99 Percent Declaration
| 99 Percent Declaration |
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| Created |
October 7, 2011 |
The 99 Percent Declaration or 99% Declaration is a document created by a lawyer who represented one of the 700 people arrested on Brooklyn Bridge. It has not been backed by the OWS movement in New York City or accepted nationally.[1][2][3] It calls for a "National General Assembly" to convene on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia.[4] The attendees would be 876 delegates elected by direct vote. There would be a man and a woman from each of the 435 Congressional Districts and one delegate from each of the US territories. The delegates will vote on final Petition for a redress of grievances. The 99% Declaration puts forth 22 suggested grievances and solutions including an immediate ban on all monetary and gift contributions to all politicians, implementing a public financing system for political campaigns, and the reversal of the Citizens United case by the Supreme Court.[5][1][2][6]
Background
Occupy Wall Street is a movement, which began as an advertised demonstration asking "What is our one Demand". This has led various individuals and groups to propose demands and try to get Occupy Wall Street support. None of these efforts has succeeded. The 99 Percent Declaration is one of these sets of demands. It has since gone on, however, to have its own organization.[7][8][9][10][11]
Document
The declaration calls for a national general assembly to represent the 435 congressional districts and 6 US territories to gather on July 4, 2012, for the purpose of assembling a list of grievances and solutions.[5] A National General Assembly idea comes from the Demands Working Group, a protester committee designated at one of the General Assembly meetings in Zuccotti Park. The plan includes elections by direct vote of two delegates (one man and one woman) from the Congressional Districts and one delegate from each territory. These delegates would vote on a list of grievances at an assembly in Philadelphia. After forming, the group launched a website and published a proposed list of grievances online. The subjects of the grievances/solutions are[6]:
- Elimination of the Corporate State
- Abrogation of the "Citizens United" Case
- Elimination of All Private Benefits and "Perks" to Politicians
- Term Limits
- A Fair Tax Code
- Healthcare for All
- Protection of the Planet
- Debt Reduction
- Jobs for All Americans
- Student Loan Forgiveness
- Immigration Reform and Improved Border Security
- Ending of Perpetual War for Profit
- Reforming Public Education
- End Outsourcing
- End Currency Manipulation
- Banking and Securities Reform
- Foreclosure Moratorium
- Ending the Fed
- Abolish the Electoral College, Comprehensive Campaign Finance and Election Reform
- Ending the War in Afghanistan
- Repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA")
- No Censorship of the Internet
Occupy movement response
The general assemblies of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Philadelphia have disassociated themselves from the 99% Declaration. They do not feel they share the same values. These general assemblies, for example, support direct democracy where each person speaks for themselves. The 99% percent declaration supports representative democracy, where groups elect persons to speak on their behalf.[12] In an open letter to Occupy Wall Street, co-founder of the 99% Declaration Michael Pollok, apologized for any divisions in the movement caused by the document and called for unity going forward. He invited each of the General Assemblies to run delegates in the March 2012 election. See, "Occupy Oakland publishes open letter from Michael Pollok."
Conservative response
The 99 Percent Declaration has been cited by conservative organizations to highlight the differences between their positions and the Occupy Wall Street movement.
- According to Edwin Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation, the Tea Party stands for freedom of expression whereas the 99 Percent Declaration calls for “a ban on political contributions by individuals and political speech by associations and groups, including companies and unions.”[13]
- The American Enterprise Institute cites the 99 Percent Declaration as calling for "paying our teachers a competitive salary commensurate with the salaries of employees in the private sector with similar skills." They agree, but only in the sense that teachers are currently overpaid relative to the private sector in terms of their benefits and pension. They would like to see states and localities have greater freedom to make teacher compensation related to teacher performance.[14]
See also
References
- ^ a b Duda, C. (October 19, 2011) "Occupy Wall Street Protesters Call for National General Assembly, Put Forward Possible Demands" Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
- ^ a b Dunn, M. (October 19, 2011) "‘Occupy’ May Hold National Assembly In Philadelphia" CBS Philadelphia
- ^ Kennedy, A.L. (October 22, 2011) "Protesters Plan to Occupy Williamsburg" Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
- ^ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/11/has-a-harvard-professor-mapped-out-the-next-step-for-occupy-wall-street/247561/
- ^ a b Walsh, J. (October 20, 2011) "Do we know what OWS wants yet?" Salon
- ^ a b 99% Declaration site
- ^ Haack, D. (October 24, 2011) "How the Occupy movement won me over" The Guardian
- ^ Hoffman, Meredith. "Protesters Debate What Demands, if Any, to Make". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/17/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-trying-to-settle-on-demands.html?_r=1. Retrieved 11-3-11.
- ^ "Wall Street occupiers need a rethink on strategy". Times Live, AVUSA, Inc.. http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2011/11/06/wall-street-occupiers-need-a-rethink-on-strategy. Retrieved 11-5-11.
- ^ "“The 99 Percent Declaration” from “An OWS Working Group”". TaylorMarsh.com. http://taylormarsh.com/blog/2011/10/%E2%80%9Cthe-99-percent-declaration%E2%80%9D-from-%E2%80%9Can-ows-working-group%E2%80%9D/. Retrieved 11-3-11.
- ^ "The NYCGA-True Hollywood Story: The 99Declaration Group, an Exposé". New York City General Assembly Official Website. https://www.nycga.net/2011/11/01/the-nycga-true-hollywood-story-the-99declaration-group-an-expose/. Retrieved 11-3-11.
- ^ LaIntelligencia "99% Declaration Receives a Vote of “No Support” from OP GA" Occupy Philly Media, 15 December 2011
- ^ "Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street; Contrary to Obama's assertions, movements are poles apart." Washington Times, 2 Nov. 2011.
- ^ Biggs, Andrew G., and Jason Richwine. "Are public school teachers really underpaid? Nope." USA Today 16 Nov. 2011.
Further reading
External links