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From Announcement of 1st Civic Forum — November 2013
Two years ago this day [Nov. 6, 2013], the last hold-outs of the Occupy Portland encampment in downtown Portland was met with the Portland Police Bureau and Salem Police Department SWAT. With the end of the camp, the movement that was once strong and visible suddenly faced an uncertain future. During the following two years “the movement” has taken many shapes and branched out into many directions. Some of them became influential in – or at least have gotten the attention of – local politics, while others were more geared towards creating an alternative, parallel community instead.
What appears today to be missing is not only the capacity and connection, but also the strong mainstream appeal. Two years ago, Occupy became a near-instant household word, and received a wide, sympathetic support from around the world and across the socio-economic and class strata.
The premise behind the new “99 Unite Civic Forum” series is: to be a sustainable and influential movement with a long-term strategy requires the power of the mainstream. It hopes to re-engage the ordinary citizens, family people, business owners, neighborhood leaders — the true movers and shakers of our everyday world, who live and work in this great city and state.
The initial plan for this Forum is to be a popular think tank and policy builder, and focusing on key economic and social issues that were at the impetus of Occupy Wall Street:
- excessive economic disparity;
- failing public services;
- risky banking and financial sectors;
- overall erosion of the middle class;
- gap between the One Percenters and the rest of America
Furthermore the Forum hopes to explore the nexus between these mainstream, middle-class concerns and the injustice faced by the more marginalized populations, finding a strategy to creating alternatives that benefit the entire 99 percent.