Working Group: Direct Action > Direct Action Proposals Passed/Rejected

Open Letter from Occupy Nashville to the State of Tennessee (Original Thread)

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Lindsey Krinks:
Friends,

The Direct Action working group will propose that we adopt the letter below at tomorrow's GA (1/29/12). Just wanted to give people a chance to read it over. We'll try to bring copies to the plaza, as well!

Open Letter from Occupy Nashville: Which Side Are You On?

Dear Governor Bill Haslam, Tennessee General Assembly, and Tennessee Highway Patrol,

As you know, HB 2638/SB 2508 not only stands to criminalize Occupy Nashville, but it has far-reaching ramifications that would further criminalize all of Tennessee’s economically disenfranchised un-housed citizens. This bill is not only unconstitutional—it is morally unacceptable. If this bill is signed into law, we should warn you that there will be consequences and you will feel the power of the people rising up once again.

If you want to shut Occupy Nashville down and criminalize our un-housed neighbors, then say it. But don’t say you are shutting us down because we aren’t welcoming of other groups. Don’t say we’re a threat to public health. Corporations are the real threat to public health—the public health of our democracy. And when you stand on the side of corporations, when you stand on the side of the 1%, when you criminalize your fellow citizens, you threaten the public health of our democracy.

You know that Occupy Nashville welcomes all people from all walks of life to exercise their First Amendment rights on the plaza. We seek to create a hospitable environment that makes other groups feel welcome, safe, and empowered. You know that we operate under a Code of Conduct that discourages substance use and inappropriate and violent behavior on Legislative Plaza. You know that we have worked with the Metro Public Health Department in the past to address health concerns. You also know that it has never been possible to control the behavior of everyone who comes onto the plaza, though we take it upon ourselves to clean up after those who leave trash and encourage everyone to follow the Code of Conduct.

Despite knowing these things, you have continued to be hostile toward us. In the early morning hours of October 28th and 29th, you declared war against the rights of your fellow citizens—those whom you claim to represent. Although you evicted Occupy Nashville twice, we immediately regained the plaza—the People’s Plaza. You were overruled and reprimanded for infringing on our First Amendment rights. We have prevailed in court and have held the People’s Plaza since then.

Since October 7th, we have accomplished many great feats. We have raised the consciousness of a generation and opened the public’s eyes to a system that perpetuates greed, injustice, inequality, and oppression. The people of Tennessee and the world cried out against your attempts to evict us and we successfully filed an injunction barring your continued harassment. We have remained non-violent, we have launched a successful campaign to halt the foreclosure of our fellow Nashvillians’ homes, we have taken to the streets countless times to protest against corruption and injustice, and we reclaimed an abandoned, derelict public building so that it could once again be used for public good. Three months from our last eviction you are once again attempting to pass a law that is unjust and will bring harm to those you claim to represent.

*Paragraph on public property (will be added in by 1/29/12)

The Occupy movements have experienced violent evictions all over the world and we stand in solidarity with other occupiers who have been jailed, pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed, shot with rubber bullets, and beaten by police batons. We have proven that when you pass unjust regulations and use force, not only do we grow, but we get stronger. If you pass this bill to evict Occupy Nashville and criminalize our un-housed friends, then you have chosen to escalate the conversation and you have forced us to use more disruptive tactics. If you pass this bill, we will prevail in the courts and on the streets. If you pass this bill, you can expect this:

1) We will occupy the State Capitol,
2) We will occupy public spaces and buildings (abandoned and in-use),
3) We will occupy the Federal Courthouse,
4) We will shut down banks in downtown Nashville,
5) We will take back foreclosed homes, and
6) We will occupy the restrooms of all Pilot Travel Centers.

We hope that you will choose to respect Occupy Nashville’s First Amendment rights on Legislative Plaza, the rights of Tennessee’s un-housed citizens, and the right for public property to be used for public good. We stand in solidarity with all occupations from New York to Nigeria, Murfreesboro to Memphis, Oakland to D.C. We stand beside our un-housed sisters and brothers. We stand for the rights of the people. We stand for democracy. Which side are you on?

Sincerely,
Occupy Nashville

0v3rki11:

--- Quote from: Lindsey Krinks on January 28, 2012, 10:38:37 pm ---If you pass this bill, you can expect this:

1) We will occupy the State Capitol,
2) We will occupy public spaces and buildings (abandoned and in-use),
3) We will occupy the Federal Courthouse,
4) We will shut down banks in downtown Nashville,
5) We will take back foreclosed homes, and
6) We will occupy the restrooms of all Pilot Travel Centers.

--- End quote ---

Friendly Amendment Request:

Could we add-

7) We will call on Anonymous for solidarity

-??

Eliz77:
Lindsey, do we have enough commitments from folks to carry out the actions you suggest? Unless we do, that is empty threats and not productive.

0v3rki11:
This proposal has been here a great deal longer than 48 hours. Has there been an update on this? Has it passed or been declined?

TheWiseOldMan:
THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND
PERSUASION
Formal statements
1.   Public speeches
2.   Letters of opposition or support
3.   Declarations by organizations and institutions
4.   Signed public statements
5.   Declarations of indictment and intention
6.   Group or mass petitions
Communications with a wider audience
7.   Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
8.   Banners, posters, and displayed communications
9.   Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
10.   Newspapers and journals
11.   Records, radio, and television
12.   Skywriting and earthwriting
Group representations
13.   Deputations
14.   Mock awards
15.   Group lobbying
16.   Picketing
17.   Mock elections
Symbolic public acts
18.Display of flags and symbolic colors
19   Wearing of symbols
20.   Prayer and worship
21.   Delivering symbolic objects
22.   Protest disrobings
23~ Destruction of own property
24.   Symbolic lights
25.   Displays of portraits
26.   Paint as protest
27.   New signs and names
28.   Symbolic sounds
29.   Symbolic reclamations
30.   Rude gestures
Pressures on individuals
31.   "Haunting" officials
32.   Taunting officials
33.   Fraternization
34.   Vigils
Drama and music
35.   Humorous skits and pranks
36.   Performance of plays and music
37.   Singing
Processions
38.   Marches
39.   Parades
40.   Religious processions
41.   Pilgrimages
42.   Motorcades
Honoring the dead
43.   Political mourning
44.   Mock funerals
45.   Demonstrative funerals
46.   Homage at burial places
 47.   Assemblies of protest or support
48.   Protest meetings
49.   Camouflaged meetings of rotest
50.   Teach-ins
Withdrawal and renunciation  
51.   Walk-outs
52.   Silence
53.   Renouncing honors
54.   Turning one's back
Ostracism of persons
55.   Social boycott
56.   Selective social boycott
57.   Lysistratic nonaction
58.   Excommunication
59.   Interdict
Noncooperation with social events, customs, and institutions
60.   Suspension of social and sorts activities
61.   Boycott of social affairs
62.   Student strike
63.   Social disobedience
64.   Withdrawal from social institutions
Withdrawal from the social system
65.   Stay-at-home
66.   Total personal noncooperation
67.   Flight of workers
68.   Sanctuary
69.   Collective disappearance
70.   Protest emigration (hijrat)
Action by consumers
71.   Consumers' boycott
72.   Nonconsumption of boyco tted goods
73.   Policy of austerity
74.   Rent withholding
75.   Refusal to rent
76.   National consumers' boycott
77.   International consumers boycott
Action by workers and producers
78.   Workmen's boycott
79.   Producers' boycott
Action by middlemen
80. Suppliers' and handlers' boycott
Action by owners and management
81.   Traders' boycott    
82.   Refusal to let or sell property
83.   Lockout    
84.   Refusal of industrial assistance
85.   Merchants' general strike
Action by holders of financial resources
86.   Withdrawal of bank deposits
87.   Refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
88.   Refusal to pay debts or interest
89.   Severance of funds and credit
90.   Revenue refusal
91.   Refusal of a government's money
Action by governments
92.   Domestic embargo
93.   Blacklisting of traders
94.   International sellers' embargo
95.   International buyers' embargo
96.   International trade embargo
Symbolic strikes
97.   Protest strike
98.   Quickie walkout (lightnin strike)
Agricultural strikes
99. Peasant strike
100. Farm workers' strike
Strikes by special groups
101.   Refusal of impressed labor
102.   Prisoners' strike
103.   Craft strike
104.   Professional strike
Ordinary industrial strikes
105.   Establishment strike
106.   Industry strike
107.   Sympathetic strike
Restricted strikes
108.   Detailed strike
109.   Bumper strike
110.   Slowdown strike
111.   Working-to-rule strike
112.   Reporting "sick" (sick-in)
113.   Strike by resignation
114.   Limited strike
115.   Selective strike
Multi-industry strikes
116.   Generalized strike
117.   General strike
Combinations of strikes and economic closures
118.   Hartal
119.   Economic shutdown
 Rejection of authority
120.   Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
121.   Refusal of public support
122.   Literature and speeches advocating resistance
Citizens' noncooperation with government
123.   Boycott of legislative bodies
124.   Boycott of elections    I
125.   Boycott of government employment and positions
126.   Boycott of government departments, agencies and
   other bodies    I
127.   Withdrawal from government educational institutions
128.   Boycott of government supported organizations
129.   Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
130.   Removal of own signs anti-placemarks
131.   Refusal to accept appointed officials
132.   Refusal to dissolve existing institutions
Citizens' alternatives to obedince
133.   Reluctant and slow compliance
134.   Nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
135.   Popular nonobedience
136.   Disguised disobedience
137.   Refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
138.   Sitdown
139.   Noncooperation with conscription and deportation
140.   Hiding, escape and false identities
141.   Civil disobedience of "illegitimate" laws
Action by government personnel
142.   Selective refusal of assistance by government aides
143.   Blocking of lines of command and information
144.   Stalling and obstruction
145.   General administrative noncooperation
 146.   Judicial noncooperation
147.   Deliberate inefficiency and elective noncooperation by
enforcement agents
148.   Mutiny
Domestic governmental action
149.   Quasi-legal evasions and delays
150.   Noncooperation by constituent governmental units
International governmental action
151.   Changes in diplomatic and other representation
152.   Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
153.   Withholding of diplomatic recognition
154.   Severance of diplomatic relations
155.   Withdrawal from internatonal organizations
156.   Refusal of membership in international bodies
157.   Expulsion from international organizations
Psychological intervention
158.   Self-exposure to the elements
159.   The fast
(a) Fast of moral pressure
(b) Hunger strike
(c) Satyagrahic fast
160.   Reverse trial
161.   Nonviolent harassment
Physical intervention
162.   Sit-in
163.   Stand-in
164.   Ride-in
165.   Wade-in
166.   Mill-in
167.   Pray-in
168.   Nonviolent raids

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