The Future of Occupy e-Newsletter, January 2012

kristyGlobal Citizen, Wealth of Networks

We at Ethical Markets Media (USA and Brazil) welcome this new FUTURE OF OCCUPY Newsletter, which we will post regularly, thanks to the team!

“Occupy will never die; Evict us, we multiply!”

Welcome to The Future of Occupy newsletter!
This issue results from the labor of love by The Future of Occupy collaborative, a group of people tending the gardens of the movement’s collective intelligence and wisdom. We seed, feed and weed its gardens of collective self-knowledge. The wisdom is emerging from the grassroots, through the General Assemblies, the pages of the movement’s electronic and print media, the working groups of GA, and a growing number of collectives of artists, economists, trade unionists, educators, film makers, teachers, and others, standing in solidarity with Occupy. We provide a mirror to it and a platform for the cross-fertilization of ideas and inspirations from around the world.

As the movement enters a new phase of its development, having many sites evicted or facing eviction, we dedicate the first issue of FoO to one of its potent life-giving forces, the General Assemblies. Here you will find blogposts about the processes and evolution of the GAs, collaborative thinking, and a set of core declarations from some of the major occupations. This is a one time message from The Future of Occupy newsletter. If you wish to receive our monthly issues, please click HERE. Otherwise, you will not hear about our newsletter again.

Enjoy, spread the word about, and engage with the Future of Occupy!

Greetings for a productive and transformative 2012, from the Future of Occupy!

Under Assemblies what might national, European and global governance look like?
The assembly is a new political form to bring about a people powered globalisation and democratisation of all spheres of life… Under this model, People’s Assemblies as new ‘institutions of the common’ would drive national as well as local policy via a federated, delegate system to the national (and ultimately also transnational) representative bodies.

click HERE for more

The FoO collective

General Assemblies: the primordial soup of social life in the 3rd millennium
Could it be that in the Occupy movement we are witnessing no less than the beginnings of the next stage of our human and planetary evolution? This article places GAs within the vast context of the evolutionary process. It explores the movement towards greater levels of complexity in both living and social systems that now appears to be giving birth to something entirely new: the democratic, participatory assemblies that liberate human creativity and collective intelligence.

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Collective Thinking is an essential part of our movement
In contrast to our present system based on competitive thinking whereby “winning” ideas and opinions dominate, the aim of collective thinking is to co-create a new reality. New solutions arise when we contribute and listen with the goal of building together rather defeating an opponent. For the Occupy movement to realize its full potential, boosting and mobilizing its collective intelligence is not a luxury but a necessity.

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Beyond Protest: the way of People’s Assemblies
What is wrong with representative democracy? And when it doesn’t work, what can we do besides protesting? How much more creative would it be if in instead directing our frustrations at being poorly “represented,” we took our affairs into our own hands, using our people’s assemblies and social technologies? This blogpost investigates those questions.

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Occupy as a new societal model and ways to improve it
How massively the movement will grow depends in part on both how inclusive and efficient are its governance processes, and how swiftly it can shift resources and skills to areas where they’re the most needed, avoiding possible bottlenecks. Horizontal organization and consensus are necessary but not sufficient means for achieving that. This article outlines a variety of popular group process tools that make the new forms of real democracy work better.

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How Occupy innovates and gives new meaning to “mass communication”
Good conversations in the General Assemblies don’t look for the quick fix of wicked problems. “The real solution frequently takes time to discover, is often messy, and the process can occasionally become really confusing… So then the group takes a break. People step away to tend to other activities, reflect in silence, or join together to sing, dance and make music, trusting that clarity will eventually emerge if they hold the process and each other gently, joyfully, respectfully.”

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Select movement documents related to General Assemblies
The pages referenced below outline the principles and structures that facilitate the way in which the Occupy-ers are thinking, making decisions and organising. They are the fruits of the creativity and collective wisdom of the general assemblies. If you’re interested in history-in-the-making and indications of how a ‘new society’ might blossom then have a look at these key documents of the Occupy movement:

The Structure of the New York City General Assembly
click HERE for more

Occupy Vancouver Decision Making Process
click HERE for more

Statement from Occupy San Francisco
click HERE for more

Occupy London: Initial Statement
click HERE for more

Quick Guide on Group Dynamics in People’s Assemblies
click HERE for more