Forum Post: People seem to be losing interest...
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 21, 2011, 2:12 p.m. EST by accountablemedia
(19)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
It seems like the amount of people searching for "occupy wall street" is starting to have a slightly downward trend.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=occupy+wall+street&ctab=0&geo=all&date=mtd&sort=0
I'm sure that someone brings up demands in the GA every day and never gets a consensus, which is understandable. But, I think it's time to really, really focus on forming an ask, if it isn't being paid attention to enough already. My suggested demand is similar to the original recommended demand of Adbusters: Get the money out of politics. Adbusters recommended setting up a presidential commission to accomplish this, but those aren't very effective in making actual change from what I've read. I think Obama should instead write an executive order that gives some office the task of removing money from politics.
Either way, I think it's really important to start making the conversation about demands constantly. Also, I don't want to suggest that this is the end-all, be-all demand, just something to strive for while the meme seems to slowly lose steam (at least this time around).
I strongly agree with you that the primary focus on the Occupy Movement should be to remove the money from politics.
There is a proverb in Spanish (I will translate and paraphrase into English): “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who YOU are.” The American people need to know who our elected officials “friends” are before we can hope to make an educated decision on whom to elect to office.
I think the simplest first step (and this movement NEEDS a first step to maintain momentum) is to begin a national petition demanding an Executive Order to fundamentally reform campaign finances.
I think we need a public verifiable voting system
Oh I absolutely agree; I'd go further to say that the Electoral College system of voting is archaic and counter-productive at this point and should be scrapped in favor of direct democracy.
Just keep occupying with the statement "we are the 99%" that way 99% of people can keep joining in. I truly believe this occupy movement is the big one that will bring about a paradigm shift. It's been a long time coming. The financi...al system as we know it is dying anyway, with or without "occupy", I think the real purpose of "occupy" is to show how a community can live and function together, embracing different cultures and ideas, but in a completely different and fairer way than the way of the world today. I don't think it's about bringing down the system, cos thats coming anyway, its about showing what we can replace it with when it dies. Unity is strength. Be the change we want to see
Yeah, an amazing thing about occupying is the amount of cooperation there is. No money for goods are ever exchanged on-site. Also, it would be great if even 10% of the 99% joined this effort, but how it looks now that might not happen this time around. BUT I DON'T KNOW :)
You are not the 99%. People are making fun of you boobs.
http://www.occupile.com/ These sites are popping up everywhere.
that I am the 2% milk picture is pretty funny
Are we supposed to be surprised that people are making fun of Occupy Wall Street?
The problem is that you guys aren't on the front page of Google. Actually, I can't find any websites dedicated to making fun of Occupy on the first ten pages of Google when I search for "occupy wall street."
You guys should consider gathering all your resources together to make fun of Occupy and do it by consensus, so that no one site gets more hits than another. Maybe you guys can have a place that everyone meets together and think about this. It's just an idea.
I just slapped the site together. Give me 10 days, and I'll be on page 1. Bet you a donut.
God, I was waiting for this. A Troll is never supposed to stop trolling! I thought you had given up :)
You know that trolls turn to stone if they ever come out of the basement during the day....
No way. We are more organized than the organized protesters are. Oh, and we have marketable skills ;)
I have just recently joined the effort. We may be losing some people but there are many more who are just finding out what this is really about who are joining the ranks as we speak. The media worked hard to keep us out of the news but we have overcome them. Now is time to press on even more.
Too weird. i was just realizing that my interest is waning when i saw your post. something concrete needs to start soon
Yes - words and energy need to turn into concrete action or eventually this movement will burn itself out.
Good ideas, but the authority to do any of it has not been gained. King obama, making an order that confined his jesters, I think not.--------
We need an Article V convention.
Congress is very afraid of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_to_propose_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution "Congress acted preemptively to propose the amendments instead. At least four amendments (the Seventeenth, Twenty-First, Twenty-Second, and Twenty-Fifth Amendments) have been identified as being proposed by Congress at least partly in response to the threat of an Article V convention."
Our first right in our contract is Article V, the right to have congress convene delgates when 2/3 of the states have applied for an amendatory convention.
Article. V.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.
Article V conference, Mark Meckler Lawrence Lessig at harvard 9/25/11-video comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-7ikbvu0Y8
Lessig power point on article V http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gpbfY-atMk
Lots of facts here about Article V. http://algoxy.com/poly/article_v_convention.html
We need to have big things happen once a week and once a month. The media and the populace will wonder what we are going to do next. To increase awareness anounce a date that something is going to happen with no details. Then let the rumors fly and slowly leak information on the event. The media comes calling, then you announce the details of the event, but it better be good every time. There should a 'level 1' event everyday.Once a week a level 2 event. Once a month a level 3 event, this would be world-wide. Once each year a level 4 event,...this would probably be the congress meeting on July 4th, 2012. To get the message out we need to be good manipulators of the media. It doesn't sound good but it is very valuable, John Lennon and Yoko did it all the time. As a matter of fact, if we could reach out to Yoko it would be great.
Any ‘protest’, any ‘change’ or ‘revolution’ not founded on the list below – at the very least the list below – has got no chance of changing anything. These very pillars of the system must fall or they will block any transformation of the human condition. The system does not need to be tinkered with or even fundamentally changed (on the surface). The whole bloody lot must go … starting with …
OWS needs leadership. Sure it doesn't need a spokesperson but it does need people to organize and focus the movement. The public knows we exist, so its time to do something. A lot of people here say "let's start the discussion" but that's wrong, the discussion is right now.
Come join the working group and express concerns:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the99declaration/
Just be aware, there are many people out there who are trying to drive a wedge between OWS and this 99%declaration group. The banks and incumbent criminals would be delighted if that happened.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/the99declaration/
As I said, it will take years of activism.
you know what you all want...but how are you going to achieve it.? – "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy ... if you want the 1 % out of goverment. then propose an admendment to do away with lobbist, and how about only allowing senators to serve 2 terms and congressmen the same. like the president. to keep power in check..i mean really..do you think the president has any power at all, maybe little..but senators and congress can stay in office as long as the electronic votes go in their favor..lmfao..!..hello...see the big picture..? who needs to be president when you can serve a life term as a senator who decides...rule behind the curtain..seriously know the facts about goverment..and make a change..but you are going to have to do it the right way or the fight way...success is make a plan and follow it through ..just like our forefathers did..just my opinion..
I agree with you that getting the money out of politics is a very important first step to achieving a positive change in this country. In fact, I started a thread about that this morning: "Get the money out of politics!" One poster brought up a bill that has been introduced in congress: http://fairelectionsnow.org/about-bill
get money out of voting
Sadly the Wall Street crowd is amused but certainly not fearful as the occupation protests aren’t hurting them in the least. They also know that those in the senate and congress whose campaign coffers they regularly fill will never enact legislation to fully protect the 99%. Demands with dire financial consequences that the people can enforce if not met are the only way to compel these thieves in $10,000 suits to act responsibly. We, the 99%, should demand that by 28 Oct 2012, the anniversary of Black Friday, the crash of 1929 that the banks do the following or we will simply stop paying our mortgages, credit cards and loans:
BANKING: Free personal checking accounts with deposits and debits credited the day they occur rather than sit on deposits to make someone overdrawn so as to stick them with fees and penalties and the elimination of all ATM / debit card related fees.
CREDIT CARDS: Permanently lower credit card interest rates to 7% and eliminate all fees.
STUDENT LOANS: Reduce all student loan interest permanently to 3.25% and extend them by ten years.
FIRST MORTGAGES: Reduce all first mortgage principals to actual current market values, extend the loan by ten years and permanently drop the interest rate to 3.25%.
SUBORDINATE MORTGAGES: Strip any and all subordinate mortgages if they, combined with the first mortgage, exceed the true market value of the home.
What can they do? Foreclose on every house in the country? Call and harass every one with a credit card or loan? India could never stand-up that many call centers. They'd be completely powerless for once and would go into full panic mode and do so quickly as their friends in congress and the senate could do absolutely nothing to turn the cash spigot back on. They'd know the fear of the impending loss of everything just as they caused countless millions.
I gave this country twenty-two years of honorable military service from which I became disabled. I did not serve and defend the 1% so that they could rape, pillage and plunder among the bottom 99%; rather I served the 99% and view the one-percent as but another enemy of everything for which this nation stood at its founding. This is why I most strongly advocate economic warfare for that is all they will understand as their lives, their world and their god is money – money that they steal from the bottom and will not rest until they have the last cent. Anything less than cutting off the cash flow from the bottom will do nothing and bring no change.
It is because this forum is turning into the dust bunnies under the couch.... it's too political here.
Let me explain. You are seeing a decline because the idea is out there now. Traffic is going to YouTube, Facebook, this site and other sites.
I wish for OWS to grow.
My bad...
Yes, a single issue, focus and goal, money out of Washington, that is the root cause, everything else just symptoms.
The end is near
Found this. Gonna join in a quick sec: http://www.nycga.net/groups/demands-group/
Indeed. Money out of politics. It's the one thing, and apparently only thing, that everyone seems to agree on - whether right or left.
What is desperately missing here is a unified consensus. I strongly suggest carefully, and quickly, implementing a grass roots, purple finger vote within Occupy to begin the process of developing a coherent voice... If you like the idea, please pass it around!
There hould be a voting system on this site, and some sytem for reaching consensus. I think this is urgent.
no, do you know whats missing here? guns. plain and simple. OWS is not willing to use guns therefore nothing will change so get over it.
I use my gun for hunting. I also use it for killing rats. It's left at home for protesting, cause vigilante justice won't work at this time.
Should America turn into a repeat of Greece... Well, I hope not, but I'll stand my ground to the last bullet.
How'd you get to that conclusion? There's people in solidarity with OWS willing to use guns if it meant the chance at a greater outcome. OWS will never endorse those people, prolly.
I think people would support this more if they knew what purple finger vote was
The idea of the purple finger vote is based on the system developed in Iraq. Develop questions and possible options in the General Assembly, distribute inexpensively printed ballots, then collect them, inking those who participate to ensure that no one votes more than once. Only those who mobilize can vote. Start grass roots and grow ensuing votes from there..
OWS is over. Put your tents away and go back to living.
Nomoneypolitics but unions won't support it you should've thrown union leadership out dumb!!!!
this is what happens when there is no central leadership.failure is the only plausible outcome.
Well, except in Egypt, Tunisia, and for the most part Libya where they have completely removed the former government.
Those people had a cause worth dying for. You, do not. That's the difference.
People don't have to die to get the President to write an executive order to take the financial infulence out of politics. Or, at least a lot of people don't have to die. It's not that big of a deal.
But you also bring up a good point - and that's the belief in martyrdom that's much more common in the Arab world then it is here, because of the belief in Islam.
Don't forget, though, we still have had our share of "martyrs", whether you agree with their actions or not: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/02/18/raw-data-joseph-stack-suicide-manifesto/
executive orders are not laws. very flawed.
They're definitely flawed, but it's more of a take what we can get until we have the power to demand more kind of thing.
Also, according to the Oxford Guide to US Government: "Executive orders are regulations issued by the President. Provided that they are based either on his constitutional powers or laws passed by Congress, they have the force of law."
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/executive-order-1#ixzz1bRewhLS9
he can just as easily make an executive order removing you from your protest.
Completely aware of that homie :)