Occupy Seattle: #S17 Silent Flash March

via Occupy Seattle:

When – Mon, September 17, 6pm – 10pm
Where – Westlake 400 Pine (map)

Occupy changed the conversation.

It placed greed front and center in the public debate. In solidarity with #OWS and Occupy’s 1 year anniversary, let’s bring it back to it’s roots.

Join us. Sept. 17th at 6PM in Westlake Park.

“Right now, with every dollar we spend, we give corporations more and more influence over our politics. Over our healthcare, our government, our society, and our future. With every dollar we give them more and more influence over our daily lives.

We think this is wrong. Money isn’t speech. And it definitely shouldn’t be a corporate megaphone with which to corrupt our system of government, bribe our politicians, and buy special treatment.

Our actions as consumers continue to fuel this problem. Without change, we will continue to live in a system that forces us to sell our voices, and in effect to buy our own silence. We must take responsibility for the part we continue to play. We must change as much as we expect change.

We’ve been taught to sell out our own voices. We’ve been taught to be consumers rather than fully alive human beings. We’ve been taught to be silenced. And that that silence is the hidden price we must all pay for being consumers.

Buying their goods shouldn’t mean selling our voices. Buying their goods shouldn’t mean selling ourselves. We feel it’s time people started drawing attention to the silencing power of money as speech. As consumers, as voters, as citizens, as a society, as people, and as human beings, we can all agree, money shouldn’t talk.

Together let us reclaim our voices with silence.”

This is a silent flash march into the shopping areas of the downtown core. Once there, we will be silently walking / flooding into several actual shopping centers & stores. We’ll also be meeting up at certain times to regroup and hold brief 1/2 hour silent vigils.

Small printed versions of the above statement for you to hand out will also be available if someone wishes to engage you in positive dialog about this action or wants a more information about the action and you do not wish to break your silence.

• 6:00pm – Meet at Westlake park. Please bring a dollar bill with you. We’ll have some tape & spirit gum on hand. If you can bring some extra to share, even better.

• 6:30pm – Silent flash march begins. Details of the exact schedule and timings for the march to follow. We will also have small cheat-sheets available with a map and the times for the silent vigils.

In keeping with the message of the dollars tapped over our mouths, a silent flash march means remaining as quiet as possible. Please no chanting, singing, talking, drums, etc. We make our point by making eye contact with as many of the people we pass as possible and holding it just a little too long. For that reason also, please do not bring signs to hold or flags to wave. If you’re planning on entering shops, you might want to leave the Occupy labeled gear at home. It may tip off some businesses that have “banned” occupy gear and prevent you from moving freely.

Not only will our silence be a powerful statement, it will hopefully also be the key to our ability to enter those spaces that we might otherwise have to avoid.

See you there!!! Please invite your friends even if you can’t make it!