Forum Post: Why isn't a list of specific demands a prominent part of the movement?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 12, 2011, 6:14 a.m. EST by wesmcl
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I've just spent the last 24 hours trying to convince a friend of mine to support the Occupy Wall Street movement. He considers himself "center left" politically, and I think that's about right. He says he agrees with Occupy Wall Street's diagnosis of the problem, but disagrees with their tactics, and thinks they have essentially no chance of success. His two main complaints: 1. camping out in public spaces holding up signs and banging drums isn't an effective tactic, and 2. OWS doesn't have a specific set of demands, only anger targeted at the "1%".
So I Googled "occupy wall street demands" and got this: http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-editadd-so-th/ ...which is an awesome list of demands! My "center left" friend and I both like everything on this list, and would support a movement working toward those goals. The thing is, how many people are going to Google OWS's demands? Why aren't these demands front and center in the movement? Are these demands that everyone in the movement agrees on? (I'm guessing that these are uncontroversial enough to be accepted by nearly everyone participating in the movement, yet specific enough to silence what I think is a valid criticism.)
It seems to me that OWS is working under the assumption that they still need to convince Americans that the system is broken, that it's corrupted by big business, etc. But I think that assumption is false. A huge majority of Americans already agree with OWS about what's wrong with the political and economic institutions in the US (even 68% of respondents to a Fox News poll agree with OWS, certainly not the result Fox News was hoping for). http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/10/07/do-occupy-wall-street-protests-represent-your-views-economy/?intcmp=trending
So, given that it looks like the convincing is already done, why aren't these demands being publicized more? My first reaction would be to blame the corporate media, but even Democracy Now!'s coverage of OWS doesn't get much into specific demands. So what's the deal? Why aren't these demands front and center in the movement? I think if these demands, which most Americans would agree with, and aren't too stupid to understand, were more visible, OWS would attract a lot of people who are either turned off by the movement, or are fence-sitters.
Because the moment it gets concretized into a list that people will need to agree on somehow, the movement itself will begin to fracture into camps. If it stays big and stormy and unquantifiable and focused on fairness and economic justice for 99%, then the conversation stays about that.
For what it's worth, the moment the movement adopts an official "end the fed" policy, I'm out.
Really liked your thoughtful post.
Here's my direct answer to your question http://occupywallst.org/forum/one-thing-you-should-read-before-you-vote-on-any-d/
I would also say... we are doing this on our time, not theirs. We are calling the shots. It's like chess. They want to know our next move, but we're just not going to give the satisfaction yet. This is on our terms.
Your friend is buying into the old way of "changing things." Look how well that has worked for us. You can't "change things" from within a system that is fundamentally corrupt. You have to change the system itself.
The movement is in growth phase. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible. The moment we endorse any specific goal or plan aside from something as simple as "END CORRUPTION" we run the risk of causing division in our ranks and pushing people away. We want to get people involved and then find goals and objectives that all of us agree with.
As we are growing, we are also building our communication network. More protests are springing up in cities all over the United States. As our communication system evolves, some goals will rise to the top.
So, for now... take it easy and just spread the word about fixing government. Bring in as many friends and family members as you can. Organize a rally in your town http://www.gmofreeportland.com/uploads/2/7/5/4/2754120/how_to_organize_a_rally.pdf
If you want to promote certain demands, give them as examples of things you personally support, just understand that your goals might not be embraced by the rest of the OWS movement.