Tonight I spent time in the town within a city that Occupy Boston has become. These photos try to depict that town . The governance is pure New England Town Meeting, though called a “GA” or general assembly. The residents assemble with an agenda. They sign up to speak, each getting two minutes. Decisions are made by voting, starting with voice, then raised arms, and if unclear, by sitting and standing. There is a microphone run by generator, and an organized media tent. Occupied Boston has “corduroy” streets made of wooden pallets, or cardboard in less congested use areas.
There is a legal tent, a “logistics” tent where donations are accepted and distributed. Logistics was glad to receive two large tarps from the Butler household tonight. There is also a medic tent, and a food tent. 40 pizzas were delivered while I was there, apparently a donation. There is a kind of free enterprise “Suttler’s row”. I am of record, along with many other attorneys, to receive NLG training but hope not to be needed.
While I was there tonight, two representatives of the Taxi Driver’s association spoke to show support, but also as representatives of the Boston Labor Council. Occupy Boston was invited to participate in the next meeting of the Boston Labor Council and forge a formal link, at least that was my understanding.
A representative from Right to the City also spoke, and there appears to be a growing rapport, though the groups are not linked, and communication is still being worked on, I believe. What i found striking though was the number of people who plan to be there through the winter. Two young men told me that the life they were experiencing in the Occupy Boston Encampment was the best they had ever known, and better than anything else they felt that life in the United States had to offer them. The comraderie is real, as is the direct democracy in the organically evolving community.
Here is the website where the minutes are posted.
I haven’t been able to embed photos or get Picasa links to work at all – I guess I would like a BMG training workshop – I would even buy the pizza.
I’ll try to get down there this afternoon and donate.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011
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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.
I’ve also written a diary that points to the importance of linking up with Right to the City and such groups as Urban Life/Vida Urbana. Now MoveOn and Van Jones are supporting the occupations as well with an online component. I’ve suggested that they go farther and help the occupation encampments become examples of green economies by generating some of their own power and handling their own wastes. They could become informal green job training centers. “Be the change” taken literally, the people creating for themselves what government and industry have refused to provide.
Here is the link from Daily Kos about 100 occupied cities
I did receive an email asking it to be forwarded and given wide view – the direct democracy town meeting type vote (GA or General Assembly) may not have finalized it yet, though. I am a visiter to Occupy Boston, not a resident. Need to work to pay those two mortgages, car insurance, etc…and do the laundry, etc. etc. etc. But I try to make it down every other day; I will at some point post about how my efforts to be involved while keeping the rest of my life up and running are working out. My thanks to the true patriots who are living in Dewey Square, Liberty Square, etc. and today’s internet “Committees of Correspondence” analogs.