Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 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 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. *
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.
*waiting while Statler and Waldorf clear their throats*
I think it is a pretty good document. Certainly the preamble is a concise statement of why the corporate kleptocracy should be opposed.
The bullet list gets a little bit muddied up with some minor grievances – but given what it could be, I think it is great.
So what now? Someone posted something about transferring accounts and loans to smaller regional banks. I think that is a good start.
It is a good document but not a great one, and is not really central to the protest. I think it deserves a moment’s notice but no more. The main thing is for people to keep showing up.
wel at least the Zombies showed up.
This is a message to all my fellow “hippies and liberals” if you are at Occupy Wall street to protest the prohibition of pot, LEAVE. if you are at Occupy all street to protest the wars.. LEAVE. If you are at occupy wall street to protest for civil rights… especially ones that now exist in New York…. LEAVE.
The right wing media will do everything they can to make this look like a bunch of dirty hippies demanding hand outs. NOT every day Americans demanding an end to teh new robber barons.
Im is sick as hell of causes I support getting dragged down by the same shitty people who think that just because there is a protest with a liberal message, it means they’re personal crusade show get top billing. This is about bringing down the Robber Barons. NOT weed, NOT gay marriage, NOT ending the war, NOT pro anarchy……. pass it on.
And even if a minority of the people there have the wrong message… GUESS WHO GETS ON TV!!!!!!!
Calls to decriminalize pot, legalize gay marriage, and end the wars are absolutely essential to the left agenda. What kind of socialist would oppose those demands?
@Valentine: None of those issues is important to a “socialist” agenda, as socialism concerns itself with ownership of means of production. The first two positions on issues you cite are not uniquely supported by the left. One could as easily ask “What kind of libertarian would oppose those demands?” and get the same answer.
I see what you are saying on the drugs and marriage fronts. However, I think if you look at the positions that socialists have supported in recent years, you will see those three there. Socialism is not only about economics. It also includes an emphasis on personal freedom (which over time has come to include legal equality for lesbians and gays), and of course always a strong opposition to imperialist wars.
i totally support (some currently illegal) legalized drugs. and i totally support gay marriage… and way more that 80% of our military operations….. somethings need to be taken care of and some people only understand violence…. improving the world should be our country’s main objective and it can be done, for the MOST part, peaceably. but i digress.
I feel like things on the “left’s” agenda always get grouped together. it’s like “if you support this, you need to support all this other shit”
some of us happen to support a “check list” others thing people deserve a fair days pay for a hard days work and 2 men shouldn’t marry. So, let’s agree that people shouldn’t be taken advantage of for working a job, then let the homophobe deal with the fact that civil rights are coming to the entire country.
Thank you Socialist Ben. (Somebody gets me.) What the corporatons and Republicans have is a goal and a simply strategy in the service of that goal.
The goal: Smaller government
The strategy: cut taxes
Everybody gets it and it is so oft repeated that even smart people like Jack Markel have to pay homage to that effective messaging.
What is the OWS simple goal that everyone can get? People should be nice? Corporations don’t care about people? Legalize pot?
Get a goal that makes sense, and I’ll be your biggest supporter.
“Get a goal that makes sense…”
That is a high standard. What was FDR’s goal? The Four Freedoms? A chicken in every pot? A living wage? Income security? It was a horrible mish-mash. But whatever it was, it resonated for four terms. And everybody knew what he meant.
I think the simple message is: ordinary people are getting screwed and that is not fair.
Agreed. I don’t think we need to wait for the perfect manifesto to declare support.
I think I understand what Jason’s saying though. Us old farts don’t like risk and we want to see the business plan and the ROI before we will commit. If the protest fails, we want plausible deniability. We don’t want to be caught supporting a bunch of losers. We want a revolution, but with a fallback plan. But revolutions don’t work that way.
Very funny. I’ll forego the ROI and fallback plan, but I insist on a concise, cogent goal. That’s a deal breaker for me.
BTW – With all the hippie self-congratulation going on here over ending the war in Vietnam, everyone should recall that the hippies were successful because they had a concise, cogent goal. Ending the war.
Yes. But that was an easy one, especially with an active draft.
Now the problem is lack of an economic future, which has been stolen by the wealthy. Hell, lack of an economic “present.”
There are probably a minimum of five major reforms that need to be done to start on the road back, and none of those reforms are on the to-do list of either party. None of the reforms fit on a bumper sticker. This time we may have to wrap our brains around a slightly longer list of issues. We may not even agree on all of them. But we need to be all on the same side. Although my vote is for “Tax the rich.”
And even the most memorable Vietnam-era protests came along with some crazy screeds. But everyone knew what they meant.
Don’t bring me problems puck, bring me solutions. If coming up with a goal that working people can get behind is too tough for you, maybe the banks can come up with one for you.
“I insist on a concise, cogent goal. That’s a deal breaker for me.”
If you want a movement that knows exactly what it wants, even if what it wants is a suspension of all we know about economics, you should join the Tea Party.
This isn’t about solutions. This is about showing the breadth of American dissatisfaction.
“Tax the rich” isn’t concise enough a solution for you? Economic growth basically stopped after the 2001 tax cuts which triggered some kind of tipping point.
“Tax the rich” includes the concept of abandoning our hard money, cheap labor policy and allowing some more inflation. Inflation benefits working people at the expense of investors so it functions as a tax on the rich. But inflation-as-policy also has downsides so needs to be carefully managed. Sorry if that doesn’t fit on your bumper.
Puck, the reality is…. most americans ONLY RESPOND to bumpersticker politics. You can hate that all you want…. and ive made this point before…
but we as progressives really have 2 choices. Try and change the way things get done and talked about, all while losing battles and hopefully one day get to fight on our terms…. but we’ll have ot make up all the ground we lost trying to frame the fight our way…
or
fight for what we want in the way that works. let me rehash so the people who usually jump down my throat can understand.. I dont like the fact that bumper sticker politics works, but i REALLY dont like seeing the rich get richer and the poor get serfier. It’s more important to win this fight than how it is won. This isnt a sport, you don’t get points for being honorable anymore. I wish ya did, but now is not the time to whine about that. Once this movement can be boiled down to a 3 word slogan, it will pick up steam.
So far we have two people demanding slogans but not offering any.
So SB – if you don’t like “Tax the rich,” what is your bumper sticker slogan?
(why does everyone keep saying I’m not offering a slogan?)
I dont know. BUt “tax the rich” is too vulnerable.
first of all, the word “tax” is already being used…. and it paints “tax” as a negative. “tax the rich” would promote taxation. furthermore, the “rich” are all of the not-yet-millionaires. you cant look at this stuff through a sane rational lens. you have to look at it through Fox News and the pathetic MSM.
I dont have a solution. ive spent my entire (still sort) adult life and most of my teenage years very aware of the sickening hypocrisy. seeing voters continue to hurt themselves and their fellow americans because some slick fuck-stick came up with a slogan that played on fear, or hate and got them to throw away a better life to get some emotional satisfaction that gays couldn’t marry, or blacks couldn’t vote easily. At many times ive thought i figured out what could work only to see it become a huge disappointment….. Im lookin’ at you Elizabeth Warren…soon. So try “tax the rich” i dont think it’ll work. Frankly, i dont think anything will work.
“tax the rich” would promote taxation.
I think you are starting to catch on. “Tax the rich” is a winner in polls, and is the same issue that helped Obama win the 2008 election. Why throw it away now?
SB, thinking fearfully leads to effed-up statements like Chris Coons’s plan that “lowers rates while raising revenue.”
These young people in NYC are not only fighting Republicans, they are fighting people like Chris Coons who say things like:
If that isn’t a declaration of war on the twenty-somethings protesting at Wall Street, I don’t know what is.
I dont have a solution.
Lead, follow, or get out of the way. The kids are all right. I have a bunch of ideas, but my ass isn’t on the ground in NYC, so I’ll just be a cheerleader and not a critic.
“Justice for all”
OCCUPY DELAWARE IS ORGANIZING TONIGHT!
Time Wednesday, October 5, 2011 · 6:30pm – 8:30pm Location Delaware City Library 250 Fifth Street Delaware City, DE More Info please email OccupyDE@verizon.net Public meeting to gauge interest in and possible next steps for a Delaware event to support Occupy Wall Street…