همه مهر جویید و افسون کنید / ز تن جامه جنگ بیرون کنید
هم از آشتی کام مردم رواست / که نابود باد هر که او جنگ خواست
(فردوسی)
اصولی زیربنایی برای جبهه خشونت پرهیزی ایرانیان
آزادی، عدالت، معنویت
Some Lessons from the U.S. Occupy Wall Street Movement
A Look Back (2011) at the "Think Tent" of Occupy Tucson
Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform
By: Moji Agha
Monday, November 7, 2011
Preamble
WE THE PEOPLE, hereby declare:
The Fall of 2011 has witnessed the rise of hope. The sacrifice, the struggle around the world for liberty and justice by our fellow human beings has once again lit a spark of inspiration in our hearts; this time here in the land of liberty and equality, where once again, we raise our people’s cry for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people; and we hereby declare that we are tired of the government of money and power, by money and power, and for money and power, and that we want instead, liberty, justice, and yes, we want life on our very fragile planet to survive and prosper.
We the people hereby declare that, like our sister movements around the world, our American “Occupy Movement” is peaceful, inclusive and unprecedented in scope, manifesting our real national interests.
Thus, we declare for all to hear, that we are not going away, because we too have a dream: A dream of the revival of basic rights, of dignity, and of the humble respect for all life. In this dream, only “we the people” chart our destiny.
Therefore, we the people, hereby share these humble Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform, as the voice of our “Occupy that which is already ours” dream.
Given that the humble “tent” presents us with a profound symbol of our global discontent, this “Think Tent Thoughts” document hopes to start a healing conversation, a peaceful and hopeful dialogue of reconciliation and cooperation in the collective tent of our wisdom. We have a dream that our voice of the 99% is being heard before it is too late.
Introduction
In order that our “Occupy Movement” (starting from “Occupying Wall Street” in New York City), should not be defined, and thus controlled, by others, we need to set forth clearly what it is that we want, in addition to voicing our just grievances.
Obviously this is an ongoing process, especially given the diversity of the voices and goals in our movement. However, it is imperative that we define and develop proactively a coherent statement of initial consensus, of our common aspirations and goals, around which we can then coalesce in harmony, since the road to real reform is not easy.
We need to do this to safeguard the movement against the reality or the unfair accusation, that our identities, world-views, values, foundations, directions, goals, and methods are not agreed upon or clear; leaving our movement vulnerable to being divided and conquered, and to marginalization or irrelevance, leading to the gradual neutralization and attrition of our great efforts.
In other words this clarity and cohesion is especially critical for the long term survival of our protest movement so that:
a) it can remain nonviolent, civil, enduring, and constructive, thus able to bring real reform to the crisis-producing complex system which has caused our uprising in the first place;
b) it can resist the unethical extremist realm in which “the end justifies the means;” and therefore,
c) it can create a coherent initial framework for our agreed-upon common goals and demands, leading to the broadening and deepening of our movement.
We are sure that the love and hope that underlies this evolving document, called the Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft), will forever cherish the loving, hopeful, and unselfish contributions and sacrifices that our “Occupy Movement” activists, young and old, are making on a day to day basis, despite all the insecurities and hardships. Regardless of outcome we are sure that history will always remember and cherish such manifestations of love, hope, and sacrifice.
Our Grievances
Rather than protecting our basic, constitutional, and human rights, the corrupt system that has necessitated our on-going “Occupy Movement” (starting from Occupy Wall Street), has become increasingly undemocratic and selfish in the past several decades, producing a government that rather than deriving its powers from “we the people,” has become beholden and enslaved to power-monopolizing corporations, lobbies, and cliques, which in the process of maximizing their private wealth and power at any price, at our expense, show only superficial care (and for propaganda purposes) for the “consent of the governed,” or for the well being of our Mother Earth.
Compared to what has developed since 1960, President Eisenhower’s dire warnings sound naive and optimistic these days. His voice echoes:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
Here are some of the abuses that we, the people, are currently witnessing...
[Full text is retained in Occupy Movement documents elsewhere.]
Our Values and Goals
As stated above, this Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform is being proposed as a “First Draft,” intending to start a healing conversation, a peaceful and hopeful dialogue of reconciliation and cooperation, toward developing a coherent statement of initial consensus, a framework for our agreed-upon common goals and demands, leading to the broadening and deepening, hence strengthening of our “Occupy Movement.”
As such, we propose the following characteristics, values, and goals for our movement:
1- Seeking liberty and justice our Occupy Movement aims to restore and reform, ethically, nonviolently, and based on universally recognized human rights, the constitutional meaning of the phrase: “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Namely, our movement seeks the real security and national interests of our people.
2- Seeking real political and economic reform we aim to deepen and strengthen our civil society, expand the space for genuine dialogue and cooperation, raise the level of knowledge and consciousness, enhance mutual trust, and restore freedom of information, knowledge, and association in our society.
3- Besides being political and economic, our reform-seeking protest movement is a social and cultural one. Thus, as we seek to create real change and reform in this country, we recognize in humility that we too can make mistakes. This is why we genuinely oppose any form of self-righteous absolutism, and we emphasize the need for valuing diversity and difference, and for rigorous continual dialogue and critical self-examination, both inside and outside the movement.
4- Because we seek liberty, justice, humanity, honesty, mutuality, diversity, harmony, and balance as universal values, our movement emphasizes the value and the need for a thriving culture of peaceful, respectful, informative, healthy, and constructive dialogue, exchange, and cooperation, even among competitors or perceived opponents. Thus we seek to abolish the word “enemy,” from our vocabulary and consciousness.
5- Recognizing that we live in an interconnected world, our movement advocates the value and the need for humility and learning from the experience of other nations and peoples, while maintaining integrity and self-respect. This is why we emphasize the value of international mutuality and cooperation, while avoiding the extremes of domination of others or isolationism, while also abhorring exploitation of others in any form, including the colonial use, as tools for “divide-and-conquer” manipulation, abroad or at home, of religion, ideology, social, ethnic, and class difference, ecologic disparity, freedom, human rights, and other positive or negative causes and motives.
6- Because one of the core social justice values of our movement is that we, as individuals and communities, seek to determine our own destiny, we intend to restore the rightful place of the right to vote, democracy, and the plurality of voices in our society. Thus we want real, competitive, transparent, and honest elections, free of overt or covert manipulation, as not only a civil right but as a human right.
7- Protecting human dignity and foundational and constitutional human rights, especially from abusive power and money, is a vital value to our movement, including true equality before the law, thus, freedom from religious, racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, and social status bias and discrimination. We consider these basic rights to be inalienable, because they have resulted from the wisdom of human history; and thus our movement seeks to make it impossible for any ruler, government, congress, court, military, police, corporation, or any other overt or covert force, to diminish or take away such rights, under any condition or pretext.
8- Our movement wants our constitution to be evenly and fairly applied, and we intend to reform it, especially to ensure that the rights of the people are not made superficial and subservient to the selfish desires and measures of money and power; thus we seek to begin the process of reforming the constitution, as well as the institutions that have come to be, as a result of bestowing the status of personhood to corporations [in other words personing them--hence we should un-person corporations].
9- Therefore, we emphasize, again, the following universal principles as parts of our basic values, goals, and demands: The equality of all preserved and enhanced, by justly passed and enforced laws and regulations; Protecting the rights of oppositions and minorities; Plurality and freedom of political parties and that of non-governmental organizations, associations, and social networks; Truly free and uncensored press and media; Free access of all to information and knowledge; Respecting and safeguarding the privacy of individuals and groups; Abolition of any systemic bias; Fair access to and just distribution and sharing of natural or human-made opportunities and possibilities, whether economic, political, social, or cultural; Constant and systematic vigilance against the overt or covert undue influences of money and power; and of course, Nonviolent and just resolution of conflicts, domestically and internationally.
10- Thus, our “Occupy Movement” believes that the best way to maintain and safeguard our political, economic, cultural, and military independence, sovereignty, and national security, is to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which includes as a logical and natural consequence, truly caring for the well-being of all the interdependent inhabitants of our deeply wounded Mother Earth.
Final Word
Clearly and purposefully this Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform is a “First Draft,” meaning and hoping to START a genuine process of thinking and dialogue, toward the organic creation of a consensus for reform, renewal, and hope in our country. Thus, this “first draft” has declared, by design, only the more general values, aspirations, hopes, and goals of our “Occupy Movement,” allowing for we, the people, to gradually define, articulate, develop, and demand (perhaps in the “think tents” that we may create in our own communities of heart, mind, and conscience) the situation-appropriate specific measures, remedies, and solutions that we would like to help manifest.
Hence, with regard to our “tent” here in Tucson, in the coming months/years we will be working on developing specific solution recommendations from our vantage point, while also trying to improve this “first draft,” toward developing better future drafts, as needed and appropriate.
1 comment:
Until further notice, comments are closed to the public--with apologies. Contact email: moji.agha@gmail.com
Post a Comment