Forum Post: How can we activate people who can’t be at the camps?
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 20, 2011, 10:51 p.m. EST by Chance
(15)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I was talking to my mom on the phone. She is 81, lives in a big retirement community in Ohio on her social security and my dad’s pension from the VA. I brought up Occupy and she told me all but a few of the residents there support it.
For every person living at an Occupy encampment there are thousands who support Occupy’s principles. These people can’t live at the camps because they work long hours, or raise kids full time, or are elders, or lots of other reasons. I feel the people at the camps are on the front lines. Now we need to find a way for everyone else to plug in to the movement. Right now all they can do is read about it or watch it on TV or the internet. But they can’t lend their energy, talent, voices, creativity. Getting these people involved, getting them COUNTED, will accelerate the change we seek. I think this is our challenge going forward.
Thoughts?
Show them what representation looks like.
Form the open source party. Use GAs and direct democracy, to form a party platform.
Circulate the grievances and platform to people interested in joining. Allow party members to vote in on online referendums, in a secure environment. All party members can vote. All party members can add to the discussion.
Find someone willing to run for office, on the platform and grievances.
Do not give them a leader, give them a representative.
The GAs can be used to assure that they are honest, as everything this representative votes on will go through the GAs and online referendums.
All party member will always know how he will be voting.
Show them what a representative government is supposed to look like.
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that's quite good, tnx.
It would need to be fleshed out, for sure, but I think it's what the movement needs,to move towards getting those of us in support that can't attend marches and rallies involved.
We are out here waiting.
Our local group doesn't even camp, there's no place to do so, nor is our town "ideal" for it. We'd only end up hurting our local businesses and we do not want to do that. We do a lot of direct discussions on a closed group on FB during the week, because all of us work or raise kids full time. We meet every week on the weekend and are organizing things like volunteer work, events (we are planning a family day event and food drive for local food bank) and also so we actually still feel connected. FB has a great option where members of the group can vote using the poll option. Suggestion before implementing this, ONLY invite people into the group that you know are supporters, and have seen FACE TO FACE. Facilitators can be the admins of the group to help out with it. Hope this helps, it's been working for us.
Many ways to peacefully protest. En masse, people could simultaneously stop paying their mortgages. There are also many people who would love to be part of the protest but can't physically be at an occupation, so perhaps they could post signs on their front lawns. This would grow exponentially if someone started. I can just see it now. Millions of homes and apartment balconies in suburbia and urban alike, lined with signs of the names of the ruling elite to get out of power!