Occupy Portland - Goals and Demands

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Revision as of 13:29, 2 October 2011 by 76.105.248.32 (talk) (Quote from Cornel West)
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The content of this page is a working participatory draft. As yet, there is no mutually-agreed-upon set of goals, principles, and demands for the Occupy Portland movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, or any of the other Occupy Together movements.

Mission and Goals

Occupy Portland was created with the initial goals of 1) expressing solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City on September 17, 2011, and 2) working actively to reclaim government from the hands of powerful special interests. No other mission or goals have yet been articulated.

Organizational and Operating Principles

Occupy Portland is a loose organization of concerned citizens and residents working together to support Occupy Wall Street other Occupy Together movements and to effect change in governance. No official organizational or operating principles have yet been codified. Participants are generally committed to non-violent direct and indirect action and to making decisions following a participatory, consensus-seeking model.

Primary Demands

No list of demands has yet been agreed upon. Any demands that have been approved by the General Assembly will be included here.

Proposed Demands

PLEASE BRAINSTORM, MINOR EDITS ONLY (NO DELETIONS) TO PREVIOUS SUGGESTIONS

The Wiki nature of the brainstormed list below honors the diversity of the demands of the individuals involved in the Occupy Portland and other Occupy Together movements.

If any of the items below are brought before the General Assembly for discussion and approval, they will be included in the Primary Demands section above.

  1. Overhaul and simplify the federal income tax code to promote fairness and reasonableness in the collection of funds from the general public to pay for government activities. Eliminate deductions that primarily benefit the wealthy.
  2. Strengthen and protect Social Security and Medicare through increases in payroll taxes, including lifting the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes and subjecting investment income to both Social Security and Medicare taxes. Prohibit "payroll tax cuts" that undermine the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare.
  3. Set a statutory timetable for lowering Medicare eligibility to age 0 by 2020, to ensure that all Americans have access to quality medical care.
  4. Disassemble/reorganize the "too-big-to-fail" financial institutions, to protect the long-term financial and economic health of the nation. Impose a tax on speculative financial transactions to fund an expanded Securities and Exchange Commission. Enforce a separation of banking and "investment" (gambling) activities.
  5. Set a statutory timetable to close all overseas military bases by 2030. Immediately cease all covert military operations. Use the fiscal savings to support and strengthen the United Nations and World Court as viable international organizations promoting peace and justice.
  6. Increase income taxes on wealthy Americans to fund a National Race Relations Board, in order to break the persistent link between race and economic status.
  7. Require all states to institute "instant run-off" voting to allow voters on all sides of the political spectrum to express support for 3rd party candidates. Allow the popular vote to determine election winners, and eliminate the electoral college.
  8. Abort the Keystone XL pipeline project, or offset the environmental impact through mandatory reductions in coal mining in North America. Institute a tax on carbon emissions to fund expansion of the EPA.
  9. Abolish corporate 'person-hood.' Shift liability for corporate actions to shareholders. Tax all corporations as pass-through entities. Revoke corporate charters for corporations with a history of acting in disregard of the public interest.
  10. Set mandatory caps on executive compensation, expressed as a relationship to the federal minimum wage.
  11. Tax private secondary schools and colleges, to create a fund to reduce the cost of public education.

Please add your demands to the list above! But only include demands that:

  1. are likely to be supported by a large majority of the 99%;
  2. can only be accomplished by law (as opposed to demands that can/should be brought about by collective changes in individual behavior - we're not abdicating personal responsibility); and
  3. must be met in order for you to feel that the OccupyTogether movement has been a success.

External links and resources


Quote from Cornel West:

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.

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