Saturday, February 25, 2012

Should OWS have a national Convention?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/23/philadelphia-convention-occupy-rift-michael-pollok_n_1297859.html

"This week, the Associated Press and other media outlets reported on Pollok's plans for the convention, unleashing a bitter debate among occupiers over the question of who has the right to represent the movement. (The Huffington Post posted the AP story.)
After Pollok reached out to Kleinman, critics within Occupy Philly said, people involved in his organization, the 99% Declaration Working Group, brought their plans to the General Assembly of Occupy Philly. Just as Kleinman had warned Pollok, those ideas met with disapproval."

Should a movement that works mainly locally, and runs by consensus, have a national convention?  Tricky question.  What would result from such a convention?  Would anything ratified there apply to local groups?  Is there something that could be done at a conference that can't be done via online forums, email, etc?

I'm sort of up in the air about the idea, but it seems like this is a way to more formalize what should remain an informal movement.

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