Magazine Issue 5&6 - Winter 1997
Activist's Toolkit: Office Occupation

You know, we don’t just produce this magazine for fun. Corporate Watch is information for action. This page is the first in a series of suggestions on how to campaign against the destructive actions of corporations.

The corporation is an entity in its own right, with its own identity separate from the people who own, control or work for it. Yet despite having many of the rights of a citizen, we cannot communicate with it in the same way as with fellow citizens of the human variety. It is skilled at projecting its image and its brand through marketing experts, and communicating its point of view through public relations (PR) teams. When we attempt to convey our views to the corporation, it is generally the PR department which receives them. Yet PR staff are trained to deal with perceptions, not realities. They do not feed back stakeholders’ views to the corporate decision-makers. Companies compete in global markets, and cannot afford to internalise external costs; thus when criticised on environmental or social grounds the company sees this as a problem of image, not of operation. Writing a letter of concern to a corporation is fundamentally disempowering; it is one-sided communication which does not influence the actions of the corporation.

One alternative method is the OFFICE OCCUPATION. As a form of non-violent direct action, occupying a company’s offices involves taking both control of and responsibility for the situation. It is about establishing a dialogue (not about threatening or intimidating). Indeed, as a citizen who is affected by the company, democracy demands that you are present in the office as well as those in the company’s pay. By occupying the space where the company is usually shielded by security guards and PR departments, one empowers oneself to be able to communicate.

Your aim might be to stay in the office for as long as possible (perhaps by barricading yourselves into one room), to disrupt or to communicate, to find incriminating information from the company’s files, or to perform a media stunt to communicate with a wider audience (perhaps with a banner drop from the roof). You should be clear about your group’s aims beforehand, and about when you will all leave (leave together rather than gradually dispersing). Preparation is essential. Difficulties which you have anticipated usually don’t occur; it is when you have not prepared for them that they happen! Working through these (perhaps with a role playing simulation) also develops your ability to respond as a group to new situations.

Perhaps the hardest part is getting in, as they will lock the doors if they see you coming. Some level of secrecy is necessary, as is a discreet reconnaissance mission beforehand. It may also be useful to know the layout of the building - perhaps by an interview beforehand, or by visiting to inspect company documents (see CW Issue 1 p.16, or Palmer’s Company Law sec. A2.323). To get in, you might want to put on a suit or a cleaner’s outfit and walk straight in, or perhaps sneak in through the goods entrance, or climb through an open window, or simply push the doors open with lots of people. It’s best if you have different groups simultaneously trying different ways in. Once you’ve got a couple of people in, they can help the others.

Both for getting inside, and once you are inside, you will need to be able to think and act quickly. While it would be a mistake to be isolated as an individual, a large group is simply not flexible enough. It is therefore recommended that before the action you form into affinity groups of three or four people. Each affinity group should stay together throughout the action. The members of an affinity group should preferably know and trust each other, be able to communicate well with each other, and know how the others are likely to respond to particular situations.

It’s good to talk to the staff in the building, and perhaps give them leaflets - explain to them why you’re there, and that you aren’t going to threaten or hurt them; in fact they should enjoy the chance to have a break! Threatening behaviour will only cause them to withdraw from communication, to reject you and your arguments. It is important to be friendly, open, and willing to talk.

You should constantly be on your guard against the situation getting tense or violent - calm your friends down if necessary; step back for a while if you find yourself getting angry; and keep smiling! Humour is an important tool for disarming aggression.

A good way to prepare yourself for these kind of actions is to watch Undercurrents direct action news video with your group, and then discuss what happened in each action afterwards. Specific instances are in Undercurrents 3, Take it to the Top; and Street News in Undercurrents 7.