FAQ about the Occupy Movement
Here are some answers to some frequently asked questions about the Occupy Movement, as answered by a humble occupier in Los Angeles. Each paragraph will be followed by a tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) for those who prefer abridgment.
Please note that I am in no way a representative, official or unofficial, of the Occupy movement. Please also note that no one is, even if they say they are. We did that on purpose. Those who claim to represent us are often the same people whose personal agendas would never pass consensus at an Occupation General Assembly.
Why do you “occupy?”
The short answer you may have heard: We’re dedicated to protesting the vast injustices that have been committed by a powerful few, and ignored by our corporate-sponsored government. Corporate criminals ought to be held accountable for stealing homes, money, jobs, committing major fraud, and taking advantage of government bailout loans. We’re tireless because every day, we see and feel the pain of the poor financial decisions made by those powerful few while their profits are higher than they’ve ever been.
The more explicit answer:
The U.S. is a constitutional republic, wherein the democratically elected representatives of each district are tasked with representing the interests of their constituency. The motivation behind the Occupy movement is based on the belief that our legislators are no longer representing the interests of their constituency, but rather the interests of whomever funds their campaign most heavily. Since money is now considered speech by the US government (see the Citizens United ruling), and there is a gross wealth disparity here (38th worst in the world, going by our GINI coefficient), the system is currently functioning so that our votes very often mean nothing. We decide the winning candidate, but regardless of who wins any election, politicians must be bought, if they haven’t already, by corporate or union interests: whichever has more. In the U.S., 85% of the time the candidate with the most campaign funding will win the election. It’s no longer practically possible to win an election without huge amounts of money, and most of that money inevitably comes from the same corporate interests that benefit from legislation passed by those to whom they contributed huge amounts of money. This is against the very foundation of a representative democracy, and since voting no longer works, the only remaining form of democratic participation provided to us by our founding fathers is the right to assembly in peaceable protest. It was afforded just for cases like these.
This idea transcends partisan lines. Both major parties, frankly, suck at representing American interests. We’re angry. We tried voting, but since they’re all corrupt, that didn’t work either. So we’re doing the other kind of democratic participation thing. We’re protesting until we’re heard by those who have ignored the people for a disturbingly long time.
tl;dr: The government is terribly corrupt, ignoring the people, and our votes (on either side) aren’t changing anything. We’re protesting because we love our country but hate what they’re doing to it. And we’re staying in tents because that’s difficult to ignore, and makes it much easier to collaborate with each other on solutions, consensus, and fact-based knowledge.