Forum Post: Mike Check - Petition Proposal for the General Assembly or Action Committee
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 3, 2011, 12:07 a.m. EST by JohnLockwood
(2)
from Sacramento, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Hello,
I'm a 99%er out here in the Sacramento area. I wanted to make an earnest proposal both to occupiers acting on their own and to the General Assembly that we consider (individually / collectively) ratifying this petition (as I have):
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-new-common-sense
The full text is here: http://pastebin.com/gm2UV08D.
Why do I think this is important and very much worth reading and discussing?
1) It is not a laundry list of the left, but a document that addresses the problem of the corruption of our government in a way that is widely accessible to 99%-ers on all sides of the political spectrum. For this reason it is capable of garnering broad enough support to be effective. I have been continually impressed by our emphasis on non-violence, and believe in this spirit that we have the goodwill not only to forgive our opponents, but to go even further -- to work with them, listen to them, and persuade them.
2) It puts our government "representatives" (well, so-called) in the position of having to either do the job that (on paper) we elected them to do -- to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States -- or to make it incredibly obvious that they are against the will of the people.
3) It does not in and of itself preclude action beyond the scope of the document or force us down a particular path. Indeed, to the extent that our government resists the principles contained in the document, it gives us a mandate for even more vigorous action, since it robs from them whatever pretext of democratic rule they were formerly able to muster.
I am very ambivalent about the idea that specific demands will enable to opposition to try to co-opt or mischaracterize us. They will do that in any case. While we continue to occupy and maintain the idea of a diversity of tactics, we should also begin to think not only tactically but strategically. I believe this document is an absolutely brilliant political accomplishment. Please give it your most serious attention.
Respectfully, and in Solidarity,
John Lockwood
Thank you so much for replying to this. I enjoyed the declaration as well, but I don't find it has a call to action like the other, and it looked like it copied a bit too much of the language. (Maybe The New Common Sense does as well -- but there I'm protected by bias from some ignorance of the original).
I am finding INCREDIBLY little conversation about this petition and like one other person on another site I am surprised and dismayed that it hasn't gone viral. I blame it on the fact that most of the people on twitter don't have the ability to read much beyond 140 characters. Sorry if that's elitist -- I'm even sorrier if it's true. Hopefully somebody will prove me wrong and read the damned thing and respond to it?
Yes it is very good. I'm a proponent of the National General Assembly as per the 99% Declaration. I also enjoyed the Declaration Of Desperation http://thedeclarationofdesperation.wordpress.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/