BEGINNING OF NEWEST DOCUMENT, AGREED TO ON 9/29/2011
NYC General Assembly
The Official Website of the GA at #OccupyWallStreetDeclaration of the Occupation of New York City
Posted on September 30, 2011 by NYCGA
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on september 29, 2011As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
END OF 9/29/2011 DOCUMENT
I like to see people in the streets trying to take back control of their future from the power brokers at the top. The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements basically have the same core objectives. The problem with both groups is that one focuses on government, while the other focuses on corporations. It's clear that these groups are equally culpable in the ongoing plunder-fest that has rooted itself in our culture. By themselves these groups are just diametrically opposed screaming sycophants, essentially canceling each other out. The Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street need to drop their petty differences for long enough to correct the problems at hand. We have real problems.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
ReplyDelete(Any supporter of contract law should not be in favor of the government rubber stamping the foreclosure of literally millions of homes where the mortgage document no longer exists. Why? Because Wall Street and the gov are in bed together, and that's nothing to "meh" about. It's 90 percent of our problem)
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
(Wasn't the Tea Party against the bailouts before Dick Armi started Freedom works and diluted the message down to simply "anybody but Obama"??)
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
(You don't see it, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Race has become a bigger issue once again, mostly because there is a lot of racism on the right still to this day. Not to mention the way Republicans treat homosexuals. That's discrimination, plain and simple.)
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
ReplyDelete(7 conglomerates control the food supply. There is a revolving door between the FDA and the boards of several of these large agro companies. They use this regulatory control to set up barriers to competition, and circumvent the regulators themselves. Factory farming had dozens of shortfalls compared to "organic" farming, and the laws favor the former)
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
(Other than the inhumane treatment of animals in factory farms which should make anyone disgusted, I am not a big animal rights activist so this is one of the I don't agree with fully)
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
ReplyDelete(Unions serve a purpose. Now, what the scope of that purpose, and what types of professions can organize is debatable. I personally believe unions should have an expiring charter so they don't become entrenched political institutions constantly lobbying for increased pay and benefits. As far as what professions can organize, I am against public employee unions, but not private sector unions.)
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
(In a society that cares whether it succeeds or fails education should be a right. Does that mean I think it should be handled federally? No. However, I wouldn't want to live in a state that had no education system. There's already too many dumb-asses on this planet.)
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ health care and pay.
ReplyDelete(I love how people like to use the free market as an excuse to capitalize on the human suffering perpetuated by the governments we outsource most of our production to. Any truly principled Libertarian should boycott Chinese goods.)
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
(Corporate person hood is strangely enough the most important issue of our time. It has to end. Corporations have more power than governments these days and they have less accountability. This becomes a larger issue as our society becomes more complex and interwoven.)
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
ReplyDelete(This is another case of the haves buying out the have-nots for the lower cost of a lawyer rather than a settlement. I will defend the free flow of capital up until the point it's withheld through trickery because of greed.)
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
(On a case by case issue this has many different potential twists and turns. Suffice it to say that all information will eventually be collected, about everyone. That said, we need to take steps to ensure that information is not misused. I think this is a legitimate roll for government.)
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
(Our military has been protecting US corporations overseas for decades. You know that's how Iran came about? Using our military for trade protectionism has cost taxpayers a lot, and who reaps the benefits? The corporate interest, which is usually oil or natural gas. Furthermore the NYC police have been brutalizing the protesters at Occupy Wall Street. That can be seen as the police working for Wall Street)
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
ReplyDelete(This is a big issue, not as big as the bulk of this list but if you make a product that's faulty you should remove it from the marketplace. Three words: Celebrex, Bextra, and Vioxx)
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
(True. I don't see this as an assault on capitalism, but an assault on the "captured government corporate monopoly". Which is really the heart of the problem. The left right paradigm keeps us from seeing that we essentially want the same things.)
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
(This is the mechanism by which we have been enslaved.)
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
(Oil gets subsidies. Why? It's a proven technology, why do they even need subsidy? In the case of innovation the government should take subsidy from the obsolete and give it to the emerging. If we are to subsidize at all that is.)
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.
(In a world where Monsanto can patent biological organisms, and I can't put 5 seconds of Foo Fighters song in a youtube video, you're damn straight that our copyright system is screwed up.)
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
ReplyDelete(Inactive ingredients have raised the ire of many in both the traditional and homeopathic medical communities. There was a little covered oil spill just 2 weeks ago. We know Wall Street cooks the books. The Koch brothers have recently been exposed for covering up all kinds of accidents, and that's just one example)
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
(The media is most definitely pro Wall Street. That's to be expected because guess what? You don't own whole networks or fleets of networks and newspapers without essentially being a big player on Wall Street. That's how corporations finance these media outlets. THEY ARE WALL STREET)
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
(Capitol punishment increases the power of the state, and is morally reprehensible)
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
(Clearly evident. Our military, protecting our corporations as they seize control over more governments across the globe. Paid for by you and me. Over 700 military bases in over 120 countries. Bring em' home!)
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
(We are not the police of the world. We are not the righteous hand of God, here to impose his/her/it's will upon the world.)
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.
(I'm sorry but if you work for a company that lobbies for mostly government contracts you can't be a fiscal conservative. You are a corporate welfare recipient.)