#occupywallstreet gives Declaration of Occupation; Major NY unions set to join

[achali]

SOURCE
http://nycga.cc/2011/09/30/declaration-o...york-city/

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

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.





SOURCE
http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/09/3...in_wa.html

Unions Set to Join "Occupy Wall Street" Protests: Several major groups set to join what has so far been a sprawling, unfocused demonstration in lower Manhattan

The Occupy Wall Street protests in lower Manhattan are about to get union support.

Crain's New York Business, New York Magazine, and The Village Voice are reporting that a "a loose coalition of labor and community groups" have pledged solidarity with the protests at Zuccotti Park in New York's financial district and are organizing a march for next Wednesday, October 5.

Occupy Wall Street began on September 17 as a response to a call from Adbusters to protest the current financial system. The magazine envisioned 20,000 people flooding Wall Street, occupying the area for a few months, sleeping in tents. Approximately 2,000 showed up at first, with crowds leveling out in the hundreds since then. Some protesters live, eat, and sleep at Zuccotti park, while others filter in and out of the camp-like protest grounds. They renamed the park One Liberty Plaza and, apparently, have managed to get the USPS to deliver a package to that address.

For two weeks, the protesters – who are mostly young with a strong representation of student and anarchist groups – have gained increasing attention from like-minded progressives, especially since Saturday's march from the park to Union Square, during which over 80 people were arrested.

During and after the march, videos of violent police and protester confrontations started popping up on YouTube. One video from the day, showing deputy inspector Anthony Bologna spraying four female protesters with mace or pepper spray, has resulted in investigations by the Civilian Complaint Review Board and NYPD's internal affairs.

As reported by Crain's, the list of labor groups involved in Wednesday's planned march include: The United Federation of Teachers; 32BJ SEIU & 1199 SEIU; Workers United; and Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has 38,000 members.

Additionally, Working Families Party, Moveon.org, Make the Road New York, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality Education, Community Voices Heard, United New York and Strong Economy For All are involved in the organization of the march.

The protests have some celebrity support as well, with visits from Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Cornel West, Lupe Fiasco, Rosanne Barr, and an "in spirit" message of support from Noam Chomsky.

The Village Voice interviewed TWU 100's Jim Gannon after the union's unanimous vote to support Occupy Wall Street. He said:

"...the protesters, it's pretty courageous what they're doing...and it's brought a new public focus in a different way to what we've been saying along. While Wall Street and the banks and the corporations are the ones that caused the mess that's flowed down into the states and cities, it seems there's no shared sacrifice. It's the workers having to sacrifice while the wealthy get away scot-free. It's kind of a natural alliance with the young people and the students -- they're voicing our message, why not join them? On many levels, our workers feel an affinity with the kids. They just seem to be hanging out there getting the crap beaten out of them, and maybe union support will help them out a little bit."

The delay in support from like-minded organizations and people has a lot to do with the amorphous nature of the movement. The Occupy Wall Street protests, which are intentionally consensus-based rather than hierarchically organized, have a sprawling, unfocused message and purpose, centered around the current financial system - not exactly PR gold. The emerging "slogan" since the 17th seems to be "We are the 99 percent," referring to the disparity between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else. The tweetable slogan has virtual traction, too; there's now a Tumblr [photo blog]: