Seize the Discourse: #OccupyTheDebates

In 2008, many people throughout the world backed Obama. Some international polling reported over 85% of people across the globe backed his promises of “Change.”

Of course, the only “Change” to unfold was the continued expansion of the military industrial complex, privatization, deportation of migrants, austerity, resource depletion, and imperialist agendas. This lethal cocktail resulted in the further consolidation of vast wealth at the top of society. While Obama and Romney blatantly lie to the world in debates over the meaningless differences in their nearly-identical policies, the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer, and the methods of exterminating the poor are becoming ever more sophisticated and now, automated. Big banks continue to get bigger as they rig the system (see: LIBOR) while foreclosing on homes and earning vast profits at the expense of the rest of us. The disparity in wealth has proceeded at an even faster rate under Obama than ever before. His signature health care law is merely a handout to corporate interests that fails to protect the most vulnerable. With nearly 1,000 U.S. Military bases encircling the globe, it is not only those inside the 50 states weighing the potential ramifications of the outcome. Average people across the planet are stakeholders who will suffer its effects.

Thus, the highly topical #OccupyTheDebates online encampment of mainstream debate hashtags is a revolutionary social media action. It enables the international community to participate in the four-yearly spectacle first hand. No longer are we passively absorbing speeches on issues with pre-approved parameters; we are free to air our legitimate concerns and fears in the public domain. We are not constrained by pomp and circumstance, or blacked out by the conventional media who find themselves having to compete for the attention of what was once a captive audience.

It is a sign of the times that the top tweet from the #DenverDebate was not by CNN. It is by independent media.

The cat is out of the bag. Electoral politics have been exposed as a public fraud. Increasing numbers of us are awakening to the inherent flaws in the colossal scam disguised as democratic process. Democracy in modern times should not equate to one vote every four years - let alone one vote restricted to a pool of a few corporate-endorsed, corporate-financed candidates who are then positioned as the ultimate representation of millions of people.

Once awoken to the lies and corruption behind politics and the media, there is no undoing it. The 1% have failed to control the flow of raw data flooding our information systems. Social evolution will no longer stagnate due to their manipulation, interference, and sabotage. We rightly see ourselves mirrored across the global spectrum as populations equally monopolized by similarly oppressive regimes.

The Occupy movement has reconciled the global family and connected us in new ways. Now gained, we will never willingly yield those relationships. We are witnessing a major societal shift toward unity and against forced austerity. Around the world, countless people are freeing themselves from intergenerational bonds. World events are dramatically accelerating; the tidal wave of the Arab Spring continues to sweep the Mediterranean, Western Europe, and North America. In Madrid, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Rome, Paris, Athens, New York and far beyond, we are rising. One by one, corrupt oligarchies will fall.

On #O13 (October 13, 2012) the #GlobalNoise campaign seeks to again unite hundreds of cities in protest.

It is thus, with irony, that we report the seizing of the debate narrative by #OccupyTheDebates. This may be the first U.S. Presidential election where the veil is being lifted. The people are beginning to see through the “Goldman Sachs vs Bank of America”, “McDonalds vs Burger King” puppetry theater. We are using social media online, in addition to action in real life, to get a glimpse at an idea, at aspiration, to SELF-manifest real change. We have learned - many of us the hard way - that hope and change will not be brought down from a savior, but must come from us.

Americans already on that path have done much to restore the U.S.'s international reputation, so damaged by endless conflict, now being restored by everyday people. Though the tasks ahead of us all may seem insurmountable, we need only to know that together, we are unstoppable. Another world is possible.

Join us throughout the rest of the debate season as we seize the discourse and occupy the debates!