Occupy The Party: How to Occupy the Winter

Winter is coming, and it is going to be rough on the Protests. This is a perfect opportunity to instead of letting dwindling numbers of protesters look like a sign of defeat, to shift your presence from the streets to the Parties. I attended a small planning meeting for the Occupy Clemson protest, and a professor from the University made a great point, “You want to build on successes, not failures.” He suggested, that being a small group, that permanent occupation should not be the goal, especially with Winter rolling in. Instead of letting your protest fade and feel like a short-coming, it was suggested that you establish an amount of time to Occupy which your group can remain as a strong presence and leave with a sense of victory. As winter is approaching, the Occupy Wall Street protests are no doubt going to diminish. Even if that was not the case, many of these protests are becoming violent and disruptive in a non-productive manner. Vandalism of small businesses, and even political party headqua

Winter is coming, and it is going to be rough on the Protests. This is a perfect opportunity to instead of letting dwindling numbers of protesters look like a sign of defeat, to shift your presence from the streets to the Parties.

I attended a small planning meeting for the Occupy Clemson protest, and a professor from the University made a great point, “You want to build on successes, not failures.” He suggested, that being a small group, that permanent occupation should not be the goal, especially with Winter rolling in. Instead of letting your protest fade and feel like a short-coming, it was suggested that you establish an amount of time to Occupy which your group can remain as a strong presence and leave with a sense of victory.

As winter is approaching, the Occupy Wall Street protests are no doubt going to diminish. Even if that was not the case, many of these protests are becoming violent and disruptive in a non-productive manner. Vandalism of small businesses, and even political party headquarters, does nothing to move this country. The protests are attracting “trouble makers” and no matter how unfair it is, their actions and presence harms your message and cause.

You’ve proved you can occupy a plaza for a month, now prove that you can make it to a coffee shop once a week to meet with activist and organizer, or make it to a church once a month to attend a Republican Party meeting, or the Library to attend a Working Families meeting. That is the true test of passion. Expression is important, but resolve is what will make that expression productive.

I am part of the 99% lowest earning Americans. Here is my opinion:

You’ve got 72% of NYC voters supporting you, it is time to turn that into results.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13086

Start organizing people to register to vote in the various political parties in the state of New York, then start attending the Party Meetings. Attending meetings and interacting with the people involved in government ad electoral politics is how you gain representation, because it is how they find out you exist. You can begin running people for Congress if the Party you attend doesn’t have candidates sympathetic to the protests, and if there is still time. There is always time to register and start attending meetings to have your voice heard.

It is too late to register for the Primaries in NY, but if you are already registered you can begin having a big impact. And it’s not too late to start helping candidates sympathetic to your cause. And it is not too late to register with a Party and start attending their meetings. Going, contributing, and helping candidates sympathetic within that Party will only help your standing with that Party. During the next Primary you will have even more influence. State Legislative bodies could be completely within your control.

I don’t believe in fate, but I do believe in timing. You may not be able to Occupy the Primary, but you can easily Occupy the Party, and your hard work will establish yourself, and your colleagues, as leaders in your community.

Also, imagine if your group is able to double the number of active party members. That body will know you are there to stay, and they will know that if they do not respect your opinion and work with you, that you will be fully capable of taking over that party.

Ballot Qualified Parties in New York State:  http://vote.nyc.ny.us/register.html

Working Family: http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/

Conservative: http://www.cpnys.org/

Green: http://www.web.gpnys.com/

Independence: http://independencepartyny.com/

Democratic: http://www.nydems.org/

Republican: http://www.nygop.org/home

You may also lobby each Party to nominate a candidate from another Party, or an Independent Candidate.

From:   http://www.elections.state.ny.us/RunningOffice.html

Nomination of Non-Party Member

 

Political parties may nominate a candidate who is not an enrolled member of the political party. Such parties must file a certificate of authorization, signed and acknowledged by the presiding officer and the secretary of the meeting at which such authorization is given. A certificate of authorization is not needed for nominations resulting from a caucus or for a candidate for a judicial office.

There is already a “99%” candidate, Robert Davis, running for U.S. Senate in New York. The first course of action would be to endorse him at these Party meetings.

http://robertdavis.info/

The Green Party has done everything it can to welcome the 99% into their circle, without trying to turn the Occupy Protests into recruiting grounds. They have both respected the wishes of OWS and have been fighting for their cause for decades. Joining forces with the Green Party as individuals (not as a group), would be the most productive effort to gain influence through electoral politics. They already agree with you, thus you will be able to skip any efforts to “take over” the Party.

http://www.greenpartywatch.org/2011/11/17/as-some-occupy-movement-participants-turn-to-electoral-activism-the-green-party-sends-them-an-invitation/

“The Green Party encourages those Occupiers who want to have an effect on the 2012 elections to help us build a permanent alternative party that represents the interests of We The People — the 99 percent — instead of banks, oil companies, arms manufacturers, insurance firms, and other powerful lobbies. The Green Party accepts no money from corporate PACs. Our platform reflects the values and demands of Occupy Wall Street,” Kent Mesplay, candidate for the Green Party’s 2012 presidential nomination “

“The Green Party, as an established national party, has laid a foundation for Occupy candidates to run for public office,” said Budd Dickinson, secretary of the Green Party of the United States.

There are two candidates for the Green Party Presidential Nomination, Kent Mesplay and Jill Stein. I’d suggest helping out either of the two Green Party Candidates.

http://www.jillstein.org/

http://www.mesplay.org/

I’d suggest supporting Ron Paul in the Republican Party

http://ronpaul2012.com

If you are entering the Democratic Party you can work with “Progressive” to change the direction of the Party. If you want to put pressure on incumbents that ignore your requests make it known you won’t be voting for them if a better option presents themselves. The only political party is American. You are individuals. Approach those you meet through a Party as individuals as well.

http://www.pdamerica.org/

How To Organize the Occupation

The first step is to find out who within the protests are interested in working on this project. Make sure that you clarify you are not attempting to hi-jack the protests, nor are you suggesting that everyone should leave the protests and join this effort. Simply offer it as a course of action.

1. Gather Everyone Interested in the Project together in a Group
2. Have that group break up into separate Groups based on which Political Party they wish to join.
3. Depending on the numbers, separate those groups into smaller groups based on Congressional Districts/Neighborhoods.

The next step is to establish how to continue to meet and organize, I’d suggest the following:

1. Have each neighborhood/district group meet once a week.
2. Have each Party Group meet every other Week.
3. Have the entire group/project meet once a month.

At these meeting you can share dates, events, experiences, ideas, and strategies for going forward. Perhaps one group is having no effect on a particular Party, they may wish to re-register and join another. Perhaps the Green Party or Working Families Party groups are having a lot of success and want the rest of the group to join them. What ever the case, having these regular meeting will help with keeping the effort moving forward. You may even wish to establish a few delegates to return to the protests and report at the General Assemblies.

Lastly, make use of the following resources to organize, recruit and promote your effort:

• Meet-Up: meetup.com
• Occupy the Ballot: http://www.occupytheballot.org/
• Be Your Government: http://www.beyourgovernment.org/

Once you have gotten this effort in motion, spread it to other States and Cities. Share your experiences and teach others. Take this article and adapt it to your State. Be creative. Be productive. And keep moving forward!

Related Articles:

Occupy Yourself:

http://freeindependentsun.com/zen/occupy-yourself-how-to-fight-corporatism/

Occupy Government

http://freeindependentsun.com/republic/occupy-government-run-for-office/

Occupy The Market

http://freeindependentsun.com/permanomics/occupy-the-market-how-to-vote-with-your-dollar/

Thumbnail Image:

By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

By David Shankbone (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons