Revolution 99 Updates: The Media Will Try To Divide

Occupy Wall Street’s National General Assembly
BY ALLISON KILKENNY,inthesetimes.com – – General assemblies were one of the biggest attractions at the first-ever Occupy camp when it still existed at Zuccotti Park. The G.A., as it became known, was truly a surreal sight: hundreds of individuals gathered within the relatively small concrete patch to democratically vote up or down every — and I do mean every — decision Occupy Wall Street ever faced. Speakers were permitted to talk at length using the People’s Mic and the activists expressed their approval with a new hand gesture (“twinkling”) unknown to most Americans.
The G.A. was created as a direct response to the alienating, disenfranchising process known as the American political system. Within the borders of the assembly, every single participant is totally empowered. No Super PAC can buy more time to speak at a General Assembly. In fact, the few times I saw celebrities show up to the General Assembly and ask to cut the line of speakers, Occupiers shut them down and told them to wait their turn.

And while the G.A. certainly still exists at smaller camps and the off-site OWS location at 60 Wall Street’s Atrium, the grand show of huge, daily outside assemblies faded along with the pleasant weather.

However, one group of protesters affiliated with Occupy Wall Street (see update below) now plans to bring back the tradition by electing 876 “delegates” from around the country to hold a national “general assembly” in Philadelphia over the Fourth of July.

The group, dubbed the 99% Declaration Working Group, said Wednesday delegates would be selected during a secure online election in early June from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.

In a nod to their First Amendment rights, delegates will meet in Philadelphia to draft and ratify a “petition for a redress of grievances,” convening during the week of July 2 and holding a news conference in front of Independence Hall on the Fourth of July.

Candidates for delegate must be U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who are 18 years of age or older, according to Michael S. Pollok, an attorney who advised Occupy Wall Street activists arrested during the Brooklyn Bridge protest last year, and co-founder of the 99% Declaration Working Group.

“We feel it’s appropriate to go back to what our founding fathers did and have another petition congress,” Pollok said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We feel that following the footsteps of our founding fathers is the right way to go.”

But Pollok has big plans for the national G.A. that he promises won’t be like a typical Occupy-style event.

The group would meet in a “state of the art” facility near Independence Hall as opposed to occupying a public space, he said. Also, the delegates who attend must be elected, a major shift from how Occupy Wall Street or Philadelphia operated.

The elected delegates would converge on Philadelphia on July 2 and develop a list of grievances to be presented before the November election to the president, each member of Congress, and the Supreme Court, Pollok said.

Elected officials (one male, one female from each district) have the right to reject the petition that would call for action within 100 days of the next session of Congress, but doing so would mean the group must then field candidates against those who are up for reelection in 2014. Read more…

What if Occupy Created a Movement so Big it Couldn’t Control it?By ADAM MARTIN,theatlanticwire - Occupy Wall Street is going on a press offensive to correct a round of stories on Wednesday that reported it was planning a national assembly for the summer, the latest example of the decentralized movement seeing its name used in ways its organizers don’t support.

Occupy groups in New York and Philadelphia say they never ratified a plan by a group called the 99 Percent Working Group to hold an assembly of Occupy “delegates” in Philadelphia on July 4. In fact, the Occupy groups say, they specifically denied the 99 Percent Declaration Working Group’s request for their approval. But the plan nonetheless got reported as an Occupy action. It’s just the most recent in a string of cases where the momentum of Occupy Wall Street as a movement got beyond the control of its “official” organizers in ways that contradict Occupy’s own principles of autonomy.

The report in the Associated Press sounded like the kind of thing people have been waiting for from Occupy Wall Street since it set up in Zuccotti Park and then refused to issue a list of demands: The 99 Percent Declaration Working Group would arrange an online election to select 876 delegates from occupations all over the country, and then on July 4, those delegates would meet in Philadelphia to ratify a petition that the group would submit to the U.S. Congress, the Supreme Court, the president, and every candidate for office. Finally, the thinking went, those in power would know what Occupy Wall Street wanted, and could figure out whether and how to give it to them.

But the 99 Percent Declaration Working Group doesn’t represent Occupy Wall Street, at least according to Occupy Wall Street. On Thursday, the Occupy PR team in New York issued a statement disavowing the plan: “The 99% Declaration and its call for a “national general assembly” in Philadelphia in July is not affiliated with or endorsed by Occupy Wall Street, and the organizers’ plans blatantly contradict OWS’ stated principles.” It quoted a resolution passed by Occupy Philadelphia’s general assembly: “We do not support the 99% Declaration, its group, its website, its National GA and anything else associated with it.” And it asked reporters to please check with Occupy Wall Street before running such stories. But aside from asking, there’s not much Occupy can do to keep others from using its name. Read more…