Occupy Philly voted at tonight’s General Assembly meeting to release its first letter reaching out to other Occupy movements around the world. They hope to work with other occupiers to organize the movement’s first regional General Assembly and possibly a national General Assembly.
Organizers say they hope this will establish a precedent of communication between movements in various cities.
Also at the meeting, speakers said that the media had “jumped the shark” regarding Occupy Wall Street’s proposed national assembly in Philadelphia on July 4th. According to organizers, that plan was a proposal from an Occupy Wall Street working group and has not yet been voted on by their General Assembly.
The Philadelphia letter reads as follows:
“We, the General Assembly of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in solidarity with all other peaceful occupations in communities around the world, offer this first official message from our General Assembly to every other General Assembly on this planet. We arrived at this message through our process of direct democracy.
We hereby invite the General Assemblies of the world to join us in organizing the first Regional General Assemblies, on a date to be determined by the consensus of all participating Assemblies. We hope for this discussion to lead to National General Assemblies in our respective countries and eventually an International General Assembly, if we all so choose. We hope for Online General Assemblies as well, and we look forward to getting to know the people of this global movement.
Most importantly, we intend for this message to establish a precedent of direct assembly-to-assembly correspondence, which we believe should be the primary means through which this movement mobilizes and communicates. We can only unite, grow, and move forward together if we proceed with complete transparency and openness, as well as a firm commitment to direct democracy. Because our process – as much as any demand – is our message, we believe that this discussion alone represents a truly historic moment for our growing movement.
From one democratic assembly to another, we appreciate your consideration and await your reply.”
