Forum Post: Where should OWS be during harsh winter
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 16, 2011, 1:45 a.m. EST by Victorfcp4
(10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Since the recent ban of sleeping bags and tents and blankets, where will the movement be during the winter? I was wondering if OWS has begun to discuss the movement during winter months. I think energy should be focused and spent on reorganizing people for late Winter or early Spring and fundraising.
I would like to propose that the movement take a break during the intolerable cold months to reorganize The Movement and focus on online fundraising with T-Shirts with clever a moto, logo, chant, or symbol--something simple that the 99% can support by wearing and buying. I would start by seeing if some t-shirt company would donate shirts and if someone would print logos, motos, chants or something for free.
Also, i think bumper stickers that inform people when the movement would start again--assuming OWS takes a break during the harsh winter. I was thinking something along the lines of a "March 1st: Join OWS" bumper sticker for 5 bucks. Make it available online to buy.
I have more ideas that i could present. If someone influential within the movement would like to contact me,send me a private message.
Hmm, I am wondering about this 'ban on pillows'.
One thing that could be done, is for all OWS to get a garbage bag, stuff it full of something soft, and use it as a pillow in the park. The Police would have their hands full seizing all these garbage bags full of leaves or whatever, and a garbage bag full of leaves, newspaper, or rags makes a handy sleeping bag too.
Are they going to start banning garbage bags full of leaves from the parks, too?
In the streets... on the march...
It is time for The Tea Party and OWS to join together. We can change this country...
Whatever your political beliefs, we all agree things need to be changed. Change is in the air...
Let the true voices of America come together in the name of Patriotism. Join together and make a change. Do not let political power stand in the way.
Together we have the opportunity to make beneficial change...
Let the true voices of America come together in the name of Patriotism. Join together and make a change. Do not let political power stand in the way.
Together we have the opportunity to change...
If you live where occupying outside is unsafe due to the brutally cold climate, then occupy the internet and all forms of media you can.
Watch, guard and enlighten as many as you can as to what the puppet masters are doing every day. Stay informed and share what you discover and learn with as many as you possibly can.
the movement needs to continue - consumer boycotts, protests at bank, malls, general strikes...
Promote the movement by downloading "The 99% badges" and putting it up on your websites, facebook, twitter, blogs to give a daily reminder that the movement remains strong and is growing (badges could be linked to local occupy sites):
"We are the 99%": http://www.datafilehost.com/download-79f3c507.html
"I am the 99%": http://www.datafilehost.com/download-79db2eda.html
Please share and promote the use of these badges...
Occupying a job. Lol.
^ What he said.
In your Mom's house drinking hot CO CO.
Make your own. diy items....it's hardly predatory capitalism.
The problems come mainly from super sized hierarchies which are based around controlling & exploiting people & nature on a grand scale. People controlling other people, & the natural world.
Mom & Pop & DIY industries are not about that. Innocent capitalism is possible. It does exist.
inside? duh
diy diy diy
For OWS to be able to make any decisions, there has to be a leader. Who is that leader? No one knows. There is no direction of this group other than to "occupy."
What would impress me the most would be for OWS to create democratically run cooperative business enterprises to actually hire people. Think about it: OWS has a base of people who would prefer their business to a competitor even if price and product are the same. OWS has some amount of seed capital. OWS has the chance to create niche products never seen before. And if people are organized and determined enough, OWS can even create money out of thin air, just like a bank, using some sort of coupons for credit.
Some products I'd like to see:
A cheap replacement for the traditional diamond engagement ring, which is engraved with the number of an account, in the name of the woman receiving it. Rather than putting the money into slave labor and warfare in Africa, put the money into a socially conscious investment account in carefully chosen American progressive enterprises. Unlike a diamond, the account maintains its full value if it ever needs to be sold in some emergency, and the expenditure is not a vain waste.
A commemorative $2 bill with Harvey Milk on the front and the Stonewall on the back. I suggested to the Obama organization that they ought to issue it to enjoy the free money as collectors buy it up ... but if they won't, maybe someone else can claim the prize, if it is distributed by a well renowned organization and the "floating" money invested in it is known to go to a good cause.
The T-shirt idea is good, though I think that some of the fancier rubber bracelets with highly visible multicolor printing would do better for keeping the cause widely recognizable.
Board games like "Dealer McDope" and even "Monopoly" have satirized past injustices. Maybe it's time to make one up for Corporate America, highlighting the all too familiar patterns of abuse.
Above all, remember that training workers - or really, just giving them a documented work history - is perhaps the most powerful "product" of them all. OWS could hire long-term unemployed, even homeless people who are serious-minded, have them work for a while, then formally "lay them off", and they can collect unemployment, and they have a recommendation to show for another job. They can turn the system on its head that way. If they have a restaurant they can brag a few months down the line about where they placed their workers and watch the local Brahmins turn five shades of green thinking about the Dalits who've touched their food. ;)
I agree. The movement is going to have to start up some small businesses which keep themselves employed and hire others. Also, instead of CEOs, foremen, bosses, the companies would be run through the General Assembly. I know some people are frustrated with the GA's, but this is what REAL democracy looks like. We spend most of our time at work, so if democracy is good why not have a democratic democracy as well.
*A cheap wedding ring. This already exists. It's a 'Calladah', a traditional irish wedding band of silver or gold, with no diamond. If you want to engrave the number of a bank account on it, that's up to you. I have known a few people who have ended up with nasty divorces soon after they married their wives, and the wives insisted on keeping the rings. When the ring was a family heirloom, this became a problem.
A commemorative $2 bill. I suggest a coin instead, and you can easily get these minted yourself. I think that groups that do geocaching have coins made up as part of the 'swag' they like to exchange. Like any coin from the Franklin mint, it might not be accepted as currency, but you can still BARTER with it, as well as sell it of course. Coin collectors would want one. T-shirts are good, since you become a walking billboard while wearing them. They are also easy to make, and fairly easy to sell. Rubber bracelets? Meh. I think the problem with those is that they are harder to make. You don't want a product that you have to have mass produced and shipped from China. I suppose rope or string bracelets are ok.
*The board game is an excellent idea. OCCUPY the boardgame? Keep in mind that games such as 'Monopoly' had their message co-opted from being anti-capitalist to being pro-capitalist.
The common complain is that the OCCUPY movement has no focused message, when in fact we have a single concern...which is income disparity. There are many problems with the system that need to be addressed, which is why the 1% say we are unfocused. Yet all of these things have a single cause, the 1%. The corporate media will never let up lambasting us, since we are their greatest threat. We really have to be able to counter them, and newspapers and magazines are probably the best way.
The Solyndra plant in Fremont, CA is a vast empty space, paid for with $500 million of the 99% tax payers dough. Nancy Pelosi's mansion, paid for with her insider trading on Visa stock.......
Still, no one has answered my original question. What will the movement do during the winter to stay warm? I really think they should take a break to reorganize and fundraise.
I thought that decision was overturned, the ban on sleeping bags, tents and blankets.
I don't think so. In the live stream video, i haven't seen a single tent, and i just saw a cop take away someone's blanket and pillow...
Yes, but I thought the reason for that was because the NYPD threw their tents, sleeping bags, and possessions in the garbage.
Has the park been re-occupied?
I'm not sure, ill have to read up on it. But i see tents now. I'm confused about the tent situation. Regardless, I think the movement would gain much, much more if their efforts were redirected for the winter months towards fundraising so that when they reorganize in the late winter/early spring they have funds for the Spring, Summer, and Fall months.
Well, I myself wonder about taking over an abandoned house and making an 'occupy squat'. Some of the members of our own group have been discussing doing that as something that makes sense for the winter.
I suppose it does miss the point of being in the public eye though, as the tents in the park did.
Also, I suppose a squat has the negative associations with it that have already been tagged onto the OWS community.
Yes, but they cannot sleep there. They are not allowed to bring in personal bags, tents or camping gear.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-16/wall-street-protesters-can-t-reverse-park-eviction-new-york-judge-says.html
I'm sure some will be dumb enough to try it anyway. Looks like another late nighter watching the feed.
www.justiceclothing.com can supply T shirts that are reliably Union made, not slave/sweatshop labor.
That's great. I've been browsing the OWS webpage and i haven't seen them sell anything like t-shirts or something to support the movement.
But that would be capitalistic and demonstrating a desire for money over people. You're suggesting an exploitation of OWS and its very solemn word to the 99%.
No, the money would go 100% to support the people during the movement...layer fees water for the summer whatever they need...AND it would give people that cant literally OWS a way to support the movement.
Eh, well you guys could 'Occupy' a warehouse,store front, etc. and start up your own silkscreen factory for making t-shirts, posters, even magazines. Silkscreens and squeegees are pretty cheap. It wouldn't be exploiting the OWS if the company was run by the General assembly, and if money went directly to the OWS, and not an individual.
You might want to consider paying rent for that warehouse, just so there was no reason to evict you for doing something illegal. Put in a stove, fridge, laundry maybe and consider it a 'Freespace'.
You make posters anyways, so you could call this 'The print shop'.
Consider it a sort of 'evolution' from the park. Phase one in the park was a way to meet others and socialize, as well as to raise global awareness of the brutality of the NYPD and the crony capitalist system when they had to evict you. Phase two is to set up print shops to make posters, t-shirts, buttons, etc. and to distribute them.
I'm proposing that people donate shirts or something. OR since OWS is against big business--as i understand it--maybe support a small mom and pop business?
Back to mom's basement and World of Warcraft
[Removed]
There are Scrooges & there are Fezziwigs.....we want to promote the Fezziwigs.
The world is Dicken's London now anyway, in terms of abuses of power. Just the newer, hi tech version of it.
Ahh yes,capitalism at work. You've just described creating a small company to make money. Feels good doesn't it?
Money to sustain the movement through awareness and t-shirts. People aren't going to donate forever you know. Eventually, the movement will just become annoying if it doesnt accomplish anything.
OWS is already annoying my friend.
You'll want to trademark Occupy Wall Street to protect your merchandise (you'll probably want to incorporate as well to limit liability and protect your members). Once you need more money you'll probably have to run some advertising campaigns. A good solution might be to bribe (er, "sponsor") a senator and give them some gear to wear on TV.
"I would like to propose that the movement take a break during the intolerable cold months to reorganize The Movement and focus on online fundraising with T-Shirts with clever a moto, logo, chant, or symbol--something trendy and simple that the 99% can support by wearing and buying." --TROLL