I would like to announce #occupythemall, a nascent grassroots/netroots movement to organize and mobilize our nationwide protests towards an enormous march on the National Mall. With proper organization, this will be our generation's historic march on Washington. We, the 99%, will descend upon Washington to demand our government back from the 1% that owns it. However, it will not be simple. As much as I love what OWS has done (you can often find me in liberty square) the truth is that our best event (Wednesday, Oct. 5) came with the aid of major organizing by our allies. Tahrir square similarly involved enormous organization. A march on Washington of sufficient size to demand action by our politicians seems unlikely to arise spontaneously. We will need hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of participants coming together from all over the country.
Last night I made the first small steps in organizing this by registering the domain names occupythemall.com/org, setting up twitter (@OccupyTheMall) and facebook accounts, and creating a group here on DailyKos. I encourage anyone interested in organizing this to join/follow those and spread them. This event will be largely organized and driven by social media.
As of right now several key organizational issues are up in the air. I am turning to you the netroots first for your help and input. My current thinking is that it is better to lay the groundwork (e.g. dates/permits) before going to OWS/ODC with specifics. That is, OccupyTheMall would be an autonomous occupation, separate from any individual Occupation (including DC) but hopefully endorsed by and representing them all.
At this stage the most important thing to decide is when to march so that we can apply for permits. To give enough time for organization, I believe we will need three months at a minimum. Beyond that, this thread is for all preliminary discussion.
So tell me, when should we march? Winter? Spring? Weekend or when Congress is in session? MLK Day? Let us decide so that we can begin organizing. Once we have a date and permits we can send this thing viral.