We have been hearing reports that occupiers from all over the country were flown to DC in the past week by numerous independent organizations in order to participate in the “Take Back the Capitol” rally, which has led to a “National General Assembly”. Unfortunately, The Occupy LA General Assembly never consented to be part of a National General Assembly, yet news outlets are claiming we are represented in DC. Let us be clear, WE ARE IN LA and have not granted authority to anyone or group to represent us. We have not discussed the need or structure of a National General Assembly either. Additionally, we view this attempt to bring occupiers together under the title of a “National GA” as a usurpation of the power of the local general assemblies.
While this meeting is a monumental opening in the lines of communication across occupations, those individuals who did travel to DC from LA, funded by SEIU and Good Jobs LA, are reporting co-option of the occupy movement under the banner of the 99%. We reject the “rule of the few” that characterizes many social movements and ask that horizontal communication about this National General Assembly begin immediately across occupations. If your occupation wants to share their story of participating or not participating in this “National GA” then send a communique to and we will work with you and interoccupy.org to sort out this messy affair. We appreciate your prompt attention to this pressing matter.
Be excellent to each other,
Occupy LA General Assembly 12/8/2011
4 comments
IO Weekly Monday General Call – 12/12/11 | InterOccupy.org says:
Dec 13, 2011
[...] Point of clarification on the DC event [...]
Jamin Stocker says:
Dec 24, 2011
The national GA was not a time for any occupiers to represent any one occupation. It was an opportunity for those of us who had the chance to be in DC during this time to come together as participants from occupations from all over the country and convene the way Occupiers do. Thats it. In regards to any co-opting. We, the Occupiers, are the co-opters. Everytime. In fact, while in DC we also put together an inter-GA for union members to gain a greater understanding of our consensus and General Assembly process, which went very well. We co-opt, we do not get co-opted. Occupy Everything.
Leto Duende from STL says:
Dec 27, 2011
Agreeing with what Jamin said above… The National/InterOccupy GA in D.C. was more people taking advantage of the opportunity to meet with others & share ideas. No decisions were made for their respective camps back home. I do not believe there is any usurpation of power, but the opposite; it would have been a shame to not get together in this fashion.
I will also argue that getting offended when there are events like this (granted, it seems like mostly a misunderstanding/miscommunication through the media) will ultimately hurt our movement. We need to be fluid & spontaneous. The National GA was planned in an emergency to decide as Occupiers how to treat the situation we found ourselves in WITHIN D.C. We came together as a new, temporary Occupy group in D.C. Word was put out within an hour, only about 24 hours prior to the actual GA. It would have been impossible for all 28 cities to come to consensus on their members being allowed to speak & would have left people out for arbitrary reasons. It was NOT an actual National General Assembly in the fashion of electing delegates & nobody there thought it was. How the media twists/confuses that is up to them.
Just to throw this in, the people I met from LA were some of the most amazing people there & I hope to run into them again.
No longer a OLA Occupier says:
Jan 28, 2012
I think Occupy LA is having a power trip – let go of your egos! That is why I am no longer part of OLA