Forum Post: Specific Demand And Action List For New York (Wall St)

FOR THE FORCEFUL AND COMPLETE LIST OF DEMANDS FOR WASHINGTON, DC, please click HERE (this is where the rubber meets the road folks): https://occupywallst.org/forum/specific-demand-and-action-list-for-washington-dc/

Many are asking, where do we go from here? Please read below. I offer this as a starting point. Please suggest additions, subtractions and changes as you see fit.

I think we need a two pronged approach:

NEW YORK - Shut down Wall St. for one day.

WASHINGTON, DC - Shut down the Capitol Building for one day.

Details on why, how and the results below.

NEW YORK (WALL ST.)

Many have said these things but let me try to collect them here in one spot. We are gaining momentum and the world is waking up to this incredible protest. We have remained non-violent. Many in America are sympathetic and are grateful that we are taking a stand.

But occupying the park near Wall Street and marching by themselves are not enough. The world and our supporters will get energized if we get tactical and take action:

FIRST - The videos of police using brutal physical force and pepper spray against peaceful protestors do an incredible job displaying the brutality of the power structure. King, Gandhi, Abbey Hoffman and countless others who are / were professionals at non-violent action and peaceful provocation would absolutely be calling a press conference denouncing these actions and showing these videos at the press conference. This puts the police on the defensive. Huge kudos to those that found a way to organize the upcoming press conference with 300 people on the steps of New York City Hall.

SECOND - King and Gandhi were successful in part because they were experts at tactical non-violence. We can follow in their footsteps by blocking the entrances to Wall St. offices this week. As we know, police have set up what amounts to a Green Zone around Wall St. But the suits have to enter somewhere. They have to leave the public street and enter that Green Zone somewhere. That point where public meets private should be the very center of our focus for non-violent resistance and occupation. Even as the location of that intersection shifts, we can always identify it. By definition there must always be an entrance and that entrance should be our focus.

THIRD - OUR ONE DEMAND - We should make one single demand here in New York (don't worry, the DC list is much longer). The one demand in New York is: "Shut Down Wall St." Why are we shutting down Wall St.? "Because Wall St. is hurting Americans, hurting citizens of the world and ruining our environment."

When they fail to shut down Wall St., we do it for them in a non-violent way using peaceful non-violent resistance. And when the press asks, why.... We answer "We shut down Wall St. for a day so America and the world could breathe for a day, be free of the plutocracy for a day, be free of the exploitation for a day, be free of the greed for a day. Many will ask "What good is a day?" and we'll answer: "You call it a day. We call it a pretty good start. If someone has their foot on your neck for years and years and you non-violently force that foot to be removed for a day, that allows you breathing room for all sorts of options.

FOURTH - HOW - To shut it down, we need human chains of 30, 50, 90, 150, 300 people linked together (think zip ties) blocking the various entrances. The police will find it almost impossible to deal with these human blockades. This will create the largest pedestrian traffic jam New York has ever seen and the people who have been trading on the world's misery for so long simply won't be able to get in to do it that day. It will help if we don't go in as a march but instead go dark as regular old NYC pedestrians from all directions and then show up there at the same time.

I am aware that now protestors have found access to a large cache of civilian clothes that will allow many of the new people arriving to blend in (suits, ties, the works). This new donation will make it much easier to blend in up until the point of protest. And it will also gum up the works even more, making it easier to shut down Wall St. because now the police can't tell who's who and they need to stop EVERYONE, even the suits. Their Green Zone will then break down.

FIFTH - THE RESULT - The result of this direct non-violent action, this just protest, is that the front page of newspapers around the world will show images peaceful American youth shutting down the financial district that has wrought so much destruction around the world for so long. They'll be inspired by the ingenuity, the success and the courage and the movement will grow EXPONENTIALLY. Gandhi and King have given us the playbook. It's peaceful non-resistance. And it works.

We have the stage but that's not enough. It's time for direct action. It's time for civil disobedience to bring the truth into the light. They are not equipped to deal with it. They don't know what to do with non-violence because all the cameras are rolling and whatever they do makes them look bad. We will confound them if we take direct action.

The spirit of Abbey Hoffman, Martin L King and Gandhi is with us. It's time to use their playbook. It's time for ACTION!!! Civil disobedience. Our disobedience will be consistently blocking the entrances to Wall Street’s offices. They will find us coming together to block these entrances wherever they move them. Because there is always an intersection where public meets private. No matter where they move it, we’ll be there. We will be there.

HERE IS WHAT MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. SAID ABOUT THE POWER OF NON-VIOLENT DIRECT ACTION:

Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks to so dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent-resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, we must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.

The purpose of our direct-action program is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation.

HERE'S THE FULL TEXT OF "LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL" http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html

If you need some inspiration or you want to see why direct action is necessary, take a look at these:

Some of you have seen this. Some of you haven't. Citigroup sent it out to its most elite customers. Read the whole thing. It's worth the time and will shock you. http://jdeanicite.typepad.com/files/plutonomy-1.pdf

Very short video from BBC business news in London. About halfway in it gets extraordinary. http://youtu.be/lqN3amj6AcE

NOW DC: (please see other post)