Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past several weeks, a group of malcontents has been camping out in the Financial District’s Zuccotti Park as part of the “Occupy Wall Street” series of public nuisances. And by “group” I mean thousands of people, raging against perceived financial sector excess by enjoying autumnal park days while the rest of us, you know, work. Also, I recognize that there are huge problems right now and there are legitimate grievances that deserve to be aired, but as a rule I reject this sort of organizing and protesting outright.
As for the organizing itself, I’m all for playing hooky to sit in the sunshine, but there has to be more to Occupy Wall Street than slogan chanting and hackey-sacking. Until recently, it would have been difficult to make that argument. Since its start, one of the chief criticisms of the Occupy Wall Street movement has been its lack of focus or, rather, the lack of any clear and specific demands. What were they mad about? What were they protesting? What did they want (someone) to do about it? A protest without a purpose isn’t a protest: it’s a flash mob. Or a WBC gathering.
Well, the days of blissful indecision are over, because the protesters have released an “official” (difficult to know whence representatives of a grassroots movement derives authority, but whatever) list of demands. And since it wouldn’t be a left wing jamboree without incredible pretension and delusions of grandeur, they have, without any apparent hint of irony, dubbed themselves the New York City General Assembly (seriously, this is what they call themselves) and named these demands (again, without any apparent understanding of the irony herein) the Declaration of the Occupation of New York City. Let’s break it down! (After the jump)
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
“Mass injustice” ought to be reserved for things like genocide or apartheid or poorly called playoff baseball games. If the Occupy Wall Street movement truly believes that the behavior of investment banking institutions qualifies as “mass injustice,” then the gulf between the group and me might be innavigable.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members;
that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors;
that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth;
and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.
We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.
To the people of the world,
This is subtle but important. One of the things I’ve noticed about the apologies made for the protestors (viz. Salon.com, The Atlantic) discuss the protests as if they were manifestations of a downtrodden people fed up with how their pursuit of the American dream is shaking out; that if they could just make a decent wage and get some home equity back, they’d be satisfied. However, when the organizers of the protest drop in a “people of the world,” at the back of their Declaration, their memento of their Homage to Catalonia moment, it becomes apparent that these aren’t people who believe or have ever believed in the “American dream,” as it were.
The leaders of this movement are radical left-wing operatives who are enamored with the romance of revolution. People of the world, indeed.
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Are you talking to the people of the World or the people of America? Are you referring to the power to vote? The power to lobby government? The power to travel to a city that isn’t yours and spend weeks at a time making things uncomfortable for everymen in the neighborhood who are just trying to get to work so they can pay their mortgage and support a family?
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
You have the right to play Peruvian flute music at incredible decibels in Times Square. Doesn’t mean you should do it. As for a process to address problems, it’s CALLED VOTING AND LOBBYING. And, oh yeah, Zuccotti Park is private space.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
So for all of the communities out there who want to end foreclosures, bank bailouts, discrimination, food negligence, farm monopolization, animal torture, union busting, student loans, outsourcing, corporate rights, analysis of health insurance law, privacy commoditization (?), military blocking of freedom of the press (?), faulty product manufacture and non-recall (?), the constitutionally protected right of lobbying, the blocking of alternate energy research (?), the blocking of generic medicine, the covering up of oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping and inactive ingredients (?), media misinformation, prisoner murder, colonialism (?), torture of innocent civilians overseas (??), and WMDs…YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
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