There have been a huge number of conversations both here and around the net and pundit class about what is coming next for the occupy movement. Some say we must begin looking to elections, others that we just need to articulate anger. I'm here to tell you that the future of this movement is looking really bright!
To start this off I want to post a message that someone from Occupy Philly read to those of us at the GA here in Liberty Plaza.
We, the General Assembly of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in solidarity with all other peaceful occupations in communities around the world, offer this first official message from our General Assembly to every other General Assembly on this planet. We arrived at this message through our process of direct democracy.
We hereby invite the General Assemblies of the world to join us in organizing the first Regional General Assemblies, on a date to be determined by the consensus of all participating Assemblies. We hope for this discussion to lead to National General Assemblies in our respective countries and eventually an International General Assembly, if we all so choose. We hope for Online General Assemblies as well, and we look forward to getting to know the people of this global movement.
Most importantly, we intend for this message to establish a precedent of direct assembly-to-assembly correspondence, which we believe should be the primary means through which this movement mobilizes and communicates. We can only unite, grow, and move forward together if we proceed with complete transparency and openness, as well as a firm commitment to direct democracy.
Because our process - as much as any demand - is our message, we believe that this discussion alone represents a truly historic moment for our growing movement.
From one democratic assembly to another, we appreciate your consideration and await your reply.
We here at Liberty Plaza are super excited about building a national movement with the GAs from around the country and the world and are putting a lot of effort into doing it in a way that creates a structure that allows GAs and people from across the country and the world to have a meaningful say. Additionally, we are working on sending out teams of folks to do trainings and other events and are hoping to have a big meet up some time soon where all of the folks from different occupations can learn from each other what has and has not been working in the various occupations.
I'm very excited about this. There has been a lot of focus on Liberty Plaza when it comes to process and how things are organized(with the exception here of Unaspencer's awesome diaries). I can't wait to learn how other people are solving their problems to see if we can apply some of those solutions. More than all that occupations across the country are planning some fun events. I don't know all of them, but I do know Providence is planning OccuStock, a masquerade concert event this coming weekend.
I'm looking forward to the future of this movement as not just a political force, but also a social force.