Posted by Ashley Douglas

In a recent article written by Karen McVeigh in the newspaper The Guardian titled “Occupy Wall Street’s women struggle to make their voices heard,” comments on the gender issues that have been plaguing the Occupy Wall Street movement.  A woman recently tried to speak out and facilitate an assembly but she was pushed aside by men, “every one of which was white and male.”  Another woman commented that mainly men are used to speaking and being in charge of things and one cannot expect them to put their power aside just because they are involved in this movement (Kanene Holder).  It seems as though women have been more of the victims than men who have predominantly been the activists.  Women have tried to have their voices heard by commenting about “overly aggressive” males and some have tried to start female-led meetings where only women can speak.  Some men were able to calm themselves and listen, while others had a difficult time and claimed the women were being sexist.  It seems as though the women were trying to emphasize the gender issues within the movement.

One woman, author of “Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women” Rebecca Traister, made a comment that this situation compared to the second wave of feminism during the civil rights movement, but she was pleased that it only took women about two months to talk about it.  Even though women have tried to be silenced during the Occupy Wall Street movement, there are a few that are not afraid to speak up and fight for their right to speak.

In another small article titled “Occupy Wall Street Twitter Mentions Reveal Gender Disparity,” written by Carl Franzen, discusses how disinterested female twitter users are about the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Apparently only 20% of tweets containing mentions of the movement were female, which is surprising because “over 64 percent of Twitter’s users reported themselves to be female…according to a survey in late 2010.”  One would think women would be interested in the movement because they are mainly the gender that gets taxed more, but it seems as though they don’t care because they don’t have a voice in the movement.  Just like the article Karen McVeigh wrote, women are struggling to find their voice within the craziness of the men’s voices.  That could be a problem in women not talking about it as much.  Men seem to be more attached to the movement and are therefore discussing it more often and playing a big role in it.

In Gina Quattrochi’s article, “Occupy Wall Street’s Tragic Lack of Gender Analysis,” she discusses the problem with young women in the movement not getting the necessary care and help they need and deserve.  Quattrochi went into Zuccoti Park and witnessed “many older men- primarily white, many left over from 60s revolutionary like the Workers World Party- hogging the ‘front line’ on Broadway, pontificating about their ‘revolutionary’ ideas and a so-called ‘new society’ they envision.”  She also saw that the movement was mainly streamed live by men.  The young women at the park were surrounded by young men, old men, middle-aged men, revolutionary men, progressive men, mostly male cops, vendors, and reporters.  Quattrochi was genuinely worried for these women because being in that kind of situation enhances the chance for sexual harassment or assault.  She went around and distributed condoms because she was worried about the women contracting HIV and/or Hepatitis C.  Unfortunately, the women did not listen to her point of view and kind of pushed her aside, not really thinking about the consequences of being surrounded by hundreds of people and mainly men.  Quattrochi could not believe that the women were standing behind the men and not fighting for their right to speak up about their feelings and thoughts.  She saw the women as oppressed, disempowered, and their voices silenced, which many women fought against during the 60s and 70s.  She believes that the Occupy Wall Street movement is going to ultimately fail if the movement does not fix their problem with internal gender oppression.

Posted by Amalia

Why are you here? A very common question in the occupy movements. Many of the 99% simply say they are there because of “corporate greed” but others go into depth stating they demand change, not just want it, and declaring it highly important the public becomes aware of issues that continue to affect them socially, economically and politically. Their #OWS website states, “#OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations”. It is clear they are there to spread the message and fight back against a corporate power but what exactly is it that they demand and how do they expect to succeed? That is in fact the famous question the media is circling in the encampments. Because there are thousands of people in the occupy movements, there are thousands of people with demands that are either completely the same or completely different. Therefore, there is not a legitimate set of demands given by the movement. It is a movement that has people from different ethnical, political, and economical backgrounds but that still unite when being part of the 99%. Although proposed demands are not set in stone, #OWS NYCGA listed, not a few, but several demands, better known as grievances, in their 99 Percent Declaration. According to the declaration, the grievances are to be discussed in a general assembly that is to take place in Philadelphia on July 4^th of next year. The grievances are to follow a direct democracy strategy through assemblies that serve to reach a consensus among the people. According to the declaration, the national assembly will focus on an outline of a “six point plan” where they will:

1. “Elect one man and one woman from each of the 435 congressional districts in March 2012 plus six delegates from Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Territories”
2. Ask the delegates to “draft a list of grievances” where they will “be called upon to state their positions on the issues being debated”
3. Meet at the general assembly on July 4^th of next year where they will “ratify and sign a final petition for a redress of grievances and solutions and plan a potential new independent party to run in the 2014 mid-term election”
4. Address that the grievances will “be served upon all three branches of government and all candidates running for federal political office in 2012”
5. Wait for “the 213^th Congress, president, and supreme court to act upon and redress the grievances listed in the petition” and later question the 2012 candidates and their support they have or may not have on the grievances.
6. And finally organize a new independent party if the grievances are not supported

Some of the grievances, or perhaps the demands people continue to ask for, stated in the declaration include the following:

–          “Elimination of the Corporate State”

–           “A Fair Tax Code”

–          “Ending the War in Afghanistan”

–          “Healthcare for ALL”

–          “Debt Reduction”

–          “Immigration Reform and Improved Border Security”

–          “Ending of Perpetual War for Profit”

–          “Reforming Public Education”

These are only a few but you can read the complete #OWS NYCGA Declaration with all of its grievances here: www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/. The list of grievances is today, unofficial. Even though the previous are not valid demands that apply to all occupy movements, the NYCGA 99 Percent Declaration can be seen as a framework that will influence and spread to other occupy movements that will perhaps follow their paths.

#OWS: http://occupywallst.org/

About the 99% Declaration:  https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/about-the-99-declaration-1

#OWS New York City General Assembly: http://www.nycga.net/

#OWS NYCGA FAQ: http://www.nycga.net/resources/faq/

posted by Saro

occupy-imposed

Document provides some background to the movement, outline of the General Assembly process, and notes on individual rights.

posted by Natalie and Alice

Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.

This #ows movement empowers real people to create real change from the bottom up. We want to see a general assembly in every backyard, on every street corner because we don’t need Wall Street and we don’t need politicians to build a better society.

Occupy Wall Street Concerns: (more useful info at http://october2011.org/faq)  

• Tax the rich and corporations
• End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending
• Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and improved Medicare for all
• End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests
• Transition to a clean energy economy, reverse environmental degradation
• Protect worker rights including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages
• Get money out of politics