We would like to thank the media for such wonderful coverage, but would like to set some things straight before any misunderstandings occur:
We do not have a single spokesperson and we shall never have one. Only parties and organizations have a spokesperson; we are a people’s movement. Some, including Fox News and other AP organizations, have mentioned that we have a spokesperson; this is a misstatement. All of us can speak for ourselves; none of us are the spokesperson.
We are not a party, and we will never be. Some news organizations have been trying to portray this movement as the “Democratic Tea Party equivalent;” this too is a misstatement. We are not a party, nor do we affiliate with any; this is a people’s movement.
We are not MoveOn.org, the All Mighty Movement of God nor any of the other organizations which have graciously offered us their support, and they are not Occupy Atlanta. MoveOn.org is a political organization, we are not. The Almighty Movement of God is a local community church organization. We greatly admire and appreciate their stand with us, but they are not us. Our clarification of this matter should not be taken to indicate any kind of disapproval of what they are doing; rather it acknowledges the breadth and diversity of our support, for which we are grateful. We don’t align with other organizations, they align with us.
However, we do wish to clarify that Occupy Atlanta is built on the examples set by Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Together movement which focuses on the economy, corporate corruption of our political system, and the negative effects of corporate personhood as it exists after decisions such as Citizens United and the repeal of Glass-Steagall.
While you will no doubt see many of the Troy Davis Park occupiers attend rallies organized by other organizations and vice-versa, we would like to remind the media and the people that as a group we do not officially endorse any of their rallies, marches, demands, etc unless it is stated on our website.
We believe strongly that solidarity is the key to the success of Occupy Together, and while we stand in solidarity with other organizations, we urge the media and the global audience in general not to assume that Occupy Atlanta endorses any actions of any other group unless we make an explicit announcement.
Additionally, any statement of “demands” should not be considered as coming from Occupy Atlanta as a whole unless it appears on this website. Individuals or groups within Occupy Atlanta may have their own demands, but they speak for themselves not for us as a group.
We would like to see the media take these things into account and report with these points in mind to avoid any further confusion among your readerships. Thank you again for all of your coverage so far.
Thanks for pointing this out SaraA ;3. In fact, this is something I often forget when I references to how Occupy Movement beliefs are supported from the ideas and works of DeGraff, Nom Chomsky, Martin Luther King, etc. I need to work on constantly reminding myself that while these ideologies (such as DeGraff’s Affluenza’s influence on Adbusters) did come before us and lay a foundation that influenced the movement and its ability to grow, they are not what defines us. What defines us is the demands and reason we have established collectively and individually through Assembly.
For we have not only have the legacy DeGraff, King, and other left, but have taken the responsibly the move beyond it to new ideas and action of reform that are different from other political parties.
Anyways keep up the awesome work ;3
Great statement
In less than a month, thanks to the speed of modern computer communication, a protest of a few people in lower Manhattan has spread across the US and is now spreading across the world. This is the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, which is now being translated into the “Occupy Everywhere” movement. The reasons for the outrage being expressed by these people are almost as numerous as the people taking part.
But there is one common source of their anger – the knowledge that they have been lied to systematically. Thank you all for fighting the lies coming out of Wall St., “K” Street and “K”ongress.