Forum Post: National General Assembly to Meet in July in Philadelphia
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 29, 2011, 9:10 a.m. EST by publicus1
(125)
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Please support our objective to hold a National General Assembly the week of July 4th 2012 in Philadelphia. The content of the Petition for a Redress of Grievances will be left TOTALLY up to the 876 delegates. Our group, www.the99declaration.org is only a facilitation group which is organizing an open and transparent election of the delegates to the National General Assembly and then will pay for the venue space for the National General Assembly to meet and come up a with a Petition for a Redress of Grievances as authorized by the Constitution. We need you help to make this happen! Email us if you have any questions at the99declaration@gmail.com because this cannot happen with your support.
Slower than a deadlocked U.S. Congress.
Less powerful than the loudmouthed tea party.
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I will address this in Seattle tonight. It's time to become serious and state what we want, or will will begin to loose support.
We need to organize. I thibk it should be with democracy in mind. In 1776 we made beginning steps toward political democracy. But since the economic sector stayed medevil and hierarchical, the political has been corrupted. We need to work toward the option in every workplace of economic democracy by worker vote.
You need to work from within OWS GA unless you work for Faux.
Then why the fuck is your group specifically excluding minors and noncitizens from acting as delegates when minors and noncitizens have played a key role in occupations everywhere? Doesn't sound very open and transparent to me. And how the fuck to you seriously expect to get "delegates" from the vast majority of CDs where there are no GAs, much less any occupations? That's just kooky.
The problem with this is twofold:
A July 2012 meeting is well after most primaries and so will not be available for OWS activists to confront politicians with OWS positions in the low turnout primaries. The ONLY reason that the Tea Party was able to win as many seats in Congress, that it did in 2010, is because it acted in the primaries of an off year election when turnout was low for both the primary and election.
The declaration, as it is coming together now, looks much too complicated to advocate for in America's sound bite instant gratification political culture.
I've been thinking this may be a bit premature - but as long as we can keep focused on this approach over time, it may well prove useful. Just gathering this year will create pressure on the system, I don't think we will be ignored completely.
And it is possible - even likely - that as we gather some politicians will pick up our various causes - all in an effort to gain popular support for themselves of course.
And there are all of those empty seats to consider as well,
So while I do tend to agree - if what you are saying is this might be premature - never the less, I think it has some merit.
It takes time to put this kind of effort together. It is a viable alternative to simply marching in the streets and could be a formidable effort when combined with the current tactics of OWS.
The Declaration aka grievance list, is still evolving. In my estimation the entire list can stay or be added to, but prioritized.
Perhaps 4-5 urgent topics, Citizens United, Glass/Steagall, Rebuilding infrastructure aka jobs are three that I believe a strong majority could agree on as needing the most priority.
A large group presenting a grievance list even after the primaries can make an impact. It wouldn't be the first time a group of people affected an electoral outcome with a 'dark horse' winning the race.
If it will take eight months to formulate a declaration of positions how long will it take after that to find a any candidates?
This entire declaration effort appears designed to neutralize the momentum that OWS has on its side NOW.
It is obviously your need for instant gratification at work here today and you should not paint all Americans this way. This isn't rocket science, it is more a due process of law.
OWS has lost some momentum because it has failed to transition from beating the drum of the 1st Amendment right to peaceably assemble to the 1st Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The founding fathers petitioned Great Britain for ten years!
But what #occupy did do successfully was get everyone talking. I think OWS can do that again by refining it's techniques, for example:
I think OWS will leave it's cradle and mature into OLB, Occupy Liberty Bell or OIH Occupy Independence Hall. Have small peaceful assemblies all winter long in every congressional district spreading the word about the National General Assembly starting July 4th in Philadelphia. Ask the people of Philadelphia to invite their fellow Americans into their homes for the NGA and coordinate this all winter too. Have occasional "occupations" throughout the winter, growing in size as the spring approaches, the WE ARE THE 99% growing louder with each event. This keeps the light shining and the movement looking smart, smelling like a rose. Imagine the city of Philadelphia's population doubling or tripling for four days in July 2012.
The potential to market a campaign like this is enormous thanks to the success of OWS. Done properly, this event would have a profound impact on the 2012 election and even result in the creation of an independent 3rd party that rivals Republican and Democrat.
What are you waiting for? NYCGA, are you still there??? Mayflower, do you copy?
Since you completely ignore the major political opportunities unique to the primaries there really is no talking to you. You are dead set on this exercise in democratic process to the exclusion of actually participating in the exercise of democracy.
NOBODY elected these people to make any declaration. It is artificial and contrived. and it will sacrifice the real political momentum of this dynamic movement for a lot of dress up play acting at democracy.
It did not take eight months of play acting to get OWS out onto the streets of America. It should not take eight months of dress up play acting to get OWS vibrantly engaged in America's 230 year old democracy.
You are all talk and no action!
"these people" started the working group at the NYCGA. Democratically electing the delegates for the NGA does take time and money. It is called WORK, not play.
This is the problem in America, instant gratification. OWS has SOME momentum, it does not have broad based support, at least not the kind it would need to affect quick changes.
Civil rights didn't happen in a couple months, this won't either. The wheels do turn but they turn slowly.
The Civil Rights movement happened in spite of a centuries long culture of hate. Not so with the economic justice motivations of OWS.
The Civil Rights movement happened fifty years before the Internet. Not so with the technically astute 21st century masses of the OWS.
All that your offering is rationalizations and excuses for inertia. Doing nothing until a lot of self important people hand down their edicts from the mountaintop.
When you consider the population difference, the ideological differences time is the only thing that will allow the coming together of those differences.
Instant gratification.
Let the 'self important' people believe the 'flash in the pan' is done and watch the resurgence shock the future.
I happen to be a firm believer in reality.
Reality, is the major opportunity of the primary cycle that is being totally ignored by the declaration effort.
The tea party got the people into Congress that they did because they astutely recognized 1. the off year election turnout and 2. the exceedingly low turnout of the primary cycle.
I believe that OWS has a unique position and opportunity in even this presidential election year. Especially in the primary. As someone who has watched the body politic for forty-five years I see some things about OWS that I think you do not see. OWS has a long legacy in American party politics not as a specific entity but as a constituency. A constituency that was driven out of the Democrats as they turned more and more to the right in the past two-three decades. OWS is the activists and social justice idealists marginalized and demonized by the right-wing as the "left" and "liberals". But for decades before being driven out we were the foot soldiers of the Democrats who, at election time, would get out the vote for the Democrats. Marginalizing, disaffecting and driving us out of the Party is the reason that the Democrats have had a harder and harder time staying in the majority in Congress and the state houses.
The status quo Democrats, who are owned by Wall Street today, know this history. And they know that if OWS assert ourselves in the primaries that many Democrat candidates in the primaries will agree with us and adopt our positions to garner our votes and foot soldier activist support.
This potential scares hell out of the right-wing Democratic leadership.
In the low turnout primaries we can best get candidates to adopt our priorities in the same way that the tea party did it in 2010. Except in a presidential election year the volume of voters will be higher giving us a stronger constituent showing for our positions than the tea party had in their off year low turnout election wins. the polls have shown broad American support for our issues of economic justice. Americans, injured by the economic collapse, will get behind our candidates.
I don't want to waste this tremendous opportunity with something as inane as inertia.
The problem is that OWS (if one wishes to view it as a problem, have to try to cover everyone here) has taken a stance of being a strictly social movement, with refusal to involved politics in it's message, even though the message has political overtones.
There has been some attendance of OWS supporters at various events where political speakers are present. Perhaps these more local efforts could be stepped up and maybe a different presentation could be affected at, at least a portion of them.
This false dichotomy between social and political is really the greatest disservice inflicted on OWS. Its two sides of a single coin not two separate identities. You can't have one without the other.
There have been efforts in Iowa and other early primary states to engage the political process. and I am truly glad to see that. But this artificial non-leadership leadership roll that the convention group has imposed on the national movement implies a potential but offers inertia. It is stifling in its inaction. At least it should be encouraging OWS people across the nation to act unilaterally. Noq! Not wait.
I understand that, you understand that, now to get the rest of them to understand that.
Lacking that achievement (universal understanding) it's do the best you can with what you got.
Which is why I prefer to push forward rather than be held hostage by the inertia of some artificial bureaucracy that I have nothing to do with. And that has nothing to do with me.
Rather than be obsessed with this discrete and artificial intellectual exercise in democratic process I would rather get folks moving at exercising the real democratic rights we already have. Independently. Creatively. Effectively.
It would appear then a different venue would be more productive, would it not?
It's hard to get two to agree that it's raining when everything is getting wet at this one.
I tend to think that multitasking 21st century Americans are dexterous enough to walk and chew gum at the same time.
There's plenty of them that can't...empirical evidence supports the hypothesis.
If you look to the incident that occurred between the OWS and the 99PercentDeclaration, you'd see that it doesn't take much to disallow one line of thought from another. Misreporting resulted in a split between OWS and a Working group.
Perhaps a redirection to another forum where the premise could be discussed by individuals without the additional side commentary and off topic strays...inviting others from here to the second venue.
Where do you get the idea that I am saying go away? I said redirect to another forum others that you invite from here to facilitate discussion without distraction. An action which would leave open the possibilities of inviting others from other venues for such discussions.
You are reading into statements that which is not there, for that I am sorry I did not communicate my meaning better.
You are telling me to go away rather than engage OWS Americans in discussions of actually participating in American democracy.
Your as authoritarian as Obama and the Democrats are.
General Assembly is the government we need.Stop corruption,voting for another corporate servant will not make a change, pay the people to govern,and decide what's best for their communities and country..People's Forest and Wildlife Service..Earth Restoration Projects.Humanitarian and Ecological Unarmed Services..
So, how'd it go? Hope and change yet?