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Forum Post: search for one universal demand is dangerous tangent

Posted 12 years ago on Aug. 29, 2011, 11:01 p.m. EST by anonymous ()
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

Hey all, I've been following posts and seeing confusion about what "our one demand" is. There's a theory that protesters will articulate a demand once the occupation begins, and somehow a hopefully massive crowd will unanimously agree. I want to propose something...I think the search for a coherent demand is a waste of time, and a dangerous tangent that could scatter our energy. The call to end corporate personhood is admirable. But we have to remember that the New York Stock Exchange is not full of legislators who can sign in new constitutional amendments, nor is it full of judges who can overrule previous court rulings. The people who will be negotiating their way through our crowd to get to their "work" are just glorified gamblers- they're opportunists in the great casino on Wall St. They don't care about justice. They want to make money. They can't change the state of corporate personhood for us even if they wanted to. Nor can legislators or judges do it anytime soon. There's confusion about when corporate personhood began as well in the above posts. It's not something that came about in 2010. It goes back to 1886 with the Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad case. It's held for over 120 years and I think it's idiotic to think a bunch of gamblers at Wall St, or anyone, can overturn that ruling instantly just because a bunch of punk anarchists in homemade teeshirts have set up a tent city. I think we need to remember that we are there to disrupt. Can we all agree on that, regardless of our other issues? We are there to slow down the gamblers and make it difficult for them to get into their casino, and to attract positive media attention. We're there to make America think. We're there to inspire a movement much larger than our own. When Wall St is business as usual rainforests fall, hundreds of species a week go extinct, indigenous peoples disappear, and many of us waste precious hours of our lives chasing money as its buying power continuously erodes. When the stock market falters the economic world-devouring machine slows down. The economy is tettering on the brink. The Dow Jones has been on a roller coaster ride for weeks. We as citizens of the world are striking while the iron is hot, and never has there been as much national resentment toward Wall St already brewing. We'll need back up from the rest of America. We're gonna need people like the Iowa farmer who's pissed that the most powerful people on earth, the mega- bank CEOs, are on public bailout welfare. We need to draw in popular support, or we'll flounder as a bunch of irrelevant extremists stirring up trouble, and the public won't back us because the media will portray us as people the rest of America can't relate to. So that's all I'm trying to say, instead of voicing ludicrous demands like an end to global capitalism (I'm sure when Wall St sees us they'll scramble to meet such a demand and vow to never practice capitalism again...) can we all understand that this isn't about pushing reforms, tweeking the system, but is about disruption of something that is killing us, killing the world. Let's not forget Abbie Hoffman brought trading to a halt for ten or fifteen minutes simply by dropping $300 worth of five dollar bills from the balcony in the stock exchange. Think of what a public disruption thousands strong could achieve!

201 Comments

201 Comments


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[-] 2 points by anonymous () 12 years ago

it should be a demand to each other... to no longer take part in something we know is not right, and can not last. The general call should be for a genuine strike, and from there, we will begin to organize.

[-] 1 points by johnjw (3) 12 years ago

Here is the correct mission: "Arrrest those who profitted by commiting fraud or insider trading and caused the housing crisis." Put the culprits in prison and sell their assets to paydown US debt. This is actionable.

[-] 1 points by johnjw (3) 12 years ago

Here is the correct mission: "Arrrest those who profitted by commiting fraud or insider trading and caused the housing crisis." Put the culprits in prison and sell their assets to paydown US debt. This is actionable.

[-] 0 points by anonymous () 12 years ago

applause