As some of us may already know, I run a small publishing company called Red and Black Publishers. Over the years, I've been posting manuscripts of books here, in a diary series, as I write them, including a history of multinational corporations:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And a selection from the leaked Wikileaks documents on the Afghan War:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Both of these books are now available through all the online print bookstores and also as ebooks.
I'd like to do something on the Occupy Wall Street movement, and here is what I propose: an oral history written by the participants themselves.
What I would like is to have as many people as possible give a written presentation, as long or as short as you want, setting out your experience of the Occupations. Talk about the history of it, how it was organized, what it means to you, what your aspirations are for it, what you think it has already accomplished, any happenings at events or experiences which particularly struck you, anything that other potential organizers might want to know---anything that communicates to others what you want them to know about what the movement is all about and how it all happened. I'd like a diversity of viewpoints that reflects the diversity of the 99% itself--everything from Democrats to Republicans to anarchists to libertarians to feminists to environmentalists to homeless people to people who lost their jobs to students who will never GET a job to out-of-work stockbrokers to whatever. What's your version of the American Dream, what happened to it, and how are you going about seeing it restored. And this isn't just for the organizers and facilitators--I want to hear from everyone who participated in any level. Everyone's voice is equally important, and I want everyone to have a voice. (Indeed, I think that will be my working title: "Voices From the 99%: An Oral History of the Occupy Wall Street Movement").
I will censor nothing and reject no viewpoints (all I ask is that you actually BE someone who has participated in this history--and if you haven't, then get your ass out there and do so). I will simply bundle everyone's stories together and write a brief preface explaining how and why the book was written. This will be our story, in our own words. (It's far better than allowing all the books about OWS to be written by fucking reporters from the NY Times and the Washington Post.)
Since Red and Black Publishers is so small and doesn't have much of a distribution network, it won't make the bestseller list. I'll see what I can do about getting some of the lefty book distributors to carry it. But I propose to donate all the the book's proceeds, no matter how large or small they may be, to the OWS organization in NYC. I'll also make sure the book is available at cost for any local OWS groups who might want to use it to raise money.
So anyone who wants to participate, what I need is a written piece from you, in text format please, emailed to me at: info@redandblackpublishers.com . For legal reasons, I'll need you to include a short introductory paragraph that won't be published (with your real name, geographic location, and age) that you are the author and you are giving Red and Black permission to publish. (You can use whatever name or pseudonym you want as the byline in your piece, and I'll want to list under your byline which geographic Occupy event you have participated in, but I need a permission statement from you in your own name). If you've already written a diary here that will fit with this project, please direct me to it--and if you'd like to expand or re-write an existing diary and submit it, that's cool too.
If we have all the statements sent to me by the end of October, it will take about a week for me to typeset everything and send it to the printer, and the finished book will be available at Amazon and elsewhere about two weeks after that. So figure around Thanksgiving.
And if you know anyone else who has participated in an OWS action, please spread the word. I'd like as many people as possible.
Thanks, everyone.
Solidarity forever.
Mon Nov 07, 2011 at 6:26 AM PT: UPDATE: The Kindle ebook version is now available: http://www.amazon.com/...
Thu Nov 17, 2011 at 8:35 PM PT: Printed book version now available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/...