Occupy Madison Statement on Demands - A working document ratified at 10/8/11 General Assembly

This is a working statement of demands by Occupy Madison as ratified by the Saturday 10/8/11 General Assembly called to order at 5pm. This is not set in stone. This will be an evolving statement that will be adjusted as the Demands working group continues to work on it as concerns maybe raised and as need be. Structure of document - After the preamble, the numbered text in bold is the list of demands. The text not in bold is the explanation/elaboration for each demand. So if we want to put it on a leaflet in concise form we can just lift the text in bold. Statement in whole begins below

WE ARE THE 99%! WE ARE WISCONSIN EXPECT US

Something is very wrong with the system in which we live. Programs designed to feed and educate children are having their budgets slashed, families are being thrown out of their homes and the jobs of hard-working people are cut due to no real fault of their own while the wealthiest 1% are bailed out, make record profits and our people are being sent overseas to fight and die for the protection of this system. We find it unacceptable that the top 1% who caused the hardships we all face flourishes while the 99% suffers in the economic crisis created by the 1%. We are Wisconsin, we are the 99% and these are our demands: 1. A fair and just economic system that benefits all humanity not solely the 1%, including but not limited to substantial tax increases on the 1% to fully fund the needs of the 99% such as job creation, education and social services. Corporate America has refused to create jobs while it is sitting on trillions of dollars in cash reserves. We need real jobs programs of public works that will give meaningful work to millions of people who are unemployed. We cannot do that or fully fund all our needs while the tax burden on the top 1% remains at historic lows. We draw a solid line against all cuts to social programs for the 99%. We did not cause this crisis. We shouldnt have to pay for it. 2. End the wars and redirect military spending to social programs. The wars being waged serve not to protect the interests of the 99% but that of the top 1% who mean to secure markets, natural resources and cheap labor across the world while cementing their wealth and power over us. Spending on weapons programs, hundreds of military bases all across the world and profits for the military contractors are a theft from the unemployed, the poor, the sick, the homeless and the hungry, as even former president Eisenhower said. We should bring all the troops home and spend the money on human needs in Madison and nationwide. The people upon whom war is being waged in the Middle East and Central Asia are not our enemies. We have more in common with the 99% of all those countries than with the top 1% of our own country who is the sole beneficiary of these wars.

3. Real democracy that allows the voices of the 99% to heard and acted upon. There needs to be respect for the rights that are supposed to be guaranteed in the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. Police in NYC are abusing the basic rights of people at Occupy Wall Street-to assemble and to speak freely. This needs to stop. We should not have to seek permission to exercise our rights. The domination of politics by the wealth of the top 1% stifles democracy for the rest of us. This needs to stop. We need real campaign finance reform to throw corporate money out of politics. 4. An end to the assault of the top 1% on workers' rights and repeal of all anti-union laws. It was not enough that there are countless laws like the Taft-Hartley that restrict workers right to organize or to effectively enforce those rights. In Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and numerous other states, the rightwing and their corporate backers have come for the jugular with respect to public sector workers. We stand in solidarity with all who came out last winter and spring in their hundreds of thousands to defend the fundamental democratic rights of workers. 5. The end of institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia and attacks on immigrants. While the 99% as a whole has been hurt by the crisis made by the 1%, the suffering has been dealt in unequal ways. For example, the unemployment rate for people of color has been much higher than the average. Moreover, the politicians and media that represent the 1% have used policies that inspire division among the 99% so we may find it more difficult to unite and fight back. 6. Protection of the environment, a sustainable economy and an end to reckless pollution in order to preserve the planet for future generations. A society oriented exclusively to the short term profits of the top 1% has deemed it more expedient to disregard the planet on which we live. It is more expedient for them to continue their horrendous mountain top mining, dangerous gas drilling methods and running of oil pipelines that leave us in danger of a poisoned environment. We need to make a bold stand to defend the environment not only because future generations will suffer but because people are suffering from environmental disasters and pollution today.