Forum Post: Defining Goals and Principles of the OWS Movement

Without a clear structure or leadership, OWS has sprouted organically in hundreds of cities. This sort of self-emergent organizing is a powerful new concept in the 21st century. What can we do to help this movement continue growing without centralized leadership? A carefully defined list of goals and principles, formulated and adopted by the consensus of the movement's participants, can keep the movement focused and clear, while remaining self-organized and decentralized.
Goals and principles, unlike "demands", cannot be granted or rejected by authorities. They are internalized by participants as a common vision for the future. Independent actions and strategies will be aligned by these core statements. Approximately a dozen each of these goals and principles are enough for clear definition, but brief enough to be broadly accepted. Goals (regulating banks, limiting corporate power, getting money out of politics, etc.) must be defined in a clear and achievable way. Principles (consensus, non-violence, non-partisanship, etc.) can be defined so that independent action can always refer to standards that the movement can support. Existing statements such as the Liberty Square Blueprint and the 99% Declaration are good staring points for a dialog on goals and principles. It may be difficult to distill the broad issues of economic justice, into a dozen brief paragraphs, but the results will be worthwhile. In nature, the continuous feedback of a simple set of rules creates systems of awesome complexity and resilience. To consciously apply that principle to a social movement can be a potent resource.