Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Occupy Seattle – National General Assembly Work Group, forming now
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December 1, 2011 at 9:39 pm #601450
csw2119ParticipantIn an attempt to petition Congress for a redress of grievances, we are
in support of a National General Assembly, currently proposed to
happen on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia.
As proposed, the National General Assembly would include two
delegates, one male and one female, from each of the 435 Congressional
districts, as they exist in November 2011. The delegates will convene
to debate and finalize a formal list of grievances to be presented to
Congress in 2012.
For more information go to: http://www.the99declaration.org (keep in mind the list of grievances in the above link are only suggestions. We will create our own list which may include some or none of the listed suggestions).
If you are interested in participating in this group, please let me know. (FYI, I did not create the above website, or craft the greivance list. I am only a facilitator for the Seattle group.)
December 2, 2011 at 12:29 am #742104
ensignmarvinMemberWow csw2119 that is some declaration! Would that it could and good on you and all working so diligently toward these fine and truly democratic goals.
December 2, 2011 at 12:33 am #742105
JoBParticipantI like the idea of a national assembly a lot.
December 2, 2011 at 12:56 am #742106
BostonmanMemberFirst, good for you. I am sure a lot of effort went into this. It looks like a nice document. Its a good first step.
Playing devils advocate, you make some very bold statements. My advice, you better be able to prove them statistically. Especially the continual quote of 99% of the population. The next critism is some of what you are asking for will never happen, particularly the student loan forgiveness and the tax code section.
Number one the student loan forgiveness would likely involve the complete collapse of any lending institution that holds these loans. In many cases this money is going to Fannie and Freddie. I am all for shooting for the sky but this would require the agreement of non-government institutions. It won’t happen. Now, reducing the interest rate to perhaps one or two percent or making them principal only loans would be a nice first start or compromise. This coming from a guy who has household student loans of $100k.
The tax code, your statement is too blanket, not enough detail. You leave too much up to personal interpretation. You need to come up with a tax plan that is simple and present that. Saying we need to eliminate unfair deductions and other language is not going to work. Who says whats unfair? Its too vague.
Nice starting point for you guys but I would say you need something much more specific or you need to be prepared to answer the questions that get asked.
Don’t hyperlink anything from Wikipedia.
December 2, 2011 at 2:22 am #742107
csw2119ParticipantI’m happy to see this post starting out on the right foot!
I must point out, I did not develop or craft the website http://www.the99declaration.org/
or the list of grievances posted there. The creator is a New Yorker, who just proposed this 6 weeks ago. It is now up to the rest of the country to jump on board!
Bostonman, I agree with you on the Student Loan Forgiveness, there other points I don’t agree with, and others that need more work. The beauty of the doc is it exists, and each group(435 Congressional Districts) can use it as a starting point, or make their own list. Personally, I do not believe in re-creating the wheel, so I will propose to the Seattle group that we use the list as a working doc, add to it, and delete what we don’t want.
I am looking forward to digging into this doc. I expect our work groups will have more success (and harmony)in working together, than Congress has working together!
December 2, 2011 at 4:30 am #742108
JoBParticipantcsw2119
“I expect our work groups will have more success (and harmony)in working together, than Congress has working together! “
as long s you forget political posturing and work towards solutions.. it’s guaranteed.
December 3, 2011 at 5:41 pm #742109
DBPMemberHey there, cs!
I’d be interested to hear more about your own experiences with Occupy Seattle. Have you been down at SCCC or Westlake on a regular basis? Are you part of the “leadership”?
We could use more reportage on this . . .
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As for the National General Assembly, this will be a watershed. Until now, many in the movement have been resisting calls to organize and present demands, presumably because they thought this would bog everything down and the momentum would be lost.
Now we’ll see whether that bears out.
In any case, with the Occupiers now being hounded from one place to another, organizing seems like the most logical thing to do.
December 3, 2011 at 5:54 pm #742110
DBPMemberBostonman: I too have problems with the “99%” figure. Not very big ones, though.
Clearly, “99%” is a gimmick, something with more psychological appeal than factual analysis behind it. Much catchier than 82.4%; infinitely more powerful than close neighbor, 98%.
Whenever I hear “We are the 99%,” I do an instant mental translation on that to change it into: “We are NOT the 1%.”
—”The 1%” meaning simply the richest 1% of Americans. The ones who always get extra helpings of cake and ice cream. Including mine.
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