Coffee’s unexpected role in the London protests

Paul Smithson

09/11/2011 10:00:36

The role of coffee in modern society has come to symbolise an important political point in the debate over the Occupy London protests.

George Igler, managing director of the legal thinktank DiscourseUK, described on The Commentator how Conservative MPs Theresa May and Louise Mensch have been ridiculed for pointing out the irony of demonstrators enjoying cups of shop-bought coffee.

But he claimed they have a point, since it is only down to the power of capitalism that people are easily able to enjoy to quality beans for a latte machine at home or at a café. As a result, the protesters cannot completely decry the system without venturing into hypocrisy.

“The only reason we consider coffee, or affordable glass, or bananas, or five pairs of socks for £3, to be ordinary at all is because we life in a capitalist system that has made them so. When coffee came to this country it was an exclusive luxury,” said Mr Igler.

According to The Guardian, Prime Minister David Cameron has fully backed the demonstrators right to protest, labelling it “fundamental” to the way the UK political system works.

However, he remarked that putting up tents around St Paul’s or Parliament Square may not be the most “constructive” way of going about their action. The Occupy London movement has this week sent a list of demands to the lord mayor of London on democratic reform in the city.