Forum Post: Prioritze goals or disintegrate
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 5, 2011, 5:18 p.m. EST by robertshirk
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The Occupy movement must build on its momentum through prioritization of its goals or risk disintegration into factions at odds with each other. In my mind the primary goal needs to be changing the political process to end its domination by the corporations and moneyed elites through their lobbies and cash contributions. Currently, access to our elected representatives and their willingness to listen to ordinary citizens is so limited as to be laughable. A billion dollars to elect the next president? Absurd!
The 24/7 news cycle is a restless hungry beast always on the prowl for the next story and it needs to be fed, right? And it’s kind of hard to control, really. A public that is living in the age of too much information and too short attention spans is working to the 1 percent’s benefit most of the time but not always. Some things stick in the craw longer that Kim K’s latest beau because they’re real and honest and necessary; like OTW (whoops I meant OWS).
So then, how to get the media to continue to hear the OTW message becomes the question. It may mean rebranding a little: from the 1 percent that control the money to the (same) 1 percent that control the political process, the elections and those that are elected. Hard to get a corporate media that is controlled by that same 1 percent to listen or act against its own best interests but then OTW got their attention, right? (Its worth noting that OTW was making those powers that be uncomfortable enough that they felt compelled to have law enforcement do what winter was getting ready to do anyway: move the OTW camps.)
http://occupywallst.org/forum/rep-deutch-introduces-constitutional-amendment-to-/
Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy (OCCUPIED)
You can find more on this resolution:
You can find the PDF of the resolution at Rep. Deutch website.
and you can read repelican reaction here.
You have pretty much summarized the primary goal of OWS. But that one goal does not mean abandoning all of the others.
You have also identified the principle problem we face in changing the system by due process: the process is controlled by money.
Got any ideas on how to solve these problems?
I think we should start with direct democracy and when it's in place and working, all the other solutions can be voted on.
Something like this http://www.occupyr.com/Strategy/thread.php?id=582
Though, the OWS is mostly about giving more people awareness of what's really going on around them, how they are being screwed, rubbed, brainwashed and suppressed in the current system. And it's doing pretty good job.
They're doing okay the way they are, I think. OWS is united by their deep concern about the dreadful state our country is in and the hard future that may be awaiting them and their families. These conditions of inequality and corruption aren't going away any time soon, so neither is OWS.