Forum Post: Occupy Wall Street Letter

Dear righteous brothers and sisters, occupiers, 99'ers,

First let me say thank you, thank you for your courage, time, and action. I will admit that my initial reaction to the protests in New York was extremely skeptical. I am 20 years old and in my young and sometimes irrational frustration I had come to the conclusion that I was ready for action on a more extreme level. I had a fight and die mentality, this mentality is still intact, but it is starting to grow and mature. I told myself that if I could find a small group of people like myself, people who can't turn their backs on this countries corruption, then I would be willing to organize and rebel. I now understand that revolution is a prossess and not any single form of action. No small group of people can change things on a large scale without the support of the people. It gives me great relief and pride to say that the people have arrived. There can be no revolutionary change without the people. This is why those of us who have gained awareness of capitalisms exploitation must do everything possible to spread that awareness. I'm sure that many people are simply so wrapped up in their daily struggle for economic stability that they haven't had the time or resources to raise their level of consciousness. We must help these people gain a better understanding of our situation. At the same time we must open the eyes of those given the illusion of wealth, and show them that this system doesn't serve our best interests as a whole. The time has come for us all to realize that whatever ill-fate awaits this country, awaits the entire human race. We are all in the same boat, which is why these uprisings in our communities should be classified as protests against American greed, not just corporate greed. As we protest it is important that we realize the obvious truth that the system can't be changed from within. We cannot protest forever, we need leadership and some kind of further action that will help the world understand our ideas, and our demands. As we take this next step we must be cautious because our oppressors will never willingly give up their power. Until our society as a whole is ready for an overhaul of the system or at least some kind of significant change, solidarity will be a key aspect and weapon of this movement. Yet even as we gather peacefully we must deal with the unsettling presence of the pigs. Their reaction to the protests should obliterate any hopes we had of them joining the 99%, they are clearly being used as an instrument of the ruling classes oppression. Their play at friendliness should mean nothing to us, at the end of the day the majority of them will still follow orders. Even when those orders are to arrest us for exhausting our constitutional right to gather peacefully. Of course, they are horribly mistaken if they think tear gas, flashbangs, and bean bag rounds will stop us. If we are indeed slaves to capitalism, then these police are allies with the slavemaster. They are fighting a losing battle however, the slaves will always outnumber the slavemasters. Once counsciousness is raised this will prove true. Until then we must organize and prepare ourselves for the inevitable "by any means necessary" mentality that we must all adopt and finetune. We cannot accept reform, this is revolution. They will try to suppress this revolution just as they have suppressed previous revolutions (both foreign and domestic), that threatened to lighten their pockets. Whatever force the people conjure up will immediately be met with superior force, and the gun. This is why it is important for us to utilize the gun when the time comes. I am not an advocate of violence at all. I am an advocate of self-defense. Meaning if I go into the streets to march peacefully and I get tear gas thrown at me, I have a right to defend myself. Right now the media is telling us about the people who haven't truly found their place in the movement, the people vandalizing and burning the first thing they see. All this does is cause people to misconstrue our goals. Violence will cause overwhelming bloodshed, and take many lives. If the revolution is carried out correctly then the victors, the people, will destroy the gun. We want an end to war and unfortunatley this can only be accomplished through war. Our situation is extreme, therefore it will take extreme measures to fix it. This is the main reason I felt compelled to write you all, because I respect the action you have taken. It has given me strength for the present and hope for the future. I am overcome with gratitude and pride as I witness this unity among us for the first time in my life. Our time is now, I have no money to send, only whatever warmth and love this letter might bring you. I will be in Oakland to show my support whenever I can be. Please stay safe, continue to look out for each other as you have been, and never stop fighting.