occupy highways

Occupy Highways 2012: 

Occupy Highways 2012 We could also call it “Black March”

What are demonstrably NOT effective ways to change legislation?: 

What are demonstrably NOT effective ways to change legislation? Calling your state legislator Peaceful protest in “free speech zones” Violent protest anywhere Peaceful “occupation” Voting/petitions Working within the system

What are effective ways?: 

What are effective ways? Bribery But the 99% doesn’t have that much money Boycotts But monopolies and dummy corporations make it extremely difficult to boycott companies in an effective manner Shutting down infrastructure But this is dangerous and highly illegal

Occupy Highways 2012: 

Occupy Highways 2012 The dynamic occupation of the nation’s public roadway system Safe, legally & physically Difficult for the media to spin Non-localized Clear demands

Safe, legally and physically: 

Safe, legally and physically No one is going to drive a car into a crowd of people on the highway no matter how bad they want to get to work Impeding traffic only carries a $100 fine in NC and 2 points on your drivers license, max Of course, they will probably try to charge us with more, but a good lawyer could probably get us all off, especially if we get media attention

Difficult for the media to spin: 

Difficult for the media to spin Everyday working people will see these crowds in the street with their own eyes Unlike Zucotti Park and the buildings previous occupiers have tried to occupy, roads are publicly owned and paid for with our taxes Everyone is going to hear about what is going on whether or not they pay attention to the news, because they won’t be able to go to work

Non-localized: 

Non-localized Protestors don’t have to travel out to Wall Street to be part of the movement. They can start from any town and begin walking Smaller cells of citizens can meet up and grow stronger as time progresses The feeling of stagnancy permeating much of the OWS movement would not be an issue as Occupy Highways 2012 would always be on the move

Clear demands: 

Clear demands One of the biggest criticisms by mass media of OWS was the “lack” of clear demands Occupy Highways 2012 should have no more than 5 demands, and the ones I provided are simply examples of what I would like to see A lawyer would be necessary to formalize these demands so the only thing that would have to happen is congress would need to sign all these changes into laws Remember, when you’re negotiating you always aim higher than what you really want. These demands are what I really want

1) Increase in wages of all civil servants: 

1) Increase in wages of all civil servants This includes teachers, firemen, but most importantly policemen This will hopefully get police to question why they are attacking us in addition to making teaching a more attractive option The money would be taken out of the military budget. Let’s fix our country before we start fixing someone else’s Truck drivers make more than the average police officer: http://blogs.payscale.com/salarystories/2006/12/trucker_stories.html http://www.bls.gov/oes/2009/may/oes333051.htm

2) End the Federal Reserve: 

2) End the Federal Reserve We would need to make information about how the Federal Reserve works very accessible and public I am of the belief that once people understand that a private institution is responsible for money production and they understand the manner in which banks use loans to create money that isn’t there, they will support this demand The process could begin by simply resurrecting JFK’s 50 year old executive order 11110

3) Decrease the wages of congressmen: 

3) Decrease the wages of congressmen Perhaps the wages of other civil servants could meet in the middle somewhere with a decrease in the salaries of congressmen The official form of this demand must include something about preventing the “campaign donations” that are poisoning politics today Maybe even give them a bonus for leaving office, in order to give incumbents an incentive to leave

4) A constitutional amendment that specifically protects internet freedom: 

4) A constitutional amendment that specifically protects internet freedom The official form of this demand needs to prevent the government from requesting user data without a warrant, blocking websites for any reason, making file-sharing illegal Ideally it would allow for criminals to still be investigated, but not before they were informed of the government’s intent to spy on them

5) A constitutional amendment that prevents warrantless search & seizure: 

5) A constitutional amendment that prevents warrantless search & seizure I know there is already one, but something needs to be changed to the constitution to make the PATRIOT Act, this year’s NDAA, and the EEA illegal

Advanced strategies: 

Advanced strategies Carry American flags, play patriotic music, and quote our founding fathers When the police inevitably come to beat us, the media will have no choice but to show images of flag-waving Americans literally being beaten down NO AGRESSION, NO BULLSHIT DANCING, NO BREAKING & ENTERING &VANDALISM These actions taken by certain OWS protestors only hurt the cause. We must not let them infect our message again

Advance strategies (cont.): 

Advance strategies (cont.) Wear gasmasks, helmets, shields, bulky clothes. NO WEAPONS Possibly carry small flat razorblades to cut ziptie handcuffs and have escape routes in the woods on the side of highways Travel with dogs

More reasons this is a good idea: 

More reasons this is a good idea Shutting down the infrastructure forces people to become interested in what’s going on because it directly affects them AND it hurts big corporations No one will be able to criticize us for being “lazy entitled bums” like they do OWS because we’ll be marching down the street every day, while most sit at home

Necessary preparations: 

Necessary preparations Pick a date to begin (I suggest a Sunday) Pick a destination (I suggest Washington DC) Get the word out Formalize our demands Get our demands out on the internet (after we begin marching) Gather food, tents, and other necessary supplies (although nothing is stopping us from stopping at stores or even hotels along the way)

Final thoughts: 

Final thoughts The impotence (and media portrayal) of OWS has caused a lot of people to lose faith in the movement. This is exactly the kind of next-level jolt it needs It’s easy to start (especially considering it would automatically have the support of OWS) and once it gets going, it will be a snowball effect This is the information age. We’re fighting an information war. We need clear, concise facts about how the system works that make everyday people upset with the system. Striking images such as the pepper-sprayed protestor are even more effective weapons. A combination of the two are how we win.