Declaration

NEW YORK DECLARATION OF THE OCCUPATION AS ADOPTED BY OCCUPY VENICE.

Declaration of the Occupation of Venice CA.

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all humans who feel repressed by the forces pushed upon the world can know that we are your allies.

As a species, united, we acknowledge this reality: the future of the human race requires the conscious intentional cooperation of its members; our natural order must have protection, and upon corruption of this natural order, it is up to the individual to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors. A democratic government derives its just power from the people but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic interests alone. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over humanity, corporate-interests over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments, finance the conditioning of our species, and have no accountability under the U.S. constitution. We have assembled here, as is our natural right, to let these facts be known.

Multi-national corporations have taken our houses have been stollen through an illegal foreclosure process, despite the thieves never having the original mortgage.

Multi-national corporations continue to hold students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right

Multi-national corporations have received bailouts from U.S. taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. Multi-national corporations have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

Multi-national corporations have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

Multi-national corporations have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
Multi-national corporations have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

Multi-national corporations have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

Multi-national corporations have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

Multi-national corporationsThey have sold our privacy as a commodity.

Multi-national corporations have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.

Multi-national corporations have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

Multi-national corporations determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

Multi-national corporations have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

Multi-national corporations continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

Multi-national corporations continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

Multi-national corporations have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

Multi-national corporations purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

Multi-national corporations have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

Multi-national corporations have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.

Multi-national corporations have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

Multi-national corporations continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*

To the people of the world,

We, here at OccupyVenice urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.