Forum Post: EMERGENCY: We have to expand our demographic base quickly and immediately, or we will fail completely.

My name is Daniel London. For 4 days I have been marching and working with Occupy Wall Street. It is clear to me, from what I have seen, heard from the broader public, and learned from the history of social movements in this country, that we have to build as broad a base as possible for our movement - far, far broader than the social movements this country has known since the 1960s - if we are to make any kind of change, much less meaningful change, in our country. Our group simply cannot be confined to aging academics, socialists, and young people. Our policies and principles, once acted upon in any way, will concretely and immediately BENEFIT immigrants, religious people, middle-class people, environmentalists, public-housing advocates, etc. WHY ARE THESE GROUPS NOT PART OF OUR MOVEMENT IN FORCE?

It is because we have typecast ourselves already through our demeanor and our demands. It might sound good to raise a sign about Bankers = Hitler, or waving an upside down American flag, or dressing like punks. I'm sure it feels very good to do these things. Guess what? You are going to bring this movement down, like EVERY STUDENT-LED PROTEST MOVEMENT IN THE PAST 40 YEARS. And why? Because those who would overwise join us are turned off by what we say and do, and we don't even care. As a result, as it is right now, within our ranks are represented less demographics than EITHER THE REPUBLICANS OR THE DEMOCRATS.

WE NEED TO LEARN HOW TO COMMUNICATE AND TAILOR OUR MESSAGE to other groups. We need to be reaching out to other groups in civil society, and show them that our fight is their fight. We need to get our Spanish speakers, Chinese speakers, and other language speakers organized and organizing. We need immigrants, religious people, middle-class people, and more attending our meetings and rallies. Will that mean compromising some of our broader goals? Yes. Will it mean difficulties and culture shocks? Yes. But if we do not expand our base, then we will have wasted this opportunity to forge a new Popular Front against greed and corruption. OUR NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IS NOT JUST TO EXPAND OUR NUMBERS, BUT TO EXPAND OUR DIVERSITY. Otherwise WE WILL FAIL.

The other day I was in the subway, and got in a conversation with an individual. He was Christian, homophobic - and hated Wall Street with a passion. Do we ignore people like this? Do we dismiss them because they aren't ideologically pure enough for us? Or do we find a way to get them involved in our cause and expand our numbers? Remember: over the course of the struggle, people like this drop many of their misconceptions about others as they share experiences together. History is clear about this - it happened in the Civil War, it happened during the Civil Rights movement, it happened in the environmental movement, and it needs to happen in our movement. We need to be a fulcrum, a forge, where different groups can come together and UNITE without becoming UNIFORM. To do this, we need to reach out and speak the language, as much as possible, of other groups. If we simply continue to expand our numbers amongst the demographics we already see on the streets, and not expand the diversity of our demographics, we WILL FAIL. Our slogan must be for the COMMON GOOD, above all.

I want to hear your thoughts on my ideas, if you agree with them, and if you do - any strategies and tactics you think will help get us closer to realizing the goal of a more diverse, inclusive movement.