OWS PR working group statement on the 99% Declaration

[Luminous Animal]

http://press.nycga.net/2012/02/23/ows-pr-statement-on-99-declaration/

The 99% Declaration and its call for a “national general assembly” in Philadelphia in July is not affiliated with or endorsed by Occupy Wall Street, and the organizers’ plans blatantly contradict OWS’ stated principles.

Many news outlets are running articles suggesting that the Occupy movement is planning a “national general assembly” in Philadelphia in July. This initiative, referred to as The 99% Declaration, is driven by a not-for-profit corporation called The 99 Percent Working Group, LTD., and is not endorsed by the General Assembly at Occupy Wall Street (OWS). The group’s plans blatantly contradict OWS’ Statement of Autonomy, as passed by the General Assembly at Occupy Wall Street, where The 99% Declaration generated more controversy than consensus. The proposal was also rejected by the General Assembly of Occupy Philadelphia, which passed a resolution stating, “We do not support the 99% Declaration, its group, its website, its National GA and anything else associated with it.”

The people of Occupy Wall Street are doubtlessly animated by many of the same concerns addressed by the points in the draft 99% Declaration. However, the group’s plan to select delegates representing each Congressional District to ratify a petition to present to the U.S. government while threatening to run candidates for positions in this corrupted system runs counter to OWS’ commitment to direct democracy, grassroots people power, and building a better society from the bottom up.

When reporting on stories concerning the convening of national ‘Occupy conventions,’ registration of political parties and political action committees, and other high-profile initiatives, we strongly urge reporters, editors, and producers to vet these stories by contacting the official press relations working group of Occupy Wall Street.

From OWS’ Statement of Autonomy: “Any statement or declaration not released through the General Assembly and made public online at www.nycga.net should be considered independent of Occupy Wall Street.”

The Press Relations Working Group of Occupy Wall Street

[Leopolds Ghost]

1. It's a shame, because...

As an anti-authoritarian of sorts myself, I can see the potential in a National Congress for redress of grievances so long as it is truly representative of both Occupy and the public, but the way they are going about it is not representative of Occupy and is too similar to the existing problems with our representative elected officials to be a serious threat to any system other than Occupy itself. A truly representative Congress for petition to redress grievances would be a spokescouncil from the bottom up, not elected in a black box election by a privately owned nonprofit to conform to the existing gerrymandered congressional districts (which, by the way, are totally undemocratic since each congressional district represents like 10 times as many people as it did in the 1700s) -- but this raises another issue -- it seems to me that our local elected officials, even small time neighborhood aldermen, are also completely unresponsive to the will of the people and only listen to their friends and financiers. Is there any way a town hall structure, like in New England or a caucus, can result in delegates who actually represent anypony? Caucuses, if done by consensus of some sort, would seem more in keeping with the structure of Occupy.