OccupyWallStreet Issues Declaration Through Mastery of the Human Mic
~Photo by Zach Roberts
The OccupyWallStreet movement, through consensus, has issued its first official statement. The process took two weeks. It may seem like a long time, but a fascinating article by Richard Kim of The Nation explains why this statement is a Herculean achievement, and it may not be for the reasons you think.
Microphones, speakers, and even bull horns are prohibited from the site of the demonstration. If you use one, it can mean 30 days in jail. That means that all communication must rely on “the human mic.”
So despite all the attention given to how Twitter, Facebook and livestream video have helped spread the word, the heart of the occupation is most definitely unplugged. But the protesters aren’t deterred one bit; they’ve adopted an ingeniously simple, people-powered method of sound amplification…
with every few words / WITH EVERY FEW WORDS!
repeated and amplified out loud / REPEATED AND AMPLIFIED OUT LOUD!
by what has been dubbed / BY WHAT HAS BEEN DUBBED!
the human microphone / THE HUMAN MICROPHONE!!! (jazz hands here).
[snip]
But the greatest hidden virtue of the human mic has been the quality that almost every observer has reflexively lamented: it is slow. I mean incredibly, agonizingly, astonishingly slow; it can take over an hour for the General Assembly just to get through a nightly refresher course on group protocols before starting in on announcements, which precede debate about anything new, like whether or not the occupation should make a list of demands and if so, what those demands should be. Imagine collectively debating and writing the Port Huron Statement, by consensus, three to five words at a time.
Bearing this in mind, the official statement below is a phenomenal achievement. Kim notes that if the occupiers do end up with a set of demands, it too will be an agonizingly slow process. This is not a bad thing. Slow and steady wins the race.
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.
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 nonhuman 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 supposed to be 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 in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive 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,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
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!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
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For a feel-good moment, enjoy this clip of a protester’s brilliant take down of a Fox News producer. The footage, as you can imagine, was never aired.
This list reads like the declaration of independance, which was intended to be a list of grievances against the King.
Fox is so used to talking to the Tea Partyers that they are way out of their league when they interview an educated, well spoken, well informed person. This guy was really good but, frankly, it doesn’t take much to make a FOX interviewer look like a boob.
This will only air places where this video is shown. FOX won’t show it.
Way to go! I’m joining my fellows at City Hall tomorrow, where there’s a permitted march to the park.
I’m glad to see that they were finally able to make a list. Protest is great, but it’s important to know what the protest is about. And it is a very comprehensive and well thought out list, something that should reach out to more than just the people who are there. When they started, I saw some Anarchist signs, and I do not want to be involved in any way with a group whose main focus is on that side of things. They came to Seattle and caused havoc and left destruction rather than anything positive.
But this particular movement reminds me of the positive things that came out of protests in the 60s (and there were plenty of negative ones). It will be important, if they want their voices to reach more than their group of supporters and continue to be heard, that they remain peaceful as they have been – except for the bad behavior of the police.
I particularly liked the interview. And I’d be very surprised if it ever airs on Fox. They only problem is that Fox could cut it down to a few words. Since it was filmed by others and is available maybe it will keep Fox honest for once.
We can hope.
Smackdown! Awesome to behold….that guy had such intelligent answers to the “F” news. Thank you for posting it.
love the interview with faux “news”…not what they thought would happen…and certainly understandable why it never aired….lol….brings to mind a question…what is it that faux “news” doesn’t like about democracy and a TRUE grassroots movement……