Forum Post: OWS, What are we going to do if we don't get what we want?
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 24, 2011, 12:51 p.m. EST by WeUsAll
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We can occupy for months or years, but if nothing changes, it's quantity over quality. Marching and carrying signs, while camping out, is all well and good to get the message out there, but at some point we have to do more than ask politely. Most of us are poor, so taking out money out of banks won't do anything to hurt the banks. Nothing is changing and wall street continues on it's merry way, so now what?
We will get more persistent and I will be donating a large chunk of my time to help get Obama a second term.
WE never get everything we all want. Small steps, it's a process, a transition. The internet networks are helping with now over 1500 cities participating and growing.
So now we collect our efforts to sort out the issues, inviting media. We then a) Form a World Occupy Global Conference at a set location for the media to digest, issues are established, forum created to solicit established governments b) Parallel Government representative from various regions are brought to the table along with legal and technical teams associated. b-1) Eventually creating a virtual global institution which begins to prepare the new social system as the old system continues its operation and inevitable failure.
Once the public model is defined, a mass public awareness campaign is commenced in which this new governing body is announced and the tipping point will come once the public begins to see the merit of the new social proposal and is recognizing the governing entity itself, eventually giving it priority over the prior political establishment.
I don't see any evidence of any of what you speak. There is no new governing body, everything is the same as yesterday - everything!! So now that nothing has changed, what will we do?? WHAT??!!
the best way to change things is to stop buying from corporations.
starve them.
buy used from thrift shops
sell your car and use a bicycle with pannier bags for hauling stuff
grow your own veggies.
trade the excess for fruit and othe food
pay off all debt and stay that way
cut up the credit cards
barter with a neighbor for their wireless network password - share what's already there
you change the 'stsyem' after you change your lifestyle
keep feeding money into the 'system' and nothing will change
I've lived my life like that for over 30 years, while watching more and more people eat at McDonalds, more and more people buy things they can't afford and don't need, while they bury themselves in debt. More and more people seem to be incredibly ignorant, which will just increase the herd of sheep that follow sparkly lifestyles to no end. An ignorant consumer is a big corporations best customer. Stop the stupidity and the corporations will die, but until then nothing will change. If fact it keeps getting worse with every uneducated generation.
Here's how we can easily Reform Wall Street: Take away their powers "Once Again." And a Million People March to Capitol Hill will help get it done!
For example, "We are here Congress because we want you to REINSTATE the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 http://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/071603.asp#axzz1aPEc3wX which was created to help save our country from the Great Depression by preventing investment companies, banks, and insurance companies from merging and becoming large brokerage firms; instead of just being Banks and Insurance companies--Congress why can't you learn a history lesson from 1929? Btw, why did most of you vote for most of it's repeal in 1999? http://www.counterpunch.org/2008/09/19/shattering-the-glass-steagall-act (2nd story here)
Think about where we are now, it all started in 1999 with lawmakers like Senator Phil Gramm who helped create legal gambling casinos for our banks: CNN's The Ten Most Responsible for Economy Collapse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKQOxr2wBZQ&feature=related
Furthermore, we also want you to CHANGE the Commodities Future Modernization Act of 2000 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_Futures_Modernization_Act_of_2000 BACK to where it was before 2000, which since has deregulated energy markets and consequently allowed for such scams as The Enron Loophole; whereas in the early 2000's Enron Corp. was charging 250 bucks plus for a kilowatt hour...They all when to jail for this. But, the Enron loophole is still not closed, for example, allowing speculators to resell barrels of oil over and over again before it reaches the gas station owner. It's basically legal gambling at our expense. What were those lawmakers thinking then? What are you thinking now? Either do the right thing, or you're part of the 1%."
So why are oil prices high? The Enron Loophole. Former head of U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission speaks to Congress on the high price of oil--and he's not happy about energy deregulations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbdtTGYQBMU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNp0y0SjOkY&feature=related
Rolling Stones Reporter: Truth about Goldman Sachs--how they have cornered the markets--basically, The Enron Loophole and the shattering of Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waL5UxScgUw
Let's get focused and bring back The Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, they got it right 1933, we don't need to REINVENT the wheel because bringing this Act back will help create an even playing field once again....and let's finally Close the Enron Loophole, which allowed Enron to charge what they wanted for energy; they went to jail for this; but no one closed the loophole, why? Re-election Monies from the big brokerage firms and oil companies! The writing is on the wall.
Well, yes, that's what we want, but my question remains, "What do we do if we don't get what we want?"
It's more a tidal wave principle - once the initial waves start an oscillation, the greater mass of the water it can travel through creates an unstoppable force. People always have talked about paradigm shifts, etc, but every time a wave like this comes around more and more people translate talk into action. It's just got to keep up, is all. Eventually every sand castle is washed away. New actions will spring up every day as more and more people are inspired to think differently, to engage, and to act.
Think about what has already been accomplished - it's one thing to protest a specific event, such as the anti war protests from a decade ago on, but this is a protest of making the intangible, tangible, and the more actions materialize, the more that becomes the reality.
But seriously, what? If OWS can get some changes happening, fine, but if not, what's Plan B?
http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page
there is an information economy underneath the economy. change the paradigm, change reality.
marching and protesting is meaningless compared to a paradigm shift.
Interesting ideas. Someone just sent me this, which has probably already been posted somewhere here, but what do you think about it?
From Warren Buffet... Please consider... Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling: "I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election". The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months, 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011:
If people are seriously in a spot where it is life and death and people are miserable to the point of suicide (how most people during the great depression felt when all their money was gone) or death due to lack of power of your surroundings (Now and the French Rev) then we will have another civil war on our hands. But I doubt it will get that bad. If it does, then we must do all we can to throw out our government and try again. We might not get good people after that throw out but we can always keep trying until we get somewhere.
Get into politics and try to unseat those who disagree with our aims. The thing is, if we try this for Rangel and succeed (which we should, between the corruption censure and the free trade thing) then it sends a message to the rest of DC that they have to start taking us into account if they want to keep their jobs. The Tea Party did it, the Populists did it, the Green Party does it on occasion, and generally speaking it works. Citizens United allows us to build and fund an OWS superPAC, essentially a war chest that we can spend on our candidates across the country. Now, we'd obviously not start soliciting corporate funding for it because that goes against everything we stand for, but imagine the power that an independently aligned national coalition of small donors would have to influence this country during elections season. We could throw our people (actual OWS'ers with community organization/activism/legal backgrounds or OWS sympathizers in that category) into Democratic and Republican primaries across the country, and even if we only take one or two seats most legislators will think of the Tea Party and be less willing to ignore our interests.
don't panic
Democracy in my opinion is more or less equal voice and level of life.
March on Washington, kick out all current government, and start real democracy.
then you must ask the question, what is REAL democracy?
Not rich self serving...
But that is capitalism. Unless you want Communism, which is a nice idea, BUT too many people would be against it.
You are right kammce, communism can be the answer, and you are right ppl will be against it. They where raised to hate it, now we can't accept it. So OWS will not likely achieve anything... Sorry...
Communism can be the answer? Communism or its cousin socialism will never work because they can only succeed in a world without greed or jealousy. If everyone is to be equal in all aspects of their life, then why would anyone try to excel? Communism is a pipe dream of the poor and a wet dream of the power elite as they would remain in power and have all of their wants tended to while everyone else suffers, see the former USSR for an example.
I grew up in the USSR, moved to USA, lived in the US for 20 years, came back to former USSR 3 years ago. I have seen it all. Each system and each country has it's own good and bad points. US has more consumerism, in former USSR life is more relaxed and stable, people better educated, and all kind of good things come from it. Less crime, more all kinds of freedoms, friendly attitude. No mexican drug dealers, no blacks, no chinese, just 100% white caucasian population with very little gypsies, jews, vietnamese, etc. 3-4 blacks in my town, but they all act and speak totally the same as we do. To say that USA exceptionally better than my native country will be total ignorance. Inequality in former USSR between elite and poor people is big myth to brainwash everybody and typical cowardice which was coming all the time from the other side of Iron Curtain. We here all know what your governments wanted to achieve by such propaganda. They hate us. Look at McCain. He is mad motherfucker who would go for nuclear holocaust for entire world including USA if get elected. We actually had not inequality problems in USSR, we had too much of equality. This includes "elite" as you call it. I prefer this lifestyle, tired of everything american. No hard feelings. I have to admit US have a lot of good people and some things better than we do here. But difference is small and quickly disappearing. And sadly, culture in society become more similar to US. So, I have seen it all. My experience telling to me that the culture determining more how society lives. Less comes from Communism or Capitalism. People can harm each other in any system. So, we should forget both of those words and treat each other civilized, but treat nature and animals better then we treat each other. That is my opinion how to live in new millennium. Good luck to OWS movement!
Uh Vote For Ron Paul?
No! Obama!
just what we need a banker controlled globalist. Obama and bush are the same coin. Who funded Obama? Wallstreet, you should not be in this movement if you agree with obama.