Money issues of who-gets-what drives 'Occupy' movement worldwide and in London a unique money issue pits the "Occupy London Stock Exchange" effort against the historic St. Paul's Cathedral.

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London - Sam Berkson stood on the steps of London's historic St. Paul's Cathedral recently reciting one his latest socially conscious poems to persons gathered at the Occupy London Stock Exchange site -- a parallel protest to the Occupy Wall Street in New York City.

"Moral messages with twisted policies"Liberty costs money, forget equality"No fraternity, it's been like this for an eternity," said Berkson riffing through that poem in rhythmic voice. Around England, Berkson's known as "Angry Sam" a competition-winning performance poet.

Occupy London Stock Exchange (OLSX) participants set up their encampment in the square outside the famous landmark on October 15th after a court injunction barred protesters from occupying the square in front of London's Stock Exchange less than two blocks away.

St. Paul's is one of London's top ten tourist attractions. The current building opened in 1710 although cathedrals have occupied that site since 604.

Like similar anti-corporate-dominance demonstrations around the world, organizers for OLSX say they are highlighting social and economic injustice, deprivations severe in Britain.

Britain is a nation where its conservative government in coalition with liberals is instituting harsh austerity measures to ease budget deficits.

Those budget cuts severely impact the most vulnerable members of British society like now forcing totally disabled persons to find jobs or risk losing their already meager government supplied benefits.

"A lot of deaths have happened from the rule changes. The company contracted by the government to do assessments have certified persons with terminal illnesses as fit for work," noted Claire Glasman during a presentation recently to a group of college students from America.

The wheel chair-bound Glasman is with the disability rights group Winvisible -- Women with Visible and Invisible Disabilities.

Criticizing government budget priorities Glasman wrote that the "bankers and politicians have come off relatively unscathed. Why should the most vulnerable pay to clear up their mess?" -- in comment posted on the website of the Crossroads Womens' Centre located in North London where Winvisible is housed.

While the deficit plagued British government professes lacking funds for the most vulnerable it participated in the months' long, revenue consuming, military campaign this year to oust Muammar Gaddafi, the dictator in Libya.

Single Mothers' Self-Defence, one of the programs operating out of the Crossroads Centre, opposes the government's efforts to enact regressive U.S.-style welfare reform.

"Welfare reform threatens to throw single mothers and our children into destitution by abolishing Income Support, the main benefit which recognizes unwaged caring work, the life blood of society," said Kim Sparrow of Self-Defence.

"They want mothers to compete for non-existent jobs and to work for our benefits. That is for $2 an hour! They want to use us to bypass the minimum wage so they can bring down all wages and subsidize industry while impoverishing the rest of us. These cuts will throw another 660,000 more children into absolute poverty."

Self-Defence and other groups support OLSX Sparrow said.

"We are the 99%. We are part of the occupations and we are refusing to submit to this robbery with intent. They should pay mothers not banks."

Some conservative officials in Britain openly attack the OLSX participants camped in front of St. Paul's.

Mark Fields, a conservative Member of Parliament from London, lashes the encampment as a "Third World shanty town" according to news reports. Fields, while saying he supports protest as "part of a healthy democracy" states this protest encroaches on local businesses and St. Paul's.

An OLSX spokesman counters Fields' adverse impact contention claiming that restaurants and cafes around the square are doing a "booming trade" from persons attending the protest.

Some government officials urge cutting government benefits to persons participating in the OLSX protest.

Occupy London began on October 15th when according to news accounts in the Guardian newspaper 950 protests were held in over 80 countries against corporate dominance of government at the expense of servicing the needs of regular citizens.

"F#&k the poor and help the rich," Angry Sam slammed in his poem entitled "London 2012" that he recited while standing outside St. Paul's.

That poem is Angry Sam's assessment of the Olympic Games scheduled for next summer that has consumed the equivalent of more than $18-billion US dollars in construction and related costs.

Olympic Games preparations have produced major improvements in infrastructure around London like public transportation enhancements but preparations have not delivered on promised employment and economic benefits in the communities adjacent to the Olympic site which are among the poorest areas in Britain.

Berkson said inspiration for that poem arose from the "desperate increase in inequality and business friendly policies that are ruining the country."

Police abuse -- another pervasive problem in Britain -- brought Diane Richards to the OLSX site outside St. Paul's.

Late last month Richards said police roughed her up during a drug raid at a South London beauty parlor which she had patronized for the first time because her regular beautician nearby was busy.

The raid by 30 officers occurred in the middle of Richards' stint in the beautician's chair leaving her hair half done and in "a mess."

An embarrassed Richards said police laughed at and taunted her during the raid. She had to buy a hat to cover her undone hair following release from police who she said pushed her against a wall and searched her during the raid that produced three arrests for drug offenses.

"The police mishandled me. They never gave me the stop-&-search papers they're supposed to give me by law," said Richards whose incident was written up in London's The Voice newspaper.

Sitting outside St. Paul's recently Richards said she supports Occupy London because some of its activists supported her during her police ordeal.

"The poor are getting poorer and the government doesn't give a damn about us. It's disgusting how pensions are cut, jobs disappear and health care is failing," Richards said.

Ev, a protester from Hastings in South England sitting near Richards at the encampment said many things beyond events in Britain spurred him to stay at the protest site.

"I want the cutting of the rain forests to stop. I want peace in Palestine and I don't want rivers diverted. We need to make this a better world," said Ev, who like many protesters would not give his last name.

"I wanted to go to Wall Street in New York but that wasn't feasible."

Marcus who sat directly next to Richards lashed out at U.S. President Barack Obama. Like many of the protesters Marcus is disappointed by Obama's broken campaign pledges having expected Obama to be more forceful with corporate exploiters.

"Barack Obama is a massive sell-out worse than George Bush," said Marcus, who said he lives in England's East Sussex.

"Obama's conducted more covert political assassinations worldwide than George Bush. How is that the "change' that Obama promised?"

While St. Paul's Cathedral initially welcomed the protesters the facility now wants them to leave their square now filed with over 200 tents and milling crowds of protesters, curious onlookers and police.

Cathedral officials contend the encampment creates a fire hazard from the protesters' camp stoves. That asserted hazard caused St. Paul's to close its doors to visitors on Friday October 21st for the first time since World War II.

St. Paul's officials deny that their impetus to eject Occupy London has anything to do with the church reportedly loosing thousands of dollars per day in donations. Officials contend tourists are not flocking into the facility due to the demonstration.

Tourists and other commercial activities generate the equivalent of around $32,000 U.S. dollars per day for St. Paul's off-setting the daily $22,000 U.S. dollar cost for operating the large facility.

Winston Alexander biked past the Occupy London encampment on a recent Saturday, just to see what was going on in the square where he often skateboarded as a child. Alexander said he grew up not far from the church square when the area was not as commercially developed as it currently exists.

"This church should be a demonstrable place where money doesn't mean anything," Alexander said reacting to a radio news program he heard that day where church officials complained about drops in donations.

"They are peaceful, let [the protesters] stay. It's not all about money. People have got to have some humanity."

Alexander wondered what would be the outcome of the Occupy London effort.

"There is a lot of economic deprivation here in this country. But this is Britain and we always hope things will just go away," he said with a chuckle leaning on his bicycle. "The question is: will this turn into something?"

Authors Bio:

Linn Washington is a co-founder of This Can't Be Happening.net. Washington writes frequently on inequities in the criminal justice system, ills in society and problems in the news media. He teaches multi-media urban journalism at Temple University.