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Tue Dec 13, 2011 at 12:04:05 PM MST
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| In two words the message of the Occupy movement is: distributive justice. When the top 1% of the population controls 24% of the annual income of the United States the consequences for democracy and a fair society are alarming. Peaceful protesters discovered this link between money and power when they found riot police pointing weapons at them and using them.
Among less mature Occupiers the response was to redefine the conflict as one between themselves and the police. This was an emotion-driven tactical mistake. Rank-and-file police officers have the same economic interests as the people they find themselves deployed against. Further, in taking on the police the naïve activist shifts the focus from economic justice while supplying opponents with negative images of the Occupy movement. Put crudely, an anarchist shouting in a police officer's face about tents is a corporate PR man's wet dream.
But what if there was a relatively easy (and nonviolent) way to turn state power against the vested economic interests that deployed the police against Occupy protesters? Follow me below the fold, and I'll show you how. |
| Bill Simpson :: Occupy the Denver Police with 6,129 Valid Signatures |
| At the turn of the last century working people found themselves faced with similar problems with concentrated wealth and bought-out politics. For example, farmers in eastern Colorado were being bled dry by railroads that charged excessive shipping fees for wheat and sugar. The legislature and executive branch were wholly-owned subsidiaries of the railroads, so no legislation could be passed to remedy the problem, and even earlier price fixing laws were not enforced because the executive branch was bought-out too.
The remedy was direct democracy in the form of the citizens' ballot initiative. Dating from a brief period in the late 19th century when the Progressive Party controlled the Colorado governorship and legislature, the petition process allows citizens to bypass the corrupt nexus of money and politics and make law directly. These Progressive Era tools are still present in the Colorado state constitution and the Denver city charter.
So it's entirely possible to redirect police power away from protesters and onto the vested economic interests of 17th Street by making law directly. Here's a possible citizen's ordinance that sets up a Denver Police Corporate Crime Bureau:
A CITIZENS' ORDINANCE ESTABLISHING A UNIFORMED DENVER POLICE CORPORATE CRIME BUREAU
CORPORATE CRIME BUREAU
The City and County of Denver will establish a uniformed Corporate Crime Bureau as part of the Denver Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division with objectives including but not limited to:
a. investigating corporate and corporate motivated crimes;
b. enforcing City, State, and Federal laws as they relate to corporate crime;
c. developing and maintaining information to help minimize the impact of corporate crime on the Denver community; and
d. providing community education and awareness regarding the nature and harm caused by corporate crime.
DEFINITIONS
a. "Uniformed" means that officers working in the Corporate Crime Bureau will dress as law enforcement personnel, not business people, when performing the routine work of the Bureau.
b. "Corporate" as a description includes but is not limited to any limited liability entity, its directors, partners, agents, or employees.
c. "Crime" includes but is not limited to corporate conduct or conduct by individuals acting within the scope or their employment or on behalf of a limited liability entity that constitutes a breach of criminal, civil, or administrative law.
IMPLEMENTATION AND COMPLIANCE
a. This ordinance becomes effective upon adoption by the voters, and the City and County of Denver and the Denver Police Department will be fully compliant with its provisions within one fiscal year of its adoption.
b. The funding level of the Denver Police Gang bureau will constitute the benchmark for funding the Corporate Crime Bureau.
c. All enabling legislation will be drafted by the Denver Citizen Oversight Board (COB) advised by Office of the Denver District Attorney. The Denver City Council may amend the enabling legislation for Corporate Crime Bureau submitted by COB with a two-thirds majority vote. If the Denver City Council fails to pass the enabling legislation, then the enabling legislation as submitted to council by COB shall be self-executing.
d. If any provision of this ordinance is struck down by a court, no other provision of this Ordinance will be affected.
e. City Council may amend this ordinance with a two-thirds majority vote.
f. Any City resident may file a claim against the City to enforce the provisions of this Ordinance, and if the resident prevails on any claim he or she will be entitled to all reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.
According to the office of the Denver Clerk and Recorder this could be placed on the November ballot with just 6,129 valid signatures (5% of the number of people voting in the last election). Simply placing it on the ballot will refocus debate on substantive economic issues. Running the campaign would give a new generation of leaders a crash course in municipal politics, and a win would give local plutocrats way bigger headaches than any postadolescent acting out at a protest ever could. |
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