This one is my favorite... but as an English Literature major, I have to admit, I have a soft spot for well-written and beautifully read poetry.
I am unfortunate enough to live thousands of miles away from any Occupy event. I can't complain too much as I am living in a great city and experiencing a new culture, but at this moment in history, something special is taking place in the United States.
YOU have a chance to be a part of it.
Have you given it a chance?
Have you attended a General Assembly?
Have you delivered food?
Have you sat down for an afternoon in the park just to talk to your fellow Americans and share time together?
Have you marched along side others and chanted "This is what Democracy looks like!"?
I hope you have.
If you haven't, it's not to late. This is still the beginning.
Find an Occupy Together event near you.
Resources for Occupy Together:
Websites:
Occupy Together
Map Of U.S. Local Solidarity Events
Facebook:
Occupy Together
Twitter:
@OccupyTogether
Where it all began:
OccupyWallSt.org
Facebook:
OccupyWallSt
Twitter:
@OccupyWallSt
Livestream:
www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
Donate to support the LiveStream
Resources for those attending Occupy Events:
Understanding Direct Democracy:
A Primer on the Concensus and General Assembly Model by UnaSpenser
The Spokes Council Model by angelajean
Open Assembly- an internet model of the General Assembly. Several Kossacks have already joined. Are you game? Diary about the site by Richard Lyon
Basics of How-to-Occupy:
#HowToOccupy - Grassroots Practices for Global Change (thanks to JFeathersmith!)
Occupy Together Field Manual- a wiki document (again, thanks to JFeathersmith!)
Occupying in Winter:
Cold weather tips for protesters by ruleoflaw
Winter - From the Occupy Together Field Manual
Legal:
What is a Legal Observer? by Horace Boothroyd III
ACLU Blog of Rights - To find out the rights in your state, google: ACLU, Right to Protest, and your state.
Occupying Public Spaces in NY City(might be applicable to other locations), thanks KnotIookin!
Citizen Journalism:
A Citizen's Guide to Reporting on #OccupyWallStreet thanks joanneleon!
Helping Out a Fellow Kossack:
A couple of weeks ago, we raised enough funds to diagnose UnaSpensers' dying computer. The small, locally owned computer shop in Boston gave her sad news. The repairs are more than they are worth and they have recommended a replacement. We will be writing a couple of fundraising diaries specifically to help her out, but it never hurts to ask more than once. If you can help her out, a small donation would help chip away at our fundraising goal of $2500. Yep... like Vetwife a few months ago, UnaSpenser could use a big boost. Her family has been relying on two Mac laptops that are about to die and she is hoping to replace them with one new Mac laptop and one iPad. Here is what she replied when I asked what she could chip in:
I'm not sure what I could contribute. Maybe a couple hundred dollars, but we're literally just about homeless. We have zero income except for unemployment and it's not covering our expenses. I have a chronic illness and am only somewhat functional now because a nurse comes to my house weekly for an IV treatment which takes 6-8 hours. Once we lose the unemployment, we'll likely lose the insurance and that will mean the loss of the health care. If there were some way for me to generate an income with the computer I might be able to convince my husband to let me put some money into a new computer. But, we're heading into a time where we don't even know how we'll afford groceries. It's a very scary time for us.
If you could help out, she would very much appreciate it. Her writing is important to both DailyKos and to OccupyBoston... she is a historian documenting the General Assembly process in action.
Donations for the UnaSpenser Computer Fund
And, last but not least, I promised you another video! For those of you who prefer pictures of protesters against walls of policeman, this video is iconic: