By now, I'm sure most regular readers of this blog are familiar with the protests in New York, also known as #OccupyWallStreet. As promised, other cities across the globe have also followed suit-- including Minneapolis.
Yesterday, several of us met at Steven's Square Park in South Minneapolis to discuss initial strategies and to assign tasks to volunteers to ensure that the occupation, beginning October 7, goes off without a hitch. A Star Tribune reporter, Randy Furst, attended the meeting and took notes. You can find his article here. Our goal is to be as open and transparent as possible, to ensure that all participants and possible supporters understand our collective goal of non-violence, and to lead by example in the fight for transparency in government and corporate America.
We need your help, though. As our democracy and right to vote are slowly eroding by way of Republican majorities in several state legislatures and governorships, we realize that one of our last remaining options is the old tried-and-true method of being physically present. With Governor Dayton in office, we don't have it nearly as bad as our brothers and sisters in many other states, but our nation as a whole is in a state of turmoil when it comes to our democracy, and the infusion of money in politics. It is our goal to show solidarity with our New York brothers and sisters in their occupation of Wall Street, and to help fight for a real, meaningul democracy, where the voices of the other 99% actually matter.
Please join us on Saturday, October 1 at 4:00pm for a meet-and-greet, and/or 5:15 for our public forum at Steven's Square Park in South Minneapolis to help us finalize the plans for our occupation. We're mimicking the New York-style general assemblies, with the goal of not having a designated leader and to ensure that everything we do is as democratically-decided as we hope the rest of our political lives will be.
Please go to OccupyMN.org for more information. New information will be posted there as soon as it is acquired. We are also on Facebook. Like our page for more updates. We're also on Twitter, @OccupyMN.
We hope to see you there. To use a tired but uncomfortably true cliche, we are the change we've been waiting for.
Thu Sep 29, 2011 at 4:33 PM PT: EVERYONE: there has been talk of possibly moving the beginning of the occupation to October 15. This will be democratically decided at our meeting on Saturday, October 1st.