Forum Post: Ways to build on the Occupy Movement and Christmas without a Credit Card

We need to become one again and explore other ways of protest

First, we need to recognize that Occupy sites that have been closed down by law enforcement have only experienced a minor bump in the road. We need to set up daily or biweekly General Assemblies at a consistent location whether it is downtown or not. Next, we need to be aware that there is more than one way to protest. Here are a few samples:

---Boycotts, remember, they can’t arrest you for not spending your money at a certain place. Martin Luther King Jr. organized the bus boycott to bring the bus companies to desegregate buses under financial hardship--we can to!

---Continued transfer of our money out of banks and into credit unions.

---Christmas without the credit card; use the debit card tied to your checking account at the credit union that you opened or are going to open soon.

---I like the boycott of cable and satellite TV idea.

---Start recalling all mayors, governors, politicians who have who have evicted us in Los Angeles, Oakland, New York and the rest. If Wisconsin can recall Gov Walker, then we can too. Let’s get started recalling Mayor Villaraigosa here in LA.

---Visit these officials with a Mic Check like the one Gov Walker got.

---a rolling boycott of gasoline companies, example--two weeks without buying gas a Chevron, then Arco and so on.

---Use the flash protest as in Europe.

---Set up weekly protests to bring people together.

---a slow moving traffic jam on the main streets of the city--think critical mass as for bikes. We might even join them. Think of ways to protest that end before law enforcement arrives.

---create a venue of campaigning politicians to express their platform and more importantly make ours platform heard. This was a suggestion that I made at several General assemblies. We had more clout then. I Los Angeles there is a political action committee called LA Clean Sweep.org that is trying to do this as well.

---Occupy needs its own media source--think something that can not be manipulated by corporations such as a news paper as opposed to Internet web sites. However, what if we had our own radio station to spread Occupy news and unite people?

---I understand that there is a move to occupy the the ports--good idea. ---Realize that we were on our way to an alternate to the normal way and that this can be applied to almost every aspect of our lives; we can meet for a Christmas dinner, shop farmers markets, hold our own flea markets in which we barter for.

---moveon.org organized a program to share housing with displaced people to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina that was quite successful. They wrote a book about its called "It Takes a Nation"

These are only a few ideas. I hope they get you thinking of alternative ways to Occupy change our future before the corporations and government decides for us.