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# About

On October 1, 2011, the New York City Police arrested about 700 protestors on the Brooklyn Bridge. Among these arrestees were about 20 students from a small liberal arts school in upstate New York. A criminal defense attorney who lives and works near the college, was called by the students and administration of the college to counsel the students pro bono. On October 7th, the attorney visited the college and gave a talk and powerpoint presentation about how to avoid getting arrested and what to do if you happen to get arrested. He also discussed the students’ individual cases and the options they had in court to resolve their cases.

After the presentation and discussion, the attorney asked some of the students what they were seeking by protesting. Not knowing much about the #OWS movement the attorney took some notes. After this discussion, the lawyer took the notes he made, did some research and drafted the 99% Declaration. The declaration was posted on the internet and he requested comments, edits and suggestions. Hundreds and then thousands of emails started to come in with suggestions for improvement.

On October 15, 2011, the attorney took about 400 copies of the declaration to Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park where he and others passed out the copies, answered questions and took down emails of people interested in helping implement the plan called for in the document. The people who joined the group at Occupy Wall Street formed the core of the original 99% Declaration working group. That same evening, the group announced to the New York City General Assembly the formation of the 99% Declaration Working Group. See video.

The reception to the idea of an election and National General Assembly was positive and it was the group’s intention to return in two weeks and introduce the 99% Declaration to the NYC General Assembly for a consensus opinion. Three days later, however, on October 18, 2011, the Huffington Post and Russell Simmons’ Global Grind found the online version of the 99% Declaration that was posted for edits and erroneously reported that the 99% Declaration was an official #OWS document sanctioned by the New York City General Assembly. See Huffington Post and Global Grind.

Other media outlets jumped on this story and reported it: CBS Local and Fox News. These various stories were reported without contacting any member of the working group which at that time numbered around seven people. After the Huffington Post story came out, despite being inaccurate, the web hits on the declaration website went from about 3,000 to over 150,000 in a couple of days. The members of the NYCGA were understandably angry.

Meanwhile, the Working Group created three Facebook pages with combined memberships that now exceeds 7000 people. On November 12, 2011, the Demands Working Group of the NYCGA invited the 99% Working Group to attend a meeting at the 60 Wall Street Atrium. The plan was to discuss a possible merger of the two groups so that their resources could be pooled to come up with a more complete list of grievances. Unfortunately, Mayor Bloomberg ordered Zuccotti Park cleared the same day of the meeting and the attorney, who specializes in criminal defense, was unable to attend because of commitments he made to help obtain the release of new arrestees. The 99% Working Group maintains its ties with the NYCGA and has a working group webpage on the New York General Assembly website and holds weekly meetings in NYC as per the NYCGA rules.

The 99% Declaration Working Group engages in discussions about the movement and the plans to hold an election of 876 delegates in March 2012 and provide a venue for the National General Assembly in July. We have also started designing educational programs to teach voters about involvement in civic action and voter registration.

The group is raising money to pay for the venue and the costs of the election which will take place online. Depending on the availability of funds, voting will also take place at polling stations in all of the 435 voting districts so people who do not have access to the internet will be able to vote in person.

Volunteers have designed this webpage where candidates for delegate can register and create a web profile with their picture, bio, and reasons why the voters should elect that person. People interested in voting can subscribe to be notified when voter registration and voting begins. Volunteers are welcome – if you wish to volunteer, please join a working committee.

On the election weekend in March, the polls will open and the voters will return to this web page to vote for the candidates they want to speak for the 99% at the National General Assembly. We believe that an election of delegates is vital so that critics of the 99% Movement will be prevented from claiming that the National General Assembly is an oligarchy, elitist or somehow undemocratic. It is anticipated that each of the local General Assemblies in the United States will select people to run for delegate.

This model of concentrating PEOPLE power to influence politics rather than concentrating wealth will hopefully result in dramatic positive changes in the United States over the next two years. It cannot be overemphasized that “The 99% Declaration Working Group” is purely a facilitation group which has two functions:

1. organize a transparent democratic election of the 876 delegates in March and
2. provide a venue for the delegates to meet in July so they may produce a petition for a redress of grievances to be served on the federal government before the 2012 general election in November. We take no position on what should be in the petition for a redress of grievances and the 20+ grievances and solutions in the 99% Declaration are only examples of the types of issues that are of great concern to this group and, we believe, the 99% of Americans.

The 99% Declaration Working Group is a subsidiary of a not-for-profit organization called “The 99 Percent Working Group, Ltd.” Click here for information about the Board Members of the 99% Working Group, Ltd.

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Check out what's being said on all the Grievances and help draft the Petition!

1. Elimination of the Corporate State
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2. Abrogation of “Citizens United” Case
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3. Elimination of All Private Benefits and Perks” to Public Servants
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4. Term Limits
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5. A Fair Tax Code
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6. Healthcare for All
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7. Protection of the Planet
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8. Federal Debt Reduction
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9. Jobs for All Americans
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10. Student Loan Debt Relief & Refinancing
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11. Ending of Perpetual War for Profit
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12. Emergency Reform of Public Education
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13. End Outsourcing and Currency Manipulation
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14. Banking and Securities Reform
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15. Foreclosure Moratorium
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16. Ending the Federal Reserve Bank
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17. Abolish the Electoral College and Enact Uniform Election Rules
View & Comment

18. Ending the War in Afghanistan and
Care of Veterans
View & Comment

19. No Censorship of the Internet
View & Comment

20. Reinstitution of Civil Rights
View & Comment

21. Ending the “War on Drugs” and
Curtailing the Prison Industrial Complex
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Suggest a Grievance
Please check if your idea fits in one of the already suggested grievances above first. If not, please add your comments here.
Other Suggestions/Revisions
Please check if your suggestion/revision fits in any of the grievances above. If not, you may post comments here.

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