Forum Post: Winter is coming!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 1:11 p.m. EST by occupytheworld
(55)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I suggest talking to merchants to see whether we can get donations for the followin tents.
The Northface vE25
or the Eureka k2x2
or we need to learn how to better insulate tents.
see you all in < 2 weeks :)
campers
buses
http://www.appropedia.org/Hexayurt_playa Insulated, tough, cheap. I've used these before, they are very good.
occupy houses that have been taken by the banks. That will have the benefit of connecting you more with the poor while giving you a roof to sleep under. While I think the square is very important symbolically, you won't start connecting with the real oppressed in this country until you start actively addressing the problems they are facing- namely their homes being stolen. Many people are more concerned with putting food on the table and don't have time to spend a week or even a weekend in Zuccoti park. However, if you bring this movement to their neighborhoods I think you will start getting a lot more ground swell support from people suffering at the hands of the banks. Here is a very good article on this subject http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/occupying-financial-districts-occupying-goods-our-hoods
This is a good idea - to occupy bank-owned properties.
I honestly really like this idea. I won't be out in New York for 2 weeks, and until then I will be formulating a possible assertive plan to incorporate this idea. Not the complete vacation of Zuccoti, but a taskforce agenda; that is what I would propose.
I've been wondering about the strategy regarding the weather.
As a native New Yorker, I know it is going to start getting very cold in a few weeks. Especially overnight.
Once December hits, the winds in downtown Manhattan are pretty fierce. They cut like a knife. Downtown has winds coming from all directions and it gets quite cold.
It is slightly better in midtown. Not great, but slightly better.
I don't see this thing lasting into the cold weather and the nasty winds in downtown Manhattan once it starts getting cold.
Did you check out the two tents I have suggested. They would be more than sufficient. Also there are ways of reinforcing/insulating regular tents to withstand brutal conditions.
There might be a tent or two in the park currently, but they are only there because of sheer luck.
The police will demand they be removed and they will not allow a tent city on the site.
I think some people have gotten too cocky with the cancellation of the cleaning last Friday.
How about move indoors occupy city properties and recreation centers
How about move indoors occupy city properties and recreation centers
Hmmmm.....those tents are made, distributed, and sold by EVIL corporations, correct?
Well considering they aren't investment banking corporations. I would say they serve a purpose.
My name is Anne Lockee. I am a 40 year old business owner and mother of three. I have things to say to the organizers of the Occupy Wallstreet Protests to keep the momentum going but I don't know how or who to contact. If you find the following of interest, please do what you can to spread the word. Thanks.
MY WORRY: when it gets cold, this important protest will fizzle. MY IDEA: that we organize via facebook/twitter and choose a date where we completely evacuate wall street....in otherwords, one day we are there, the next we're not...all over country, the protests stop on purpose. that would make a serious impact.
THEN: we stage targeted "boycotts" that are announced, again, via facebook/twitter. for instance, the entire 99% does not shop for only one day at a different place and this place changes every single day. (after all we are not trying to put anyone out of business or do harm but make a point and show our power.) for instance, monday no amazon NOT ONE DIME...tuesday no starbucks...wednesday no arco...etc. Again, the company does not matter. All companies are culpable, even the good ones, because they are all part of the Wallstreet Machine. Our goal is not to shut down the country, after all we want to employ people. But we will no longer feel like helpless consumers that have no choice but to buy the "company stores" product no matter what the price. We have a choice...let’s choose!
AND THEN, TO EXPLAIN OUR PURPOSE: we will calculate the amount of money a company lost by losing 99% of the country's business and say... "hey, that's a lot of money in just one day." Now let's compare that to the modest and FAIR amount of tax we'd like you to pay...or “how much is that compared to the insane bonuses you give your CEO” etc etc etc.
BECAUSE: we are not trying to screw anyone, we just demand fairness.
AND: the best way to achieve fairness is to REGULATE Wallstreet and modify the tax code (i.e. add a tax bracket for millionaires, scrap overseas tax havens, introduce a modest financial transaction tax, revamp the estate tax, end preferential treatment on capital gains tax)
AND IN THE END: this is a relatively painless thing for all. the rich will still be rich. the free market will still be free (just not allowed to be as corrupt) and ALL OF US will enjoy our American citizenry without so much contempt for each other.
AND TO END WITH A SLOGAN THAT MATTERS: "when we all do better, we all do better."
(duh)
PS If you think this could work please forward to as many people necessary and feel free to use any or all of my ideas to make this protest lead to positive policy change.
Your boycott idea seems to be running off of the assumption that the entire 99% is standing arm and arm with you, ready to go at a moment's notice. The fact of the matter is that there are those who don't support your movement at all who are NOT super-rich, there are those who WON'T support your movement before they see a list of definitive goals that they can agree or disagree with (like me), and there are those who simply DON'T CARE. Apathy is one of the most widespread social problems of this era, you know.
You can still try it with the reduced numbers, still purporting that you speak for the 99%, but I highly doubt that without the full weight of that 99%, it won't have quite the effect you're thinking it will.
you are right, the 99% doesn't actually mean 99% participation. far less of course. and at first it would seem like it couldn't make an impact at all. But...all ideas where more people can do a little something everyday will definitely allow more of the country feel like they aren't powerless. right now, besides watching the news and facebooking their support, hundreds of thousands of people out there wish they could somehow do something. there really has never been a better time EVER to start a boycott that could spread like wildfire within weeks or even days. There just needs to be a call to action. Thanks for replying.
Just to make myself clear: I wasn't opposed to your boycott idea. Actually, just the opposite. I believe that boycotting, like protesting, is a valid tool for any political, social, or economic group to use to get their point across. I was merely pointing out that I, personally, don't think it will have quite such a big effect as you are proposing it will.
People are waking up every day.
Yes, your movement is growing, but it still doesn't change the fact that at the moment your movement is nowhere near as large as you keep saying.
And also, was it really necessary to use such loaded language? There's no need to imply that just because some of us are not supporting your cause that we are not fully aware (i.e. awake).
That wasn't implied. I was simply stating that there are people that have no idea about the actual politeconomics that entail this countries infrastructure, a lot of them. There are those people that know about these crimes against humanity that choose to not involve themselves in action when the call has been given. These people in my personal opinion,as that is all I can offer, are "apathetics" alike, or confused and scared. I think this percentage however, is substantially insignificant in comparison to those who don't have any idea, or simply rule our statements off as "liberal propaganda", and this is not a liberal propaganda. I for one am nor a liberal, nor a conservative, or a liberatarian. I am a humanitarian, I know you want demands, but I would like you to do something; help offer demands. If you can not physically support OWS then do research yourself, help that reinforce the reasons we fight; offer out some ideas. To remain silent and complacent is to negate the entire liberty that is our first amendment. We need social reform; it wouldn't "be nice" it would be necessary, and it will be detrimental for generations to come if we do not.
I would like my children, and their children to be able to access the higher education that every single one of us deserve.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of you. But I'll try to answer what I can to the best of my knowledge.
First off, as to your last point... where on earth do you get that everyone DESERVES a higher education? A man is born... how does that entitle him to the right to go to college? Honestly, back when I went to college, I witnessed quite a bit of what that leads to: people taking out loans they have no hope of ever paying for, graduating college barely prepared for the realities of the world, demanding a good job "because they deserve it" while refusing to take any job lower because they feel its demeaning, and then whining when the government won't take care of that Student Debt that they knowingly placed themselves into. Honestly, you really don't need a higher education to succeed in the world. I know plenty of people who are doing very well for themselves that just started working strait out of high school and have worked their way up. So you cannot say it's necessary. So by what right do people deserve the higher education, especially since so few of them can even take a lower education seriously?
As for helping with demands... again, I can't really support the OWS movement until I know exactly what it it trying to achieve. I see a lot of what is purported by the protesters and here on the forums, and honestly, it scares me. From saying we need to change some of the unfair laws (which I somewhat agree with) to saying we should resort to fascism or daylight robbery to make everyone equal (which I most emphatically DON'T agree with), everyone's got an opinion, but without an over-riding common ground or direction, I see radically different, or even opposing views, being put forth.
The changes I want to see, I've sent in a letter to my congressmen. I've already submitted my ideas to the government. I'm not the one out there throwing my opinions out to the world, so I'm not the one responsible for codifying said opinions into some sort of demand.
Oh, and remaining silent does not negate a person's first amendment right, it sometimes just means they have nothing to day. Just like when a person gets arrested, they "have the right to remain silent".
Sir, I am not talking about people who sit around on their parents' couches everyday. I am talking about economics. I am talking about a serious trade deficit, and the debt clock having to add a slot for an extra digit what 11 times now? I am talking about the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, and it's repealing act Gramm-Leach-Billey act of 1999. I am talking about banking families that have been in the game for hundreds of years being members of a corporate bank that control our nations wealth at interest. I am talking about pensions sir. Graphs that can show you absurd statistics about the injustices being done to this country by money hungary capital additcts. About a nation who suffered what was considered to be the worst crisis since the 1930's, while Goldman Sachs made money off of it, shelling out multimillion dollar bonuses to Lloyd Blankfein and other corporate officers. I am talking about a skewed process of politics and ethics sir, and a social elasticity that is stretching until it will break.
Funny, because until this last post, I haven't seen any of that come up from you in this thread. I've seen a lot of sarcasm, a bit of "everyone deserves higher education", a sentence or two on how we need some sort of "social reform", and some of "why don't come up with some ideas on your own"?
You can attempt to try to take the intellectual high ground, and who knows, you might be smarter than I am, but please don't try to say "I've already said X" until you've actually talked about X.
And honestly, believe it or not, while you may want to be talking about economics, you are also, as am I, talking about "people who sit around on their parent's couches everyday", because they too have a role to play in economics. When you say "this person deserves a higher education", you're not only talking about either the government paying for their education (which is coming out of your tax dollars, I might add) or the education being free (which, since people have to work for the educational establishments, is either (again) paid for by the government OR blatant slavery), you're also talking about that person, and this mysterious "right" he has for no reason to be educated to a college level. And who knows, until he is granted this mysterious "right", he might just be "sitting around on his parents' couch everyday".
I never said I stated those things. I was simply stating those things. I don't mean to argue with you. I just encourage you to research some of the things in which I have stated. That is up to you.
And as for your own information, I did look up several of those things, even before you felt led to bring them up. I don't really agree with your implied assumptions, however I don't really feel in the arguing mood anymore so I'll just leave it at that.
If you were offended, I apologize. Sarcasm on the internet is ambiguous, and was not the intended tone.
And I, my apologies, if you yourself were offended.