We have let apathy lead the way into the future for too long. I have spent the last two weeks, manning the book shop, asking everyone who came in the door, if they were aware of what was happening on Wall Street, and very few were.
I have felt lost on what to do day to day, to stay and wage my own battles with apathy and ignorance in my own community, or heed the call of the herd and head to NYC.
At first the notion espoused was that the protestors lacked a strong, unifying message, or that they looked too much like hippies, they were dirty, or couldn’t spell. Then, came the *Declaration of the Occupation of Wall Street, which I have quoted at the bottom. * Concise and clear.
We support these rally’s, the messages of the protest, and the people, whenever the people seek to empower themselves.
For too long I have walked around saying hello to ghosts. We have lost our humanity in our search for economic independence to the point were we have lost touch with the innate interdependence of community. The privilege allotted to us by way of geography and recourses has been squandered in a greedy scramble to acquire or arrange materials, or living beings, into products. We have always been the product, and now are being sold out to the degradation of our culture and planet.
At one time American Labor was harnessed to create some of the best products the world had ever seen, today, their off the shelf disposable equivalents should make us shudder for the landfills, cringe for the poisonous stew we have been churring here and overseas in our worship of petroleum and plastic.
What are we, if not sentries asleep at the controls of spaceship earth, damning her and all it’s current inhabitants into slavery or extinction?
To not push the machine off of us now, to not take opportunity to seize the bull by the horns, to steer the cart with our collective might, that innate power of muscle, of number, which can never be taken, only relinquished, would be to delay the inevitable equality each and all is born entitled; namely, worker owned means of manufacture and distribution; medication, education, nourishment, clean water, and cognitive liberty. There is too much money in this world to willfully ignore the social problems plaguing our culture, as well as the international community.
I challenge anyone to a debate on why any individual should ever need over one million dollars; a still dream like amount to most; which couldn’t easily be broken down into selfishness or eugenics, yet the notion of socializing the money supply would today be considered a mad proposition.
With the internet today our neighbors may as well be in other countries if not across the street. Our community is those we choose to interact with on a somewhat regular basis. Yet, with the shrinking of the global community here at the cusp of evolution to where we find it currently, what we have is not an aware and enlightened mass of individuals, our memes do not reflect vital or relevant social information, which will at occasion peak it’s head out, only to descend in time, instead, that which remains topical is the tawdry fluff and dander of the day, incessant observations of minutia, all things which would be left out of any respected literary work written by or about the author; or else and endless passing and reposting of prolfeed
I always feared I would stare down apathy until I died, but perhaps all it will take is to make being a revolutionary cool again. I mean, 700 people kettled and arrested yesterday on the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as the news that other Occupy _____ protests are popping up all over the country in cities like Los Angeles, Portland OR, and Boston; sounds like history, regardless of how the chips fall.
I will see you on Wall Street.
Stay Occupied.
John Ford
*****
I also challenge anyone to deny the declarations which came out of the Occupation of Wall Street; namely, and I will quote in full,
*
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.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.