Forum Post: Before you start attacking the plan of action and petition, keep in mind this section of the declaration:
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 9, 2011, 2:52 a.m. EST by ms3000
(253)
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"This PLATFORM and PETITION OF GRIEVANCES shall be non-partisan and address the critical issues now confronting the United States People and will be voted upon by the 870 Delegates in consultation with the 99%. The PLATFORM and PETITION OF GRIEVANCES voted upon by the Delegates MAY or MAY NOT include the following:"
I am not entirely sure what the petition/demands are meant to do. Most of the public are simply tired of being squeezed by the riches decade after decade. Most US CEOs welcome the ideas of "Buy America" but none is actively supporting "Hire America". There is one powerful thing that people could do to demonstrate its power to the CEOs of major banks and perhaps the rest of the corporate world. Withdraw your deposits out of Bank of America. Deposits are the bloodline to a bank, especailly a firm like Bank of America. It had received money from the Governmen, which is the People of the United States yet it is still slapping people with fees however it can. That is only one of many examples of how a large bank is squeezing the people.
Not that I have anything against Bank of America, but We the People could use BofA to set an example. The bank is in critical need of everyone's deposits. Take your money out and put it in any other FDIC insured bank. If the people stand as one, then an example to the CEOs can be set. If there is the will, then the People will prevail.
Oh that is the beauty of this plan. While the 870 delegates are meeting in Philly from July to October preparing the list, the occupation movement will continue and grow. By the time the 2012 election rolls around the petition of grievances will be presented to the new government. They would then act or not act at their peril having been given one last chance to stop taking corporate money and make the changes the 99% demand. This list of grievances will also have a substantial impact on who runs for office in 2012 and who actually gets into office. I know most of the corporate lackeys will get in again but this time the entire country will be watching after having told them specifically what we want done. I urge you to support the plan as non-violent means to revolution in the United States. Again, the con tent of the plan needs to be hammered out by the 870 delegates just as the delegates for the 13 colonies did in 1775 and 1776. These webpages and emails are today's Committee's Of Correspondence. We must learn from history and use it's lessons for our cause.
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/
Who the hell are "the 870 delegates" and how the hell do 870 people consult with 99% of a nation of 300 million? It's nutty things like this that make me skeptical of the whole thing. Why do we need 'delegates' in wired 2011? Why can't "the 99%" speak for themselves in a virtual, online convention? The delegates of the original constitutional convention lived in a pre-information age agrarian society. Using the original constitutional convention as a model may be very romantic and inspiring but probably not a good model for the present situation.
Who decides who is a 'delegate'? The lofty, conveniently vague sort of cranky rhetoric aping the language of the founding fathers is going to scare off the masses of normal people and attract the cranks.
That said, I like most of the items in the document, but who wrote this? Where is this coming from? How exactly would this 'convention' and delegate selection be organized? It's all very interesting and exciting but it also seems pretty quixotic and naive. You really want to think very carefully before you monkey with the constitution, particularly in the current political climate.
here read this action plan. Obviously we cannot have a meeting of 300 million people so we need to elect delegates who represent the people and not corporations!
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/home/the-steps-to-non-violent-revolution
It's not 1776. We have the ability to organize and facilitate the direct participation of the 99% in ways far better than were available to the founding fathers.
A virtual forum of 300 million may not be possible, but we can certainly do better than 870 delegates in a brick and mortar building in Philly. Why not 870 virtual delegates whose votes are decided by direct participation of virtual communities?
There are better ways to approach this.
A virtual forum of 300 million is a great idea in principle but too prone to corporate manipulation, fraud and the same people voting over and over using different accounts and fake names. Also you would exclude people without computers from participating. That is why we need a direct ballot and delegates from each district. If you want to elect ten instead of two from each district that is fine but the number needs to be consistent.
No plan of action is going to be perfect that is true. The idea is that while the 870 delegates are meeting in Philly from July to October preparing the list, the occupation movement will continue and grow. By the time the 2012 election rolls around the petition of grievances will be presented to the new government. They would then act or not act at their peril having been given one last chance to stop taking corporate money and make the changes the 99% demand. The list of grievances will also have a substantial impact on who runs for office in 2012 and who actually gets into office.
I know most of the corporate lackeys from both parties will get in again but this time the entire country will be watching after having told them specifically what we want done.
I urge you to support the plan as a non-violent means to revolution in the United States. Again, the content of the plan needs to be hammered out by the 870 delegates just as the delegates for the 13 colonies did in 1775 and 1776. These webpages and emails are today's Committee's Of Correspondence.
We must learn from history and use it's lessons for our cause.
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/
I like the document and I imagine that the authors names will eventually be known. I was wondering if there shouldn't be some language about 1) breaking up the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, 2) banning naked short selling, 3) limiting commodity speculation, and something about derivative gambling.
We are killing a lot of people around the world with our commodity speculation.
Thank you we are trying to organize and pass this movement to the next level: action!
here read this action plan. Obviously we cannot have a meeting of 300 million people so we need to elect delegates who represent the people and not corporations!
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/home/the-steps-to-non-violent-revolution
But aren't you going to want to have a petition signed by real people? How will you know who supports the declaration? Anyway, without Wall Street being more severely reined in I don't know if we have the luxury of time... before the next crash.
Well no plan of action is going to be perfect that is true. The idea is that while the 870 delegates are meeting in Philly from July to October preparing the list, the occupation movement will continue and grow. By the time the 2012 election rolls around the petition of grievances will be presented to the new government. They would then act or not act at their peril having been given one last chance to stop taking corporate money and make the changes the 99% demand. The list of grievances will also have a substantial impact on who runs for office in 2012 and who actually gets into office.
I know most of the corporate lackeys from both parties will get in again but this time the entire country will be watching after having told them specifically what we want done.
I urge you to support the plan as a non-violent means to revolution in the United States. Again, the content of the plan needs to be hammered out by the 870 delegates just as the delegates for the 13 colonies did in 1775 and 1776. These webpages and emails are today's Committee's Of Correspondence.
We must learn from history and use it's lessons for our cause.
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/
OP, you failed to answer my questions.
Who wrote that and how do you propose to hold the elections?
see current post on ten steps to nonviolent revolution; a group of lawyers and college students wrote this PROPOSED declaration. The delegates would have to right the final version.
A group of lawyers and students? hmmm. No office workers, carpenters, airline pilots, grocery store managers, etc. Who appointed them - themselves? And, no answer on how said elections would occur.
i think no matter who made this proposal or what it contains you would reject it; you are the type of talker who only knows how to criticize and does nothing
Oh, really? I don't believe I commented on the contents.
You still haven't answered how the elections would be held in every congressional district.
i don't have time to argue with you, come down to Liberty Street and Broadway to discuss further. Here is the PROPOSAL:
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/home/the-steps-to-non-violent-revolution
I read it and nobody is arguing with you. I've merely asked how the elections would be carried out. Apparently you have no idea, which is fine - just say so. It is a question you should be asking, though.
Thank you, we are trying to organize and pass this movement to the next level: action!
We do have a specific plan for election. You can read this action plan at this link. Obviously we cannot have a meeting of 300 million people so we need to elect delegates who represent the people and not corporations!
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/home/the-steps-to-non-violent-revolution
send you ideas and comments to the99declaration@gmail.com
this was written by a group of college students, lawyers and others who are working and unemployed
Who wrote that? How do you propose to hold said elections?
Looks good, but I have a few things I want added to it.
Reasoning: Government has no right to force one Citizen to pay for the welfare of another Citizen. If I don't want the benefits of the program, then I should be legally allowed to opt out of such programs.
Question on this one: By line item veto, are you suggesting that the President could veto some parts of a bill, but allow the rest to become law? If that is what you are suggesting, then you may want to consider the wisdom of such action. If this were the case, then a Republican president could simply veto out parts of a bill created by Democrats while passing the Republican parts of the bill into law. Complete dysfunction.
INSTEAD
Reasoning: I see no point of being a citizen anymore. If Hitler could run across our borders illegally, and be afforded the full protection of our laws just because he was physically here.....well that's just outrageous.
I want this one scratched from the declaration. I'm currently looking to buy a house and the more that are on the market the better becomes for me to get a house at an extremely affordable price.
This one doesn't make sense. If they are committing suicide, I don't think there is going to be anything we can do for them at that point.
Also I would like a few more demands added.
Any persons who have engaged in any of the following behavior shall be banned from receiving the benefit of government-paid healthcare. Persons who:
participate in any physical sport, which increases their chance of injury
Finally, the ending is ridiculous. As you may have already figured out, while I find some of the REQUESTS in that declaration to be reasonable, I would not go along with the rest of them. I find it odd that this movement is so quick to discriminate against the 1% of the country due to their socioeconomic status. I wonder how you people would react if thousands of people began to protest against people on Welfare because they are poor and take from the economy instead of contributing to it.
As for all the We The People talk and the Overthrow the system. Who are we the people? Is it liberals? Is it the middle class? The poor? Who are We The People? After reading over several of the articles posted on this site, I can tell you that though I make only $30000 a year, I am not part of this 99%
I figure this whole "we are the collective" crowd can go ahead and overthrow the government, because after that occurs you will have another Civil War on your hands between liberals and conservatives.
We need more grievances! What about removing restrictions on any kind of abortion? We need affirmative action, and we need it now.
The platform and grievances will be proposed and voted upon by the 870 delegates we elect for the conference on July 4, 2012. Read the whole document here: https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/