Forum Post: The Twelve Traditions of Occupy Wall Street.....based upon A.A.
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 2, 2011, 3:16 p.m. EST by puff6962
(4052)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
This is based upon THE TWELVE TRADITIONS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS. It has kept disorganized collections of drunks from fragmenting or killing one another for over 70 years. It would serve a a nice model for a code of conduct for OWS.
Our common welfare should come first; progress depends upon OWS unity.
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
The only requirement for membership is a desire for a better America and a better world.
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or OWS as a whole.
Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the citizen who suffers.
An OWS group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the OWS name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Every OWS group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining corporate or political contributions.
OWS should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
OWS, as such, ought never be centralized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
OWS is a movement meant to highlight important issues. We support objectives, but issue no demands; hence the OWS name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. There is, as such, no official spokesperson for the movement.
Unity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
An incredibly important, incredibly successful, self-sustaining, un-centralized, leaderless organization, that arose out of need, which no establishment could or would meet. Set the bar higher, have humility and courage, and continue to carry the message to others.
Start by choosing 10 rational, intelligent, people from each Occupy group to start working on the issues confronting the growing movement.
There Is a War Going On For Your Mind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP5yA3RwzOk
Any OWS member who is not familiar with AA's group structure should start attending some open meetings so that mabye they'll "get it".
I totally agree with this. I have posted about this before & another member also posted a revision of the Traditions to suit OWS purposes.
Can we get the GA to pay attention?
AA is leaderless & loosely organized, yet they get most of their business matters accomplished in the framework of a one hour or 90 minute meeting.
Every member has an opportunity to speak, but no one member can monolplize the group's time or hijack its purpose.
Those GA's need structure, badly.
I vote for the above.
The key one may be number 10 and number 12. But, we need to agree on our principles.
You have to say something inflammatory to get anyone to read a forum topic. It is simply sad. If I had written about whether homosexuality can become palatable to the Republican party, or whether OWS should take a stand on abortion rights, there would be fifty eyes on this thread.
This is good stuff. Important to your future. But, every forum topic that I've written ends up a debating match with the crazies.
Every good article, or attempt at education, is simply ignored. It is still very early, but everyone is going to have to become much smarter in order to wage intellectual combat with the forces that are aligning against you.
If it's boring, you should probably read it. If you're arguing about climate change with a nutjob, then it's time to move onto the next topic.