Category Archives: General Update

Wednesday October 19th, 2011

For Immediate Release:

Occupy Atlanta is now in it’s second day of its three week reprieve. Today we’re focusing on coming together to build the society that we’d like to see, every voice lifted to the same level, every person treated with respect and dignity. Throughout the day occupiers will be holding various workshops and teach-ins: from non-violence direct action training to a workshop on the history of occupations, anti-racism group meetings to movie screenings. As we enter day twelve of our occupation, you have heard why people have chosen to occupy. Join us today (10/19) at 11am in Woodruff Park to hear why occupiers have chosen to stay. 

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.