What follows is the first official, collective statement of the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Zuccotti Park, New York.
* * *
By Occupy Wall Street, October 3, 2011
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass
injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that
all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that
we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future
of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must
protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the
individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a
democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations
do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that
no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic
power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over
people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our
governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these
facts be known.
•
They have taken
our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the
original mortgage.
•
They have taken
bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives
exorbitant bonuses.
•
They have
perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the
color of one's skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
•
They have poisoned
the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through
monopolization.
•
They have profited
off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and
actively hide these practices.
•
They have
continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay
and safer working conditions.
•
They have held
students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which
is itself a human right.
•
They have
consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut
workers’ healthcare and pay.
•
They have
influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the
culpability or responsibility.
•
They have spent
millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of
contracts in regards to health insurance.
•
They have sold our
privacy as a commodity.
•
They have used the
military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
•
They have
deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of
profit.
•
They determine
economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced
and continue to produce.
•
They have donated
large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
•
They continue to
block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
•
They continue to
block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide
relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial
profit.
•
They have
purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive
ingredients in pursuit of profit.
•
They purposefully
keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
•
They have accepted
private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts
about their guilt.
•
They have
perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
•
They have
participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
•
They continue to
create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government ontracts.*
To the people of the world, We, the New York City General Assembly
occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space;
create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible
to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit
of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources
at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
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