We are forming the coalition of the cooperative. We are the 99%.
Channel: insub2
Date: 05/10/2011

This country was supposed to be for the people, by the people. But on January 21, 2010 the Supreme Court decided that corporations were people too and with that have rights such as Freedom of Speech. Their protected expression is donating unlimited amounts of money to any political campaign.

Corporate taxes are lower than under Reagon. Corporate profits are at an all time high since the 1947 (when the data began to be collected). Yet our country is facing the longest stretch of unemployment since the Great Depression!

So...what are we gonna do about it? I'm glad you asked...
On September 17, about one thousand people set up camp on Wall Street. Frustrated with the growing separation of wealth and the overwhelming role of big business in our politics, thousands more joined in solidarity occupying cities across the United States. Uniting around the fact that we are the 99%. It is our voice that should be heard. Not because we are rich but because we are the people.

This is complicated and messy and awesome. This is wild. This is real. It's supposed to be a mess; it's supposed to be hard to figure out. It's everybody fighting for their rights. That's something we have to think about. We have to come to our own conclusions about how we, as individuals, interact with our country and country ppl. I am impressed with this act of cooperation. A real grass-roots movement working as a decentralized coalition. Using the internet to build consensus around a list of demands. We may not agree on everything but we agree that we need something better. This is a movement for everybody. In this moment, we come together as the 99%, screaming "We're human beings, goddammit, and our lives have value!"

We're going to #OccupyGrandRapids. We will be persistent. Giving up and returning to the status quo is not an option. I have no interest in being quiet. I want it to be active and exciting. My goal is to get us on TV. To get the word out. I want music and chanting and marching and sleeping on the sidewalk. I've seen a lot of "they're not scared of you," and, "you're not changing their minds." Well, duh. I don't expect any of those "job makers" to suddenly stop being greedy, self-centered pricks. But the mindset of the bankers is irrelevant. This is about us, how we can be the ones to control our own destinies. We don't have to bend and bow to the whims of the market. We don't need to sacrifice so much for the benefits of so few. We can survive and thrive by using local products and services instead of filling to coffers of corporations and executives with our hard earn dollars. "Our participation in the system is the wind in its sails" (Joy Pryor). We can survive and thrive on less crap in our lives.

You are the leader of this movement if you want a better future. You want a job, a better job, better pay, effective health care. If you want your retirement account that's gaining money. If you want politicians to listen to you, a person, as opposed to a corporation who's sole reason for existing is profit...not love, not peace, not sustainability, just profit by any means. Then show up and do your thing.

Part of the power behind a democracy is that the citizens think and act for themselves. We are organizing in order to be more effective. We are not getting everyone completely on the same page before we act. Just in the same play book.

As Cornel West said,
"It's impossible to translate the issue of the greed of Wall Street into one demand, or two demands. We're talking about a democratic awakening...you're talking about raising political consciousness so it spills over all parts of the country, so people can begin to see what's going on through a set of different lens, and then you begin to highlight what the more detailed demands would be. Because in the end we're really talking about what Martin King would call a revolution: A transfer of power from oligarchs to everyday people of all colors. And that is a step by step process."

Welcome to the revolution. All you have to do is show up, be aware, and do your thing.