Forum Post: To the Leadership: Accountability for the $300,000
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 19, 2011, 4:03 p.m. EST by quaker
(64)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I started a post a couple hours ago in an attempt to figure out what the process (and how we all can get involved with) of decision-making for the movement's donations to date. The post brought up more questions than answers. At this point, I think it is reasonable for someone who is in the "inner circle" leadership to address the following questions:
- How much of the $300,000 is remaining?
- How much was spent and what was it spent on?
- What is the formal, or informal, process for deciding on how the remaining amount is spent?
- What measures for accountability and transparency are there to ensure that the funds are properly administered?
I agree. I refuse to donate until these questions have been answered. The idea behind this movement is great and obviously a movement needs funding in order to make a true difference in this country. But details to exactly what the funding is used for (i.e. commercials, gatherings, posters, etc) would be nice. I would hate to find out that someone decided to start this movement with the sole purpose of getting his own ass into the 1%.
Am I the only one on this entire site that is at all curious or engaged about how the movement is spending its donations? Does the leadership not believe my simple and reasonable questions deserve answers? If you are interested as well, please join in and maybe we will get an answer!
and guess what people... even non profits only have to report ONCE A YEAR.. and your elected bribe taker only has to report once a month.. get over it.. particularly when there is no vehicle other than just a simple accounting that would demand they report these donations
Figure it out OWS.. but I'll keep sending money because you are the front line defense against the idiocy of wall street. You didn't start with a plan for ever getting donations.. now you got them. Get an accountant out of the crowd to do the books lol
Here's an idea. Instead of posting useless comments or trying to accuse the movement of mismanaging 300 grand, why don't you get your sorry ass down there, attend one of the meetings at the storage site, ask them yourself, suggest ideas for what to spend it on. Don't think you're fooling anyone by posting these kinds of threads.
There is no accusation here.... Just a desire for someone with the money to respond!!!
I will accuse. This is a fraud and there is rampant fraud being perpetrated amongst the OWSrs
I have been down there and was not able to talk to anybody that seemed to know what was going on. I do t know if you are accusing me of laziness or something more sinister, but I think my questions are reasonable and don't understand why you call them useless.
"Do we have any friendly amendments? Stack is open for friendly amendments.
Amendment – I propose that an inventory of what is purchased be made transparent for everyone to see either online, or posted somewhere here.
A: I’ll do both." - 10/18/11 NYCGA Minutes. http://www.nycga.net/category/minutes/minutes-ga/
Anything under $100 is considered petty cash and does not have to be brought up to the GA. All amounts over $100 have to be voted on at the GA and you can find those by reading the GA Minutes. What the rules are for amounts under $100, I am not sure. But it i believe it has to be for a Work Group and of course would go through the treasury group.
Best answer yet.
I think the issue with this was not that they were wanting be secret but they were trying to set up the base of a permanent website so all OWS data can be displayed. From what i have read the OWS is very democratic and it is only biased if only one sub group was to show up like all libs for example.
10/13 GA further down the page tells you more about how things work at the GA. They require 9/10s to consider it to have a consensus with a "block" signal if you have a serious ethic or safety objection to the proposal that may cause you to leave the movement if passed.
I have faith in the PEOPLE to work it out. My concern is the organizations that want control.
showers
ALL COPIED AND PASTED NOT MY OWN WORDS......
With roots that reach as far as Cairo’s fertile Tahrir Square, the Occupy protests roiling Wall Street will finally come full circle this weekend as they blossom in Canada, where they were conceived by Vancouver-based Adbusters.
Just a few short months ago, staff members at Adbusters magazine — one of the seminal agents of the modern-day culture-jamming movement — watched, rapt, as scores of ordinary Egyptians took to the streets to depose a dictator and end decades of brutal repression at the hands of their government.
“We had sort of a communal ‘Aha!’ moment,” Adbusters co-founder Kalle Lasn recalled in an interview. “We started wondering whether the same kind of tools that were used in Egypt, and the sort of regime-change philosophy, couldn’t be applied to America.”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/10/14/terence-corcoran-march-of-the-global-anarcho-crazies/#more-18756
The Adbusters editorial said that Tahrir Square Egyptians made a simple demand: Mubarak must go. The same could be done in America. “Following this model, what is our equally uncomplicated demand?” Oddly, Adbusters’ demand wasn’t all that grand. “We demand that Barack Obama ordain a parliamentary commission tasked with ending the influence money has over our representatives in Washington.”
A reasonable proposition. I could vote for it. But a little too cute, since Adbusters’ global objective is to bring down the political system, bring down corporations and replace them with somewhat undefined structures that most governments might not mind imposing, given half a chance.
http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters
http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/o/36-adbusters
Those that started OWS and those that are collecting the donations are not necessarily the same group. Sanity scribe, do you know that Adbusters has the donations?
LOL..I do not know for sure who has the money. Nobody seems to know. However, I would venture to guess that asking Adbusters might get a lead to somewhere else.
I am thinking maybe the best way to get an answer is to try and have the media track it down?
Maybe, as long as it's not any of the biased ones like..., fox, msnbc, cnn, abc, cbs, or nbc....
Maybe try talking to those who actually claim to have started OWS.....
Canadian magazine called Adbusters...
http://www.adbusters.org/about/adbusters
I doubt it would last that long. $300K is not all that much money really.
Of course you are right, but it is only the beginning! The movement can raise millions, especially if potential donors out there thought the money is being put to a good use! It all starts with the first $300k that was so publicly reported to have been raised, but nobody seems to know how the money was spent, or if it was spent, or who has control of it......
All good questions, wonder if there will (ever) be any answers?