Facebook distancing themselves from the remaining inner city member’s recent actions.

“Some people left from the Occupation stayed in Queens park with the Socialist Alliance last night and held their own General Assembly (GA) after (sic) the Occupy fashion. Occupy Brisbane does not recognise that GA. And we had no part in this mornings eviction, arrests, or subsequent actions. An angry political group hostile to QPS (Qld Police Service) and at odds with public will. Does not reflect the Message of Occupy Brisbane or the 99 % And we had no part in these events.”

The resulting tension in the group caused a number of core organisation members to stand down from their roles. A statement released on Facebook this afternoon revealed that core team members felt the radical actions of some Occupy Brisbane members have irreparably damaged the movement.

“…we can clearly see an outcome that spells the death knell of this movement here in Brisbane.”

From the beginning it wasn’t a far stretch of the imagination to see the group would eventually find itself in this position. With such a diverse cross section of people and chronic lack of direction it was often difficult for the group to make clear decisions on even small issues relating on the day to day running of the camp. Nightly meetings were often bogged down with long and perpetually revisited debates, and this inability to reach consensus was obvious at Queens Park on Wednesday night as the group struggled to form a policy towards resting a Police eviction. The final decision was for those who aimed to resist an eviction, about a dozen of the 80 meeting attendees, to form a separate internal group. This seemed to be the beginning of the end for untiy in the movement.

There are rumors the group will reform on Saturday as part a world wide day of solidarity. Ms Haskett said even though there’s much turmoil from within the group, she’s still confident the movement will continue.

“The movement’s still strong in the heart and that’s all that matters,” she said.

Although, she has since forwarded her resignation from the group.

[4th October 1022 - Update: Ms Hasket said the Facebook statment released under the official Occupy Brisbane username was incorrect and she contunies to be part of the movement]

The Occupy Brisbane Rally was served a council order to leave it’s Post Office Square site this morning.
Police were on site to enforce the order, and although most of the protesting group decided to pack up and leave peacefully, some staged a sit in to protect the makeshift camp.

At about 7am Police removed the remaining protestors by force and the area was cordoned off to the general public.

The absence of violence at the Occupy Brisbane protest has attracted supporters from other interstate sites and a strong following from the indigenous population.
With violence across many other Occupy sites around the world, the movement as a whole may have much to learn from Brisbane’s attitude towards Police and local authorities.

With many different political groups now joining the Occupy Brisbane protest there is some tension over the direction the movement should take.
Some want to use extreme activist methods to get their point across, others are turning to more subtle methods of spreading the word…

Brisbane activists today held a rally in Brisbane’s Post Office Square as part of a week long, world-wide movement to hold sit-in protests in cities around the world.Today’s special rally was held in support of the Melbourne occupy movement which was evicted by Police earlier in the week.The sit-in in Brisbane’s CBD and other cities around the world continues.

It seems this debate is as much about the use of the word marriage as equal rights. Gay and lesbian groups think everyone should have access to the traditionally religious ceremony but some people think it should be reserved for the heterosexual only.

Sharon Dane and Glenys Quinlan are on opposite sides of on the same-sex marriage debate.  Ms Quinlan is from the Australian Christian Lobby group. She says changing the meaning of marriage from a union between a man and a woman would destroy a tradition which forms the fabric of society. But Ms Dane, a same-sex couples researcher at the University of Queensland, says to exclude one group from marriage is a form of discrimination.

Hear the debate  < Same-sex marriage – the experts MP3 >

To find out what this means to people in society we spoke to a same-sex couple who want to get married and a traditional heterosexual couple who have been married for more than 25 years.

Petrea and Teresa are a same-sex couple living just north of Brisbane who want to get married but the current Australian laws prevent a formal union. Mr and Ms McBryde have been married in a traditional heterosexual relations ship in which they have raised four children.

They tell their story < Same-sex marriage- the people MP3 >

But there’s another group who may be affected by this issue – kids. Mr McBryde expressed his concerns about the lack of a traditional mother and father figure in same-sex parenting arrangements. He wanted to know more about how this would effect the kids who are raised in a same-sex environment.

Dr Donna McAuliffe is a human services researcher at Griffith University and a same-sex parent.  She thinks parenting can be flawed from bigger issues than having two mums or two dads. She says it is more important to have caring parents than a traditional family unit.

“Research shows very clearly that children thrive and grow because of the way they are raised, not the genetic blood links that they might have,” she said.

Hear the full story  < Same-sex parents and kids MP3 >