We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident
The Mainstream Media continues to say that the Occupation has no clear message. As the propaganda arm of this Fascist Corporate government, the media is part of the problem.
Last night on Countdown, Michael Moore told Keith Olbermann that the people saying there is no clear message are just like the people who first saw The Beatles and said that music was noise. During the Vietnam War demonstration, activists were dismissed as Dirty Hippies by the same people who are dismissing the activists now. They even still say Love it or Leave it. When I was on the way to Wall Street myself, thinking about all the arrests by White Shirts spraying mace in the faces of our children, a song popped into my head.
Just sing: Won't you please come down to Wall Street . . .
Just sing: Won't you please come down to Wall Street . . .
The New York General Assembly has released the following statement. A link to the General Assembly is in the first line of a document I lifted from their website. To find out about how you can participate in your own town, or from your own living room, go to http://www.occupytogether.org/
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011, with slight adjustments in wording on October 1, 2011:
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
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 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. *
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. *
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, 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.
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!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
posted by PENolan at
6:41 AM
15 Comments:
What all of this boils down to is condemnation of Capitalism, but of course, in this country to do that is akin to condemnation of Christ himself. There is little doubt that Capitalism has run its course, but what to take its place? For me, it would be some kind of democratic socialism after the European model but there may be something better.
Frankly, I believe the protest effort is wasted on Wall St. It should be redirected towards government, national, state, and local. We The People have to take back our government from the money grubbers and that won't happen on Wall St. It needs to happen at the place where those who hold office have to respect the will of the people or else.
Having said that... I fully support the effort as any effort is better than none.
I laughed when I saw one commenter on another blog say that the Occupy Wall Street protests were doomed to fail because they were using 1960's style demonstrations.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Let me try that again but in shorter form!
We are killing the fucking Earth people! Maybe we will die off in mass and let some other life form become dominate. Maybe the Earth will heal and biodiversity will return.
This sounds like a revolution against the corporate overlords.
We shall where it goes; hopefully somewhere. It would be nice to see our country more like Canada.
Mr C, then you'll be glad to know that no less than 50 cities around the country have joined in, and of course, the occupation of Freedom Plaza in DC begins on Oct 6.
Matt Tabbi, of The Rolling Stone, says that these efforts will help the folks working to regulate Wall Street because they can finally point out the window and say that the People won't take this shit anymore. He used Derivatives as the example
Dr Monkey, You're a brave man to read those kind of blogs.
Liberality, I've got nothing to say except I love you!
V.V., I love it there. If you can catch Jeff Madrick on Olberman. It was great.
Me, too, Rubye Jack.
Darlin',
You should be delighted to know that this demonstration is the lead on NBC Nightly News as I type this. You and your people have done a magnificent job of bringing this topic to the forefront. Hopefully, someone is listening.
I'm taking a puff for you.
Love,
Joanne
Joanne, Thanks for that news - and I have every confidence that people are listening.
Each One Teach One!
PS: I love those flower pots at your Etsy store. I may have to get myself one once I'm settled in my real home instead of these temporary digs
There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear -- may it build in power and justness--
There is a protest scheduled for next Saturday near me. I'm going.
I kind of understand why so many argue that the protesters aren't clear about what they want, although with this recent manifesto, that may finally be cleared up. But when the MSM interviews protesters they tend to not articulate the point well because there are so very many points to try to detail in one soundbite. Additionally, there is no "leader" for the MSM to interview. That's bad for the MSM, but good for us b/c "the owners" don't know who to assassinate. I sincerely hope that no one emerges as a "leader," either. I'm sure that little act of anarchy frustrates and scares the hell out of "the owners," too. Heheheh.
I'd give my tattooed left titty to be able to be there..
power to the people
Makropolous - Exactly!
Cali - the message is getting clearer every day. Dylan Ratigan blasted it at some talking heads the other day. Now that we're Facebook friends, you can find it on my wall. Hope you had fun Occupying Chico
Granny, I don't think you'll have to go that far ;) Somehow I can't imagine anybody occupying Waco, but they're having a fine time Occupying Austin.
I was down there again Friday and will have something about it up as soon as I figure out how to get the pictures off my phone and into my computer.
I found this statement on the Irish Communist Party blog page, too! Check it out: http://communistperspective.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street.html
This is so great.
Irish Communist Party?
Pretty cool.
Thanks!
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