Occupy Strategic Planning Working Group Mission Statement

DRAFT ONLY!!! A few people have been asked to draft this, please check w/info@occupyboston.org before changing it. If you want to help, cool...these folks just want a chance to work on it themselves for a few days...

OK folks...this is from the notes. Have at it.

Our interim mission is to gather, circulate and prioritize concrete political objectives as widely as possible. And that those political objectives meet these five criteria:

1. National or global in scope. 2. Have a specific target and outcome. 3. Can be implemented via legislation, the courts, amending the constitution, and/or direct action. 4. That if implemented they would result in tangible change. 5. That target institutions, not individuals.

The next phase of the strategic planning process that this group will undertake will emerge from the results of this gathering concrete objectives phase.

I don't think we have to say anything more/anything about how we'll do it, ie, the survey monkey. The less we say, the less chance is we'll disagree. I took out boycotts & socially responsible spending because I think that is more about individuals than institutions. Maybe we could put something about that in a Part II. I will try to put this on the wiki.

Part I: The Tool

1. The current mission of the InterOccupy Strategic Planning Working Group (IOSPWG) is to:
(a.) collect concrete objectives that could be used to implement a Vision for A Democratic Future such as that developed during the first Occupy National Gathering, 2012.http://interoccupy.net/blog/natgat-vision-results/ ; and (b.) to develop criteria that define what a "concrete objective" is (as opposed to ideas or ideals that are "not concrete") and create a process for gathering, prioritizing and circulating those objectives that is as inclusive as possible. 2. Ideas/ideals (that are "not concrete" objectives) will be listed, but not become part of the next phase of the process.
3. The next phase of the strategic planning process that this group will undertake will emerge from the results of this gathering concrete objectives phase.

Part II: Commentary

Refer to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union address where he advocated a second U.S. Bill of Rights, a U.S. Economic Bill of Rights. Search FDR 1944 State of the Union. This would be the essence of our economic justice goals. Also, refer to United Nations Universalist Declaration of Human Rights where Eleanor Roosvelt as Chair of United Nations Human Rights Commission led to its adoption in 1948 using the U.S. Economic Bill of Rights or Second Bill of Rights advocated by her late husband as the basis. Additionally refer to and search "FDR's Unfinished 'Second Bill of Rights' - And Why We Need It Now" for a full political analysis in historical perspective. [To List of Objectives/Goals]

Notes: I found switching a. and b. to be confusing, ditto for bringing up corporate personhood while trying to lay out a general scenario, so I switched it back. Corporate Personhood will be addressed, we just can't say everything first, and we need to be clear. As for the Vision Doc., this is not the time or place to open that can of worms. As I wrote on the thread, from the perspective of forming objectives, there is no good reason not to use it, and lots of good reasons to just accept and move on. A.