The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City by the NYC general assembly
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Preface & Publisher’s Note BY THE SPARROW PROJECT
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The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City AS ACCEPTED BY THE NYC GENERAL ASSEMBLY 12
A Resource List for the Occupation COMPILED BY THE SPARROW PROJECT
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I lost my job & found an occupation
Injustice and oppression have haunted humanity for as long as history records. A privileged few have always been inclined to defy nature and exploit and commodify life, in all its varied forms. Conversely, there has always been resistance to these malignant forces, manifest in many different forms. Among these, occupation has proven an effective tactic to anchor the people’s steadfast zeal for righteousness amidst the turbulent waters of a social struggle. From The Diggers in England during the tumultuous 1640s, to the Paris Commune in 1871, to the workers militias in Barcelona in 1936, to the contemporary occupation movements rewriting the current political landscapes of North Africa, Europe, and Asia, everyday people have shown that the illusory power structure can be defied and defeated. Occupy Wall Street is the latest in this proud thread of human dignity; this generation’s selfless contribution to the struggle for liberty and justice. We are honored and humbled to do our part in publishing and disseminating the Declaration of this noble people’s movement. In solidarity… The Sparrow Project
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How to use this document
The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City is a living document that is constantly growing and changing with time. As democratic, consensus-based decision-making assemblies continue to shape the declaration, we will publish new editions accordingly. The red pages in this document (pages 1-3, and 12) were composed by the Sparrow Project and may not reflect the collective voice of the General Assembly of the Occupation of New York City. Pages 4-11 in this document contain The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City, in its entirety as transcribed and edited by Ryan Hoffman, Lex Rendon, and the Call to Action Working Group, as accepted by the NYC General Assembly, on Steptember 29, 2011. You own this document. Everyone owns it. The declaration, within, is a reflection of every voice amplified by the people’s mic at the NYC General Assembly at Liberty Square, from September 17, 2011 to October 18, 2011. We encourage you to copy, reproduce, and distribute its contents. An interactive and downloadable .pdf of this declaration, along with additional resources, can be found on our website. http://sparrowmedia.net/declaration
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The Declaratio the Occup New York September 29, 2011
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on of pation of k City
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As we gather together to express a feeling of we must not lose sigh of what brought us to
We write so that all p who feel wronged by t corporate forces of th know that we are you
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r in solidarity f mass injustice, ht ogether.
people the he world can ur allies.
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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 individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, not from corporations, which exploit 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 banks, corporations and governments have become a plutocracy, which places profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality. 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 determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give executives exorbitant bonuses. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of education debt. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility. They control the media, and use it to misinform and manipulate the public. 8
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil. They perpetuate inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay. 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 spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance. They have donated large sums of money to politicians and public institutions, who are responsible for regulating them. They have poisoned the food supply through irresponsible practices, and undermined the farming system through monopolization. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit. They have accepted private contracts to enslave and murder prisoners, often without due process. 9
They have sold our privacy as a commodity. They have profited from the cruel treatment of countless animals, and have actively hidden these practices. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products that endanger lives. They continue to create weapons of mass destruction. They have passed laws allowing the government to be controlled by banks (including the Fed) and corporate interests, which wrests control from the people. They continually appoint bankers to the top economic posts, ensuring that the government’s economic policy reflects the interests of the plutocracy and not those of the people. They have instituted unconstitutional measures that strip us of our rights, giving a vast public and private security apparatus unprecedented access to our private lives. They have squandered our public treasure, over half of federal discretionary spending, into the military and security state, while waging immoral and illegal wars opposed by the people of the United States and the world. They have wasted trillions of dollars on these wars, much of it spent on contracts outsourced to private mercenary corporations directly affiliated with members of government.
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They have perpetuated colonialism abroad, maintaining a military presence in dozens of countries, and hijacking the economies of dozens more. They have colluded with governments and companies in torture and murder in direct contradiction with the Geneva Convention.* We have been complicit with our consumption, our money, and our silence, until now.
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 * 11
The NYC General Assembly - http://nycga.cc Occupy Wall Street Website - http://occupywallst.org Streaming coverage of occupation events - http://occupystreams.org Guide to Group Dynamics in Peoples Assemblies -
http://takethesquare.net/2011/07/31/quick-guide-on-group-dynamics-inpeoples-assemblies
Occupy the Hood is organizing communities of color in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street you can connect with them via twitter and facebook http://twitter.com/occupythehood & http://facebook.com/OccupyTheHood Know your rights! The ACLU created this booklet to better inform people about their rights should they come in contact with the police http://aclu.org/files/kyr/kyr_english.pdf
Direct Action Guides from the Crimethinc Ex-Workers Collective are a powerful free primer to a diversity of direct action tactics. Free .pdf downloads are available here - http://crimethinc.com/tools/guides.html Writers Supporting Occupy Wall Street - http://occupywriters.com After the Fall, a paper collecting texts from the student occupation movement in California of fall 2009, during which much of the theory surrounding contemporary occupation tactics developed. A .pdf of the paper can be downloaded at this link - http://afterthefallcommuniques.info The SHAC Model: A Critical Assessment takes a look at how an animal rights campaign used Wall Street savvy tactics to bring a multi-national corporation to its knees - http://crimethinc.com/texts/atoz/shac.php Fire Extinguishers and Fire Starters: an eyewitness report and analysis from the Spanish plaza occupations of May/June 2011. Possibly the most in-depth English text available on the most immediate precedent for Occupy Wall Street - http://www.crimethinc.com/texts/recentfeatures/barc.php#a
The Minnehaha Free State was a two year occupation that united indigenous and environmental activists around a campaign to save indigenous lands from a road expansion - http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/aug/ minnehaha-free-state-11-years-later
South Central Farm was an occupied green space that served as a community farm that fed hundreds of families in South Los Angeles, California. Despite being destroyed by the LAPD in 2006 the farm provides a powerful reference point to the possibilities of occupied space http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Central_Farm
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The Declaration of the Occupation of New York City by The NYC General Assembly
Transcribed and Edited by Ryan Hoffman, Lex Rendon and the Call to Action Working Group Introduction by the Sparrow Project Resources Page by the Sparrow Project, Crimethinc Layout & Production Andy Stepanian Design Julie Gueraseva, Andy Stepanian Printed in Seattle, Washington on 60# Recyled Paper using non-toxic UV inks Funding for production of this document was crowd sourced. To contribute to future printings of this document please visit http://sparrowmedia.net/declaration
www.sparrowmedia.net 1