Consented to by General Assembly
November 30th, 2011
We have been captives of corrupt economic and political systems for
far too long. The concentration of wealth and the purchase of political
power stifle the voices of the increasingly disenfranchised 99 percent.
Corporate dominance subverts democracy, intentionally sows division,
destroys the environment, obstructs the just and equitable pursuit of
happiness, and violates the rights and dignity of all life.
Occupy D.C. is an open community of diverse individuals, facing
different forms of oppression and impacted by economic exploitation to
differing degrees, but united by a shared vision of equality for the
common good. The harsh economic conditions that have plagued the poor,
working class, and communities of color for generations have begun to
affect the previously financially secure. This acute awareness of our
common fate has united us in our struggle for a better future. We
recognize that inequality and injustice systemically affect every
aspect of our society: our communities, homes, and hearts. To build the
world we envision, we commit ourselves to overcoming our personal
biases so we can successfully challenge systems of oppression in
solidarity.
We are peaceably assembled at McPherson Square, practicing direct
democracy on the doorstep of K Street, the epicenter of destructive
corporate and governmental relationships. Recognizing that the term
‘occupy’ is associated with exploitation, violence, and imperialism, we
are reclaiming it to mean the peaceful liberation of public space. In
this disenfranchised city, we are insisting that our economic and
political systems serve the people’s interests. Now is the time to
advance and complete the struggles of the many who came before us.
We are assembled because…
- It is absurd that the 1 percent has taken 40 percent of the
nation’s wealth through exploiting labor, outsourcing jobs, and
manipulating the tax code to their benefit through special capital tax
rates and loopholes. The system is rigged in their favor, yet they cry
foul when anyone even dares to question their relentless class warfare.
- Candidates in our electoral system require huge sums of money to
be
competitive. These contributions from multi-national corporations and
wealthy individuals destroy responsive representative governance. A
system of backroom deals, kickbacks, bribes, and dirty politics
overrides the will of the people. The rotation of decision makers
between the public and private sectors cultivates a network of public
officials, lobbyists, and executives whose aligned interests do not
serve the American people.
- The entrenched two-party system overlooks public interests by
pursuing narrow political goals. This climate encourages candidates to
polarize voters for individual power and personal gain. Citizens’
meaningful input has been compromised by gerrymandering, voter
disenfranchisement, and unresponsive politicians. Residents of
Washington, D.C., continue to lack autonomy and legislative
representation.
- The 1 percent benefits from economic, political, and legal
structures that oppress communities long targeted by displacement,
denial of sovereignty, slavery, and other injustices. These persecuted
but resilient communities continue to suffer through generations of
disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, poverty,
criminalization, and homelessness. Facets of the 1 percent campaign to
blame these groups for these problems while obstructing healing and
restoration.
- Those with power have divided us from working in solidarity by
perpetuating historical prejudices and discrimination based on
perceived race, religion, immigrant or indigenous status, income, age,
gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability, among
other things. These divisions have inhibited our ability to work in
solidarity, though today we recognize the power of uniting as the 99
percent.
- Financial institutions gambled with our savings, homes, and
economy. They collapsed the financial system and needed the public to
bail them out of their failures yet deny any responsibility and
continue to fight oversight. Corporations loot from those whose labor
creates society’s prosperity, while the government allows them to
privatize profits and socialize risk.
- Corporate interests threaten life on Earth by extracting and
burning fossil fuels and resisting the necessary transition to
renewable energy. Their drilling, mining, clear-cutting, overfishing,
and factory farming destroys the land, jeopardizes our food and water,
and poisons the soil with near impunity. They privilege polluters over
people by subsidizing fossil fuels, blocking investments in clean
energy and efficient transportation, and hiding environmental
destruction from public oversight.
- Private corporations, with the government’s support, use common
resources and infrastructure for short-term personal profit, while
stifling efforts to invest in public goods.
- The U.S. government engages in drawn-out, costly conflicts
abroad.
Numerous acts of conquest have been, and continue to be, pursued to
control resources, overthrow foreign governments, and install
subservient regimes. These wars destroy the lives of innocent civilians
and American soldiers, many of whom suffer adverse effects throughout
life. These operations are a blank check to divert money from domestic
priorities.
- Government authorities cultivate a culture of fear to invade our
privacy, limit assembly, restrict speech, and deny due process. They
have failed in their duty to protect our rights. Exacerbated by
profiteering interests, the criminal justice system has unfairly
targeted underprivileged communities and outspoken groups for
prosecution rather than protection.
- Corporatized culture warps our perception of reality. It cheapens
and mocks the beauty of human thought and experience while promoting
excessive materialism as the path to happiness. The corporate news
media furthers the interests of the very wealthy, distorts and
disregards the truth, and confines our imagination of what is possible
for ourselves and society.
- Leaders are trading our access to basic needs in exchange for
handouts to the ultra-wealthy. Our rights to healthcare, education,
food, water, and housing are sacrificed to profit-driven market forces.
They are attacking unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and
Social Security, creating an uncertain future for us all.*
A better world is possible.
To all people,
We, the Washington D.C. General Assembly occupying K Street in
McPherson Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble and reclaim the commons.
Re-conceive ways to build a democratic, just, and sustainable world.
To all who value democracy, we encourage you to collaborate and
share available resources.
Join your voice with ours and let it amplify until the heart of the
movement booms with our chorus of solidarity.
*These grievances are not all inclusive.