from Wall Street Occupy.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
(Note
and I am not using hyperbole here; this "General Assembly"
could not have been more than 10 individuals at the time. The notation,
itself, is a transparent effort to convince the reader that she is
reading something for which there is mass approval. Today, there
are no more than 15,000 Occupiers, nationwide - blog editor)
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 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,
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.
******
The following words were crafted as the slogan for the first May Day demonstration in 1886 ("red" seems to be an appropriate color).
May Day - A Brief History
Workingmen to Arms!
War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and
Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.
The wage system is the only cause of the World's
misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either
made to work or DIE.
One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of
BALLOTS!
MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in
your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper
manner.
(Source: Industrial Workers of the World - May 1, 1886 - the nation's first May Day celebration).
The happy idea of using a proletarian holiday celebration as
a means to attain the eight-hour day was first born in Australia. The workers
there decided in 1856 to organize a day of complete stoppage together with
meetings and entertainment as a demonstration in favor of the eight-hour day.
The day of this celebration was to be April 21. At first, the Australian
workers intended this only for the year 1856. But this first celebration had
such a strong effect on the proletarian masses of Australia, enlivening them
and leading to new agitation, that it was decided to repeat the celebration
every year.
In fact, what could give the workers greater courage and
faith in their own strength than a mass work stoppage which they had decided themselves?
What could give more courage to the eternal slaves of the factories and the
workshops than the mustering of their own troops? Thus, the idea of a
proletarian celebration was quickly accepted and, from Australia, began to
spread to other countries until finally it had conquered the whole proletarian
world.
Source: Marxist.org
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