Occupy Wall Street's Manisfesto

[pbrinton]

Here, for your study and debate, is the manifesto issued by the Wall Street protestors. My 2 cents? I think it is excellent, and I agree with pretty much everything in it.


“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 workplaces 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 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 worker’s health care 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, but 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 kept 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.”

So what does the WACCO world think?

Patrick Brinton

[leanaedwards]

I think we should occupy city square in Santa Rosa for one day and night to express out thoughts and come together as a collective. Are the WACCO people interested in this? If so, email me: [email protected] and watch this inspirational video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ryR...&feature=share. I am working on setting this up...and I will post the date for the occupancy in Santa Rosa! YES WE CAN! :)

Leana

["Mad" Miles]

There's an Occupy Santa Rosa scheduled for Saturday, October 15. I wondered why the organizers were waiting so long and was told it was the day called for, to occupy the planet, by the Occupy Wall Street network. Here's the contact: https://www.occupysantarosa.org/

[O'Farrell]

Here, for your study and debate, is the manifesto issued by the Wall Street protestors. My 2 cents? I think it is excellent, and I agree with pretty much everything in it.


“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 workplaces 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 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 worker’s health care 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, but 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 kept 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.”

So what does the WACCO world think?

Patrick Brinton

I agree with nearly all of this, but I think if we truly want solidarity it needs to be honed down to fewer issues. There are many people who will stand up against corporate greed and the ensuing damage done to the American people, but may be put-off by some of the specifics listed. I think that in this time of polarity in our nation, it would behoove us to pick a limited number of issues that a larger number of people will support and not demand others agree with us right down the line. It seems to me that there is a lot of support that expecting too much agreement on too many issues is exactly what zaps the power of the people. For instance, when Americans rallied against the war in Vietnam they did not stop to quibble over their stance on other topics. If they had, it would have not been the powerful movement it was. Still I will be there.

[Peace Voyager]

I think we should occupy city square in Santa Rosa for one day and night to express out thoughts and come together as a collective. Are the WACCO people interested in this? If so, email me: [email protected] and watch this inspirational video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ryR...&feature=share. I am working on setting this up...and I will post the date for the occupancy in Santa Rosa! YES WE CAN! :)

Leana

Thanks for posting this. I was wishing the same thing.

Colleen Fernald

www.campaignforpeace.org

[Radine Aijala]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/08-6

[Temeluch]

Free Speech actually is the disorganized condition, and is of the least value, for that very reason, because it is not to the point, and so it is ineffective, for the most part, and so even if that is a good place to begin, the focusing work has to amount to something new and effective, like a Tribal Council.

https://kindred-t.blogspot.com

All rights in fact, are a very dangerous consideration, even though most people would never even think about that, because they are usually about how some underhanded people pleasing politician has conferred the imaginary right, to a particular voting block, which was invented right there and made up on the spot, to allow them to exert me first power over someone else, or some other class, or group.

This is where a certain class of people, have been given a right to come first, for political reasons, having to do with getting people elected, not because they are better, and have proven themselves to be worthy, or are in line for that, or by any other reasonable thing, meaning stemming from doing the math, about what people deserve first, because of what they have done, like doing the work, or who they are, like being the mother, or the father, or being the son, or the daughter, or being the one who has been raising the child, or running the business, or doing the work, or whatever it is, which would normally be about having respect for the natural order first, of how things should work, so as to minimize injustice, but only because they have been given the blanket right to do so, in blindness, which is regardless of what doing the math would tell us about their value and position in the scale of things.

That is just an example of how we have been allowing the politicians to dispose of the Truth First, and then we are then all forced, to try to proceed from there, as if there were any way forwards, after all that had been gained, over the many thousands of years of the development of Human Society had all just been erased, just to please some segment of the population, with some special dispensation of special rights, outside of the law, which are not warranted, just to please some special interest group, which is often not even the one that is going to benefit, from the illegal changes, which will throw everything else way out of whack, and that is why anything that is out of order, is an assertion of an illegal thought, and an imposition of the false, which well should be against the law, so if you want to believe that 2 plus 2 is 5, then that is not within your rights, so to assert that kind of blatant falsehood, which would be illegal, and should be illegal, universally speaking, and so you will be quickly fired, for such illegal calculations, if ytou weere holding any kinde of a responsible position, like a 3rd generation US citizen, who has responsibilities, now that you are indigenous to this country, because both of your grandmothers were born here.

It would be crazy to allow you to decide what you want to be the result of the work that was never done, as as foregone conclusion, and then you get to fudge the math, by reverse engineering the arguments, and by cooking the imaginary evidence, that had supposedly led up to it, to make it look like you had done the work, and you had concluded honestly, and correctly, as a judge, which would be fraudulent, if you were a judge, to decide what you want to believe first, and then to look for evidence of that later, as the police often do, and so you would all have to be fired, even for accepting such a set of falsified calculations, which have no basis in real Truth, from someone elose, since you are responslble for what yo have accepted from the others as well, as being valid, and checked out for accuracy, as being good and right, just because it is popular, when you did not do the work, and so you cannot conclude any such thing, even though you may want to, just in order to please the others, who are going to be judging you, as one of us, or one of them, based on whether you believe this nonsense or not. A lot of popular ideas are bogus.

Imagine there is no country. That is not a valid idea. That is actually just a command. Do the Math. Where is the substance? What can be built on that? Where does it lead? That is all empty calories. Those of us who would like to serve on the Tribal Council, or as it is sometimes called, The Death Panel, must all be capable, of making such clear cut distinctions, between what is good food, and what is all non-nutritive fantasy.

We are all to be held accountable to the community, as if we were all responsible, to all the others, almost as if we were all being paid as judges, who would have to be able to explain our reasons, and to make sound judgments, and to speak truth, or to keep quiet, becaue there will be consequences for all errors, just like when the space shuttle blew up, the consequences can be fairly extreme, and so we have to be able to speak up, when something is wrong, even the slightest little thing, and we have to keep quiet, when we don't really have any real work that we have at least partly completed, and that is ready to be brought forth before the others, just to see what kind of an impact it might make. It is not social. The Truth extends far Beyond Society.

It is better to say that you do not know what 2 and 2 is, at all, if you cannot do the math, and are not capable of showing us all by graphic representation, how that could possibly be true, and how it could be no other way, meaning a rigorous examination, which is subject to the criticism of others, as in a peer review.

My Real Work, in combination with all the Real Work of some of the others, really could be part of the solution, and not just all these little self centric little opinions, which are just too safe, because there is just no commitment to Truth yet as the Highest God, which I have proposed, with the blessings of Gandhi, no less, who first said that the Truth was the Highest God. - T

Let's begin to work in a vigorously constructive manner. - T

[Barry]

This is where a certain class of people, have been given a right to come first, for political reasons, having to do with getting people elected, not because they are better, and have proven themselves to be worthy, or are in line for that, or by any other reasonable thing, meaning stemming from doing the math, about what people deserve first, because of what they have done, like doing the work, or who they are, like being the mother, or the father, or being the son, or the daughter, or being the one who has been raising the child, or running the business, or doing the work, or whatever it is, which would normally be about having respect for the natural order first, of how things should work, so as to minimize injustice, but only because they have been given the blanket right to do so, in blindness, which is regardless of what doing the math would tell us about their value and position in the scale of things.

I can't follow what you are saying, but the nut of the problem is that the monied-class (corporations and the wealthy) have a disproportionate "right" to elect the government. One theme I'd like to see come out of the Occupy movement is to "Restore Democracy", meaning taking the money out of politics.

[ubaru]

How to Navigate the Falling Dollar by former Wall Street banker, Catherine Austin-Fitts from her talk in Mill Valley 2004

https://video.google.com/videoplay?d...80718427930625

I'm listening to it now, again. It's what every 99%er who is Occupying Wall Street, and occupying every town now, needs to know to turn things around. It's for those who have living equity and those who have financial equity--learning how to connect to raise everyone's wealth. Until then, the tapeworm has control over us.

Now that we've defined the problem, let's get into practical solutions. I want to talk with anyone who has taken the time to listen to the video in full.

PRESS RELEASE - [Mill Valley, CA] October 5, 2011 - In response to
the changing financial environment and the growing need for families
to build and preserve their wealth, Catherine Austin Fitts is
returning to Mill Valley to speak at the Mill Valley Community Center
on October 27, 2011.

you can get tickets here: https://solari.com/events

Please also see these posts for more of her economic education:
https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showthread.php?83832-Inside-the-Shadow-Economy&p=141622#post141622

https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt...948#post140948


Cheers,
Liz

[Thad]

Can you say all that, nine words or less?

Like maybe " Rage against The Beast is a Goood thing Now ! "

Free Speech actually is the disorganized condition, and is of the least value, for that very reason, because it is not to the point, and so it is ineffective,...

[CSummer]

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich may have part of the answer, if we can find a way to bring real democracy to this country:

Kucinich Proposes Landmark Jobs Plan

Dennis Kucinich Tells Occupy Wall Street to Nationalize the Federal Reserve

Here, for your study and debate, is the manifesto issued by the Wall Street protestors. My 2 cents? I think it is excellent, and I agree with pretty much everything in it.


“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.

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.”

So what does the WACCO world think?

Patrick Brinton

[hearthstone]

https://www.waccobb.net/forums/showt....&goto=newpost :


The Protests on the Wall Street.

All the numerous various demands that are surfacing at the protests might effect some changes in the system, but since this approach has been used since humans started having a society, with known outcomes, this too shall pass ...

There has to be clear idea of what we want the world to be in order for to ever any meaningful changes take place.

More on this at www.ModelEarth.Org

Thank you, Mr. Jan Hearthstone.

[Thad]

if ?

Do you want to leave it to that? if ?

I propose a nine day occupation in Sebastopol, sanctioned by the City Council, to be 24 hours a day for nine days in the City Square. The core of it is a cart with four bays, The Constitution of America in one, The Bill of Rights in another, The Declaration of Independence in another and the Utopian Vision of What America was and hoped to be for the World when it was started, lit by a flame from The Olympic Torch. We will have our Conversations and there will be no more if 's

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich may have part of the answer, if we can find a way to bring real democracy to this country:

Kucinich Proposes Landmark Jobs Plan

Dennis Kucinich Tells Occupy Wall Street to Nationalize the Federal Reserve

[Magick]

OccupySantaRosa organized by Peace and Justice Center of Santa Rosa.
Saturday, October 15, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Rally in support of OccupyWallStreet. Details to follow. You can keep up with this on Facebook - OccupySR.
Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa

Thanks for posting this. I was wishing the same thing.

Colleen Fernald

www.campaignforpeace.org

[Barry]

OccupySantaRosa organized by Peace and Justice Center of Santa Rosa.
Saturday, October 15, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Rally in support of OccupyWallStreet. Details to follow. You can keep up with this on Facebook - OccupySR.
Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa

Correct times are 2pm - 10:30pm
Location: Santa Rosa City Hall - 100 Santa Rosa Avenue
https://www.occupysantarosa.org/
https://facebook.com/occupySR

[Barry]

Well put! - Barry


Derrick Kardos

An open letter to the media:

you're still not getting it.
your reporters are lazy.

traditionally, protests have been the culmination of a movement organized by a heirarchy of leaders who determined demands and then held public protests to promote those demands.

old way:
injustice-->organization-->demands-->protest.

but we aren't a traditional protest.

our way, the protest comes first and serves as its own organizational tool.
the protestors determine their own demands.
messy, but much more democratic, yes?

the problem with the old way is the protest ends, the protestors go home, and the demands are ignored. repeat.

but our protest never ends.
that is why we call it an occupation.

new way:
injustice-->occupation-->self organization-->revolution

what you reported as disorganized and rudderless
was actually in the process of self-organizing.
you were too blind to see it.
you were looking for an end at the beginning.

in just 3 weeks we've grown to over 60 cities.
we are ever 10000 strong today in new york alone.

we are occupying.
we are organizing.
we are growing.
we are not going to stop until our demands are met.
it is we who are too big to fail.

We are the People.

We hold this Truth to be self-evident:
A government which represents only the interests of banks, media conglomerates, corporations and the richest #1 is no longer democracy. It is oligarchy.

A new form of democracy has come to rescue the old:
a democracy by, for, and of the People again.

[zenekar]

Well put! - Barry


Derrick Kardos

An open letter to the media:

you're still not getting it.
your reporters are lazy.

traditionally, protests have been the culmination of a movement organized by a heirarchy of leaders who determined demands and then held public protests to promote those demands.

old way:
injustice-->organization-->demands-->protest.

but we aren't a traditional protest.

our way, the protest comes first and serves as its own organizational tool.
the protestors determine their own demands.
messy, but much more democratic, yes?

the problem with the old way is the protest ends, the protestors go home, and the demands are ignored. repeat.

but our protest never ends.
that is why we call it an occupation.

new way:
injustice-->occupation-->self organization-->revolution

what you reported as disorganized and rudderless
was actually in the process of self-organizing.
you were too blind to see it.
you were looking for an end at the beginning.

in just 3 weeks we've grown to over 60 cities.
we are ever 10000 strong today in new york alone.

we are occupying.
we are organizing.
we are growing.
we are not going to stop until our demands are met.
it is we who are too big to fail.

We are the People.

We hold this Truth to be self-evident:
A government which represents only the interests of banks, media conglomerates, corporations and the richest #1 is no longer democracy. It is oligarchy.

A new form of democracy has come to rescue the old:
a democracy by, for, and of the People again.

Well written, Barry. Will you be sending it to the media, local and national?

[Shandi]

An action we can take:

See More


Get Money Out
www.getmoneyout.comOver 140,000 people have joined the fight to Get Money Out of politics. Add your voice to demand reform.

LikeUnlike · Share · Yesterday at 1:09am · Privacy:

[peggykarp]

At this stage it doesn't matter if there's one demand or dozens. The Wall Street Occupation is a template and a model that is being duplicated around the country. The most important thing is that the Occupations are providing physical spaces, focal points where people can gather and join forces. That's what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. And equally important, the WS Occupation is showing the country what participatory democracy looks like. I say bravo!

[Magick]

YES! There''s also a movement called MOVE YOUR MONEY! I say take small groups of people into banks and announce this idea, suggest what local banks they might consider and move on, or just stand in front and talk to people with a sign. Peace, Magick

An action we can take:

See More


Get Money Out
www.getmoneyout.comOver 140,000 people have joined the fight to Get Money Out of politics. Add your voice to demand reform.

LikeUnlike · Share · Yesterday at 1:09am · Privacy:

[peggykarp]

The New York Times is getting with the program. Today's lead editorial:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/opinion/sunday/protesters-against-wall-street.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha211

And a few days ago a great op-ed by Paul Krugman: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/o...ef=paulkrugman

[gardenmaniac]

Well written, Barry. Will you be sending it to the media, local and national?

I thank you for articulating my thoughts for me; I couldn't have said it better (or even as well) myself ... Ruth

[handy]

Well put! - Barry


Derrick Kardos

An open letter to the media:

you're still not getting it.
your reporters are lazy.

traditionally, protests have been the culmination of a movement organized by a heirarchy of leaders who determined demands and then held public protests to promote those demands.

old way:
injustice-->organization-->demands-->protest.

but we aren't a traditional protest.

our way, the protest comes first and serves as its own organizational tool.
the protestors determine their own demands.
messy, but much more democratic, yes?

the problem with the old way is the protest ends, the protestors go home, and the demands are ignored. repeat.

but our protest never ends.
that is why we call it an occupation.

new way:
injustice-->occupation-->self organization-->revolution

what you reported as disorganized and rudderless
was actually in the process of self-organizing.
you were too blind to see it.
you were looking for an end at the beginning.

in just 3 weeks we've grown to over 60 cities.
we are ever 10000 strong today in new york alone.

we are occupying.
we are organizing.
we are growing.
we are not going to stop until our demands are met.
it is we who are too big to fail.

We are the People.

We hold this Truth to be self-evident:
A government which represents only the interests of banks, media conglomerates, corporations and the richest #1 is no longer democracy. It is oligarchy.

A new form of democracy has come to rescue the old:
a democracy by, for, and of the People again.

Yes!! Thanks for this post, Barry. This guy appears to actually get the cybernetics of what is happening.

And Patrick, thanks for the manifesto. That list sure looks like a lot of reasons to vote for Ron Paul...

[ubaru]

Yes!! Thanks for this post, Barry. This guy appears to actually get the cybernetics of what is happening.

I must admit, I didn't know what cybernetics are so here's the definition:

cy·ber·net·ics

   [sahy-ber-net-iks]
noun (used with a singular verb)
the study of human control functions and of mechanical and electronic systems designed to replace them, involving the application of statistical mechanics to communication engineering.
Origin:
< Greek kybernḗt(ēs) helmsman, steersman (kybernē-, variant stem of kybernân to steer + -tēs agent suffix) + -ics; term introduced by Norbert Wiener in 1948

Related form scy·ber·net·ic, cy·ber·net·i·cal, adjective
cy·ber·net·i·cal·ly, adverb