Proposal to adopt the Occupy Wall Street demands

[evelyn]

I would like to propose that we take action to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters at Occupy Wall Street, and the Occupy movement across the world, and endorse their demands as our own.

For those unfamiliar with them, they can be found here, read by Keith Olberman sns=em

 While I firmly believe that Occupy Chicago is a movement unto its own, I cannot stress enough the need to use our current momentum to our advantage, but this can only be done through adopting a concrete message. We began in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in New York, and I believe that we must here too stand in solidarity with them.

These demands were first presented to Occupy Chicago last Friday at the General Assembly. We have since then gained great momentum as a movement, but we have been bogged down by unnecessary bureaucracy with General Assembly procedure, and the insistence by members of Occupy Chicago members that we have our own demands. I believe this to be true, and that Chicago has specific demands that must be researched, recorded, and thoroughly fleshed out. But I must remind the General Assembly, that no one has come forward with rewrites or proposals for demands. We have become trapped, and we are rapidly losing our momentum.

I do not think that this message has to be set in stone. The progress of this movement is organic, and we rise to meet new challenges every day. But we must have a message. By its very nature, a movement must MOVE.

I propose that we pass these demands, with the understanding that we can at a future date, and that future date can be as soon as tomorrow, we can rework language difficulties or minor disagreements.

I also insist that the members of Occupy Chicago begin to build Chicago specific demands, which we can then release when they are fully developed. But it is paramount that we have a message now.

[m_x]

re-post from the temporary mission statement thread:

 

I agree 110%.

 

Look at how they handled forming their grievances: short and concise points, that are intentionally broad to reach out to 99% of the population.   

We have spent the past week unable to pass a simple grievance about US foreign policy (which most of the population and even much of the military is against) since we are trying to make a specified statement.  This is something the entire group is against but we can't get it passed since we are weighing ourselves down with a long statement that is incorporating ideology (in regards to future military interventions or actions (some want disarmament, some want to intervene if there is genocide, some want an isolationist policy )). I thought the whole point of this movement was to show that 99% disagree with the direction 1% is taking. 

 

I appreciate the hard work and intent of trying to fully voice these grievances.  That said I don't think we are voicing the concerns of the 99% just because a group of a hundred agreed on each point of the statement.   As we saw last night we all agree the wars and aggression of our military is wrong, but it seems most have different ideas in regards to how they'd like to see the future of those policies.   If we are to represent the 99% and not a specific political ideology then we should keep things simple. 

 

I think sticking to simpler statements (as I suggested (and admittedly poorly articulated at GA last night)) would allow us to get our general ideas out there which will help us gain support.  Until we win the hearts and minds of the 99% and they are actively participating in our movement, who are we to speak for them?  To me this makes us no different then many established activist groups who claim to speak for the population.

 

Don't get me wrong I am fully in support of the democratic process. That said we will loose the support of many due to our current inefficacy and not articulating our thoughts. Simpler statements would allow us to do that.   As time passes and our group grows then we can fully articulate thoughts (or possibly more importantly begin to make demands).

 

I can see why many wouldn't want to adopt all of their grievances.  That said I agree with the original poster and believe we should vote on these, even if they are point by point.  Or at the very least consider making our grievances more concise to win over the 99%. This movement seemed to originally be about showing that although we differ on ideologies  or methods of fixing things we all (the 99%) agree that our government is not listening to the concerns of the population. 

 

Lets express that!

[Andy Manos]

I have nothing more substantial to say than: I absolutely agree.

[arthurdent6]

I'm on Outreach, so I think that makes three collaborators on this thread plus the OP.  Can we agree online on wording to be submitted for the official proposal?  I'm gonna throw my hat in with a draft.  Hopefully this gets something started that will become a motion.  We'll see, won't we!

______

 

"We, Occupy Chicago, officially answer the call of the New York General Assembly laid out in the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City. In solidarity, we pledge to exercise our right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To the people of the world, we urge you to do the same.  To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!"

 

_________

The part about the specific facts about corporations, I think this should be a separate motion at the GA.  It might be more controversial.  Here's how I would word it:

 

"We, Occupy Chicago, affirm the facts spelled out in the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, unanimously adopted by members of Occupy Wall St. on September 29, 2011.  We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known:

Corporations run our governments.

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

These grievances are not all inclusive."

 

Okay, well, what do people think?

[optessimist]

It may also help to consider all the various proposals from the group as "Phase" based, meaning we will not address every concern now, but will group a smaller priority set into first phase, then compile a list for second phase while the first is being aired publicly, and so forth.

 

This first list won't be generated until a metric is devised to help rank (not just vote) on the various proposals on here. I believe a couple of metrics could help rank the various demands/grievances:

 

Feasibility (meaning measure of public support and political practicality)

Benefit (expected return both in size of economic benefit and immediacy of implementation)

 

This is otherwise know as going after "low hanging fruit", or return on investment analysis. Adding voted upon numbers into both of these columns let us much more easily rank the list, when both numbers are high you can more easily see which Top X items get put into the first phase, as opposed to having 50 popular items without any way to prioritize them.

[arthurdent6]

optessimist

I agree that, procedurally, we need a mechanism to deal with having many proposals in the queue to be discussed, and not enough time to discuss them at GA.  I'm not sure if what your proposing is a workable solution to the problem, but I do appreciate the problem.

Perhaps you could post a new topic in the GA Format forum, if one does not already exist to address this issue?  I would be willing to discuss potential solutions there.  But this thread is about a particular proposal we'd like to bring, not the procedure by which proposals are brought and considered.

[Billy]

I'm having some type of format issue with my browzer where the right half of all comments have been cut off so I can't read them but I watched the video and it sounds like a very well written declaration.

 

     I think it is very important for us to have a certain amount of cohesion and consistency across the movement but I also think it is very important to maintain a local feel to each occupation.

 

     So I support this and want to support more stuff from NYC but want to make sure we don't just rubber stamp everything they put out.

[arthurdent6]

Here's my reasoning behind wanting to make the proposal of adopting the FIRST statement (not the list of grievances...I'm not sure how I would speak in favor of adopting that list just yet):

"I would move to adopt this statement because I believe it resonates with who we are and what we stand for. It establishes a link of solidarity with occupy wall st, while maintaining our independent identity. It does not detail specific problems or potential solutions, but rather it affirms our desire to create a process to address specific problems and generate solutions. 

I feel that, among other goals, the goal of creating a democratic process that empowers us, the 99%, as we are not empowered now, would be a monumental achievement in and of itself. I feel that such a process could empower us to clearly define and directly address specific issues, and likewise empower us to generate practical solutions.

Therefore, to state that our goal, mission, or purpose, is to create a system that empowers us to speak out and be heard, to address unspecified problems, and generate unknown solutions, is not empty, not meaningless, not a liability to our movement, but an asset."

[arthurdent6]

Ok, I've vetted this with several people in person, done more drafting, rewriting,

and I plan to read the synopsis tonight, officially requesting a vote tomorrow

or at a later date (according to the 24 hour rule).

 

Sorry if the word wrap is messed up…weird copypaste problems

 

******************************

Title: A proposal to repeat and affirm the statements in the Declaration

 of the Occupation of New York City.  



Synopsis of Proposal: I am proposing that we repeat and affirm statements 

made in the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, by vote in this 

GA, to be officially released and syndicated throughout the world. 

 The language of the repeated and affirmed statement is nearly identical

 to the original document, in its entirety.  There are no changes to substance, 

only modifications to reflect that this is our restatement and affirmation.



Synopsis of Justification: Adopting this statement moves us towards global 

solidarity, clarity of purpose, and unity in our core message, that wealth and 

power concentrated in the corporations and the extremely wealthy, 'the 1%' 

is creating a situation that  everyone else, the 99%, can no longer tolerate.



******************************



Full Proposal:



I am proposing that we repeat and affirm statements made in the Declaration 

of the Occupation of New York City, by vote in this GA, to be officially released 

and syndicated throughout the world.  The language of the repeated and 

affirmed statement is as follows.  It is nearly identical to the original document, 

in its entirety.  There are no changes to substance, only modifications to reflect 

that this is our restatement and affirmation.

"We gather together in solidarity with the global movement of which we are 

a part to express the same feeling of mass injustice felt by people of all walks 

of life, all political and social backgrounds, and all cultures around the world.  

We repeat and affirm the statements in the Declaration of the Occupation of 

New York City, unanimously adopted by members of Occupy Wall St. on 

September 29, 2011. 



As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the 

human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must 

protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals 

to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic 

government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not 

seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no 

true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic 

power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over 

people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our 

governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to 

let these facts be known.



They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, 

despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to 

give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace 

based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined 

the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless 

animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for 

better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on 

education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage 

to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with 

none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get 

them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. 

They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives 

in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their 

policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible 

for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s 

lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned 

a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and 

inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control 

of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when 

presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. 

They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive 

government contracts.



This list of grievances is non-inclusive.



To the people of the world,

We, Occupy Chicago, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; 

create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions 

accessible to everyone.

We pledge to do the same.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct 

democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at 

our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!



***********************



Full Justification:



I believe that this proposal resonates with who we are and what we stand for. 

It establishes a link of solidarity with occupy wall st, and through this solidarity 

our movement can gain strenght. It does not detail specific solutions, but it 

clearly defines why we are here.  It affirms our desire to answer the call, to 

occupy public space, to make our voices heard, and to create a democratic 

process to address these problems. It creates clarity and unity in our core 

message, that wealth and power concentrated in the corporations and the 

extremely wealthy, 'the 1%' is creating a situation that  everyone else, 

the 99%, can no longer tolerate.



There are many things we hope to accomplish as an independent group, 

and adopting this proposal to repeat and affirm these statements will not 

accomplish all of them.  Creating independent grievancances and demands 

to address local issues will be a crucial part of our future work.  However, 

failure to stand united behind Occupy Wall St., here and in all other cities 

of the world, will fracture this movement.  Our strength will come from global 

solidarity, clarity of purpose, and utter relentlessness.

[blacklite911]

The wall street demands are pretty awesome, they managed to say everything that needs to be said without interjecting unnecessary language, which seems to be our problem with the military grievance. 

I think its worth a shot Dent and I'll back you up in the stack.

I discussed this topic last night and everyone I talked too agreed that we need to make a general statement first and maybe we made a mistake by jumping on specific grievances this early. Now, its not too late because we only passed two which are pretty fair and can be incorporated into our main mission statement. 

I also want to add that adopting this wouldn't mean we're just following New York, they just did such  good job on the damn thing that it seems obvious to adopt it.