Forum Post: What can you do Today if you can't particate in a Protest...
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 24, 2011, 1:39 a.m. EST by annie
(132)
from San Diego, CA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Here's a call to action for all involved:"Occupy Daily-Boycott". http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003055706229 This is a homegrown movement on facebook with a different company to boycott daily...not so much to effect the company itself (after all we want people to stay employed!) but to show our power in numbers by our ability to commit everyday AND protest by choosing how we spend our money. If we all band together, we can show the power of the 99%. Let's show that it is OUR money that makes this country run. t http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003055706229
Boycotts are only useful if they are sustained and become your lifestyle, not a one time thing. Start looking into every area of your life where you support the thing you say you want to end. If you dislike what the media tells you, get rid of your TV. If you dislike oil cartels, sell your car and take public transit. If you are angry with Wall Street, put your money where it does the most real good, invest locally and use credit unions. If you are appalled by factory farming and Monsanto, buy organic vegetables and stop eating meat. Do it EVERY DAY.
I must respectfully disagree - boycotts can be symbols but not much more - There are two keys to political success in America - MONEY & VOTES
If you have an extra $10,000,000 - please give it to Elizabeth Warren or the anti-Walker movement in Wisc. or the anti-Prop 5 in Ohio.
Kochs did it with their money - he created the TP with his money and his lies. OWS did it with no money and the truth.
But just as Koch would have failed without the TP VOTING,
we must vote - and write congress.
MONEY OUT NOW!
The capital of DEMOCRACY is the vote – your vote !
Public option & universal health care – medicare for all.
Corporations & rich must pay their fair share.
Corporations are not people & Money is not speech.
Stop oil company subsidies.
Eliminate recent restraints on collective bargaining.
Eliminate recent changes to restrict voting.
Restore banking regulations and regulators – regulate greed.
Break up the non-competitive, too big to fail banks.
Capital gains must be taxed as income.
Stop privatization of government.
Tax exported jobs.
Tax extra for ultra-fast stock trades ( <1 day )
Limit all campaign contributions to $100.
End the wars & Cut the military.
Create an FDR type WPA & CCC & a TVA for wind farms.
Hire & train returning vets.
Arrest and try the war criminals.
Stop using the Patriot Act to spy on Americans.
Arrest and try the bank/investment criminals.
Eliminate the filibuster.
Eliminate the Grover pledge.
FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE & SENATORs CONTACT:
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml -
http://www.house.gov/ -
http://www.senate.gov/ -
Then, “grass roots” it: get at least 4 of your friends to also email their congressman & get them to “grass roots” this through repeated generations–till Washington is covered in grass! You can use www.whitepages.com/person
to look up people & addresses & zip codes. Important Note:
they will only pay attention to zip codes in their
<House> congressional district or
<Senate> state
DEMOCRACY IS FOR SALE ONLY IF YOUR
INACTION ALLOWS IT !
==================================================
THE MESSAGE IS:
VOTE THE WAY I WANT ON MY ISSUES
OR I WONT VOTE FOR YOU
==================================================
Three organizations (at least)– NRA and AARP and TP have been enormously successful and powerful – by using their votes-
WE MUST TOO !
what's wrong with a symbol and nothing more? that's what every single protester has EVER been to any movement. A single person occupying space, saying I TOO CARE ABOUT THIS. This daily boycott is EXACTLY a symbol...like black tape on your mouth saying "we will not be silenced". But this symbol involves the way we spend our money! It's pretty clear to me.
Right now we have hundreds of thousands of people who are on board with OWS but live far away and feel completely disconnected. They don't even know how to be counted as a participant except to....chat on this forum? go to a meet up once, 40 miles from their house? This gives everyone a daily task...to check in....spread the word.... This IS A SYMBOLIC protest!
I am not objecting to a protest - or a boycott - my point is that this does not go far enough. All Americans - or I hope most of them - can still afford a 44c stamp or able to send an email to their congressman. This ACTION - in large enough numbers can counter the koch money and the fox noise. I am thrilled by the comraderie ( and peace ) at OWS but after speaking to many friends ( moderates ) they are inclined to denigrate our lack of leadership and direction and demands. OWS - use it - or lose it !
agreed! It doesn't go far enough...but it's the best I can do today and I have changed a lot of peoples thinking from..."hmmm I have all sorts of ideas but so what" to..."ok what can I do TODAY?". I believe that once OWS is in a person's mind every morning, like when they check their facebook for example...then that person is more likely to write the letters you mention, gather a group to travel to a protest etc. ..."A body in motion stays in motion."
This can't be bad.
I agree about the letters...and the strikes mentioned on by the Daily Kos last week...I am on board with all of it....anything that sends a message and shows how many of us there really are! We are here to disrupt business as usual as well as forward the great ideas springing up all over the community.
this is a symbolic action. this is a sign held in zucotti park. you are absolutely right that a one day boycott will not effect the company boycotted but as numbers increase it will just show that to Occupy Movement in all its forms (protests, meet-ups, general assembly, strikes AND boycotts) are happening all over. it's a way to be counted, don't you see. It is not the ACTION that is done....its the DAILY part that shows are commitment. One could easily say that holding a sign in the rain is a small insignificant act. But let me tell you. This boycott COULD show strenth if everyone who protested in the street got 2 people to boycott daily....if the chosen company were posted at the top of this website for example. It's not any one act...it's all of them combined. This is one part of an overall campaign.
Bag some ass.