Forum Post: The 90% requirement to pass a proposal is going to kill us
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 15, 2011, 7:20 a.m. EST by bretheilig
(1)
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Last night I basically watched two crazy people prevent the rest of the assembly from allocating ~1% of the movement's budget-to-date, to have an artist build puppets for a march.
Talking and shouting out of turn the whole time, their point, in fits and starts, was, 'how can we spend money on puppets when people are going hungry?' (The correct answer is: 'Nobody is galvanized that we're founding a new soup kitchen in Lower Manhattan. People are galvanized that we're sticking it to the banks in a highly energized and visible way.) I do acknowledge there are lots of great arguments to be made against such a proposal, but clearly, nobody wanted to make one; what we wanted as a group was puppets, and we had a passionate, talented person ready to be the leader, if we could just formalize the approval.
As much as I sympathize with the urge to be inclusive, we cannot give so much power to so small a minority, and expect to remain viable. The absolute wrong thing to do is subject a willing, able citizen to a two hour meeting where the least coherent members of the group are then permitted to kill his project. That's what Congress is for, and that's why OWS exists in the first place.
anyway we already have puppets ... in DC... ;) just kidding... I agree the process needs to evolve a bit....
I haven't been down to the assemblies, but how come only 20 people are involved?
Yes, and thus, planted aggitators can reduce us to ahes! This must change!
You will see Occupy Hartford fold shortly for the very same reason. Refine your methods.
I agree, but don't be discouraged. This is a natural side effect of the environment. We are beginning to ride an ever expanding wave of consciousness, a willingness to awake from a dream state and voice our outrage. There will be many overly heated moments where people forget themselves. The focus collectively should be on peace, intelligence, and understanding. What you described to me sounds like an off brand of a few EGO's getting in the way.
I have heard and spoken to so many wise people fluent in many different fields of expertise. The one thing you must remember is, this won't be easy, but it will be worth more than all currency in human history. A revolution of the minds will bring us into a new era of human kind. Kind being the key word. Thanks for the post friend.