Forum Post: OWS name a leader
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 17, 2011, 9:26 p.m. EST by RIGHTNOW
(6)
from Carlstadt, NJ
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
It is time to formally organize and name a leader or spokes person
Be careful about appointing a king - as soon as you do "Fox News" (an oxymoron) and the like will spend millions from their corporate war chest digging up dirt on the person in an effort to discredit the movement. I believe one of the reasons the opposition is having a hard time pinning down OWS is because it is such a moving target. My 2 cents: For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Don't get distracted by the symptoms - we need to address the root cause. Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
I also like the idea of a clean slate. That means getting rid of every incumbent.
Wow, great post. I'm enlightened. Don't you think it's time for a list of demands though?
I think that real campaign finance reform should be the main goal. Many of the other reforms folks have on their lists are very worthy and need to happen, but I feel the best way for those to be sorted out is by creating a campaign system where the true voice of the people can be heard and turned into law. Then the voice of the people (not the corporations or other special interests) can determine what other reforms should be enacted. The beauty of the message is that the majority of Americans already agree it needs to happen - the only people who fear it is the cronies who are currently benefiting from it. Spread the word!!!!
Only fox news does this?
MSNBC is the same thing as Fox News - propaganda, rhetoric, and, spin.
True.
I hope somebody in this movement has been working with a lawyer that is an expert on laws that were created or modified to suit corporations and goverment that allowed the mess we are in today.
We need a realistic approach as to how the public can make a real change in laws that affect everyone financially.
Nominate Gumby. He's flexible, fun and he always does good things.
The loopholes are going to be the hardest part to stamp out. There are many means of bribery. All money must be taken out of the political game. To capture viewership, the media will still ultimately need to promote the candidates in any elections, though promoting only the ones that the advertisers approve of would still be a concern. In addition, the arab spring & our action show the power of idividual communication to provide a voice. This is a political media that is more democratic that direct promotion through advertising & what not. There are a myriad of loopholes to be on watch for. Corporately paid volunteers for the approved of candidates. Unless made illegal & somehow enforced, this would end up a social media loophole. Third party non-profit political action organizations receiving corporate donations & than advertising on behalf of the desired official would also be a problem. Therefore charities & non-profits should be allowed to exist to provide attention to issues & work towards their stated goals, but not engage in lobbying or stating support for any particular parties or candidates. The list of loopholes go on. We will need to find them & somehow keep ahead of them. They will all need to be addressed. The corporations seem to have a switch somewhere permanently set to evil. It will coninue to be a tough fight.
NO LEADERS. Our detractors critisize us because we don't rally only to specific issues. This is only because there are so many things wrong in our society. We must stand strong with all the diversity of our objections. Continuing to have no conventional leadership, while not entering the debate with specific demands. In this way, they have no one to argue against. We force the politicians to confront the issues directly. They are left arguing with the problems themselves. How can we be marginalized when they have no leaders to co-opt, are forced to make our points for us, & all the while are stuck with a movement that won't go away. They are left in a position in which they must solve the problems or repress their guilt marching in the streets. Showing the world who they really are.
I like the leaderless thing, it makes things a little more frenzied. The best thing to come from OWS so far is people have something to discuss. The request for demands grows old though... Instead, as a recomendation, formulate a long term goal to set in action. Perhaps along the lines of obtaining Q and A sessions with members of the 1% and elected repressenatives to create a working discourse. The ultimate goal being that understanings are reached; all things have multiple sides and angels. Fresh perspectives are a desirable thing.
Ok ..How's this... Jesus Christ..
I like Jesus. He would be much more reasonable than all of OWS combined.
He is in OWS.
Well apparently he is everywhere so way to go
Learn from history OWS, the 1% are experts at eliminating leaders. don't...don't don't name any leader, or spokes person. Beware those who seek to plant the seeds of destruction, the agents of the 1% walk amoungst you; and will urge you to do the very thing that will destroy the movement. Leaderless, or everyone's a leader is the way to go.
The fact that OWS lacks a leader makes it so everyone is a representative of the OWS movement. this would mean that anyone no matter how uneducated can speak for the OWS. i can go down to the OWS tents and preach that the OWS believes in the flying spaghetti monster, and that he will save us from the 1%, this would not only belittle the movement, but it will also make the movement look like they are a bunch of crazy people. the movement requires (a) leader(s) to have an organize and concise demand, right now they only have claims. (demands have solutions, claims are only stating there's a problem)
I've learned from history, JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X; place a leader up before the 1% and they kill, slander or frame them. There is always risk, but that is what discernment and critical analysis is for. Using discernment I know the Brooklyn incident wherein cars were burnt, KKK signs, and antisemitism was sprayed and attributed to OWS was a lie. The same discernment allows me to filter and assess the spaghetti monster. So far so good, why mess with sucess when all is working so far.
I watched a movie when i was in elementary school. it was about two kids who go back in time, and they saved MLK. when they returned to the future, everything was different, there were still discrimination and civil rights were non existent. movements require matyrs, but those who are injured by police are not matyrs, although they die for a cause, cause of their death is stupidity. and are you saying that americans are able to filter out things just as you do? i think you are giving too much credit to americans.
I hear what you're saying but I LEARN FROM HISTORY...you may choose not to, and you are free to make that choice. peace.
its funny that you would introduce my lack of "experience" by introducing a fallacy in which case i would be deemed as less superior to your wisdom. yet maybe just maybe. you are old and out of the loop. what you learned from history is history, you say you learned from the mistakes and the correct choices yet if that were true why aren't you president?
You're projecting way too much. I said nothing of your lack of experience, because I don't know you, nor did I inject a fallacy; nor concerns of superiority, and this is a case of self meeting self, so I will leave you with yourself, and your issues. Peace, and out.
thank you for elaborating with your previous statement.
Karl Marx
YAHWEH!
obama is their defacto leader.