This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011. This same document has subsequently been adopted by the Los Angeles General Assembly.
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 Los Angeles General Assembly occupying City Hall Park in Downtown Los Angeles 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.
9 Comments
'Declaration'
Submitted by JAYnLA on
This is not a declaration. it is a list of accurate greivances. A declaration is now needed, but this isn't it. Good step though.
- JAY n LA
JAYnLA, Okay Mr. Semantics, pmsl, still a great read ...lol
Submitted by alhs06 on
Okay Mr. Semantics, pmsl, but still a great read, I couldn't find a single issue of the 23 listed, that I would disagree with, but could still add several more. But Mr. JAYnLA is correct we need a "Formal" Declaration/Charter/Mission Statement. I second his motion, we need a Third!
I'm noticing that the
Submitted by Mahayana on
I'm noticing that the majority of these grievences are due to the lack of efficient regulating. Our gov't has regulations in place, but do they really qualify as this when there are so many conflicts of interest within those who are supposedly doing the regulating??? You can't have Monsanto's cronies working in the FDA. Of course they are going to quickly push through their latest and greatest genetically modified super corn despite the fact that they haven't done adequate testing on it. You also find Big Pharma in and out of the FDA. Finance regulatory agencies are filled with Jp Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Citibank people.
How is this LEGAL??? You can't enter a contest on the radio if a member of your family works there. How in the hell do people get appointed to a regulation committee when they are going to be regulating their previous employees (whom they no doubtedly own a buttload of stock in) and their previous competitors??
Our government is not doing their job. Our elected senators and representatives are failing us. Isn't there some article of the constitution we can conjure that allows us to do a citizens arrest of our President and his cabinet? I know some of you are pro Obama, but he REALLY fucking sucks. He's new and improved on the outside but its the same old crusty white man agenda on the inside.
The other issues that aren't a result of bad regulating are simply a result of pure fucking evil. I was an atheist but I'm starting to change my mind. Man is pure fucking evil. Not all of them, just most of the ones that get into politics.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. -Abe
Mahayana, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled" lol
Submitted by alhs06 on
Mahayana superbly writes, & I quote;
I follow those words with;
Quoted from the movie "The Usual Suspect's", how apropos hmmm?
He had ME fooled
Submitted by Mahayana on
Haha, sometimes I wish I could self induce amnesia so that I could watch that movie over & over again & not realize who Keyser Soze is. And yes, that is a great line from the movie.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. -Abe
Welcome to the Real World Neo....
Submitted by Rancho Larry on
"I just said it would be the truth"
RL
Warning vs. Incentive re: John Adams quote
Submitted by alhs06 on
Know what Mahayana, I was reading your post & near the end of it I started to allow my mind to take a stroll, as I started to read your John Adams quote for the 20th or so time. But this time in somewhat of a foggy autopilot haze. when I was shaken to focus with an epiphany, always the best state of mind for this occurrence, wouldn't you agree?
Well back to me foggy brain, & John Adam's quote,
Some say he never said this, I think purposely to create controversy & to confuse the meaning of the brilliant wisdom. My epiphany is that there are some who would "Champion" this quote to steal it away from those of us who would heed it as a warning & to confiscate it as incentive & instruction for their own Greedy & Selfish needs. Kind of an "Accusational Epiphany" I suppose, but one none the less.
Some other words of wisdom & warning, by Thomas Jefferson;
What say you The 99%!!?, ...what say you?
I had no idea! Thanks for
Submitted by Mahayana on
I had no idea! Thanks for pointing that out. I usually fact check quotes that I like. A few days ago, somebody commented that John Adams was a really bad guy & questioned why I have his quote as my sig. I can't remember the details really. To be honest, I 'm not too knowledgeable about Adams. He could've been a really good and fair guy that wanted the constitution to protect the rights of the people, or he could've been on the other side, wanting to tailor the constitution to enslave people. Whichever side he fell on, there is a ring of truth to the quote.
I'm going to change it. It was time for a new one anyways. :)
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. -Abe
Before you read Adam's brief
Submitted by alhs06 on
Before you read Adam's brief bio, remember your "Civics class or US History" "When did republicans become democrats and democrats become republicans?" That happened about 85 or so years after our Declaration of Independence was signed, right around the Civil War.
IMO Adams was a champion of the people for the time, not measured by today's standards, but a champion of his time.
I personally believe he said "There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt." With all due respect to good intention's towards the people to help in protecting our newly won Democracy.
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