Unless you’ve been living under a very large rock, outside of the USA, you’ve probably heard a bit about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. And if you follow my tumblr, you definitely have, since I’m been almost exclusively reblogging everything I come across.

Not sure what the movement is about? This is the best summary I’ve seen, written by the Occupy New York movement and submitted to the NY General Assembly. Copies available online by emailing c2anycga@gmail.com. I’m reposting it from this tumblr post. I bolded the parts I find most important, although all points are valid and worthy of further investigation and action by our Congress.

Declaration of the Occupation of New York City

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011

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.

1. They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
2. They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
3. They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
4. They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
5. They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
6. They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
7. They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
8. They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
9. They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
10. They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
11. They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
12. They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
13. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
14. They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
15. They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
16. They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
17. 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.
18. They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
19. They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
20. They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
21. They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
22. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
23. 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.

Some great sources of news: the Guardian (Why do we get better reporting from the UK…? Oh right. And look, a whole section!), This Is Why We Are Protesting – tumblr (links to different articles and pictures from actual protestors as well as links to various supporting petititons), Occupy All The Things – a tumblr (tons of graphics), Think Progress – official site & Think Progress – a tumblr, and Mother Jones

Police have been attacking protestors at schools, parks, and locations all across the nation. Protestors who have been passive and nonviolent. Where is Obama defending their right to protest peacefully? He defended the rights for Egyptians and has fallen silent while students are peppersprayed on their own campus (1, 2, 3, 4).

And darling Michelle Obama, champion of revolutionizing school lunches. Where are you? You should be condemning Congress for deciding that two tablespoons worth of tomato sauce makes pizza a vegetable (1, 2, 3, 4). This is your pet project and they are shitting on it at your doorstep. Hold a press conference, shame, scold, and kick up a fuss about this. It isn’t right.

And don’t even get me started on where all those military cuts will likely be coming from. Because Congress sure as fuck wouldn’t want for us to withdraw our forces from other countries and close some bases. There’s terrorists about! Teh muslims! Instead co-pays will go up for Veterans, survivors benefits and programs that help military families will be slashed, and I’m not even making this up (1, 2, 3). I agree, we need to reduce the amount we spent on military by a TON. We need to do it by bringing our forces home and closing some foreign bases, not denying benefits from contracts signed with our enlisted soldiers.

There are so many things going wrong in this country. We need to work together to take it back.