This statement was ratified and accepted by the Boston General Assembly on Oct. 13 2011.
On 15th October 2011, united in our diversity, united for global change, we demand global democracy: global governance by the people, for the people. Inspired by our sisters and brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain, New York, Palestine-Israel, Spain and Greece, we too call for a regime change: a global regime change. In the words of Vandana Shiva, the Indian activist, today we demand replacing the G8 with the whole of humanity – the G 7,000,000,000.
Undemocratic international institutions are our global Mubarak, our global Assad, our global Gaddafi. These include: the IMF, the WTO, global markets, multinational banks, the G8G20, the European Central Bank and the UN Security Council. Like Mubarak and Assad, these institutions must not be allowed to run people’s lives without their consent. We are all born equal, rich or poor, woman or man. Every African and Asian is equal to every European and American. Our global institutions must reflect this, or be overturned.
Today, more than ever before, global forces shape people’s lives. Our jobs, health, housing, education and pensions are controlled by global banks, markets, tax-havens, corporations and financial crises. Our environment is being destroyed by pollution in other continents. Our safety is determined by international wars and international trade in arms, drugs and natural resources. We are losing control over our lives. This must stop. This will stop. The citizens of the world must get control over the decisions that influence them in all levels – from global to local. That is global democracy. That is what we demand today.
Today, like the Mexican Zapatistas, we say “¡Ya basta! Aquí el pueblo manda y el gobierno obedece”: Enough! Here the people command and global institutions obey! Like the Spanish Tomalaplaza we say “Democracia Real Ya”: True global democracy now!” Today we call the citizens of the world: let us globalise Tahrir Square! Let us globalise Puerta del Sol!
Follow it on Facebook from October 14th: http://www.facebook.com/pages/United-for-Global-Democracy/281998261825102
Discuss it on Twitter with the hashtag #globaldemocracy
Endorsements
Noam Chomsky
Vandana Shiva
Eduardo Galeano
Michael Hardt
Naomi Klein
Tim Gee
Nicola Vallinoto- Council member of the World Federalist Movement
ATTAC Spain
ATTAC France
Egality London
Egality Berlin
War on Want – London
Globalise Resistance – London
Uncut UK
Uncut Italy
DRY International
Gaia Foundation
Democracia Real – Argentina
General Assembly Puerta del Sol – Madrid
General Assembly London
General Assembly Buenos Aires
General Assembly Sao Paulo
General Assembly Manchester
77 Responses to “United with the World for Global Democracy”
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK! MUCH LOVE FROM DENVER!!!!!!
Please rebuild Occupy Denver!!! Let us know what we can do to help!!!!
Millerz, why don’t you drive on out and give them a hand yourself. Your hatchback ought to give you good mileage. And after all, you know everything.
Take your misandry with you too.
Well, bless it! There is nothing so pitiful and heartmelting as a widdle wounded male victim! 🙂
I was told today Denver will be regrouping on another site nearby their original…if you care!
This couldn’t tie in more perfect with this. Great direction.
http://youtu.be/TX1N3opw5eI
before i sign on to this demand for a global regime change, can someone explain who will be leading the new regime and describe how it will be structured?
on October 15th, 2011 at 3:52 am #
[…] via United with the World for Global Democracy | Occupy Boston. […]
curious to hear what people think about this set of quick fixes. obviously not a perfect fix but would these be a good first step that is clear and possible?
http://blogmaverick.com/2011/10/14/my-soapbox-advice-to-the-ows-movement-and-then-some/
All very desirable goals. But occupying Wall St might actually put some pressure on the banks to behave more responsibly & fairly, or the government to prosecute those who are responsible for gambling with our money, pensions, etc and playing the stock market like a casino. It sends a message to our politicians that people are behind the efforts to control and regulate the financial world, so perhaps they will not be so intimidated by the Tea Party etc. Those modest goals seem to me to be possibly attainable, if we can keep focussed and keep the pressure on.
Global goals are very important, and should be worked for, but I am not sure these protests can carry all that weight.
If america re-regulated wall st. the whole financial oligarchy would collapse! if we stay focused on slamming the speculators at home then Europe can do the same because all these tyrannical banks here have their counterparts in Europe and are destroying them to an even larger degree by taking their sovereignty by implementing an EFSF dictatorship over the entire Eurozone etc. Fight for the passage of Glass-Steagal (HR1489) and the world will be free to start building out of this crisis like FDR-plus haha !! Thats what these wall street scum are afraid of and thats what we have to do! ***If anybody comes by the camp trying to derail the discussion, you know who they’re working for, or who they’ve been duped by!***
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/15/business/in-private-conversation-wall-street-is-more-critical-of-protesters.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp&adxnnlx=1318682894-bT5Qgh/G74RGby3KA46uUg
Looks like there’s quite a ways to go before Wall Street takes any of this seriously.
an affirmative stance on HR1489 would make those fuckers jump from the windows.
Wow, that story is quite revealing. Good for the NY Times for doing that story. I also saw a story that Goldman-Sachs forbids their employees from visiting the encampment (informally but very firmly, as in “you will be dismissed if you go”).
What is the status of HR1489 — how close to passing currently. (I had to Google it. For others, it is a bill calling for “return to prudent banking”. Correct me or add to this if you wish.) What’s your political take on it, Paul?
Where are you all assembled? I’m from New Jersey visiting family and I wanted to come and talk to a few people since getting into New York is difficult for me.
Taylor, get on the red line of the T and get out at South Station. Go upstairs and look across the street. Voila! You’re there!
Thank you!!
Palestine-Israel? Really? Please. Are we hyphenating our new name to Apache-Cherokee-Navajo-etc-United? No? Too busy pointing fingers elsewhere?
And I’ve about had it with all the “Arab Spring” mentioned all across our country and not one recognition that ISRAEL (note correct name) held the first successful Occupation….Occupy Tel Aviv, tho it wasn’t called that, in July. They set up a tent city to protest their housing crisis and the movement grew into demands for social justice, and Jews and Arabs were participating and discussing these things together, and it culminated in a half-million person march.
Not to say this statement isn’t a good start. 😉 But it’s only a start.
I would also love to see an acknowledgement that women are not property, and not commodities, but humans, and deserving of human rights, to be fought for not only by other women but with our brothers,
fathers, sons, friends, colleagues, and partners by our side. Let’s see that vow. No more lame excuses on behalf of other “cultures”—no more equating sex trade with “liberation,” but an acknowledgement that it is modern day slavery, down to bondage and beating into submission, and should be recognized as unequivocally unacceptable and the culprits include both the traders and the end users.
Given that this country can’t even pass an equal rights amendment that prohibits discrimination based on sex, and that women are not afforded full citizenship but are instead subject to increasingly invasive measures that intrude on their privacy and unconstitutionally restrict legal medical procedures for them alone, not to mention looming threats to make embyros “persons” and reduce women to incubators, it’s completely remiss of any organization seeking to remake the world view to not specify women as humans and strenuously reject any law, nation, culture or religion which lays claim to female humans as property, chattel, second class citizens or in any aspect separate or second to males as humans.
Abigail Adams is known for saying “don’t forget the ladies” (which, to our detriment, our founding fathers ignored). She said a hell of a lot more, most eloquently and forcefully and future-forwardly. As did many other women of that era. That we don’t know this, as a people, and that this is missing from any kind of global change statement, is beyond remiss. It’s pitiful.
And nothing you erect will stand until this is acknowledged. For WE are over 50% of the 99.
I was at the GA meeting when we decided to endorse this statement, and the issue that oppression of women is not in the statement came up for discussion. It was acknowledged and well supported. I completely agree with you on the importance of fighting oppression of women both inside and outside of the movement, and I have been disturbed by elements of patriarchy I’ve observed inside the movement and inside myself as well. This statement was not drafted by Occupy Boston, otherwise I think that there would have been amendments to include oppression of women, as well as probably several other important inclusions. But as one woman said at the meeting to endorse this, no single statement can express all the ways that the world is shitty, and this is a good statement that we don’t have the option to revise. We had to endorse it or not. I strongly believe and will work toward any statements written by Occupy Boston itself to include explicit language against sexism and gender based oppression, and to communicate this need to others who may draft statements to be endorsed in the future.
Why did the GA have to endorse this statement? Who was telling you to do this?
The Occupy Boston GA spent the time to approve a document which will almost certainly be rejected by the vast majority of American voters.
If I were to go back to graduate school, the stunning political foolishness of the Occupy Wall Street movement would make a damn good PhD dissertation. You folks are apparently running a playbook on how to lose popular support, squander opportunities, and just generally botch the entire process.
Can you please, for the love of all that’s good in the world, get some goddamn focus?
Barry, you’re beating your head against the wall. You, me and a ton of other folks have been suggesting that very thing since this started.
But while championing free speech on the one hand, any criticism of the ‘movement’, even when it’s well thought out and on point, is usually mocked and dismissed out of hand.
Clearly you are a COINTELPRO plant!
Barry, the GA did not have to endorse this statement. It chose to, because it stands for justice.
Barry, would you please tell me, then, what you would suggest as the focus that you seem to want so badly? I feel good about this movement and see a strong focus, though it’s not like “Abolish the IMF” or “Pass this Bill” … it is quite more realistic, as matches the complexity of actual world. The general thrust is real democracy and a better economy for all. If you want to put a finer point on it, then please suggest something here … or become a part of the discussions in a more constructive way. You are free to do that, for sure. Anyway, people are indeed working on a concise statement of purpose, and it is under discussion, for just this situation.
Paul, I’m sorry you think that any criticism is mostly rejected out of hand. I’m trying not to do that. Have I done that to you in your estimation? I realize that is a human tendency, from all sides, to polarize and to react. I do it sometimes but I am working against it, trying to listen and respond.
S, thank you so much for this information! I have a very good feeling about Occupy Boston, that it is more egalitarian than perhaps the movement in general. I’m a bit confused by the “don’t have the option to revise.” I thought the mission was evolving? But thank you also for being there at the general meetings and I look forward to Boston’s own statement.
btw, I heard today that another local Occupation, Woburn perhaps? (sorry, can’t quite remember which town) has adopted as its mission “establish democracy.” That seems so sharply on target!!
I find it absolutely hilarious that you bums are deleting all the posts that disagree with you. All the people that find you occupods a joke dwarf your supporters and you complain about the media. Keep manipulating your site and good luck changing the system when you have a thousand different demands. This protest was dead before it started.
Why don’t you dorks take your protest to a country where there is no democracy?
Can you finally, finally put out a platform on economics? You know, the reason the 99% are in bad shape? Ah, the solution is apparently to equalize all of us in unrelenting poverty. I support Occupy Boston, but you’re treading down a failed road. You will gain absolutely no political support from the 99% (ignorant fools that we are) if you continue spouting off these pointless statements.
Do we really want to follow in the footsteps of Tahir Square? Egypt is well on its way towards become a theocracy, religious minorities are being attacked, and women’s rights are eroding. There’s a difference between a mob and a government, and the situation in Cairo strikes me as one where the mob is still in charge.
OccupyBoston.com is amazingly detrimental to Occupy Boston. I recognize that you have no leadership in the traditional sense, but please get a grip on this site.
Barry, to a certain extent I agree with you. Judging by its public statements, Occupy Boston has entrenched within it the same people who pretty much undermined the antiwar movement (i.e., those people who thought declarations of solidarity with Hamas or the Iraqi insurgency would someone help end the wars). No focus and too much ego (mentioning zapatistas = pure ego, you’re not fooling anyone). We’re humans, it happens.
Don’t lose hope though. The focus on economic issues is still very strong in NYC. Also, other cities are much more savvy. Check out DC’s page: http://occupydc.org/. Their announcement of the International Day of Action today is much, much better than Boston’s. It keeps things simple and it’s focused. Their message and website in general is targeted at the rest of the country. Boston’s movement seems targeted to the same ol’ progressive groups that are already natural allies. Talking only to your friends = echo chamber = ego. If this becomes something closer to a revolution (god I hope so), it will not start in Boston. NYC, DC, LA…those are cities to watch.
thanks a lot; i had lost hope when I read that Statement……..
I have now left the cause. That statement scares me and is not what I signed up for! I would reccomend that all of my fellow brothers and sisters read that manifest. This is not what we signed up for this is quickly escalating into something that we should not be part of. Before this somebody spit on a female coast guard officer! I will not be joining you tonight or ever again. I guess that there will be 1 less drum in the circle tonight.
Good bye my friends
Nice try. You weren’t “leaving” you are just coming here to pretend that. You are still the 99% being represented, and if you came to OB you would not only find yourself welcomed you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who would spit on a Coast Guard officer…which did not happen at the camp, btw.
Millerz had it spot on. Palestine-Israel ? How did you come up with that one and why ? Noam Chomsky ? Why no recognition of essentially OCCUPY TEL AVIV ? Apparently there are half a million Arabs and Jews who are protesting what their leaders are doing………does this sound familiar ? Why no coverage or acknowledgement ? Millerz had it spot on re. women too and I notice the reply to her post addressed that issue. No comment on Palestine-Israel. Why ? Yes it is a good start – I agree with your goals of taking back the country from the hands of global banks and corporations; we are living in a second ‘gilded age’. However, the politics of OCCUPY WALL STREET/OccupyBoston.com are showing. Why is it ok to marginalize ? It is not ok to ‘point fingers.’ And where is the ‘platform on economics ???!!’ I was living in Berkeley, California in the ’80’s when I saw a newspaper with 3″ headlines saying Banking Laws Changed – Laws on the books since the Depression have been Overturned.” And that was reported on a Saturday …………when no one is paying attention ! Deregulation of banks has lead us to what i like to call “Capitalism Run Amok” and has landed us in the situation we are in today………a second Gilded Age where the rich pay no taxes.
We don’t need another Arab Spring or Tahir Square – we need to stand up to Corporate America and tell them “your System does not work for us” and get to work overturning those deregulation laws. Focus ! I agree with Barry – get a grip on this site. I don’t endorse that Statement – it ‘scares’ me too.
Chanel, it’s so sad, and it is “political” to a point, but mostly it’s a matter of being uninformed, or underinformed. You mentioned the Saturday news dump….usually it’s the Friday news dump, such as they did this Friday when announcing Obama put troops in Uganda. So, the reason no one can wrap their heads around “occupy” Tel Aviv, and their success, is because no one knew of it! It’s a complete parallel of what’s going on here, from the organic roots, to dedication to social justice, to opposing sides talking together, but no one even knows that within 8 weeks they had half a million march in Tel Aviv, and that’s a sizable portion of their entire population!
To me, the worst is when I see all these signs and all this venom directed at Fox news with no recognition of the influence of all the MSM. It’s tribal, it’s shaming those who watch Fox, with a willful ignorance of swallowing the selective news we’re ALL fed.
I had the feeling this thing was going to turn into a jihadist movement. What else are you fools going to protest. I got an idea. I want it to rain skittles and I’m going sleep in a park till it does. Who’s with me?
Ooo…..skittles….maybe I will buy some and shower them upon our marvelous street lobbyists…no, representatives….no, founders of our desired democracy.
this the first step – a globalized community, but the difference between success and failure, is the MONETARY SYSTEM. the problems in our societies are systemic to this system. what we need is a GLOBAL RESOURCE BASED ECONOMY. Resources are managed thru technology and scientific method – what is done and what is used and the way it’s used is determined by the simple system of science – no one person’s (or millions of people’s) opinion(s) will make decisions. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE check out The Venus Project, The Zeitgeist Movement, Peter Joseph, or Jacque Fresco. If we as a movement are truly dedicated to global citizenship, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY IT CAN WORK. Corruption is BUILT IN to the fabric of any monetary system.
I will be down at the march today. This is the most exciting thing happening in the history of humanity, if we can do it right!
Much love and peace!!
Nice advertisement for a One World Government / New World Order scenario… It’ll begin with the best intentions and end in global slavery because the Powers are shape-shifters and would rather shift their shape than change wholesale and the end product will not be based on peace or love, but, as always, on greed and power.
Anyhow, even if given the opportunity for freedom there are hoards who will opt for taskmasters. This has been a historical truth, too… humans haven’t evolved enough to be responsible for their own actions. I’m not a pessimist, I’ve just seen enough of humans to know that what’s an impossibility on a small scale will only be catastrophic on a global scale.
I do agree with you on the monetary system, though. The Federal Reserve was only the beginning of our loss of autonomy. I’ve seen the Zeitgeist material and this is the fatal flaw in their ointment.
henry, there can’t be a take over in this system, because there would be nothing to take over. there would be no one”stealing” other people’s food/stuff/money because everyone will be fed and there will be no money. the planet would be governed by science, not people. all laws, if they would even be called laws, would be to enforce the PRESERVATION OF THE EARTH AND ITS PEOPLES. anything that inherently hurt another person or persons would not be allowed in this system.
i agree that a lot of our species isn’t evolved enough at this point to feel that this is the right way to go, but if enough people share this and spread it, we will create
critical mass and the evolution will happen en masse. things build slowly and then tip all of a sudden. it’s just a matter of spreading the word, being patient, being loving and getting the message across that it’s the only way we will continue to survive as a species.
the march today was awesome.
love and peace
Edward Hall is a trust fund kid http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pj-gladnick/2011/10/15/nyt-poster-boy-ows-protests-reveals-self-bizarre-drama-queen
And…….
The hijacking of your “movement” is complete.
You are killing our movement with this. I feel that we should have all been asked before you posted this. I feel like i was scammed in why we first showed up @ OB. I have lost all respect for the G.A. They are not looking to help us they are using us to forward their movement that does not care about us. This is not about taking the power away from the 1% this is about giving it to the .25%. How could you make us feel like we were doing the right thing and then steer us in this direction.
Those General Assembly meetings are like bad television. A lot of people just ignore it.
Well when was it brought to “WE THE PEOPLE” I don’t think i’m alone when I say this is not what I signed up for. I feel that most of our brothers and sisters who are on site now would be very upset. It seems that once they got us all out there they tricked us so it looks like we stood for this. We need to stand up for our beliefs now more than ever! At least in the past we knew that the right wingers and fox could not be tusted. Now we learn that we can’t trust our own people. If we wan’t this to work we need to show the world what we stand for and this is not it! The only way we can be taken seriously is to steer our mission back on track. Maybe I will return and follow the beat of my own drum tonight and see if anyone agrees.
Take the power back. They say there are no leaders and structure to give more power to the de facto leaders and structures put in place through the process. Just because you have a process to “ensure” no one becomes a leader doesn’t mean that the new systems you’ve created enable leadership through different means.
When is anyone going to expose the “Arab Spring” for being a deceitful propaganda tool? I’m against dictatorships of any form, but beware of what you replace them with. Tahrir Square may have started out swell enough, but Egypt will soon devolve into chaos unless a strong hand rises up to save it. That strong hand just might be the Muslim Brotherhood.Coptic Churches burning and the Israeli embassy stormed are warning signs. They rose up in Libya, assisted by a Western Death Machine. The regime was toppled and yet NATO never told us who the rebels were? Now it seems as though they’re comprised of Islamic Fundamentalists…
The dream of the Arab Spring is just that. When Americans are willing to face down the military and risk being shot down in the streets as they are in Syria and Yemen, I’ll give you guys more credence. You whined for a full week about the cops, what will the attitude be if there’s real government opposition?
Yeah. People should be free. We’re imperfect as a nation, but the US is a hell of a lot freer than most places on earth (I’ve done a fair bit of traveling… and, believe me, I wouldn’t say that we’re the best, most generous folks in existence).
If this movement can’t even manage itself, what hope do you have of managing the lives of millions that want nothing to do with you?
Henry K., I’ve seen concerns about ethnic violence in Libya. I do not trust the rosy reports of all these uprisings, but have not yet had the time to do all the reading required to catch up. So I agree with you, people should not just be repeating Narrative fed to them by what they consider “trusted” sources (read: not Fox). But you lose me on “can’t manage itself.”
If so many are missing so much of the big picture, why would you even want some swift decisive action or “management” or whatever it is you see lacking?
the big picture will emerge….
I got carried away and ended with a bit of hyperbole…thanks for calling me on this…
You’ve really gone off the deep end now.
Where did the money I donated to the bail of our friends when they were arrested. I donated like many of you but at the time thought the money was going to bail them out. Then I learn that the bail came from another source. I guess I should have thought it ws weird when she told me that I had to give cash. I want to know where our money is. This is very upsetting and it’s not even anger that i feel but sadness.
I am not a member of Occupy Boston, but I happened to be there while this proposition was read and discussed at the General Assembly. I am not sure where the hyphenated “Palestine-Israel” came form but it certainly was not clear at the GA that this hyphenization was the intent.
At any rate, I do not agree with the statement. It is more of the same too-broad statement of general ills and the anti-globalization focus reminds me of the asshole crybabies in Seattle who consider themselves brave anarchists but are really spoiled brats.
For concrete steps forward, I would vastly prefer this list that someone referred to above:
http://blogmaverick.com/2011/10/14/my-soapbox-advice-to-the-ows-movement-and-then-some/
These are good ideas for the 99%. I don’t think that global anarchy is the desire of 99% of us, I think it is just the opposite 1% of the Wall Street 1%.
Can we please shut the fuck up about the Zapatistas already? It makes us sound like dipshits who are way too into Rage Against the Machine. We are non-violent, are we not? If we want to start talking about Zapatistas that’s cool, but we should become an armed insurgency as well if we like them so much.
Have any of you knucklehead protesters noticed that Egypt is being run by the Egyptian military? Nice revolution you kids organized.
I was born in Mexico to US citizens living there in the 1950’s. Spent my childhood there and in New York, Puerto Rico and Ohio, have lived in Israel and England, DC area, Long Island and now New England most of my adult life, wishing I could relocate right about now to a quiet little spot in Mendocino or Humboldt county, tend a little garden, grow herbs and flowers and fresh organic vegetables, open up (with capital I’ll probably never have unless manna rains from heaven) a community space with reading rooms, gallery and performance space, a free store and free meals provided to people in need…. I love where I live but it feels like time to move on, it’s been 20 years, my children are grown, I have some debilitating health issues & I’m getting tired of waiting for the laws to change here in Massachusetts just enough to allow for a thoughtful, confidential conversation between my doctor and myself about a remedy safer than the current pharmaceutical approaches ( which I’ve tried) used to treat my SA and related conditions as I age, which I might opt for and prefer. Have always felt marginalized by the fact that I’m seen as different, SA is just a part of what creates that perception, I perhaps would just seem a bit odd to anyone who doesn’t know me, seems I have always had to surmount people’s natural suspicion of strangers to have friends at all, and though I do have friends and family who love me I still pretty much feel like an outsider everywhere I go outside of those familiar circles, or if I don’t, there are always people in any situation where I’m new and unfamiliar who will make a point of treating me like an outsider, who don’t know what I know and don’t care to find out if there’s anything either they can learn from me or I can learn from them, and then I do feel marginalized.
I spent a few days camped at Dewey Square, trying to fit in, feeling very much like an outsider, old and in the way, mostly, not very respected at all, even though I liked a lot of what I saw, observed a lot of positive, beautiful promising conversations and projects unfolding, met a few very dedicated, open minded and thoughtful people, and I also have to admit I became aware of many distressing and undeniably difficult, problematic issues, with the process of so called direct democracy itself in the GA’s and with the logistics and overall purpose and goals of such an encampment. This doesn’t keep me from loving the idea of there someday being a real movement toward direct democracy on a global level, and this looks more like the seeds of it than anything else I’ve witnessed in a while…nor do my reservations about the flaws and breakdowns in the early process so far prevent me from getting behind even these very early statements, even though they do seem more than a tad pretentious and naive to me… this won’t be the only statement ratified by the groups that meet and concense to various principles over time. I hope the process keeps going and growing, including more and more different points of view. I imagine no one statement will get it all right… in the zeal to be inclusive the language of this document self consciously iterates but a few of all the many as yet unrepresented voices from the 99% that the rest of us will eventually hear and be much obliged to include.
Tell your stories at http://newsparticipation.com/ This movement is confusing a lot of people because they can’t seem to understand what it stands for. NewsParticipation.com is providing a platform for individuals to tell their own personal stories about how the system is affecting them. That will help bring the human face to this revolution and give others still on the fence something to identify with. We always feel better when we know that we’re not alone in the way we feel and it helps bring people together when they can identify with one another’s story. We all feel the same way, let’s speak out and reassure ourselves so we can move forward.
Medicine Socks, that’s just about the best thing I’ve ever read on this movement. Thank you for posting it. I am going to try to have the same spirit and mission as you say is your hope for the future of this.
I do also think this statement is a bit naive and not going to play well to 80 or 90% of people. It’s too far, too eclectic, too intellectual — need more common language and concerns, less of the typical activist mind in there.
Like you, I hope that there are changes in future statements, but i still have a lot of hope in this, and I also personally like this statement very much. My concern is I know it won’t play well to most people I know in daily life. It also doesn’t mention sexism as an oppression, which would be easy to include with a couple words.
I also share your concerns about the process of the meetings, but still it’s the best of any option i have seen in my life to date. 1,000 times better than the U.S. representative government.
The only reasonable thing one can expect to come out of the occupation movement is the re-education and sensitization of the masses to the things that are wrong in our society and with the capitalist system we practice. It’s unrealistic to expect this movement to force the banks and corporations to change their ways because they won’t. We will need to change the laws that they’re exploiting to do what they’re doing and the only way to do that is through the ballots.
This movement must focus more on publicizing the ills of this system and explaining to the people why and how these ills are contributing to the hardships we face. When the people can identify the real cause of our problems, it will be an easy thing for them to recognize the politicians who really want to make the right changes and those who want to perpetuate the status quo, then we can expect the right decisions to be made at the polling booth that will help bring the change we want.
Therefore, I believe that the most expedient thing that can be done now is to find a way to channel this occupation energy and excitement towards the next elections by telling the people how important it is to use their newly acquired knowledge wisely in the polling booths. We’ve still got a democracy, we should use it to achieve our aims instead of thinking about any form of violence. NewsParticipation.com is a site where people can share their thoughts on all issues which can help put a human face to the protests.
I agree with your prioritizing educating the public, but I disagree we won’t get the banks’ attention. One city organized a plan to march to a bank and have everyone go in and shut their accounts! I bet that got some attention, and we should be doing that everywhere!
I used to be with you on voting, too…but come on. Locally, yes, we may be able to make a difference, but barring some unforseen candidate entering the ring, there is no one to vote for come 2012.
Would this new global society be governed by anything akin to the General Assemblies I’ve been to at Dewey Square?
At long last! I thought I would never see this people’s movement in my lifetime. I read this with tears in my eyes and filled with gratitude for the young movers and shakers. All power to the 99%!
You are not the 99%, bitch. You’re just a whiny parasite.
Check your damn language, sexist pig.
Poor little fascist. Now all upset they can’t control language.
I repeat: you are not the 99%, bitch. You’re just a whiny parasite.
Oh, and oink oink, baby.
Now, S…I completely relate to your reaction, but we must have some compassion for frustrated outbursts of the under-endowed and performance-impaired.
🙂
Gotta love the brownshirts.
“We appoint ourselves the spokesmen for 99% of America. They have no say in the matter!”
Get bent, parasites.
This is becoming uncomfortable.
I was all for OCB until I read this er.. manifesto.
Zapatistas?? Really??!!
Leftism always devolves into fascism.
w****finder,
Did your parents not pay attention to you when you were young? If you’re in Boston around Dewey Square you should ask the nearest cop for directions to the closest insane asylum. It’s not very far, and you need help, pal.
lol. I love when lefties try to deny history.
Wh**efinder. Please take your toxic hatred and anger elsewhere. You are being very crude and hateful.
Please stop attacking people. I’m one of the 99% regardless of this rather oddly worded manifesto.
MIC CHECK.
I said MIC CHECK.
I have a suggestion for this negative media. We are many. Let put a campaign to boycott all sposors of this tv and radio program that are biases. that will shut them off or at least get them to be fair.
what about something that isn’t left, isn’t right, isn’t fascism, isn’t capitalism, isn’t socialism, isn’t anything humanity had the opportunity to do until now, when we have the science and technology. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkinHuvLEaU
Kim, I am happy to see another person on here who sees this. I believe he is one of the greatest thinkers of our time. Until we rid ourselves of the separating labels and blaming we will not achieve this. We need 100 more of him to speak to all of the occupations. I have shared the following link on here, have you seen this one? http://youtu.be/TX1N3opw5eI
Are you local to Boston to possibly form a larger group?
i have seen that video, kd. what’s so hard is his ideas take some time and patience to follow, and i always worry that people just give up because of the attention span required. i had to rewind and watch several parts of the “normality becomes distortion” video, but it’s so worth it.
i am local to boston – a few miles away in medford actually. i have signed up for the zeitgeist newsletter and i’m anxiously awaiting the new website to rollout. they need it desperately so that when people look them up, their website looks polished and coherent. otherwise the movement will be completely dismissed as another fringe group.
i don’t have a lot of time to organize a group – i’m working two jobs and my husband works two jobs and the little time we get to see each other takes precedence at the moment. mostly i am trying to spread what i can online, by sending links to various bloggers and on facebook. are you on the zeitgeist’s movements facebook page? my husband and i did go down to the march on saturday with a sign for zeitgeist: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2380549709574&set=a.2380548709549.2129238.1125601890&type=1&theater
are you local?
I understand about the complexity of the idea. It is difficult for people to think of the world as a living organism when all they see around them are “things we can purchase”. The problem is that a person has to change their mind first, in that what we have now is systemically broken. It also takes a scientific approach in thought, instead of the same archaic approach limited by politics. Politics, limits and narrows the mind. What we are doing within our government isn’t working and it’s not going to work. The other thing is that it entails looking at yourself as part of the problem as well as part of solution. It takes work on the individuals part. It is the “opposite” of expecting someone else to change something for you. We have followed the movies and have always felt that it resonated with us. When the occupations started we truly hoped that people were ready for something thing new other than putting band-aids on a broken system or wanting something out of a broken system. We did not find that the people were ready for this, at least no one we met. When anything that required self responsibility was voiced, it was not received well. This is more of a “what can you do for me” group. We were there from the first assembly in Boston, but after a couple weeks into it we realized that the direction it was going was not something we were comfortable with. We had to take a step back to gather our thoughts and see where it was heading. We are still not comfortable with it and have not been back. We spent alot of time in the beginning and we both work as well, plus we have older kids so our time is sparse. I have been doing things online as well. Yes we are local btw.
1. We believe that our most precious possession is Life
2. We believe we shall mobilize all the forces of Life against the forces of death
3. We believe that we should strive to end all wars.
4. We believe that hatred is artificially introduced into public opinion by the press.
5. We believe that the true causes of war are the evil perpetrated by a few individuals who have a vested interest in warfare, the stupidity of men in power who resort to war to solve problems that could be solved through diplomacy and communication, and above all, the incapacity of the masses to visualize the true picture of war.
6. We believe that war idealology is imposed upon the masses with pseudo-philosophical and pseudo-scientific allegations, and false political imperatives, using an emotionally charged vocabulary.
7. We believe the prevention of war entails the eradication of all possibility of profiteering from war, the unmasking of the war ideology, and the silencing of war mongers.
8. We believe mutual understanding leads toward mutual cooperation; that mutual cooperation leads toward Peace; and that Peace is the only way of survival for mankind.
9. We believe that we shall preserve instead of waste our natural resources, which are the heritage of our children.
10. We believe that we de shall avoid the pollution of our air, water and soil, the basic preconditions of life.
11. We believe that we shall preserve the vegetation of our planet: the humble grass which came 50 million years ago and the majestic trees which came 20 million years ago, to prepare our planet for mankind.
12. We believe that we shall eat only fresh, natural, pure, whole foods, without chemicals and artificial processing.
13. We believe that we shall lead a simple, natural, creative life, absorbing all the sources of energy, harmony and knowledge, in and around us.
14. We believe that the improvement of life and mankind on our planet must start with individual efforts, as the whole depends on the atoms composing it.
15. We believe in the Fatherhood of God, the Motherhood of Nature, and that all men and women are brothers and sisters, that is children of the same God.
I have no idea whether this is true: I was there when the the document was accepted I was there the following day and several people told me the document was fake one person who claimed to know chomsky said chomsky had never signed it– as I say I cannot vouch for this–I can say the procedure involved in reading and adopting the document was so perplexing that people (or the people around me-myself included) had no idea when or how to comment object or approve–please simplify your procedures it will help!
GLOBAL ANTI-PROTEST NEGOTIATIONS :
(Attached Global Conflict-Response Initiative.)
‘ENTHUSIASM’——— 2009-2013
Compiled extraordinary collaborating program
directly relating to re-creating corrupted core-
values and cultural conflict resolution.
Addressed to: ,
With Compliments,
Julia Ramsay, —
Volunteer Social/ Environmental Reform Worker
WARMICH-AUSTRALIA warmich28(at)bigpond.com
………………………………………………….
Personal note: Humanity’s response-action towards
preventing human suffering, overpopulation and
consumption of non-renewable natural resources is
not working. Humanity’s inability to safely negotiate
deadly pharmaceutical agendas and psychosomatic
self-destructive emotional mind-traps is flourishing.
Toxic self-sacrificing waste-programs are designed to
capitalize on ridding the Earth of unwanted life.
That’s the old news. Current news is true freedom?
GLOBAL ANTI-PROTEST NEGOTIATIONS :
(Attached Global Conflict-Response Initiative.)
‘ENTHUSIASM’——— 2009-2013
Compiled extraordinary collaborating program
directly relating to re-creating corrupted core-
values and cultural conflict resolution.
Addressed to: ,
With Compliments,
Julia Ramsay, —
Volunteer Social/ Environmental Reform Worker
WARMICH-AUSTRALIA warmich28(at)bigpond.com
………………………………………………….
Personal note: Humanity’s response-action towards
preventing human suffering, overpopulation and
consumption of non-renewable natural resources is
not working. Humanity’s inability to safely negotiate
deadly pharmaceutical agendas and psychosomatic
self-destructive emotional mind-traps is flourishing.
Toxic self-sacrificing waste-programs are designed to
capitalize on ridding the Earth of unwanted life.
That’s the old news. Current news is true freedom?
http://youtu.be/TX1N3opw5eI
I watched this video last night (link above). It opened my eyes inward toward myself as well. It resonated in a very positive way, something that “separatism” groupings or class war-faring never does. It felt right. But, how do you live this within the construct/constraint of our society, our government…after you have become aware of this? Do you share it with others? There is a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world”. If you do begin this path and want to go all the way with it, how do you stay on it surrounded by the broken bits. How can you stay on this path while still attached to the umbilical cords of a broken government/society? Do you remove yourself? Go live off-grid in the woods, far from it? Leave the country? Society would still be happening though. The poor decisions of the society you think you left would still affect you. It would still find you, because you are still part of it. Whether it be through war, a police state atmosphere, government regulations or rulings, loss of civil liberties, etc. disrupting your little piece of peace.
It could only work if everyone dropped their labels, party affiliations, etc. and thought for themselves, while working for the betterment of ALL mankind across the world. Without the influence or propping up from a mob mentality force or agenda. These groups/labels only simplify us and keep us down. They cause us to see in a limited way, using only a closed off tiny portion of our brain. They turn us into ridiculous cheerleaders for ridiculous platforms. They make us angry at each other, only seeing within each other our differences instead of our similarities. All of which discards someone in its wake. We put importance on titles that aren’t even used in other parts of the world, although the decisions we make under those titles and for those titles affect people across the world. We cannot grow as an individual or as a world as long as we are trapped by this. We cannot save ourselves, from ourselves if we don’t change.
Our minds are meant to be used in far greater ways and we have so much more potential than what we have been handed by authority to use. We are more than a party affiliation, class, or title. But as long as we accept this as our reality, it will continue to be our reality. As long as anyone is excluded, it is not a sustainable world for anyone. Tossing aside a tea partier or liberal, rich or poor person, like they don’t deserve to breathe will only end this world faster. The poison and vitriol used against each other is only an accelerant to our demise. I truly believe that. So what do we do? How do we move forward without leaving anyone out? Or is that possible or even meant to be? What do you think?