20th
my UNofficial version of the Occupy Wall Street statement
Here is my version of the Official Statement from Occupy Wall Street. The beginning and end are mostly unchanged, but the main thing is I got rid of all the references to “them.” There is no “them,” there is only US:
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 other groups of people 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 we do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when we are not allowed to use our power, economic and otherwise, to influence opinion. We come to you at a time when some people, who place profit over other 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.
We have lost our houses through failure to pay.
We have lost apparent unrealized wealth through economic calamity, despite the best efforts of the well-paid professionals who have done their best to prevent it.
We have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
We have poisoned our food supply through our own negligence, and undermined our farming system through monopolization.
We have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively ignore these practices.
We have continuously sought to strip our fellows of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions, so that we could save money.
We have dug ourselves into financial slavery in pursuit of a formal recognition of effort, while failing to avail ourselves of the responsibility to educate ourselves properly.
We have consistently shirked hard work and refused to lower our demands to suit the market.
We have interpreted our right to peacefully assemble as a right to act as a group with the same status as an individual, without accepting or providing a way for to acknowledge group culpability or responsibility.
We have spent millions of dollars on frivolous lawsuits out of a misplaced sense of entitlement and justice, driving the price of health care to stratospheric levels and making it difficult for doctors to practice.
We have traded our illusion of privacy for safety, security, and publicity. We exchange our personal details for services we enjoy.
We have used our military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
We have refused to accept any personal responsibility for danger, choosing instead to blame others and demand reparations for others mistakes.
We ignore and refuse to educate ourselves about economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures our ignorance has produced and continues to produce.
We have donated large sums of money to politicians.
We continue to make unreasonable energy demands on our planet. We drive when we could walk.
We have demanded medical solutions to social problems, wasting the lives of countless biochemists. We continue to demand more novel medicines, expecting the untold expense of such research to simply vanish. We demand our doctors prescribe us the medicines that fund our favorite entertainment.
We have been responsible for oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
We have purposefully kept ourselves ignorant and fearful through our refusal to seek information outside of our self-selected bubbles.
We have accepted jobs imprisoning and controlling our fellows in order to protect our mutual safety.
We have developed the hubris of believing that our way of life is the best that we can make it and the most fair to the needs of individuals. We have been guilty of attempting to share our experience and knowledge with the rest of the world.
We have been forced to take drastic actions in parts of the world where our way of life is not popular.
We continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to ensure our continued freedom and liberty.
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!
