Boston, MA, October 25, 2011—Yesterday afternoon, Occupy Boston’s Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG) voted unanimously to remove two members, Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel, due to their lack of accountability and transparency, as well as their failure to provide information to both the FAWG and Occupy Boston’s General Assembly. Carnes and Sherrel also repeatedly failed to follow established procedures for financial expenditures. This grave decision was reached by consensus following many unsuccessful attempts to communicate with Carnes and Sherrel.
In addition, FAWG unanimously passed the following resolution:
Be it resolved that any actions taken by Paul Carnes are not sanctioned by the Finance Accountability Working Group, including any credit union accounts remaining open, monies spent by him, or any fundraising efforts.
In the interest of transparency, an announcement was made to General Assembly today regarding Carnes’ status within Occupy Boston. Members of other work groups came forward to speak about other incidents where Carnes had expressed disdain for the consensus process and the authority of Occupy Boston’s General Assembly with regards, but not limited to, finances and fundraising. Carnes and Sherrel were in attendance and were both invited to speak on their behalves. Both spoke directly to the General Assembly and answered questions from the crowd. Members of the General Assembly supported FAWG’s resolution. FAWG continues to work in conjunction with lawyers and accountants to put better practices in place for continued transparency in order in ensure that those entrusted with Occupy Boston’s funds are accountable.
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Occupy Boston started in Dewey Square in Boston on September 30, 2011. We have been directly inspired by our brothers and sisters at Occupy Wall Street in New York, and we stand in solidarity with them. The spirit of Occupy Wall Street has spread nationwide and has an unofficial hub at Occupy Together. There is also a list of occupations and Facebook pages at Daily Kos. While these different occupations share many goals and attitudes, they each operate independently and there is no national organization that can speak for all Occupations. For more information about Occupy Boston, visit https://www.occupyboston.org.
[Updated October 26, 2011 for clarity]
48 Responses to “Occupy Boston’s Financial Accountability Working Group Removes Two Members”
Now that we have this matter straightened out we are ready to present a plan to nationalize and regulate the nation’s financial industry and usher in a socialist utopia.
This is why we need communism.
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We cannot trust individuals to handle money.
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Only the government should allocate funds.
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And they should do so strictly evenly.
Only the government should allocate funds
you want to try that again?
No, I don’t want to try anything again.
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Capitalism has failed.
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WE, not I, want communism.
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You would not believe how strong our support is.
yes, I’m sure you have literally dozens of sockpuppet accounts with which to post, making it look like the occupy movement is overrun with communists. Try something more subtle next time.
Do you see someone besides me posting in support of communism?
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Not many people post on these stories at all, let alone with substance that we actually support.
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Change must be quicker.
ok, Vsann Jones is in boston tonight; what tent is he going to be in? he will be at the Copley , suite and butler service with a limo ride to the revolution, please watch video i posted from glenn beck, Vann Jones is you commander
the banking problems with the occupiers on wall street and boston were predicted. Even orwell’s animal farm has pigs fighting pigs, special rules for the elite. I am just surprised that it happened so quickly in t5he occupy movement. Funny how the leaders are in luxury hotels and limo service, while useful idiots fight the cold on the streets. The regualr protestors are seeing this and reflects the abandonment of the movement.
What leaders? I’m as involved as anyone in Occupy Boston, and I’ve certainly never been in either a luxury hotel or a limo service. In fact, I have, until recently, been unemployed.
You’re right! I would not believe how strong your support it. I find this incredibly funny… capitalism sucks so we’ll blindly trust the government with our money? This is not challenging, it’s just plain silly.
HEY you only speak for yourself on that one, I DO NOT want communism. THAT already failed quite a few times….
Your statement makes no sense. Is your communist “government” some sort of infallible entity that never makes mistakes or acts unfairly? All governments are implemented by people, and communist governments are just as subject to corruption as any other style, as history has shown us.
no no no, you would not believe how strong their support is.
I wouldn’t say infallible. Only capitalists say their system is infallible. I would say less fallible. This much is clear.
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I would, however, state that history has always shown a bias toward the victors. As the capitalist greed machine “won” the Cold War through covert and highly immoral tactics, history as they presented it is now recorded.
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Not to say the Soviet system was perfect. I assure you it was not. Like any system it needs improvement.
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But it is a better starting point than capitalism which favors, and has always favored, the 1% over the 99%.
he’s obviously talking about robots. he wants noble machines to lord over us.
communism worked so well in russia and cuba; elites lived in luxury palaces while rest of population stood in line for bread and toilet paper and that was after they slaughtered 200 million people. of course the communists killed the educated first, teachers and clergy.anybody calling for communism are complete ignorant fools and should be ignored if your movement is to go any where.
I’m sorry. I just want to make sure I’m not stepping on any toes here. Have you been to Occupy Boston? Have you not had these conversations yet?
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I go as often as I can [probably 13 separate stays] and most people are not only not visibly put off by the idea [as you seem to be] but also willing to discuss it and open to the idea.
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I am not the only one that thinks communism is the right path to follow here. Check around a bit.
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I’m sorry if my posts come off strong, but such is my conviction.
You’re one person and you *certainly* don’t represent a majority opinion of Occupy, i can tell you for sure — yes, i have been there quite a bit .. perhaps what you’re seeing is that people there are quite willing to talk about ideas with anyone, but doubt that most people are buying into your bill of ideas. By the way, how do you define “communism” — you personally? What do you mean by it?
Maybe you’ve been there, but you *certainly* have not discussed these ideas. People are not merely open to the discussion of various topics, we are open to these ideas specifically.
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I have had these discussions. If you have not, I suggest you ask rather than attempt to inform.
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What do I mean by it… First and foremost we must not try to resuscitate the dead body of capitalism. That will do more harm than good.
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What we must do is institute a code that, most importantly, sets a floor on the amount of wealth or property an individual has. Secondarily the code will also act as a ceiling to the amount of wealth or property an individual may have.
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Then the 99% can transform into the 100% and we will all be better for it.
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And again, if you are not having these discussions, you are *trying* not to have them. We are here.
are you under the age of 25? Have you ever held a job over 2 years?
Just curious
Okay, “I am 99%” — let me say — you sound so dogmatic that you turn me off by your tone. I don’t look forward to discussion ideas with you because I foresee an uphill struggle to be viewed on equal footing with you. That said, I will try. But who are you? My name is Sage. What is yours? How will I know when I meet you? … And why do you question whether I’ve been there? Why do you question whether I’ve talked about ideas with people? And why did you take over this message board on this story about an accounting group with assertions that “What we need is communism?” So.. maybe you can introduce yourself to me since I don’t know your name. I often have a small homemade guitar, so you may recognize me.
I agree with sage, I HAVE been there since the beginning and I have had a ton of conversations with people. While there are supporters of communists there, they are not the majority. The supporters of communism there that I have talked to have been quite OPEN to other ideas, which you seem not to be. Further if you had actually gone in there with an OPEN mind, you would find that most people are not looking for solutions that have already been made. Most people are talking about NEW ways to fix our system!
a government staffed by robots, not humans. we shall build machines to lord over us and keep us safe.
paul “fetch” carnes is either a very clever troll or a complete lunatic, but either way OB is much better off without him.
http://encyclopediadramatica.ch/Paul_%22Fetch%22_Carnes
http://trollstrollingtrolls.wikispaces.com/Paul+Carnes
Here is Glenn beck’s 2 hour video on who created the occupy movement, when they created it, how they would manipulate the protestors. If you want to see the truth, here it is, it is well documented. You have to ask yourself if you are afraid to hear the truth, why are you afraid? here is the link http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/10/25/the-truth-about-occupy-wall-street-full-episode-for-free/
Seriously, no one with an IQ watches Glenn beck. The man is a pathetic hatemonger. Sometimes you do make a bit of sense, a bit, but glenn beck is just wrong and you lose all credibility for that.
Beck gets it all wrong; the Occupy movement was obviously created by collusion between Big Foot and the Trilateral Commission.
he has video speeaches from 6 months ago from bill ayers, van jones, stephen lerner, code pink planning this event. Do you discard historic evidence on everything? It is so clear who is behind this, paying for this. You are a flat earther and have a greater ambition to believe in the movement then believe the truth. I am here to tell you, you were lied to and are being used. You will find out soon enough. Be open, look at the evidence. You are acting like a flat earther.
Seamus, if you only just looked elsewhere for your news you would see that these protests are going on around the world, on 5 continents in over 1000 locations. How typically american. Unable to even comprehend that anything of importance goes on or originates outside of US. Did Glenn beck point out that the damn protests originated outside US and your only catching up nearly a year late as usual. No American has the slightest relevance outside of US except maybe Hannah Montana for ten year olds but to have the arrogance to suggest that some American dude started this for some American reason is ridiculous in the extreme. Your only just waking up. Again. This is a global protest. Not a democrat, left, communist and definitely not American protest. That’s how freaking dumb you are.
Ger, I will admit that i do like Glenn Beck,i went to his 8/28 in D.C. Glenn is not a hate monger. I believe glenn is a conservative libertarian who is strongly religous but not a hate monger. He is not a journalist, but an analyst. Of course he has a bias to his political/religous view point. To discredit his documentation of the occupy movement is ignorant. part of the video has seiu members with a pre planned arrest list. I have an open mind and listen to leftist media also as well as many online news sources that are far from right wing. My belief is that the occupy movement is a mostly extreme left movement. I too am angry at the corruption on Wall Street, D.C. and Beacon Hill.I blame both parties for our recession> looking at the real estate banking crash , my conclusion is that too many people got loans they couldn’t afford due to lobbying of acorn. The banks were forced by law to issue bad loans and massive fraud was committed all over the country. My solution would be to have let banks and individuals to fail. The stimulis was paid to mostly unions by simply printing more money. Our national debt is out of control. We need to have balance budgets and stop spending is the only solution. anarchy, socialism and communism will only add to problems. Europe is in failure because of socialism and Greece is a prime example of too much government. from all I have read on this movement is that you want more government.Comparing the U.S. movement to Egypt is not accurate. they went from tyranical rule to a tyranical Islamic brotherhood control, they are killing Christians there now, it is not peaches and cream. I have been to several counties in the middle east and quite frankly, it is insane there with the blocking by tyrants of basic human rights and wholesale slaughter of innocence is very disturbing.I find the extreme left and extreme right in this country as very disturbing also. I stand against the occupy movement because it has been documented very well that the extreme left has organized this although I believe some of the points you raise are valid, which I protested with the Tea Party over a year ago and continue today. I have great love for this country, our constitution and believe that it can be fixed with citizen involvement.
I’ve never seen any evidence of Glenn Beck saying anything even remotely resembling the vaguest glimmer of truth.
Does this have to be a “top story” ???? Could this website be organized with a main column, and a side column? Could we please keep the main column on main messages, and use a side column for statements that work out internal issues?
And so the uncomfortable aspect of politics, corruption and governance creeps into to the movement….
Yes // and so we rise to meet the challenges and learn from the experience.
We are human beings. Imagine that.
i’m not.
I would have thought this was a good job well done. Anywhere else it would have taken years to uncover, would have been swept under the carpet and no one would be any the wiser. The dudes might even got promoted. OB was on to them and problem sorted in record time. I would say that was a powerful display of horizontal democracy at work. How any loon can spin that some over way I don’t know. But if your watching Glenn beck then there is no hope for you. You are on the dark side.
I looked at the Glenn Beck video for a few minutes and I will look at the whole two hours or whatever later. I think he is saying is that this movement is Islamists and Leftists cooperating. That is sort of what one might have expected a Left movement to be if one was asked about it a year ago. But this is not the case at all and this shows that Glenn Beck does not actually get out and gather, absorb and process new information. It is actually shocking how there is nothing of the Palestine/Israel issue and virtually no Muslim/Arab political presence. Along with the students and the typical radical idealist Left one would expect, there is a white working class and union presence that is unprecedented in my lifetime. I would love to create a paranoid conservative rant about this actual situation just because I think it would be a great work of art but I probably have better things to do. And that is supposed to be Glenn Beck’s job. It really is like Archie Bunker and Meathead have put aside their differences and taken to the streets.
“It really is like Archie Bunker and Meathead have put aside their differences and taken to the streets.”
I like how you put this. And you’re right, and that’s why THEY are terrified and we see things like what happened in Oakland this morning.
Were they pocketing the money?
Glen Beck is a clown. Communism is a joke. Let’s stick to stuff that’s halfway serious.
Couldn’t agree more. I think this is very serious. It’s about freedom or servitude for life. For our children and for the planet. That serious. This might be the one chance we get. I’m no liberal, not a lefty, a commie, a crusty, druggie, or any of their labels. I’m a husband and father who cares for my environment and my fellow man regardless of their color, politics, whatever. And they try to say I’m wrong. I think that is their mistake.
Hear hear. Let’s be halfway grownup. This is serious stuff. I think this is the one chance in my lifetime to make a country and a world that I don’t have to be ashamed of.
retweeting this, I hope this doesn’t happen to other groups around the world. Let this serve as an example that people can be removed from a position if warranted for the survival of the whole.
I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR ALL MY TROLL COMMENTS @ COMMUNISM ETC. I HAVE SOME PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND I WAS JUST VENTING. I SUPPORT WHAT YOU PEOPLE ARE DOING.
Paul Carnes previously stirred up shit at Occupy Cleveland.
Why would you let Paul Fetch in a position to have access to your money? Are you guys new to the Internet or something?
This is getting curiouser and curiouser…