Sorry but to assume a petition is going to make any difference sounds extremely naive especially coming from occupiers of an occupied social centre....

please don't regard this as a personal attack - I'm sick of this hardline 'anarchist' line being towed, where we just say 'fuck everything thats not radical enough'. The Black Cat people have worked fucking hard to make inroads into the local community, and have done so more succesfully than I have seen most other groups do in my nearly 10 years of anarchist agitation. Part of the reason they have made these inroads is by presenting themselves in a certain way without watering down their politics at all. There are several reasons why signing this petition is tactically important -

1. Masses of the community are behind us - it is a good way for them to get involved as a first step

2. We are currently seen as the reasonable ones between us and the council. Being able to hand in a large petition not only shows we have public support, but that we explore different avenues of campaigning - and handing in a large and reasonably worded petition to the council - even if they don't listen (which they wont) highlights the lunacy and hypocracy of the system

3. We almost always put up resistance and demos when the bailiffs turn up, and having this petition is just one of many actions we carry out, and also frames our direct action in a more favourable context in the public eye, because we tried to be 'reasonable' first.

I could go on. Yes, militant direct action is the way forward, but why rule out any tool when there is propaganda or tactical use to be gained from it? It is the community minded approach to this social centre that has meant that loads of locals support and use the centre even though we have not tried to disguise the fact that we are radical.

Do you have a practical alternative to suggest?

You've hosted your petition on a site that requires registration, which is annoying and creates an extra barrier to people signing by making it more hassle. There are plenty of other petition sites out there that don't require this but validate signatures based on the email address.

That aside, good luck with the campaign!

When it gives you the option to register in a pop up box, just press the close button - it will still add your name to the petition.

If IMC mods could make this an addition, it might clear that up for other folks as well.