It is truly an honor to be among you this afternoon.
For you are reinventing our political universe.
You have renewed our collective passion.
You have reminded us
that it is still possible
to build communities of resistance.
You continue to show us
your commitment
your dedication
your collective labor
your refusal to assent
to class hierarchies
racial hierarchies
gender hierarchies
sexual hierarchies.
Your movement
calls upon the majority
to stand up against the minority.
The old minority
are the new majority.
and so
we say "No"
to Wall Street.
We say "No"
to big banks.
We say "No" to corporate executives
making a million dollars a year.
We say "No" to student debt.
We say "No" to eviction
No to police violence
No to global capitalism
We say "No" to the prison industrial complex.
No to racism
to class exploitation
to homophobia
xenophobia
to transphobia
to ableism
to the devastation of the environment.
We say "No" to military occupation
We say "No" to war
We have come together as the "99 Percent".
There are major responsibilities
linked to your decision
to assemble here in community.
So how can we be together?
How can we be together,
in a unity,
that is not simplistic, and oppressive?
How can we be together in a unity that is complex?
and emancipatory?
And so here
I evoke the black feminist
Audre Lorde
"Differences must not be merely tolerated,"
"but seen as a fund of necessary polarities"
"between which"
"our creativity can spark like a dielectric."
In this complex unity
We say "Yes" to life
We say "Yes" to happiness
We say "Yes" to community
We say "Yes" to education,
to free education
"Yes" to economic,
and racial,
and gender,
and sexual equality.
We say "Yes" to imagination
"Yes" to creativity
We say "Yes" to hope
and "Yes" to the future.
Finally,
A few words about my hometown
Oakland, California.
You have heard about the police attack on Occupy Oakland.
Scott Olsen remains in the hospital
Oakland General Assembly met
in the renamed
Oscar Grant Park
and responded to the police assault
by calling for
a General Strike
on November 2nd
a General Strike
that is revolutionary
I share with you the language of the poster
"Decolonize Oakland"
"We are the 99 Percent"
"We Stand United"
"November 2nd 2011"
"General Strike"
"No Work"
"No School"
"Occupy Everywhere"
Thank you.
