Forum Post: Occupiers should also Occupy Commute Routes daily with MINIPROTESTING

The Occupy movement in most towns has already achieved their primary goal: draw media attention to showcase their power of numbers and the might of their convictions.

But these occupations have huge potential to do even more, and they’ve got the organizational structure and protest signs to manifest this. What if they added the Socratic method to their messaging, presenting stats and evidence to support their assertions? Rather than present a stationary, amorphous mob, what if they were to station small groups on consecutive street corners along ALL different outbound commute arteries? Now they wouldn’t be relying on media to get their point across, they’d be delivering it in well-defined terms directly to motorists bogged down in traffic leading to every freeway or bridge onramp.

Occupiers, this is how the concept of miniprotesting can drastically expand the scope of your causes, and add the power to convince to your messaging arsenal. Here’s how miniprotesting works in a nutshell:

Miniprotests are made up of three small groups of four spread out over three consecutive street corners. Each group within this protest string has someone in its center holding a 30" x 40" main sign at waist level. The three folks around the central miniprotester hold traditional signs overhead. That way the focus of passing motorists will be on the three main signs at eye level which provide a running message like the old Berma Shave rural roadside ads. This format allows a few seconds (or minutes if traffic is really bad) for folks to digest each part of the message before they see the next.

See more details at:

http://miniprotests.com

So here is a miniprotesting main sign inscription set that could give many factions of the Occupy movement a voice on the streets. It also unifies all causes under the umbrella of the Fair America Platform. It would look like this:

The main sign for corner #1:

Occupiers Support the Fair America Platform

    Tax Fairness:  Restore Fair Taxation of Millionaires

    End Tax Free Offshore Loopholes for B of A, Exxon/Mobil

    Job Fairness:  Restore Unions, Eliminate Tax Breaks for Offshoring

The main sign for corner #2:

Occupiers Support the Fair America Platform

Fair Elections:  Paper Ballots Hand Counted, Public Campaign Funding Only

Fair Representation: Overturn Citizen’s United, Curb Lobbying Excesses

Fair Business Practices:  Restore Oversight Over Industry and Wall St.

Corner #3:

What’s Un-American About

Asking for a Fair America?

Those That Fight a Fair America

Are Pandering to Corporate Titans, Billionaires

Another thing about using miniprotests in tandem with Occupy events is that it lowers the threshold for people who want to participate but can’t spare the time or are not wild about sleeping outdoors. And because each group is just four people, no permits are required and police have no legal justification for interfering.

The Occupy movements are all peaceful, and the miniprotesting theme mirrors that by avoiding abusive language. The miniprotesting motto is: On the Streets WE ARE HOPE. Please take your opportunity to embody that and feel the momentum as it grows day by day.

Standing strong,

Todd Telford Winner of the American Dream Scholarship for the concept of miniprotesting http://miniprotests.com Cotati, CA