Wednesday night I attended the “2nd General Assembly” for the Occupy Delaware movement. It was held at the UAW Hall on Old Baltimore Pike. When I arrived, I could tell something different was happening. I was running a little bit late but I thought I would arrive around 7 pm – the first thing I noticed was the parking lot was absolutely packed. There were several other people in cars “stalking” parking places, like I was. I managed to squeeze into a sorta parking spot and went inside for the meeting.
It was full. Not only was it full, it was packed with a lot of people who I had never seen before. If you have been playing around in politics for a while, you meet the same cast of characters at many events. There were many I had never met. The second thing I noticed was the diversity – not only in race but also in age. It wasn’t aging hippies and college students, it really was a lot of working people. (The media was there as well, WDEL and the News Journal.)
When the meeting started a man got up and started playing guitar, trying to get a sing-along. My thoughts were – ohno it’s not going to be like this is it? Luckily, it was very short and the meeting got down to business. One thing speakers kept emphasizing was that Occupy Delaware is a leaderless movement. I’m not really sure what it means but it does lead to a somewhat chaotic meeting.
The meeting did lead to some decisions: the rally will be held at Rodney Square on Saturday, October 15 from 10-2 pm. Information about Occupy Delaware can be found on the Occupy Delaware Facebook page. The group also adopted the Occupy Wall Street’s Declaration as a living document of ideals. Some of these statements got more support than others:
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
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 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.*
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!