What OWS needs is just a huge occupation of the national mall

[steelmania75]

like 1 million strong in solidarity, from K-Street to Congress.

[Webster Green]

1. Totally!

Make it the biggest protest in US history. :thumbsup:

K&R!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. You must've read my mind! I so agree!!! nt

[Mira]

8. Ditto ditto ditto head

can't help a touch of humor since we look alike.
And you did say it so well!

[brooklynite]

3. If the OWS movement could draw 1 million people together...

...it wouldn't need to "occupy" anything.

Perhaps focusing on specific issues to attract supporters would be a better approach than "occupying" territory at this point.

[EFerrari]

4. Not centralizing keeps the opposition off balance.

Concentrating on DC would be a mistake.

[steelmania75]

5. Of course there would be solidarity occupations across the country, but the two main epicenters

should be at Wall Street(which it is now) and DC(where it is not right now). DC has the corporate lobbyists, it's where these anti-99% laws are made, it's where Citizens United was upheld by the Supreme Court. I think it would be important for the movement to also focus on DC, where Congress's approval rating is at its lowest level ever.

[EFerrari]

13. That's an argument to draw power away from DC, not to give it more.

[jberryhill]

6. Mall gatherings are easily ignored.

[woo me with science]

7. We need a million seniors outside Congress and the White House

as the Super Committee meets.

Shame them, as OWS continues its occupation across the country.

[Angry Dragon]

9. i say inside the capital building, it does belong to the people

and not the people that sit in their offices

[woo me with science]

12. Can you imagine the photographs

....a million senior citizens showing up to look them in the face.

[juajen]

11. Seniors are, well, you know Seniors. They need their meds, their beds

and their kids to do what they can no longer do. We are also very broke from not having a decent increase in ss in a long time.

[woo me with science]

14. I think a huge occupation is very possible.

Yes, many seniors with a stake in this would not be able to attend in person, but there are legions of healthy, active seniors across the country who might just consider it important enough to make that trip.

Look what they were able to do just in Chicago: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/07/seniors-join-occupy-chica_n_1079553.html

[pacalo]

10. It's the place to be -- where the leaders who write the laws see it firsthand. Constant reminder as

they pass by it to or from lobbyist buildings & Congress.

[starroute]

15. There might be some point in a seniors' protest -- but not for OWS to do it

The more decentralized OWS is, the more powerful it becomes. There's a reason why the emerging motto is "Occupy Everywhere." When you put all your eggs in one basket, they can either ignore you or repress you -- and this it's over. But when you're everywhere all at once, serving as a moral critique of every aspect of society, you become inexorable.

OWS is also coming to the conclusion that the current system is so broken that it can't be fixed merely through well-intentioned but ultimately futile reforms. At this point, OWS is becoming a counter-culture in the truest sense -- that is, an alternative to the mainstream culture, with its own institutions, its own internal economy, it's own medical and educational systems, it's own green energy and recycling. These things are still in very rudimentary form, and are admittedly dependent on the larger society, but that they exist at all is a major source of the incredible power and appeal of this movement.

As I said in the header, there might be some point to seniors and others showing up on the Mall for a "leave Social Security and Medicare alone" protest. They have one simple demand, it could be met by convincing Congress to take certain specific actions, and the traditional protest format is adapted to that. But OWS should stay as far away from mass protests as possible.

[burrowowl]

16. Yes! The National Mall

and a BIG ONE!

and Occupy it with tents and permanence!

[Tx4obama]

17. Nope. Tents wouldn't be allowed on the National Mall - see excerpt below

SNIP

Legal experts are hardly surprised by the outcomes, which are spurred in large part by a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the National Park Service to deny permits in Washington, D.C.'s National Mall to protesters seeking the right to erect tent cities to symbolize the plight of the homeless.

SNIP

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2319433


p.s. I highly doubt the National Park Service would issue permits for OWS tents.

[SnohoDem]

18. Shut DC down

If DC doesn't work for the 99%, then DC doesn't work.

[woo me with science]

19. Kick. nt

[NightWatcher]

20. dont occupy the Mall. Occupy the gears of the machine

occupy (block and shut down) the Supreme Ct, Congress, the Bank's hq's..........