After one month of protest, OccupyTulsa releases 'grievances'

The protesters that have occupied downtown Tulsa's Centennial Green Park under the banner of the Occupy Wall Street movement have crafted a working list of 'grievances.'

The 13-point list includes issues like:

• Moratorium on foreclosures in Tulsa
• Solve the unemployment problem in Tulsa
• Open vacant and distressed land for community use
• Law enforcement to be prohibited from using weapons on protesters
• A right to an open plaza
• The City to pressure the State for Constitutional Convention to remove corporate personhood
• That the City recognizes the need for clean energy
• The City finds solutions on student debt
• The City treats education as a right
• Repeal of right-to-work legislation
• No cutbacks in City services or City employee wages

We went downtown to Centennial Green to visit with the Occupy folks for more clarification. We found Eli Silva staying warm by a heater, he told us the list is just a start. "these are systematic and they're all a part of a gestalt of injustice" he told me. Yes, we looked it up, gestalt means "the general quality or character of something."  Eli also said this while the list is a step, this doesn't mean this is almost over. "This might be something where the work is never done, it's just a process" he began. So is there an end point to all of this? It'll depend on the peoples consensus when we get there." You can hear my entire conversation with Eli by clicking here.

From the Occupy Tulsa Facebook page:

Rough Draft thus far

1. moratorium on all foreclosures in the City of Tulsa. The City of Tulsa to divest from all major banks, and corporate money to be removed from politics on all levels. That all banks who have taken TARP funds and State taxes immediately make restitution of those funds or submit to a foreclosure of all spaces and event centers sponsored with their name. That all corporations receiving federal subsidies immediately submit to audit and enforcement of restrictions limiting tax evasion, or submit to repossession by the employees of those companies by laid off and currently employed workers for the benefit of the people.

2. A citywide effort undertaken to solve the underemployment problem in Tulsa, including open talks towards a living a wage and an increased accountability for all employers towards their employees on all socioeconomic levels of employment.

3. That all vacant and distressed land be open for the community use, for gardens, community centers and idea banks to generate solutions to the problems in our government. That the city invest in a serious commitment to rebuilding and revitalizing gentrified and ignored parts of the city through proper allocation of funds and that we increase accountability and transparency in the spending of all federal funds given through stimulus money.

4. That the City A of Tulsa and private sector businesses collaborate together to end the impoverished state of food availability on the North and West sides of the city, and put an end to the food desert continually increasing across our city through neglect on the part of the city administration.

5. All forms of weaponry used by multiple law enforcement officials – including, but not limited, to rubber bullets, pepper spray, verbal abuse, arrest, foam batons, long-range acoustic devices and more – are not to be used on those exercising their First Amendment Rights to petition our government for redress of grievances. We do not accept interference with freedom of the press or the people's press, we assert our rights giving the public freedom to document police actions in public spaces. We will not tolerate brutality or intimidation.

6. We assert our right to an open plaza, Chapman Centennial Green, known to us as Solidarity Square, for people to peacefully assemble, voice grievances, speak freely, hold our General Assembly and come to the people's consensus 24 hours a day as needed, with tents and all the amenities of an occupation without restrictions of insurance, curfew or other targeted forms of discrimination against our group. That each voting district in the city be given a synonymous area where the people may establish an occupation, erect tents and come to the people's consensus 24 hours a day as needed with the same provisions against restriction.

7. The City of Tulsa to pressure the State to start a convention, as provided for in the Constitution, to remove corporate personhood, as is created in the Citizens United legislation, and to remove corporate money from politics at a local, and state as well as national level. That the City of Tulsa disenfranchise from fossil fuel corporations and denounce fracking for what it is, a systematic poisoning of the environment, and a unilateral abuse of those lands without regard to the wildlife, the land or the water supply that belongs to the people of those areas.

8. That the City of Tulsa recognize a need for clean energy alternatives and immediately call for solar and wind energy to fuel public spaces and pronounce requirements towards those same clean energy sources for all major corporations, while working to make technologies affordable in partnership with the people so that they may move towards energy independence and reduce the use of foreign oil in our economy.

9. That the City of Tulsa begin a dialogue towards solutions at the local, State and Federal level on the issues of student debt, tuition hikes, rising food and energy costs as well as the lack of effective public transit. This is a city that requires a more user-friendly transportation infrastructure for those who do not have private transportation.

10. That the city of Tulsa put pressure on the State to begin a discussion towards treating education including higher education as a right, and work to decrease costs to the people for education on all levels through solutions provided by the people, as well as a forum created by all universities across the state of Oklahoma for facilitation of this discussion.

11. That all war-based corporations making weapons in the state of Oklahoma should have their taxes allocated to helping the distressed and impoverished through direct funding for public transit, community centers, and anti-war education.

12. No cutbacks in city services or attacks on the wages, work conditions and pensions of city employees, including but not limited to teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and all other city employees.

13. A repeal of Right to Work legislation which cripples collective bargaining rights, and limits the rights of workers to unite for better pay, working conditions and expression of grievances against employers. That workman's compensation, pension, and death benefits from work related injuries be cemented as rights in the Oklahoma State Constitution over against any legislation that would seek to limit these rights.