Since December 1st, 2011, we have gathered on media sharing platforms, social networking sites and email listserves. Now we hope to create a formal General Assembly to bring together our many supporters from cities and towns everywhere.

Our main goal in creating a General Assembly is to bring together people who support the Occupy movement, but who cannot otherwise attend a physical General Assembly. We want to unite people from all backgrounds and localities and empower them to take initiative within the movement.

Having a General Assembly will empower Occupy Congress, as a whole, to make greater contributions to the Occupy movement. We will be able to pass proposals, organize events, develop initiatives, build resources, enhance our mobilization efforts, show official solidarity with other Occupy events, and build up a network of people that spans across our nation and the world.

Our General Assembly will be an open, participatory and horizontally organized democratic process that will set an example for the U.S. Congress.

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Join us on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 9:30PM EDT/6:30PM PDT for our first General Assembly. Simply call: 760-­‐984-­‐1000, and enter access code: 999143#.

For questions or more info, contact us via email at Occupy@occupycongress.info.

Here’s a copy of our press release:

Click to enlarge

Reflecting back on the 6 months of the movement, it’s clear that Occupy groups across the nation and the world have done more than spark conversation about Wall Street. They have shifted the national debate on taxes and inequality, helped homeowners stay in their homes, forced major policy issues to the forefront of debate at the state and federal level, and gotten the attention of the institutions they’ve challenged most forcefully. Here’s a brief list of Occupy Wall Street’s accomplishments over its first six months (compiled by ThinkProgress):

Income Inequality: The 99 Percent movement refocused America’s political debate, forcing news outlets and eventually politicians to focus on rising income inequality. While debt and deficits were the primary focus of the media before the movement started, their attention after the movement began shifted to jobs, Wall Street, and unemployment. By the end of October, virtually all politicians were talking about income inequality, and a week later, Time Magazine devoted its cover to the topic, asking, “Can you still move up in America?”

Occupy Wall Street protestors prevent a foreclosure in East New York

Occupy Our Homes: The movement has drawn attention to many of the predatory, discriminatory, and fraudulent practices perpetrated by banks during the foreclosure crisis, and across the country, Occupy groups, religious leaders, and community organizations have helped homeowners prevent wrongful foreclosures on their homes. Activists in Detroit are working to save their fifth home, and similar actions have taken place in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Atlanta. The movement has drawn so much attention that local political leaders and even members of Congress have stepped in to help homeowners facing foreclosure. Visit OccupyOurHomes.org to see what this initiative is currently focused on.

Move Your Money: On Bank Transfer Day, activists help more than 40,000 Americans move their money from large banks to credit unions, and more than 650,000 switched to credit unions last October. Religious groups have taken up the cause as well, moving $55 million before Thanksgiving. This year, a San Francisco interfaith group moved $10 million from Wells Fargo and other groups marked Lent by moving more money from Wall Street. As a result, analysts say the nation’s 10 biggest banks could lose $185 billion in customer deposits this year “due to customer defections.”

Fighting For Positive Policies: Occupy groups have pushed for positive policy outcomes at both the state and federal levels. Occupy The SEC submitted a 325-page comment letter on the Volcker Rule, a regulation to rein in big banks. Pressure from protesters forced New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) to reverse his opposition to a millionaire’s tax, fought Indiana Republicans’ union-busting “right-to-work” law, and have pushed big banks to stop financing destructive environmental practices like mountaintop removal mining in coal states.

Though many of the camps across the country have been disbanded, the 99 Percent Movement isn’t going away. Organizers have continued fighting at the state level, pushing back against banks on fraudulent foreclosures and other issues, and have now turned their attention to the 2012 presidential elections. Movement leaders in New York, meanwhile, are developing high-tech ways to organize protests and keep the movement going. Occupy is starting to assert a political influence, pushing multiple candidates and even running for office themselves — in both Maine and Pennsylvania, former Occupy activists are running for public office.

“It’s changed the language,” one protester told the Wall Street Journal. “It’s brought out a lot of issues that people are talking about. … And that’s the start of change.”

Notes

[1] Some news and image content borrowed from thinkprogress.com and other sites

[2] Blog posts represent individual opinions and do not speak for Occupy Congress or the Occupy movement as a whole

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who personally lobbied President Barack Obama to host the NATO and G8 summits, was informed of the change only hours before the White House publicly made the announcement.

The last-minute change raised many eyebrows — and questions.

The idea of moving the G8 to Camp David was raised to the president a few weeks ago, a senior administration official said, adding that the president was intrigued by the novelty of the idea and asked staff whether they could pull off the change.

Adding to the curious nature of the White House announcement was the fact that Obama rarely spends time at his presidential retreat. And unlike many of his predecessors, Obama has never hosted a world leader at Camp David.

Obama told reporters Tuesday that G8 “tends to be a more informal setting where we talk about a wide range of issues in an intimate way” and that “people would enjoy being in a more casual backdrop.” Although this is Obama’s stated reason, in a survey we conducted among our Twitter and Facebook followers, 97% of those surveyed believe the real reason for changing the venue is the impending protests in Chicago.

Courtesy of FluidSurvey.com

Regardless of the reason for relocating the G8 Summit, the protests are going to happen in Chicago anyway because if protesters are upset about G8, they have just as much reason to be upset about NATO. Plans are also being made by Occupy Baltimore to bring protestors onto the camping grounds surrounding Camp David: http://occupybmore.org/event/occupy-g8-summit. There’s also been talks between Occupy Washington DC, Occupy Univ. of Maryland (UMD), and Occupy Congress of holding a summit of our own, called the G-99 summit.

Notes

[1] Some news and image content borrowed from huffingtonpost.com and other sites

[2] Blog posts represent individual opinions and do not speak for Occupy Congress or the Occupy movement as a whole

Congressperson is a job.  Like any other, it has a specific set of duties and responsibilities that come with it.  It requires various skill sets, effective communication skills, and the ability to think critically.  Yet it currently mandates less ongoing training and development than a car mechanic or electrician.  The job requires literacy and the ability to comprehend what you read.  Any Congressperson who does not fully read and understand the bills they are creating (including their “technical points”) is not doing their job.  The ability to sign contracts or find personnel is not a specialized skill.  If I had $300 billion I could find vendors to design and build highways and aircraft carriers, too.  The job description does not include campaigning, courting donors, or raising money.  We pay a salary for governance only.

This is not rocket science.  We hire scientists for that, not Politicians.  And we thoroughly test them for competency.  Managing this country is not some mythical dragon to be slayed by only the most special of warriors.  Congresspeople are human beings like everyone else.  America wants leaders who are willing to risk their lives to protect liberty and justice.  We ask it of our soldiers, and we require it of our politicians.  We’re not asking for martyrs; we’re asking for heroes.  The behavior of the leaders in America are often the acts of selfish children, greedily grabbing up the largest handful of candy possible even if they cannot get their hand out of the jar.  If you want to lead for life, start a church.  Our government is about bold and generous thinking, not the consolidation of possessions or power that provide little solace when life flashes before your eyes.

Congress is a place to develop and implement brilliant and forward thinking ideas for human beings in America, and in the world.  For the creation of a Humane, Educated, and Just Society. For imagining how we can live in a nation where everyone has the know-how and opportunity to participate.  Congress is not a place to do business.  All projects the U.S. Government undertakes are measured in the how they impact the quality of life for American people.  If making this kind of a difference is not a sufficient profit motive, you are unqualified to be in public service or to provide services through and receive the generous compensation of government contracts.  The days of small leadership are ending.  This is a time for great and wise leaders who, like Socrates, are willing to give their lives to honor the integrity of Justice in their Society.  I see little indication that many of our leaders today will stand behind “Give me liberty, or give me death.”  And when our leaders are small, we become small, too.

I find myself worn out by the endless explanations of which group of Americans wants to take away my freedom.  I am through being baffled at how individuals are hemorrhaging our national Treasury, yet we are not buying the groceries, band aids, books, and sidewalks of this nation.  I am tired of fighting a War on Terror, and I am bored with being scared out of my wits.  I am done being told that the problem is my fellow citizens.  I am heartbroken over the endless animosity between races, religions, genders, and classes within the American people.  United we stand.  Public service is about giving your life for the benefit of the people.  It is about legacy that is far greater than personal wealth.

It is insulting and inflammatory to suggest out loud that our leaders are putting their personal gain ahead of the well being of the American people.  We ask our leaders to take a stand like Washington, Lincoln, or the Roosevelts did.  We ask our leaders to be as noble as Dr. King, Jesus, or Frodo Baggins.  We ask our leaders to be willing to surrender their comfort for the good of their people.  Are you someone who is willing to give up the trappings of a material life in favor of being of service to your fellow human being in a most profound way?  If so, you may be qualified for public office.

These days, running for office is attacking each others’ character.  You tell us publicly, Congress, that you are not working together.  Some of you overtly participate in acts of fraud, bribery, and extortion, and write laws to make it legal for you to do so.  You call segments of American people derogatory names, separate us by our tastes, and fight a War on Terror by telling us who to Fear.  You attempt to bind us to the moral principles of your religious texts, even while the Treaty of Tripoli (1797) clearly states: “the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion,—as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen,”  You use the most holy halls in our nation as a paid internship for the job you’ll hold after office.  Government is not a place to do business.  It is a place to serve humanity in a sacred way.

You tell us that you must control our information.  You attempt to pass legislation to censor us, and then you are surprised when we rise up against it.  You claim impotence in preserving our food and water purity, and in managing the cost of our health care.  You can hit a basketball hoop 6,000 miles away, and you want us to believe you cannot control pharmaceutical prices.  You refuse to protect us from the organizations and institutions that are attempting to dominate us, and yet we have the greatest military might in the history of the world.  Americans share our highways, grocery stores, and roads all the time, and we are beginning to resemble civilized people.  It is time for us to ask our leaders to aspire to the principles of being civilized.

I find the level of courage, integrity and responsibility in our American leaders lacking in ways that would be unworkable in my own life.  Instead of being heroes and spending your time dreaming of a brighter day for humankind, you do work for private companies and invest in companies that are about to benefit from government legislation.  You ignore dangers to our food supply in return for campaign contributions.  You remove prosecution for organized crime in return for a piece of the action.  You put significantly more attention into your own survival than you do the lives of over 300 million people.  This is what I call job negligence.

How much better can you eat?  What more can you buy?  Our children share the future with yours.  Our grandchildren will all shar ethe planet, whether it glistens with love or is a rotting apple.   That is inescapable.

I’m here to remind you that any ordinary person can be a hero.  Religions ask their clergy to give up some of the mortal trappings in service to humanity.  We can ask the leaders of America to forsake certain earthly wants and desires to serve a higher calling:  the future of the human race here on Earth.  The honor and nobility of public service is as critical to people in this modern age as our spiritual governance.

I formally request that the leaders of America stand for the kind of courage espoused by the heroes of the movies of Hollywood and your religious texts.  The leaders of America can usher in a new era of harmony for the human race this year.  We’re all going to die someday.  You, our American leaders, can live a life that makes a profound difference in the course of human history.  History will remember your names, and what you do here.  And history will generalize you as heroes or villains.  It always does.

You gave your Word to defend the Constitution and the people of America.  Please give up your fear of survival.  If you all stand up at the same time, we can change the world.  If everyone in Congress gave up that their point of view was the only one that is right for one day, what would be possible?

I can only speak for myself.  And regardless of how many people you are empowered to represent, so can you.  That is why we are the 100%.  Everybody gets it, or we lose it.

COMMENTARY | What does rape, murder, and protesting the government all have in common? They are all felonies.

On February 28th 2012, Congress voted 399 to 3 in favor of H.R. 347, a bill which breezed through the Senate with unanimous consent and now lacks only President Obama’s signature to become law. The only three representatives who voted against the bill were Paul Broun (R-GA), Justin Amash (R-MI) and Ron Paul (R-TX).

Euphemistically titled the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act” and referred to by our corporate-controlled mainstream media as a “non-controversial bill,” a more truthful moniker for H.R. 347 would be the “First Amendment Rights Eradication Act.” As Representative Amash lamented on his Facebook page:

“Current law makes it illegal to enter or remain in an area where certain government officials (more particularly, those with Secret Service protection) will be visiting temporarily if and only if the person knows it’s illegal to enter the restricted area but does so anyway. [H.R. 347] expands current law to make it a crime to enter or remain in an area where an official is visiting even if the person does not know it’s illegal to be in that area and has no reason to suspect it’s illegal… [And to] show you the extent to which the public is misled and misinformed about the legislation we are voting on, read one prominent media outlet’s coverage of the same bill: http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/212873-house-approves-white-house-trespass-bill-sends-to-obama The report mischaracterizes not only current law but also the changes proposed by the bill.”

The full text of H.R. 347 is available here: www.govtrack.us/congress

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum being "glitter-bombed" by protestor.

Obviously aimed at the Occupy Movement, and the recent incidents of protestors “glitter-bombing” presidential candidates, this new law will seriously diminish the right of American citizens to petition their government for a redress of grievances by outlawing protests where key government officials or other VIP’s may be nearby. Federal law enforcement agents will be empowered to bring these charges against Americans engaged in political protests anywhere in the country, and violators will face criminal penalties that include imprisonment for up to 10 years.

If only Congress was this adamant about criminalizing Wall Street bankers…

For more info on H.R. 347:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2011-149

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Notes

[1] Some news and image content borrowed from salon.com and other sites

[2] Blog posts represent individual opinions and do not speak for Occupy Congress or the Occupy movement as a whole

For a free society to function in any capacity there has to be transparency of and access to information, as well as a set of rules that are applied equally to everyone. Our society has chosen not to hold those responsible for the financial meltdown accountable. This is destroying our society economically by stopping access to transparent information and is destroying our society socially by not applying the laws equally to everyone. Economists and others can attest to the languishing of our society in this financial quicksand so this commentary focuses on the social side of the scandal.
This blatant and overwhelming example of selective application of the judicial system forces even the most optimistic citizen to recognize that we now live in a society of the few unaccountable privileged and the many to which justice applies. Of course this didn’t happen overnight, but this state of our union has reached a tipping point now. For example, the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s did at least result in an application of the law to put at least 800 white collar criminals in prison. In just a couple of decades we can certainly detect a significant increase in the protection of the privileged class from the justice system. At this point it is difficult to imagine a scenario under which a group of persons within this class would be held accountable by the law. The justice system no longer applies to the few unaccountable privileged in our society.
The social destruction that this is causing to our society is one of despair. When people feel like the societal structure is unjust, unfair or “rigged”, they lose respect for it, withdraw from participating in it and simply don’t care about their communities or others. Once it becomes clear that we do not live in a free society of opportunity, but instead, one in which the privileged elite decide the rules to the game and to whom those rules apply, citizens do not have any reason to hold onto hope.
Just recently (in the context of human history) humanity challenged corrupt authority and introduced the concept of respect for the individual. From this was born the societal constructs of a republic and a democracy with unprecedented economic and social equality and mobility. We are the descendents of these great innovators and can choose to allow this to go down in history as a failed experiment in human society or we can choose to continue its existence with necessary structural adjustments.
Although our society has been hijacked by these few privileged elite, we do still have individual rights and with those historically-important responsibilities. Let’s be clear that the status quo is not an option. We didn’t get where we are today because we have always been like this. Our selective application of the judicial system and resulting immunity of the privileged class from justice has been a path our society has been following for decades. We can either continue along the current path or we can change course. Our society will not stay the way it is today.
Our political system is structured in such a way as to include money and influence as vital and integral components of the process. Any elected official on local or national levels is required to accept money to pay for activities that will get him/her elected. Anyone who has observed human nature knows that when a person receives money from another, they are beholden to that person. Not only does the person receiving feel an obligation, but the person giving has an expectation. With this indebtedness component built into the structure, how can we expect the political process to be anything other than skewed towards the interests of those with money? Why is money and influence built into the system to begin with? The structure of the political system is flawed and therefore, all decisions and actions resulting from that system are flawed. We have a duty and responsibility to change this structural flaw in our political system to avoid the disappearance altogether of our rare and historic free society.
Opinions by Shelly Bernal

This press release was presented by Occupy Wall Street on 16 January 2012:

January 17 at 9 am Capitol Hill

Washington, DC—On January 17 Americans from across the nation and the world will assemble in the shadows of a broken system to participate in real democracy.

At 9 am on the opening day of Congress, Occupy Congress will convene for a day of action against a corrupt political institution. Actions include a multi-occupational General Assembly, teach-ins, an OCCUParty, a pink slip for every congressional “representative” and a march on all three branches of a puppet government that sold our rights and our futures to the 1%.

This is an illegitimate system. Around half of the nation’s population doesn’t participate in electoral politics. More than 6 million Americans who want to vote are disenfranchised, including the entire populace of the District of Columbia. There is consensus that we are on the wrong track and that our “leaders” do not have our interests at heart.

All “elected” officials bought their way into gerrymandered seats with Wall Street money. These bankers’ henchmen have shown themselves both unwilling and unable to take on the tremendous, systemic issues in our country, our place in this world.

In the face of this endemic corruption, the Occupy movement is about organizing locally to discuss and change these problems from the ground up. We came to show the 1%’s Congress what democracy looks like.

Our nation, and our world, is in crisis and our “elected” officials have failed us. They refused to hold their bankrollers—Wall Street—responsible for the financial crimes that bankrupted our nation and destroyed the global economy. This last legislative cycle was the least productive in recorded U.S. history; 90% of the country disapproves of these “elected” officials.

We refuse to accept the grim future that Wall Street’s cronies have designed. We refuse to be the 1%’s captive citizenry. We stand together to show that the 99% are creating a better world.

The 99% will no longer be complacent. Our many voices will be amplified on the steps of Capitol Hill. We shall have a nation by, for, and powered by the people once again. We are building it.

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#OccupyCongress is a part of the Occupy movement, which began with Occupy Wall Street on Sept. 17, 2011, in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District. #Occupy is a people powered movement that has spread to sustained occupations in hundreds of cities in the United States and actions in thousands of cities globally. #Occupy is fighting back against the corrosive power major banks and multinational corporations have over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest depression in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece, Italy and the UK, and aims to expose how the richest 1% are writing the rules of the global economy and the laws of the land, imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality that is foreclosing on our future.

ReverseRobocall.com provides voters an easy way to communicate with one or hundreds of politicians or political groups using the same technology politicians use, the robocall or automated phone call.

At 9 am on the opening day of Congress, Occupy Congress will convene for a day of action against a corrupt political institution. Actions include a multi-occupational General Assembly, teach-ins, an OCCUParty, a pink slip for every congressional “representative” and a march on all three branches of a puppet government that sold our rights and our futures to the 1%.

This is an illegitimate system. Around half of the nation’s population doesn’t participate in electoral politics. More than 6 million Americans who want to vote are disenfranchised, including the entire populace of the District of Columbia. There is consensus that we are on the wrong track and that our “leaders” do not have our interests at heart.

Read the full article on OccupyWallStreet.org