PLEASE NOTE: The “sub-page” to the Think Tent (Mother Page) you see below is: http://occupytucson.org/?page_id=876 * Think Tent (Meaning Units)
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Preferred: E-mail the Think Tent of Tucson at tent.thinker@gmail.com * Or, call to leave a message: 325-3545
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******
NOTE: This proposal is based on the “Think Tent Thoughts” document, below:
Integrating the Consensus Process With Representational Democracy:
We The People Constitution for Occupy Tucson
(Original Draft Proposal)
Sunday, January 15, 2012 (83rd Birthday of MLK, Jr.)
Proposed by: Moji Agha
Tucson, Arizona
Tell the truth and run. (George Seldes)
DEDICATION NOTES: Please see Appendix II below.
Building Democratic Legitimacy for the General Assembly (GA)
From the perspective of this “occupier,” the foundational problem of Occupy Tucson’s General Assembly (and possibly other GAs in our occupy movement) has been not having democratic legitimacy, given that none of us have been elected to represent anyone or any cause. At best, we are well-meaning, dedicated, and sacrificing volunteers who claim to understand, and are qualified to bring the the protest voice of the deep pains of the “99%” to the ears of illegitimate concentration of money and power.
Rather than repeating the painful story told in the links given in the Dedication Notes (Appendix II, below), I just simply and care-fully say that I profoundly disagree with the course taken so far by our GA (namely imposing an inappropriate and dysfunctionally coercive “consensus” process, in a not fully disclosed ideologically manufactured social re-engineering experiment), and instead I go directly to outline my proposed solution to this anguished problem, in this crude first draft (obviously incomplete–proposing bare bone structures) of “We The People Constitution for Occupy Tucson” (which could hopefully serve as a humble model for other communities of Occupy Wall Street experiencing similar pains) as an attempt to integrate the best of healthy representational democracy and the consensus process, appropriately applied, in harmony.
1- The Elections Process
To begin the long process of building democratic legitimacy, so that we would become effective in creating change politically, economically, socially, and culturally, our OT needs to focus its mission, and our GA needs to become elected.
a) Elected by who?
- By “Participant Members” (PMs) of the Occupy Tucson community.
b) Who is a PM?
- Any person who accepts this constitution and mission statement (see below–both given as examples) and has been a resident, works in, or goes to school in Southern Arizona, for a period of at least 30 days. Each PM would be issued a card, bearing her/his real name or alias. Persons under 16 would be “Junior PMs.”
c) Who can vote to elect the members of OT’s GA?
- Any PM who is at least 16 (the driving age) on the day of the election.
d) How many elected members would the GA have?
- 9 (suggested).
e) How long is the elected GA members terms of incumbency?
- 3 months (suggested).
f) Who can become a candidate?
- Any PM.
g) Who wins the elections?
- The 9 candidates with the highest number of votes.
h) What decision-making process would the elected GA utilize?
- The consensus process, backed–as a last resort–by a super-majority vote (6 out of 9, with a quorum of 7 for each session of the GA; which would be open to all PMs and to the public to observe and participate, in whatever manner the elected GA decides), only after ALL attempts at reaching consensus have been exhausted in ABSOLUTE GOOD FAITH.
i) What powers does the elected GA have? What checks its powers?
- While the GA would be the ultimate governing authority, representing the Occupy Tucson community PMs (who elect or re-elect its members every 3 months) it would create a “spokes council” and as many working groups that the OT community needs (all of whom would utilize the GA’s decision-making model), so that power does not get concentrated in the elected GA members.
j) Any term limits?
- No GA member can serve more than 3 consecutive 3-month terms (suggested).
2- Focused Mission Statement
It is hereby proposed that Occupy Tucson focus (i.e., simplify) its mission, given that its primary function as a “protest movement” should be to protest non-violently (in order to bring effective attention to) the conditions that have made the movement necessary in the first place.
Such a to-be-developed Mission Statement (adopted officially by the elected GA) would hopefully focus on protesting a) systemic injustice, b) militarism, and c) the suicidal harm to our Mother Earth, in as many creative non-violent ways as it is possible (using civil disobedience, as needed), to also include building alliances with existing efforts, campaigns, and organizations.
This focused mission statement would be based on a set of agreed upon general “values and goals” for the movement, an EXAMPLE of which has been proposed by this occupier in the appendix I (immediately below) excerpted from the full text (further below) of the “Think Tent Thoughts” document, herein: http://occupytucson.org/?page_id=321.
*****
APPENDIX I
Proposed Values and Goals Underlying Occupy Tucson’s Focused Mission Statement, Protesting Systemic Injustice, Militarism, and Suicidal Harm to our Mother Earth:
1- Seeking liberty and justice our Occupy Movement aims to restore and reform, ethically, non-violently, and based on universally recognized human rights, the constitutional meaning of the phrase: “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Namely, our movement seeks the real security and national interests of our people.
2- Seeking real political and economic reform, we aim to deepen and strengthen our civil society, expand the space for genuine dialogue and cooperation, raise the level of knowledge and consciousness, enhance mutual trust, and restore freedom of information, knowledge, and association in our society.
3- Besides being political and economic, our reform-seeking protest movement is a social and cultural one. Thus, as we seek to create real change and reform in this country, we recognize in humility that we too can make mistakes. This is why we genuinely oppose any form of self-righteous absolutism, and we emphasize the need for valuing diversity and difference, and for rigorous continual dialogue and critical self-examination, both inside and outside the movement.
4- Because we seek liberty, justice, humanity, honesty, mutuality, diversity, harmony, and balance as universal values, our movement emphasizes the value and the need for a thriving culture of peaceful, respectful, informative, healthy, and constructive dialogue, exchange, and cooperation, even among competitors or perceived opponents. Thus we seek to abolish the word “enemy,” from our vocabulary and consciousness.
5- Recognizing that we live in an interconnected world, our movement advocates the value and the need for humility and learning from the experience of other nations and peoples, while maintaining integrity and self-respect. This is why we emphasize the value of international mutuality and cooperation, while avoiding the extremes of domination of others or isolationism, while also abhorring exploitation of others in any form, including the colonial use, as tools for “divide-and-conquer” manipulation, abroad or at home, of religion, ideology, social, ethnic, and class difference, ecologic disparity, freedom, human rights, and other positive or negative causes and motives.
6- Because one of the core social justice values of our movement is that we, as individuals and communities, seek to determine our own destiny, we intend to restore the rightful place of the right to vote, democracy, and the plurality of voices in our society. Thus we want real, competitive, transparent, and honest elections, free of overt or covert manipulation, as not only a civil right but as a human right.
7- Protecting human dignity and foundational and constitutional human rights, especially from abusive power and money, is a vital value to our movement, including true equality before the law, thus, freedom from religious, racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, and social status bias and discrimination. We consider these basic rights to be inalienable, because they have resulted from the wisdom of human history; and thus our movement seeks to make it impossible for any ruler, government, congress, court, military, police, corporation, or any other overt or covert force, to diminish or take away such rights, under any condition or pretext.
8- Our movement wants our constitution to be evenly and fairly applied, and we intend to reform it, especially to ensure that the rights of the people are not made superficial and subservient to the selfish desires and measures of money and power; thus we seek to begin the process of reforming the constitution, as well as the institutions that have come to be, as a result of bestowing the status of personhood to corporations.
9- Therefore, we emphasize, again, the following universal principles as parts of our basic values, goals, and demands: The equality of all preserved and enhanced, by justly passed and enforced laws and regulations; Protecting the rights of oppositions and minorities; Plurality and freedom of political parties and that of non-governmental organizations, associations, and social networks; Truly free and uncensored press and media; Free access of all to information and knowledge; Respecting and safeguarding the privacy of individuals and groups; Abolition of any systemic bias; Fair access to and just distribution and sharing of natural or human-made opportunities and possibilities, whether economic, political, social, or cultural; Constant and systematic vigilance against the overt or covert undue influences of money and power; and of course, Nonviolent and just resolution of conflicts, domestically and internationally.
10- Thus, our “Occupy Movement” believes that the best way to maintain and safeguard our political, economic, cultural, and military independence, sovereignty, and national security, is to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which includes as a logical and natural consequence, truly caring for the well-being of all the interdependent inhabitants of our deeply wounded Mother Earth.
Appendix II
DEDICATION NOTES:
Adding to what I have shared in this sober essay: http://occupytucson.org/?p=1371 (and in its comments section–as well as in my comments here: http://occupytucson.org/?p=1438), I dedicate these public words of care and caution, in the form of this proposed first-step solution, to the thousands (at least in Tucson) of my fellow “occupiers” whose hopes have turned to walking/being pushed away tears in the past three months–and some of those tears were witnessed by the eyes of deep caring in the “Gripes and Tears / Dance of Pain and Hope” Healing Gatherings.
[Please also see the comment section of this announcement: http://occupytucson.org/?p=1546.]
I also offer these words to the 22-year-old man who confessed boldly in the Think Tent [http://occupytucson.org/?page_id=321] that: “This is my REFUGE from the GA” (Occupy Tucson’s currently un-elected General Assembly) but he did not see my inner “moderator” tears after hearing his words of profoundly vulnerable youthfully innocent historic anguish.
I also dedicate this possible solution for at least some of the problems of the Occupy Movement (including its local movement here in Tucson) to the martyrs of the Green Movement of Iran–and of the “Arab Spring” Movements–who have given their young lives for the “SACRED” RIGHT TO VOTE (inspired by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in part) while hoping that my words can ultimately stand that hardest of historical tests, namely that of true integrity and wisdom, not just the test of accepting the risks of saying to an impassioned public what is unpopular, when it is unpopular.
*****
Progress Report # 1
Think Tent Begins Discussing “Values and Goals” Statement
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
By: Moji Agha
In its 5th meeting since being born on October 25, 2011, the Think Tent of Tucson, an Occupy Tucson working group, began discussing (last evening at Access Tucson’s Conference room), the “Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft).”
As in previous gatherings, this dialogue (on Nov. 12, 2011) was democratic, lively, stimulating, and in-depth–per the process-oriented mission of the Think Tent (TT), namely “thinking” about the long-term future and evolution of the Occupy Movement.
The “tent-thinkers” who were present found the “Thoughts” document, a significant part of which focuses on proposed “values and goals” for the movement, worthy of continued in-depth discussion and deliberation in future gatherings of the TT.
They also decided (in line with the TT’s “participatory, collaborative, and democratic” nature) that the document merits being introduced to the larger community (at Occupy Tucson and beyond) by being posted at the Think Tent’s web-page herein–please see below–
One tent-thinker shared the following thought (paraphrased) regarding the process:
Until such time that our movement gradually reaches an agreed upon consensus about its eventual overall character and direction, there would inevitably be many “Thoughts” statements such as this one, titled differently, however. I think we should welcome, value, and ponder (individually and communally) ALL such expressions of participation and concern–instead of seeing them as competing with one another, because each care-ful document of this kind is like a “stream of wisdom” that can potentially add sustaining fresh water (from a unique perspective) to the “river of wisdom” that would eventually be formed, called our Occupy Movement’s integrated “charter” or “statement of intent and purpose” — so to speak.
The below-pasted Think Tent Thoughts (first draft), could potentially be one of the FIRST STEPS toward creating an organized and hopefully cohesive process (so as to protect the movement from being “divided-and-ruled” and other harms) of incorporating the various wisdoms of our people, toward such a healing integration.
Clearly our occupy community needs time: a) to read and become familiar, b) think about and discuss IN DEPTH and WITH CARE, and c) embark on a path of giving feedback (hopefully constructive comments, suggestions, and/or questions) regarding the Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft).
Thus the Think Tent (in line with our Mission Statement–see below), presents the following means for community participation in this process, in person and/or online, AFTER carefully reading the document — PLEASE:
1- For those of you who are able to and interested in making the commitment to do IN-DEPTH discussion and work, you can come to our regularly scheduled focused Think Tent Meetings–for now held at Access Tucson (conference room), 124 E. Broadway, Tucson, AZ 85701. See our Facebook page for the date/time of the upcoming meetings.
2- For those of you who do not have that much time, but are still interested in the process, you can come to our regularly scheduled Think Tent Community Forums, for now held around the fountain at the Veinte de Agosto Park (also called Pancho Villa Park), which is the broad median strip on Broadway north of La Placita Village. The entrance to the park is on the crosswalk at Church Street. See our Facebook page for the date/time of the upcoming forums.
3- You can go to the Think Tent’s Facebook page:
4- You can email the Think Tent at: tent.thinker@gmail.com
In the mean time, here is our song:
We are Tent-Thinkers,
Occupied with thought;
But feelings and love,
forget we do not!
*******
Now, per above, here is the full text of the Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft), starting with its “cover letter” — so to speak:
Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011
Dear fellow Occupy Wall Street activists (i.e., humble original “leaders” of this brave “leaderless” movement),
Greetings in respect, love, and solidarity.
I am sharing this ORIGINAL draft “Thoughts” document with you folks before ANYONE else [before it gets DISTORTED once it gets out], because you are the brave and sacrificing souls that started this great movement in the U.S.
In the next few days and weeks our “Think Tent of Tucson” members (please see footnote # 1 below) and our fellow activists here at Occupy Tucson will begin the process of discussing the care-ful “Thoughts” statement you see below, which is my humble response to (the expected) fact that our movement is already being spinned, especially in the “propaganda press,” as a group of “well-meaning but angry folks who know what they don’t want, but don’t know what is it that they want.”
Per footnote # 2 below, this [unfair and false accusation] is in part what has happened to the Green Movement in Iran–and is an on-going danger awaiting the “Fall” stages of the “Arab Spring” movements.
Thus, I thought it URGENT that we have coherent statements (or rather, a process of producing them), saying in essence: “THIS is what, we the ‘occupy’ people want” — hence my proposed “first draft” document below, which is self-explanatory.
To get a sense of who I am, please see the short bio at the bottom of this contextual essay I wrote in re the Iran’s Green Movement–referenced in footnote # 2 below:
Needless to say, please feel free to contact me, as needed, and share/forward/publish this material, as appropriate.
Thank you for what you have been doing from the bottom of my heart.
OCCUPY PEACE,
Moji Agha
Founder, The Think Tent of Tucson
PS: So that you can see how I look like these days–at age 53, please see (and read) this news report from our local Ch. 9 (KGUN-9–ABC affiliate), on the very day I began thinking about how to get the Think Tent founded, while sitting in my “conflict resolution” corner of our “welcome table/tent” at Armory Park:
*****
Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform
(First Draft)
Composed by: Moji Agha
The Think Tent at Occupy Tucson
(Please see Footnotes)
Tucson, Arizona, U. S. A.
Contact E-mail: tent.thinker@gmail.com
Monday, November 7,2011
PREAMBLE
WE THE PEOPLE, hereby declare:
The Fall of 2011 has witnessed the rise of hope. The sacrifice, the struggle around the world for liberty and justice by our fellow human beings has once again lit a spark of inspiration in our hearts; this time here in the land of liberty and equality, where once again, we raise our people’s cry for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people; and we hereby declare that we are tired of the government of money and power, by money and power, and for money and power, and that we want instead, liberty, justice, and yes, we want life on our very fragile planet to survive and prosper.
We the people hereby declare that, like our sister movements around the world, our American “Occupy Movement” is peaceful, inclusive and unprecedented in scope, manifesting our real national interests.
Thus, we declare for all to hear, that we are not going away, because we too have a dream: A dream of the revival of basic rights, of dignity, and of the humble respect for all life. In this dream, only “we the people” chart our destiny.
Therefore, we the people, hereby share these humble Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform, as the voice of our “Occupy that which is already ours” dream.
Given that the humble “tent” presents us with a profound symbol of our global discontent, this “Think Tent Thoughts” document hopes to start a healing conversation, a peaceful and hopeful dialogue of reconciliation and cooperation in the collective tent of our wisdom. We have a dream that our voice of the 99% is being heard before it is too late.
Introduction
In order that our “Occupy Movement” (starting from “Occupying Wall Street” in New York City), should not be defined, and thus controlled, by others, we need to set forth clearly what it is that we want, in addition to voicing our just grievances. Obviously this is an ongoing process, especially given the diversity of the voices and goals in our movement. However, it is imperative that we define and develop proactively a coherent statement of initial consensus, of our common aspirations and goals, around which we can then coalesce in harmony, since the road to real reform is not easy.
We need to do this to safeguard the movement against the reality or the unfair accusation, that our identities, world-views, values, foundations, directions, goals, and methods are not agreed upon or clear; leaving our movement vulnerable to being divided and conquered, and to marginalization or irrelevance, leading to the gradual neutralization and attrition of our great efforts.
In other words this clarity and cohesion is especially critical for the long term survival of our protest movement so that: a) it can remain nonviolent, civil, enduring, and constructive, thus able to bring real reform to the crisis-producing complex system which has caused our uprising in the first place; b) it can resist the unethical extremist realm in which “the end justifies the means;” and therefore, c) it can create a coherent initial framework for our agreed-upon common goals and demands, leading to the broadening and deepening of our movement.
We are sure that the love and hope that underlies this evolving document, called the Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft), will forever cherish the loving, hopeful, and unselfish contributions and sacrifices that our “Occupy Movement” activists, young and old, are making on a day to day basis, despite all the insecurities and hardships. Regardless of outcome we are sure that history will always remember and cherish such manifestations of love, hope, and sacrifice.
Our Grievances
Rather than protecting our basic, constitutional, and human rights, the corrupt system that has necessitated our on-going “Occupy Movement” (starting from Occupy Wall Street), has become increasingly undemocratic and selfish in the past several decades, producing a government that rather than deriving its powers from “we the people,” has become beholden and enslaved to power-monopolizing corporations, lobbies, and cliques, which in the process of maximizing their private wealth and power at any price, at our expense, show only superficial care (and for propaganda purposes) for the “consent of the governed,” or for the well being of our Mother Earth.
Compared to what has developed since 1960, President Eisenhower’s dire warnings sound naive and optimistic these days. His voice echoes:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
Here are some of the abuses that we, the people, are currently witnessing:
1- Making separation of powers almost meaningless, concentrated power and money has made the bedrock of our democratic freedoms, namely our right to vote, especially in elections that matter, empty of essence. We keep voting but nothing of substance changes, simply because our representatives are mostly beholden to the power-relations and the money that buys their office. For the same corrupting reasons, our judicial system has been basically reduced to a place where the wealthy and the connected purchase justice, while we, the deprived 99% watch in disgust.
2- Our supposed multi-party democracy has been reduced to having only one real “party,” the Party of Money; with so much concentrated power, so as to purchase also the propaganda media that the system needs, in order to hold on to its corrupt and unjust monopoly of political, economic, social, and cultural power. Thus, the basic rights of we, the people, are increasingly eroding, extending to our basic human right of having a dignified life, let alone the pursuit of happiness.
3- This system of incompetence, corruption, and deception is causing the people to increasingly lose their basic trust, not only in the “officialdom,” but also in one another. Hence, as the gap between the greedy rich and the deprived poor is widening to historically obscene levels, causing unprecedented economic and social disparities and exploitations, we witness the increasing endangerment of the fragile and interconnected fabric of life on our imperiled Mother Earth.
4- The wealthy and the powerful manipulate and abuse laws and regulations to their economic and thus political, social, and cultural advantage, as the constitutionally envisioned systems of policing and accountability are starved of the needed funding and human resources, while the authority they need to prevent, monitor, and control such systemic corruption and abuse of power is eroded. The result is the increasing meaninglessness and irrelevance of ethical and moral standards in our society, and the painful spread of dishonesty, scapegoating, discrimination, and loss of community.
5- To keep this abusive system functioning, real freedom of speech and association is limited or marginalized, and those who challenge the status quo are put under increasing pressure if not various measures of repression, often under the ultimate pretext of protecting the “national interests and security,” which is also used to pursue aggressive policies of “colonial” hegemony, exploitation, and dominance internationally, resulting in the manufacturing of enemies abroad, while manufacturing engineered consent at home.
Examples of Abuse
Presenting concrete examples of such a systemic injustice, imbalance, and abuse, this not-exclusive list of grievances against “corporations [that] … run our governments” was publicized on September 29, 2011, in the “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City” (“Occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square”), accepted by its General Assembly:
* They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
* They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
* They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in workplaces based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
* They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
* They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
* They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
* They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
* They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ health care and pay.
* They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
* They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
* They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
* They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
* They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products, endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
* They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
* They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
* They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
* They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
* They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty book-keeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
* They purposefully have kept people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
* They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
* They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
* They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
* They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.
Our Values and Goals
As stated above, this Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform is being proposed as a “First Draft,” intending to start a healing conversation, a peaceful and hopeful dialogue of reconciliation and cooperation, toward developing a coherent statement of initial consensus, a framework for our agreed-upon common goals and demands, leading to the broadening and deepening, hence strengthening of our “Occupy Movement.”
As such, we propose the following characteristics, values, and goals for our movement:
1- Seeking liberty and justice our Occupy Movement aims to restore and reform, ethically, nonviolently, and based on universally recognized human rights, the constitutional meaning of the phrase: “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Namely, our movement seeks the real security and national interests of our people.
2- Seeking real political and economic reform we aim to deepen and strengthen our civil society, expand the space for genuine dialogue and cooperation, raise the level of knowledge and consciousness, enhance mutual trust, and restore freedom of information, knowledge, and association in our society.
3- Besides being political and economic, our reform-seeking protest movement is a social and cultural one. Thus, as we seek to create real change and reform in this country, we recognize in humility that we too can make mistakes. This is why we genuinely oppose any form of self-righteous absolutism, and we emphasize the need for valuing diversity and difference, and for rigorous continual dialogue and critical self-examination, both inside and outside the movement.
4- Because we seek liberty, justice, humanity, honesty, mutuality, diversity, harmony, and balance as universal values, our movement emphasizes the value and the need for a thriving culture of peaceful, respectful, informative, healthy, and constructive dialogue, exchange, and cooperation, even among competitors or perceived opponents. Thus we seek to abolish the word “enemy,” from our vocabulary and consciousness.
5- Recognizing that we live in an interconnected world, our movement advocates the value and the need for humility and learning from the experience of other nations and peoples, while maintaining integrity and self-respect. This is why we emphasize the value of international mutuality and cooperation, while avoiding the extremes of domination of others or isolationism, while also abhorring exploitation of others in any form, including the colonial use, as tools for “divide-and-conquer” manipulation, abroad or at home, of religion, ideology, social, ethnic, and class difference, ecologic disparity, freedom, human rights, and other positive or negative causes and motives.
6- Because one of the core social justice values of our movement is that we, as individuals and communities, seek to determine our own destiny, we intend to restore the rightful place of the right to vote, democracy, and the plurality of voices in our society. Thus we want real, competitive, transparent, and honest elections, free of overt or covert manipulation, as not only a civil right but as a human right.
7- Protecting human dignity and foundational and constitutional human rights, especially from abusive power and money, is a vital value to our movement, including true equality before the law, thus, freedom from religious, racial, ethnic, gender, sexual, and social status bias and discrimination. We consider these basic rights to be inalienable, because they have resulted from the wisdom of human history; and thus our movement seeks to make it impossible for any ruler, government, congress, court, military, police, corporation, or any other overt or covert force, to diminish or take away such rights, under any condition or pretext.
8- Our movement wants our constitution to be evenly and fairly applied, and we intend to reform it, especially to ensure that the rights of the people are not made superficial and subservient to the selfish desires and measures of money and power; thus we seek to begin the process of reforming the constitution, as well as the institutions that have come to be, as a result of bestowing the status of personhood to corporations.
9- Therefore, we emphasize, again, the following universal principles as parts of our basic values, goals, and demands: The equality of all preserved and enhanced, by justly passed and enforced laws and regulations; Protecting the rights of oppositions and minorities; Plurality and freedom of political parties and that of non-governmental organizations, associations, and social networks; Truly free and uncensored press and media; Free access of all to information and knowledge; Respecting and safeguarding the privacy of individuals and groups; Abolition of any systemic bias; Fair access to and just distribution and sharing of natural or human-made opportunities and possibilities, whether economic, political, social, or cultural; Constant and systematic vigilance against the overt or covert undue influences of money and power; and of course, Nonviolent and just resolution of conflicts, domestically and internationally.
10- Thus, our “Occupy Movement” believes that the best way to maintain and safeguard our political, economic, cultural, and military independence, sovereignty, and national security, is to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, which includes as a logical and natural consequence, truly caring for the well-being of all the interdependent inhabitants of our deeply wounded Mother Earth.
Final Word
Clearly and purposefully this Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform is a “First Draft,” meaning and hoping to START a genuine process of thinking and dialogue, toward the organic creation of a consensus for reform, renewal, and hope in our country. Thus, this “first draft” has declared, by design, only the more general values, aspirations, hopes, and goals of our “Occupy Movement,” allowing for we, the people, to gradually define, articulate, develop, and demand (perhaps in the “think tents” that we may create in our own communities of heart, mind, and conscience) the situation-appropriate specific measures, remedies, and solutions that we would like to help manifest.
Hence, with regard to our “tent” here in Tucson, in the coming months/years we will be working on developing specific solution recommendations from our vantage point, while also trying to improve this “first draft,” toward developing better future drafts, as needed and appropriate.
******
FOOTNOTE (I)
As stated above, this “Thoughts” document is the manifestation of our hope to START a healing conversation, a peaceful and hopeful dialogue, nationally–and indeed globally. Thus, we sincerely hope that our humble Think Tent of Tucson, can help inspire other “Occupy Movement” communities of “we the people,” to form their own “Think Tents,” so that the critical work of thinking and talking together can coalesce in harmony, toward shaping the next and improved draft of these Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform. Herein we share the “birth announcement” of our Think Tent of HOPE, also for the watching eyes of history:
Public Announcement: Birth of the
THINK TENT OF TUCSON
Thinking Together About the Evolving Future of
the “Occupy Movement” (in Tucson and Elsewhere)
Originated by: Moji Agha
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Need
Given the inevitable fact that the Occupy Movement activists (in Tucson and elsewhere) are focused, understandably and necessarily, on the day to day affairs of the protest, the need has emerged for a “Think Tent” (TT), with the following mission:
Mission Statement
Being independent, non-ideological, nonviolent, and democratic, and acting neutrally and informally (in an advisory capacity), the purpose of the “Think Tent of Tucson” (TTT) is to develop and facilitate a participatory process of in-depth and collaborative dialogue, deliberation, and critical analysis, focused on the LONGER TERM needs, concerns, visions, and directions, namely the future and evolution of the Occupy Movement, starting from Occupy Tucson.
Methodology
To accomplish this mission, our Think Tent (TT) will establish and maintain an organic relationship, or live feedback loop, with the Occupy Tucson community (and with the larger “Occupy Wall Street” community nationally – and eventually globally), by conducting two kinds of regular gatherings (including online, when appropriate), as often as needed and possible:
a) The “Tent-Thinkers” Meetings,
and
b) The “Occupy Community Tent Forums.”
PLEASE JOIN US and/or SHARE / FORWARD this announcement.
Contact Person: Moji Agha
Contact E-mail: tent.thinker@gmail.com
FOOTNOTE (II)
The composer of this “Thoughts” document, Moji Agha (a US Citizen of Iranian origin and an Earth activist and advocate of civility), would like the following to be known:
a) That he is, logically and naturally, a supporter of both, the American “Occupy Movement” and the Iranian “Green Movement” –which came to be, after the highly disputed results of the 2009 Presidential elections in Iran were announced;
and
b) That in originating the Occupy Tucson’s Think Tent (focused on the long-term future and evolution of the Occupy Movement), and especially in composing the present Think Tent Thoughts: A Road-map to Real Reform (First Draft), a great source of his inspiration has been the Charter of the Green Movement, Second Draft.
******
Public Announcement: Birth of the
THINK TENT OF TUCSON
Thinking Together About the Evolving Future of
the “Occupy Movement” (in Tucson and Elsewhere)
Originated by: Moji Agha
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Need
Given the inevitable fact that the Occupy Movement activists (in Tucson and elsewhere) are focused, understandably and necessarily, on day to day affairs of the protest, the need has emerged for a “Think Tent” (TT), with the following mission:
Mission Statement
Being independent, non-ideological, nonviolent, and democratic, and acting neutrally and informally (in an advisory capacity), the purpose of the “Think Tent of Tucson” (TTT or TT) is to develop and facilitate a participatory process of in-depth and collaborative dialogue, deliberation, and critical analysis, focused on the LONGER TERM needs, concerns, visions, and directions, namely the future and evolution of the Occupy Movement, starting from Occupy Tucson.
Methodology
To accomplish this mission, our Think Tent will establish and maintain an organic relationship, or live feedback loop, with the Occupy Tucson community (and with the larger “Occupy Wall Street” community nationally–and eventually globally), by conducting two kinds of regular gatherings (including online, when appropriate), as often as needed and possible:
a) The “Tent-Thinkers” Meetings,
and
b) The “Occupy Community Tent Forums.”
PLEASE JOIN US and/or
SHARE / FORWARD this announcement.
Contact Person: Moji Agha
Contact E-mail: tent.thinker@gmail.com
[...] from General Assembly of January 21, 2012 Per the solution suggested here: http://occupytucson.org/?page_id=321, how can an un-elected (i.e., un-unrepresentative) GA reach honest and real “consensus” on any [...]