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We are the 99 percent

Second Communiqué: A Message From Occupied Wall Street

Posted 12 years ago on Sept. 19, 2011, 8:50 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Tags: communiqué

This is the second communiqué from the 99 percent. We are occupying Wall Street.

On September 18th, 2011, about 400 of us woke up in the Financial District amidst heavy police presence. After an impromptu dance party, we resumed our General Assembly in One Liberty Plaza around ten in the morning. We made our demands heard, which are many but revolve around a common point: our voice will no longer be ignored.

At noon a large group of us marched through the Financial District and Battery Park chanting “this is what democracy looks like.” During our march many onlookers joined our ranks, while many more expressed solidarity with our cause. By the time the detachment returned to One Liberty Plaza over 100 sympathizers had joined us. Our efforts were bolstered by generous donations of food and water from across the country and the world. As the day progressed our numbers continued to grow, and by three in the afternoon we were more than a thousand strong.

Before sunset 500 of us marched on the Financial District, where hundreds of onlookers joined us. After we reconvened the General Assembly the police demanded we remove our signs, but they did it for us instead. Later, they threatened to arrest us for using a bullhorn, so we spoke together in one voice, louder than any amplifier.

We speak as one. All of our decisions, from our choice to march on Wall Street to our decision to continue occupying One Liberty Plaza, were decided through a consensus process by the group, for the group.

54 Comments

54 Comments


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[-] 4 points by forthepeople (11) from Atlanta, GA 12 years ago

Please keep updating here with the progress... we need one central location to point people looking for information. Twitter is great, but the info is very wide and it's hard to determine what is official and what is hype.

Another point to consider... leave the masks at home. They get you arrested for one, and might single out your support reach.

Come up with a strong message that everyone, the entire 99% in America can get behind, including the ones sitting at home thinking they don't agree for one reason or another. Take that away, and give them ONE reason to Agree!

Get behind the people who have showed up who can get more people... Rosanne Barr and Tim O'Reilly to mention a couple. Post videos of these people who have clout that have showed up and/or made statements. Use these people as a spring board to gain more support.

don't give up.

[-] 2 points by hladini (7) 12 years ago

Why not have a peace sit-in? Peace would be a really great message and if we got out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we would be saving $30 Million Dollars an HOUR!!! How's that for deficit reduction?

I support what you are doing and emailed the mayor and NYPD to stand down and respect your right to bring grievances. At the very least Wall Street should have to suffer your presence!

[-] 1 points by anonrez (237) 12 years ago

pretty sure everyone here is against the wars - thanks for your support!

[-] 2 points by Caellyn (5) from Dallas, TX 12 years ago

My demands are these:

  1. End the Fed; 2. Fair trade not free trade; 3. Bring our soldiers home - those would be my demands as part of the group. The root causes of the 1. The Fed - bailouts, QE's, intentional dollar devaluation, pushed inflation, forced 401ks - the biggest transfer of wealth from teh middle class and poor in our entire history; 2. Free Trade (not Fair Trade) - we are being forced to compete with countries who have no protections - they have basically slave labor, child labor, unsafe working conditions, no protections for the products they put out or the food they put out, so the food can be unsafe and the products unsafe, no environmental protections so they can pollute their land, air, water, and kill their own people. You cannot compete with that without becoming that. That's what Free Trade brings us; we are slowly becoming that. 3. Wars - wars with unknown, never-ending objectives. Wars that impoverish the people of our nation. Those are the root causes of the majority of our problems.
[-] 2 points by daver (2) 12 years ago

Stand strong. I hope this will grow each day and reach across the country. Let's take our country back!!!

[-] 1 points by 36of534 (15) 12 years ago

We are the Wall Street Protestors. Existence, as you know it, is over. We will add your Fiscal and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."

[-] 1 points by PEERLESS (4) 12 years ago

please listen!!! we need to get american flags in the hands of the protesters. it is imperative to the survival of the movement. please pass this word. when the soilders come, they will be less likely to fire upon those holding american flags. we must make this a patriotic movement to gain momentum and to disarm the government stance that the protesters are terroist. this will become a tactic to turn the majority against you.please, please pass this to any one you can, pass out as many flags as you can, once again , it is imperative this be done. the flag will give all a sysmbol to unite.it will draw those who are not involved. please understand the importance of this. my bothers and sisters, the time has come. it is our duty to see this through!!! good luck to us all!!!

[-] 1 points by hladini (7) 12 years ago

The more violence the police use, then the more support you will get from the public - so long as the violence is reported!! The civil rights movement did not get the countries' support until the police violence was broadcast on the evening news. But that was before corporate owned news.

Am calling police and mayor again today to demand NYPD STANDS DOWN!

Are the Hare Krsna's out there giving away free food? Just wondering.

[-] 1 points by stealth (28) from Jersey City, NJ 12 years ago
  1. Jail the bankster so they stop hurting people.

    1. End the Fed, Federal Reserver is a tool for JP Morgan, key players are from JP Morgan
    2. Reverse Richard Nixon's strategy, go back to Gold Standard. read www.rt.com Max Keiser report
    3. Break up banks like they break up the Bells into baby mini Bell company, so no more too big to fail
    4. Actually , even better, government nationalize the banks, so that government a non-profit organization would not put greed ahead of policy.
    5. Use a portion of the bank money to create a "Growth Engine" like in the 80s you have computer and internet as "Growth Engine", the new growth engine would be for the US government buy up the car company, make regulation on making hybrid cars and electric cars , innovate that growth engine.
    6. Its about time to cut the budget, yes cut the budget on Defense spending.. lockhead martin, rockwell international, lawrence livermore 8.

      NO MORE SHORT TERM TRADING ON STOCK MARKET 9.

      Bail Out Student Loans 10.

      Ban all lobbyist , no more corporate lobbyist. 11.

      The soldiers should be builiding houses for homeless, not waste their life on war contractors.

[-] 1 points by stealth (28) from Jersey City, NJ 12 years ago

BAIL OUT STUDENT LOAN that is the demand !!!

[-] 1 points by joebhed (1) 12 years ago

Look, here's the thing. What do you want? To make a point? To have some heads broken for justice?

What you really need is a new policy system that transforms the money structure towards democracy. You need to be advocating for the end of the debt-based money system. That's the system that we have - we call it fractional-reserve banking - that sees all of our nation's circulating medium created as a debt. WHY? Because the bankers like it that way and it provides the wealth-accumulation-disparity mechanism. You guys are great for doing SOMEthing. But get our head out before its broken. We need a new money system.The Money System Common. It's in the Kucinich NEED Act. Take a look. http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_ACT.pdf

joe bongiovanni The Kettle Pond Institute

[-] 1 points by RJM53 (2) 12 years ago

While you have some legitimate points You hardly represent 99% I doubt if you represent 2% and p.s. this is not and never has been a democracy we are a republic. probably your professors didn't teach you this.

[-] 1 points by moridinman (1) 12 years ago

If you all are seriously attempting to change the way our gov't works, I really think you should, emphasis on should, consolidate your message and kick out the people who want to ride the anti-establishment bandwagon. Every movement of peace is a good one, and every reform movement should have a chance to be heard. Yet if you don't present a unified message, how will that change anything?

[-] 1 points by CheMarx (2) 12 years ago

My friend Shaggy told me that this site was Fascist misinformation designed to make the True People Power movement look ridiculous.

[-] 1 points by hladini (7) 12 years ago

Why not have a peace sit-in? Peace would be a really great message and if we got out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we would be saving $30 Million Dollars an HOUR!!! How's that for deficit reduction?

I support what you are doing and emailed the mayor and NYPD to stand down and respect your right to bring grievances. At the very least Wall Street should have to suffer your presence!

[-] 1 points by hladini (7) 12 years ago

Why not have a peace sit-in? Peace would be a really great message and if we got out the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we would be saving $30 Million Dollars an HOUR!!! How's that for deficit reduction?

I support what you are doing and emailed the mayor and NYPD to stand down and respect your right to bring grievances. At the very least Wall Street should have to suffer your presence!

[-] 1 points by GriebKyle (5) from Burlington, WI 12 years ago

Where is the digital Petition ??

[-] 1 points by Caellyn (5) from Dallas, TX 12 years ago

My demands are these:

  1. End the Fed; 2. Fair trade not free trade; 3. Bring our soldiers home - those would be my demands as part of the group. The root causes of the 1. The Fed - bailouts, QE's, intentional dollar devaluation, pushed inflation, forced 401ks - the biggest transfer of wealth from teh middle class and poor in our entire history; 2. Free Trade (not Fair Trade) - we are being forced to compete with countries who have no protections - they have basically slave labor, child labor, unsafe working conditions, no protections for the products they put out or the food they put out, so the food can be unsafe and the products unsafe, no environmental protections so they can pollute their land, air, water, and kill their own people. You cannot compete with that without becoming that. That's what Free Trade brings us; we are slowly becoming that. 3. Wars - wars with unknown, never-ending objectives. Wars that impoverish the people of our nation. Those are the root causes of the majority of our problems.

[Removed]

[-] 1 points by awowo (1) from Sueca, Comunidad Valenciana 12 years ago

love and force from spain. thank´s ya´ll don´t give up, stand up be wise and wide

[-] 1 points by SiggaLara (1) 12 years ago

A few pointers from the Icelandic front:

  • Noise is more effective then violence. Violence and vandalism is not going to help the couse but give an excellent couse for negative publicity and even "crackdown". But noise is very disruptive, especially during working hours.

  • Be very nice to the policemen around you and ALWAYS obey them. Also, defend them if some of you try to attack them. (And, yes, there will be people there for the excitement and to get release for a deep seated anger. But calmness prevails. Always.)

  • Many people are very afraid of the downfall of the "system". Even if they themselves have a shitty life, they haven't yet managed to think outside this system of modern slavery. And I see that many of those are posting comments here. Answer them. And don't take offense to their attempts to insult you. They are defending the system and they have a right to their opinion. We are sure we are fighting for a good course, but so are they.

  • Be patient. Don't loose hope. Wall street will not fall at the hands of a new democracy before Christmas, but what you are doing is important. But Rome wasn't build in a day. And it also took it some 400 years to fall.

All the best to you!

Sigríður Lára Sigurjónsdóttir Playwright, Zeitgeister and doctoral student, Iceland

[-] 1 points by GermanGuy (1) 12 years ago

Greetings from overseas! We are sitting here in Germany, watching your actions and wanted to tell, that we stand in total solidarity behind you. If we protest in Liberty Placa or at the Brandenburger Gate, the message is the same and the goal is one! What you are doing at the moment, can be a big step to free the whole world, never forget this! And never forget, that the whole world is watching! For a free Love, Life and learning! For a Free society! For Humankind!

[-] 1 points by SincerelySkeptical (15) 12 years ago

Yahoo is indeed blocking emails that contain "occupywallstreet" Your account has been temporarily blocked from sending messages. This block can be caused by sending messages that trigger our spam filters, or by having too many recipients in one email. We encourage you to review the contents and recipient list of your message, and try sending it at after an hour or two. Doing so will usually resolve the matter. If you are still unable to send messages after a 24-hour period, please read our FAQ for more information and to request Customer Care assistance.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks,

The Yahoo! Mail Team

[-] 1 points by JustDoIt (1) 12 years ago

You should know that Yahoo is censoring any email that contains the phrase "occupywallst.org"....... I suggest that you set up a bunch of dummy domain names and point them back at this domain, and then post the list of those domains on this website.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Your message was not sent

Suspicious activity has been detected on your account. To protect your account and our users, your message has not been sent.

If this error continues, please contact Yahoo! Customer Care for further help.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

[-] 1 points by snowflake (5) 12 years ago

Okay, I read the above two posts, and tried to email my riseup acct. from my yahoo acct. with occupy wall st. as the subject and occupywallst.org as the text. It went through, but yahoo had me do a captcha before it was processed. Then, for shits and giggles, I tried sending from my gmail acct. to my yahoo acct., and at this point, no problem. Yahoo, probably does have at very least spam filters in operation.

[-] 1 points by bigdumbfunshow (1) 12 years ago

The social-network-encouraged movement Occupy Wall St. could potentially change the nation and Big Dumb Fun Show host Venkman plays devil's advocate when speaking to "Grim". Aaron Gnirk calls back later for a date. See the interview here http://youtu.be/7wcr47r2Upk

[-] 1 points by streamfortyseven (15) 12 years ago

Some things to consider for demands:

  1. An end to “corporate personhood.” A corporation should have NO Constitutional rights of any sort, only the powers granted by the State in its charter and these powers should be limited by explicit Federal legislation.
  2. An end to the Business Judgment Rule, which works to shield directors from liability for their decisions performed “(1) in good faith; (2) with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would exercise under similar circumstances; and (3) in a manner the directors reasonably believe to be in the best interests of the corporation.” (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_judgment_rule)
  3. The “bailouts” were done with “government money.” Not quite; the bailouts were done with money collected by force or the threat of force from taxpayers. It’s a transfer of wealth, similar to armed robbery. That’s one way to look at it. Another way is to view the bailouts as the acquisition of a controlling interest in the companies. That voting interest should have been used to: a. Cancel all bonuses for the duration of the recession; b. Take away the pensions granted to the officers and directors responsible for screwing the company into the ground; c. Reduce the pay of the officers and directors responsible for screwing the company into the ground, or firing them outright; and d. Investigating those officers and directors to determine whether they defrauded their stockholders and companies, and if so, to sue to recover restitution and damages, and also to see that criminal charges are filed.
  4. Outlaw the drinking of champagne on Wall Street; the only legal alcoholic beverage shall be Old Milwaukee forty ounce bottles, or a cheaper equivalent.
[-] 1 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

Armed robbery? I don't pay my taxes, no one is holding a gun to my head. Your analogies are outrageous.

[-] 1 points by gerardjud (7) 12 years ago

The demand is that the destiny of America should be decided by 99% of Americans!

[-] 1 points by gerardjud (7) 12 years ago

The System is trying to shut you out. The main media has nothing to report about you.You are not allowed to use mic, only allowed access to certain areas. Why allow so much restrictions to be imposed on you? If you want to start a revolution, don't follow rules imposed on you by the System. Break loose!

[-] 1 points by soultress (1) 12 years ago

Consider using Van Jones's Contract For The American Dream as a template. The Liberal message is not framed and all the groups are splintered. The Van JOnes contract is to the point but covers all the pertinent issues affecting the 99%.

[-] 1 points by Krishnammm (3) 12 years ago

Hello. I came by to drop off a sleeping bag and tent today and also hold a sign for a couple hours. There are a lot of people like me who would like to be involved in larger actions, but can't stay out there, and also have to work. That being said, I can join in before work or after work. I think the assembly should consider reaching out to regular folks like me who want to participate on a part time basis. Have a special hotline, text or email blast to gather the masses for specific events. That way this thing won't become too insular and alienating. I'm a working dude. But I'm pissed off too. I want to show up and demonstrate and I want there to be 10,000 people there. And they don't all have to look like they're at a 'Rage Against the Machine Concert', of course, that's fine too, but we should get some working folks there too.

Also. Why do you guys have to camp out there? It seems like you may be setting yourselves up for more adversity than is needed. Why not just meet there every morning at 8am? Well rested protesters protest harder maybe. I'm worried you may be setting yourselves up to get beat by the rain and cold.

Oh also. Very important. You need to have people their gathering email addresses. If someone shows up and wants to know what's going on, you need to grab their email address. Maybe set up a constant contact account for updates.

Finally. It was awesome. Thank you all so much for taking a stand. I was very inspired and I'll be back tomorrow to hold a sign for a couple of hours. And the day after.

[-] 1 points by kymee (2) 12 years ago

Thank you for standing up and being a voice and force to be reconned with. Keep it peaceful but stay the course and stay strong. I will be praying and with you in spirit!! Americans, lets take back America!

[-] 1 points by aze (1) 12 years ago

We need to spread the movement to other cities; it would be powerful!

[-] 1 points by Alexandra632 (5) from Austin, TX 12 years ago

Everyone interested in organizing should post their city on the forum so people can get together and plan more protests across the country/world. I've seen a few people with the same idea but we need more!

[-] 1 points by humptvivacqua (6) 12 years ago

Stand Trong². I wish you keep their heads firmly. One more week. And then you will see that thousands, perhaps millions, are at their sides

[-] 1 points by SnotRocketScience (13) from Columbus, OH 12 years ago

The march last night was great!! We had sooo many tourists bystanders joining us!!

[-] 1 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

What are your demands, exactly?

[-] 2 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

I figured by now someone would have replied, or maybe even posted a list of demands, but as of now this just seems like a lost cause. lost because you had it at one point, but lost it in the mess of dance parties, and laptop gatherings.

[-] 1 points by Binh (83) 12 years ago

I posted a comment dealing with this issue in the Monday thread. The lesson they learned from Tahrir Square is the importance of protesting and occupying public spaces but it seems they haven't studied the years of grassroots organizing and the demands the protest organizers advanced starting from Jan. 25 and which changed from week to week depending on the government's response.

[-] 1 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

They seem to have no idea what the protests in Egypt where about.

[-] 1 points by anonrez (237) 12 years ago

The Egyptian protests were about how neoliberal policies and a corrupt political elite stole the wealth and future of the people while suppressing democracy.

The Wall Street protests are also about how neoliberal policies and a corrupt political elite stole the wealth and future of the people while suppressing democracy.

[-] 1 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

stole? Mubarak was in office for nearly 30 years. anyways.

[-] 1 points by Binh (83) 12 years ago

The Mubarak family became billionaires as the U.S. poured billions into their military-industrial complex. Stole is an understatement. -www.planetanarchy.net

[-] 1 points by anonrez (237) 12 years ago

Yes. 30 years of theft and oppression.

[-] 1 points by Binh (83) 12 years ago

They are new to activism and have not studied Egypt closely. This is how movements generally start -- small numbers, people have lots of illusions due to their inexperience, and then they learn by making lots of mistakes. In the 'Nam era people really thought voting for LBJ would help them stop the war. In the run up to Iraq, protesters really believed Bush or someone in Washington would listen to mass marches alone. It's a process that is at its beginning stages at this point.

[-] 1 points by Caellyn (5) from Dallas, TX 12 years ago

My demands are these:

  1. End the Fed; 2. Fair trade not free trade; 3. Bring our soldiers home - those would be my demands as part of the group. The root causes of the 1. The Fed - bailouts, QE's, intentional dollar devaluation, pushed inflation, forced 401ks - the biggest transfer of wealth from teh middle class and poor in our entire history; 2. Free Trade (not Fair Trade) - we are being forced to compete with countries who have no protections - they have basically slave labor, child labor, unsafe working conditions, no protections for the products they put out or the food they put out, so the food can be unsafe and the products unsafe, no environmental protections so they can pollute their land, air, water, and kill their own people. You cannot compete with that without becoming that. That's what Free Trade brings us; we are slowly becoming that. 3. Wars - wars with unknown, never-ending objectives. Wars that impoverish the people of our nation. Those are the root causes of the majority of our problems.
[-] 0 points by themissinformed (9) 12 years ago

If these are your demands, your starting at the wrong place.

[-] 0 points by Freeworldfromidiocracy (0) 12 years ago

Is this a joke? Some spoiled commie-kids that don't want to work but still want to benefit from society? If you want to change society go and vote or enter politics. How do you expect to be taken seriously when you cannot even present any ideas of changes. 99%? more like 0,00099?. Who have given you right to represent 99% of the population? You surely don't represent me, and no, Im not one of the other 1%.

[-] 1 points by Binh (83) 12 years ago

People tried to vote for change in 2008 and look what we got. If a Republican is elected in 2012, you think things will get better? Now that's a joke!

[-] 1 points by jsb2011 (1) 12 years ago

@Freeworldfromidiocrazy: Would you have called the Colonials Commies? Should they have continued to support the ruling monarch, and just shut up? Do you think people that protest in the rain, facing the NYPD are too lazy to work? Time to wake up from your delusion.

[-] 1 points by stealth (28) from Jersey City, NJ 12 years ago

you guys need to know the cbs, nbc, abc, cnn , all major media, facebook, twitter, yahoo, you naming it , are already hook up to the NSA system, including major banks, credit card systems. They are preparing for the impending riot when the inflation and interest rate hits 17 % within 2 years.

Cell phone would be useless at that time, it would all be blocked, penalty for arrrested for would be HUGE !!!!! more so than the recent arrest on Anonymous by FBI. So what you gonna do ? They have not arrested any banksters , so what you gonna do ? Without a leader like Martin Luther King its useless. Someone need the ball to be a leader !!!! A dead leader walking by the way.

[-] 1 points by streamfortyseven (15) 12 years ago

hey, smart guy, consider these things:

  1. Most of these kids want to work, and in hock for big bucks to get degrees and training for jobs, jobs which were there when they started school, but have disappeared now - they're not lazy, they just got screwed over big time by the system and they're paying big bucks to the champagne-swilling swine on Wall Street for the interest on their loans.
  2. "Go Vote" .... sure, go ahead and vote for Punch or Judy, the Rs and the Ds, yeah, sure, you'll find out really quick that there's "not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican parties" - true in 1968, true in 2011. And as for running for office, even a lowly state rep race will cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. If you don't have personal liquid assets of $1 million or more, forget it, you're "not on the radar".

  3. As for representing 99% of the population, they don't represent the idiots, the Tea Party members, the trolls and the paid whores of the Koch Brothers who acquiesce in the robbery of their own money and gladly support and vote for people whose economic interests are diametrically opposite their own.

[-] 1 points by CheMarx (2) 12 years ago

I can't make enough with my Medieval Italian Feminist Literature degree to keep myself in weed and Warcraft!