Liberty Square Blueprint

Hello World!

Hello world! - We of Liberty Plaza would like to thank the global population for the amazing outpouring of support and inspiration. Our original demand has been already met beyond our greatest hopes. We occupied Wall Street with the intent of bringing attention to an economic system that is detached from real human needs. In less than one month global solidarity and a global dialog has emerged - never in the history of the world have all of the worlds citizations and cultures come together in an unidealogial movement like this.

We present the following living vision of our movement. It is one document among many that work together in focusing our occupation for the public and ourselves. The vision has ten foci with practical goals for New York City. Our goals are aimed at dissolving the effective "shadow government" created by the corporations and banks, that literally surrounds Liberty Plaza and is destroying the American dream, and our planet Earth. We will not fight the shadow government. We will invent new ways of living - that will overcome our constructed dependence upon the shadow government. We will invent the new economy, culture, and technology fitting of the Information Age. We will make New York City a metropolis built for the future.

A few things must be said. Corporations do not make jobs - people make jobs. Money does not support livelihood - our Earth supports livelihood. The proprietary technology used to hijack and manipulate the human spirit into thinking otherwise no longer belongs to the shadow government - the technology belongs to us. Thus the following ten visions are more than feasible. Only one question remains: When will each goal be achieved? The answer to that depends on YOU.

Purpose of Blueprint

Through this document we will explain our vision and corresponding concrete action for ourselves and for humanity.  We hope other regional people's assemblies can create their own blueprints, centered on the future they envision, and structured around the most effective actions to achieve these visions.

Vision Blueprint

Issues - nothing about governance Algonquin principles of peace - Basis of American Constitution

1. How can we build an empowered global society based on direct democracy?
   1. Fix local governing body and empower decentralized people's assemblies to coordinate actions and goals
2. How will we emancipate ourselves from centralized financial systems?
3. How will we create an economy in harmony with nature? What will it look like?
4. How will we create free paradigm-shifting education the whole human family?
5. How will we change our business structures and culture to place people and our Earth before profit?
6. How will we free our media to place truth before advertising?
7. How will we eliminate all discrimination and prejudice?
8. How will we define the human family's liberties from the grass roots up?
9. How will we harmonize the human family's religious and existential traditions?
10. How can we answer these questions with solutions owned by all?

1. What future could we make with a global, decentralized, and self-organized movement governed through direct democracy?
2. What could we build if freed from the banks that own us?
3. What dignity could we enjoy if we placed people before profit?
4. What could an economy in harmony with nature produce?
5. What ills could we cure by caring for our whole human family?
6. What could free and universal education teach our children?
7. What dialogue could we foster if our media placed truth before advertising?
8. What communities could we build if we freed ourselves from discrimination and prejudice?
9. What freedom could we discover if we established liberties from the bottom up?
10. What depth of understanding could we share by harmonizing our spiritual traditions?
11. What could heal if we ended all war?
12. How can we answer these questions with solutions owned by all?

Adbusters idea - "McSmoothy" "McSmoothy made of McFlurry, McPepperming Mocha and McRib" mmmmm delicious

1. 1. Facilitating the growth of local movements for direct, organic, participatory consensus-based democracy through transparent, iterative design.
   2. Studying ourselves and other local occupations to find more ideal models of consensus building, decision making and coordinating
   3. Coordinating across local and regional people’s assemblies for deeper impact.
   4. Encouraging each occupation to focus on their local economic, cultural and political assets - as we
      1. Make NYC a functioning focal point for other people’s assemblies to dissolve and overcome secret government rooted in Manhattan
2. Implement FLO (free libre open-source) solutions for everything - by
   1. Every bullet point vision described herein shall be supported and implemented through non proprietary technology and methods
   2. Expand people’s knowledge of open-source beyond computers to all technology from tractors to currencies - as we
      1. Make NYC the Open Source Silicon Alley
3. Create an economy in harmony with nature - by
   1. Researching, developing and implementing economic models that pursue thriving, abundant and prosperous outcomes for humanity and life - growing beyond the dichotomy of unsustainable and sustainable development.  These economic models must be based on sound ethical assumptions and observed  individual and market behavior through behavioral economics and econometrics
   2. Implementing and improving community currencies, barter, sharing, and trade systems Building the support and precedence for local and large scale production of renewable energy and food resources
   3. Eliminating financial/resource speculation that supports the current economy at the expense of future generations
   4. Learning from and empowering indigenous people in the transition to an economy in harmony with nature - as we
      1. Make NYC a pioneer of urban farming, renewable energy, grass roots urban/rural exchange, quantitative economic policy and indigenous leadership
4. Create paradigm-shifting education (emancipating global citizens from exploitative, community-destroying consumer culture) - by
   1. Empowering community values, engagement, and critical autonomous thought
   2. Empowering our local people’s assemblies working groups with free educational materials for apprenticeship and skill-sharing - as we
      1. Make NYC a top supporter of public space for community action.
5. Re-appropriate our business structures and culture, putting people and our Earth before profit - by
   1. Supporting and organizing with entities that serve community
   2. Coordinating demands of local, national and global people's assemblies to eliminate outdated corporate systems that are out of line with people and nature - the most egregious exploiters of human and natural capitol - as we
      1. Make NYC the Mecca for innovative community based organizational entities like L3C, not-for profit, NGO, charities etc.
6. Re-appropriate our media culture, putting truth over advertizing and sensation - by
   1. Ensure diversity of perspectives and entertainment through promoting diverse community media as an alternative to conglomerate-corporate media - as we
      1. Make NYC a thriving ecosystem of community news and entertainment supported by the people
7. Define and defend humanity’s inalienable rights from the bottom up
   1. Defending the commonly discussed rights to clean water, healthy food, safe shelter, health care
   2. Pioneering the emerging right to free network communication technology (the People’s Internets)
      1. Make NYC the most progressive city for the chronically homeless.
      2. Make NYC a leader of the People's Internets**
8. End all war - by
   1. Stopping the false War on Terror at home and abroad, used to support the military industrial complex and citizen surveillance/control
   2. Stopping the false War on Drugs, used to support the prison/pharmaceutical industrial complex
   3. Stopping the age of oil, which is really a disguised War on Life that poisons our land, water and bodies - as we
      1. Make NYC a stronghold of peace
9. Eliminate all discrimination and prejudice - by
   1. Empowering marginalized people to express themselves, build community, and engage systemic/cultural discrimination
   2. Educating people with privilege about how they can overcome overt and unconscious discrimination/prejudice.
   3. Balancing
   4. Protect the human rights of anyone living or working in America, independent of their legal status - as we
      1. Make NYC a more celebrated place of diversity that lives up to its Melting Pot reputation
10. Harmonize humanity’s religious, spiritual and existential traditions - by
    1. Creating the space for all people to respectfully and collaboratively worship, discuss, and explore religious and nonreligious topics - as we
       1. Make NYC a hub for harmonious religious, spiritual and non-religious practice
11. Emancipate the world's communities from centralized banking systems
    1. Transitioning the IMF and World Bank into transparent, publically owned and operated entities
    2. Ending the Federal Reserve Bank and replacing it with an accountable, decentralized, transparent and publically owned financial system
    3. Freezing all home foreclosures until new financial systems are established and operating
    4. Cop brutality, women's issues, accountability

List of Goals and Corollary Actions

• Make NYC a functioning focal point for other people’s assemblies to dissolve and overcome the shadow government of big banks and corporations that is embedded here
  • Develop an open source DIY Occupation kit for other occupations to reference and build upon.
  • Build the independent communications technology to coordinate occupations throughout the US and globe
• Make NYC the Open Source Silicon Alley
  • Host an open source developers hackathon in a secret location to find the most intelligent and driven technologists most capable of dissolving the shadow government and building the new community development structures.
• Make NYC a pioneer of urban farming, renewable energy, grass roots urban/rural exchange, ethical and evidenced-based economics and indigenous leadership
  • Develop strong resource flows between upstate farms and the occupation
  • Use Occupy Wall Street as a platform to launch community-based green economy solutions that lift people out of poverty and restore our Earth
  • Pilot community currencies, barter, sharing, and local trade systems
  • Make Liberty Square carbon neutral
• Make NYC a thriving ecosystem of community news, entertainment, and information-sharing supported by the people
  • Broadcast the first Occupy Wall Street TV channel with news, live stream, shows, Q&A and entertainment
  • Make NYC a leader of the People’s Internets
• Make NYC a top supporter of public space for community action
  • Support the independent occupations of every borough in NYC.
  • Expand the occupation beyond outdoor spaces to indoor ones.
• Make NYC the Mecca for innovative community based organizational entities like L3C, not-for profit, NGO, charities etc
• Make NYC the most progressive city for the chronically homeless
• Make NYC a stronghold of pacifism
  • Support neighborhood peace and safe community initiatives
• Make NYC a place that celebrates and respects diversity and lives up to its Melting Pot reputation
• Make NYC a hub for harmonious religious, spiritual and non-religious practice

Amendment Process

We will create a reddit-based forum online to elicit ideas for amendments and to vote on those ideas for adoption.  In order to propose an amendment, a forum user must first vote on at least one popular and two random ideas from the forum. Users may post and vote with a public identity, masked identity, or anonymously.  A small fraction of the most popular posts, based on votes, will be presented to the General Assembly, where they will be officially considered as amendments or edits to the current version.

Archiving Process

The Blueprint will live in two online version.  The first is the Official Non-Editable Wiki, which will have previous versions archived for the public.  The second is an Unofficial Sandbox Wiki for the public to freely engage, edit, and experiment with.  We predict that the Unofficial Sandbox version will yield very interesting and possibly sourced for amendments.

Further Reading

Origins of the Blueprint for Liberty Square

Comments

Idea for Cap on Campaign Contributions - Constitutional Amendment

Hi. This is Big V speaking. I just want to comment that it might really help to get input from the general public on the various OWS proposals, and not just for New York City. I am talking about people who are not able to attend actual meetings. For instance, many of us don't live in a place where meetings occur. Also, if a person lives in a small town, then they have to worry about getting "found out" by a person who might fire them or evict them. It's weird because the OWS is more accepted than not, but some people are irrationally opposed to it. I will be more than happy to vote online for various OWS ideas, and here is my first promotion:

I like the idea of a Constitutional amendment that would put a cap on campaign contributions from individuals, and prohibit contributions from anyone who is not a US citizen and a real-live individual. I think $100 sounds good, indexed to inflation.

I saw a draft of an amendment like that floating around, and I signed the petition to get it considered. The draft I saw was right on target because it specifically said that money is not speech and that corporations are not people. You would think that our Supreme Court would be intelligent enough to figure that out on their own, but I guess not.

If we could prohibit very large campaign contributions, then we could truly reduce the influence of one person to one vote, which would make this country much closer to an equal-opportunity place. Also, by saying that money is not speech, but speech is still free, then we get rid of the problem where wealthy people have a lot more freedom than everyone else.