At present we have agreed upon three goals: 1) Remove money from politics 2) End corporate personhood 3) Support the Occupy Wall Street movement We are presently in a process of reaching out to our communities to ensure we have wide involvement before developing further detail on actions to achieve these goals. In the meantime, here is some background.

Former PA Gov. Ed Rendell said "There are so many legislators who have said to me, 'gosh, if I could vote in secret, I could vote for your proposal, Governor, because I know it’s the right thing to do. But I can’t do it. The other side will raise money on it and kill me.' " Corporations are not human beings. They typically do not have a set of values other than commercial values. They also do not die, and so can accumulate vast amounts of wealth and power. They are un-democratic in nature. They are not governed by their employees, nor by the principle of one shareholder - one vote, but rather by the principle of one share - one vote, meaning that those who own the most shares control the decisions. When we have large global corporations influencing legislation in Washington, we may not even know whose interests are being served. Are the shareholders citizens of the United States, or are they sovereign wealth funds of foreign nations, or groups of foreign investors? Corporations buy access and influence through campaign contributions. Politicians abet this by scheduling meeting time with favored contributors and fundraisers. Corporations provide lucrative jobs when elected officials leave office. Politicians secure their favor by steering legislation to their future employers' benefit. Money perverts the entire political process. It makes our elected officials deaf to our concerns. We think this has to stop.

Corporate personhood is a difficult and complex subject to understand. The question of what rights can be claimed by corporations dates back as far as 1819 (right to make contracts) and 1886 (Fourteenth Amendment). There is a recent development in corporate personhood that is particularly troubling. Until recently, there were limits on the political speech of corporations at election time. Under a recent change in the law, corporations have the same First Amendment rights as a person, and will be able to produce TV, radio and press adverts to sell us the politicians favored by the corporation. In January 2010 the Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Citizens United is a conservative non-profit organization. The case challenged a law called the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), also known as the "McCain-Feingold" law. This law barred all corporations, both for-profit and non-profit, and unions from broadcasting “electioneering communications", defined as a broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that mentions a candidate within 60 days of a general election or thirty days of a primary. The ruling was that this prohibition was invalid since the First Amendment prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech. It also noted that since there was no way to distinguish between media and other corporations, the McCain-Feingold law would allow Congress to suppress political speech in newspapers, books, television and blogs. In effect the court decided that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people. A dissenting opinion by four of the nine Supreme Court judges argued that the court had ruled on a question not brought before it by the litigants, and so claimed that the majority of the Supreme Court judges "changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law." The dissent concluded with: "... the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics." We fear that First Amendment rights for corporations will allow their political speech to dominate over the voices of individuals. Corporations already wallow in an excess of economic power: they choose what products to develop, where to make them, how to price them and how to sell them. They use their bargaining advantage to drive hard deals for wages, working conditions, raw material and component prices. At election time, we do not want our politicians packaged and sold to us like a mobile phone, fizzy beverage or prescription medicine.

The Occupy Wall Street movement unites us in our indignation across the cities, towns and fields of America and the countries of the world. We support these groups wherever they stand as they define their grievances and take back their political process. We gather together to express a feeling of mass injustice. All people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality:

•   • that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members;
•   • that our system must protect our rights, and
•   • upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors;
•   • that a democratic government derives its just power from the people,
•   • but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth;
•   • and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.

  We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled, as is our right, to let these facts be known.

The single grievance that unites us all is the undue influence of corporations upon our government. None of us can effectively participate in the political process to air and resolve our individual grievances if corporate interests and their checkbooks are between us and our elected representatives.

Not at all. In fact we have asked for nothing other than the right to express our grievances to our elected representatives as guaranteed in both the Federal and Tennessee Constitutions.

Many in our group support capitalism and free enterprise. Some individuals are anti-capitalist or feel that capitalism is doomed to fail. Some feel we do not currently have a pure capitalist system. However, we all agree that corporate influence over our political system is bad for our economy, bad for our government and bad for the well-being of the people of America and the world.

We believe that the politicians in Washington are merely servants, and we must look at whom they serve. In a properly functioning democracy, they serve the interests of their constituents. We feel that they currently serve the interests of large corporations, and the very large financial institutions on Wall Street who can afford massive amounts of lobbying money and other methods of influencing Washington. Over $3.5 billion was spent on lobbying in Washington in 2010 alone, mostly by for-profit corporations. Added to that is a combination of campaign contributions, a revolving door of Congressional staffers and regulatory agency personnel being hired by very large corporations, and the whispered promise of post political career economic benefits to politicians.

We do not have an anti-corporate product consensus. Those of us who enjoy our corporate products wish to continue to enjoy them. Those of us who enjoy corporate employment wish to continue to apply our skills and earn our livings. However we do not want those same corporations to buy our politicians, dominate elections, and corrupt the institution of government.

Our number one need is involvement from the community. Please join us at Legislative Plaza for a general assembly or working group. Groups work on direct actions, outreach, media, education, tech, finance, legal and facilitation (meeting organization). General Assembly takes place every day, 7pm for Monday-Friday, and 1pm for Saturday and Sunday. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, these General Assemblies are focused on Working Groups and Committees. We meet at 7pm, have a welcome and announcements, and then break into working groups from 7:30-8:30. We regroup at 8:30 to hear working group report-backs. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday (with special revisions for Saturday actions), we have General Assemblies with proposals for consideration by the whole group, but no working group break-outs.

Details of forthcoming events are posted to our website and Facebook page.

Online discussions are ongoing on the forums.

Occupy Nashville wishes to create a space at the plaza where skills, knowledge, etc are freely shared. Examples could include talks on a variety of subjects, workshops, art sessions, music, guided meditation, yoga, etc. If you have skills or knowledge that you could contribute to a small or large group activity at the plaza please contact us.

Find out how to make a financial donation here Other items that are needed are listed here

Some of us are fiscal conservatives and some are libertarians. Some lean towards the liberal or left-wing. Some are conservative about some issues and liberal about others. Our concern about corporate influence in government transcends our politics. We are a diverse group in age, race, disability and gender. Many people are especially interested in our employment demographic. Many of us have jobs and/or are in education. Some of us are retired. Some of us are presently unemployed due to a variety of circumstances. Some have savings and do not need an earned income at the moment. Some are in full employment. Some are in part-time employment. Some have more than one job. We are military veterans, divinity students, musicians, graphic designers, engineering project directors, IT technicians, journalism students, outreach workers, carers for people with learning difficulties, cooks, massage therapists, nurses, construction workers, tax campaigners, writers, home education workers, media specialists, film-makers, bartenders, grocery store associates, professors of mathematics, schoolteachers, sheet metal workers, truck drivers, lawyers, carpenters, librarians, textile business owners, software business owners and more. Our members are the 99%, and also the 1%!

Some of us are freelance and can choose our own hours, some work conventional office hours, some work evenings or shifts. Individuals choose how much time to spend at the plaza, and when to spend it. Some camp at the plaza and go to work or home for other parts of the day. Some do not camp at the plaza and go there for working groups, meetings and protests when required.

We do not receive money or direction from any political party. We do not endorse any political party or candidate.  The great majority of our donations are from private individuals.  Please see our financial practice page for more details.

At this stage, no. We are a public association, open to all. However, we are able to accept donations through a local non-profit, and can provide tax deductible receipts for donations.

Our organization does not have elected leaders. Instead, we follow a democratic process based on equal and direct participation in the development, proposal, and agreement of our actions and petitions. We operate on modified consensus. This means that we do not engage in simple voting, which would favor a majority of just 51%. Instead, we seek agreement of at least 90%, and we follow a process that ensures that concerns are heard and may result in amendments of proposals. Any person can communicate a block, which is a moral objection so strongly held that it would cause them to leave the group. We always attempt to eliminate blocks by discussion and problem-solving, rather than compromise. We operate processes designed to ensure that people who have spoken little are not squeezed to the back of the line by people who speak a lot. This is why we are proud to claim "This is what democracy looks like!"

People volunteer for various responsibilities and organize them in self-directed teams. Some roles are rotated among different individuals.

We have adopted a system of hand signals which are extremely effective for discussion and consensus building in groups. In groups, if people respond to a speaker with applause, whoops or booing, nobody can hear what the speaker is saying and it slows things down. The hand signals avoid that. Fingers waving upwards indicate that you like what you hear, or that you agree. Horizontal fingers mean you are on the fence or uncertain. Fingers pointing down mean that you don't like it or you disagree. Arms crossed at the wrists means you want to block the idea, because you are strongly morally opposed and would rather leave the group than tolerate the proposal. There are also hand signals to raise a point of process or volunteer a point of fact. If you can get past any initial embarrassment you find that these signals work extremely well to support communication within a group.

The repetition is "the people's mic", a tool to ensure that everyone in the group can hear without the need for electronic amplification. Speakers talk in short phrases and those within hearing range repeat what has been said so that everyone can hear it. This also has the advantage of encouraging speakers to be concise.

We feel that the time invested is rewarded many times over by the quality of the results. It's worth it to benefit from our collective ideas and experience, and to ensure that the outcomes are truly representative of the group. We are investing time on outreach to ensure that we have broad participation from throughout our community. We are learning the processes to build a true and lasting consensus. Other groups have done that behind closed doors, and presented the results only when complete. We are doing it in public view, and so it may appear to take longer. Lastly, we have been diverted for a significant percentage of our time to defending our First Amendment rights from the actions of the state of Tennessee, which has delayed the development of our proposals.

We are engaged in an ambitious inclusive process. We want to involve individuals from all the walks of life in our community, and together build the petitions for redress of our grievances. This ambition means that traditional office hours cannot apply. Some people are not available at conventional times. It’s presently not feasible to use indoor venues to accommodate our meetings, which can have hundreds of participants and take place every night of the week. We are also aware that locations influence inclusion: we do not want anyone to be put off from coming to our assembly because it is in a hotel conference room, or a religious building, or a private home. The plaza is a uniquely neutral and accessible space which is especially important at this time when we are building our caucus. In addition, the act of occupying the space is in itself an expression of free speech and of protest. We are indignant at the corruption of our government and the moral bankruptcy of some of those elected to represent our interests. The tenacity of our presence communicates our outrage louder than words. There is a noble history of this kind of protest in Nashville.

Yes, we understand that there have conventionally been restrictions as to reasonability regarding the time, place and manner of assembly and free speech. When we have had marches of hundreds of people in the downtown area, we have recognized the potential impact on traffic and public order and complied with requirements for permits. At the Legislative Plaza, we do not understand why it would be reasonable to restrict the time, place or manner of our speech. The plaza is a public area traditionally used for assembly and free speech. The assembly at the plaza caused no public nuisance whatsoever. There was no obstruction of access, no impact on any commercial business, a clearly defined code of conduct, and a management plan including actions that maintain a clean, healthy environment. The Southern Festival of Books took place during this period without disruption. We have clearly demonstrated our commitment to non-violence during the arrest of over 50 people. We recognize the homeless population as part of the 99% and welcome their participation. We disapprove of any behavior that damages the Plaza or is detrimental to health. We believe that it is the responsibility of the Department of Safety to identify the perpetrators of such actions and prosecute them accordingly, to maintain the safety of all Nashville citizens. We do not accept that the First Amendment only applies at certain times of day, and we believe that every community should have access to a space where First Amendment rights can be exercised at any time, without payment or burdensome conditions.

Visitors are welcome at any time, but a great time to come would be a General Assembly (see the section on “How do I get involved?”). We have created a safe and welcoming space to experience compelling discussion and shared participation. You will see citizens transcending self-interest, caring about one another and acting responsibly on that sense of care, taking responsibility both for oneself and for one's family, community, country, people in general, and the planet, and working on practical measures to achieve our aims. We invite you to join us!