OccupyMPLS Neighborhood Democracy Project

The aim of Occupy Minneapolis Neighborhood Democracy Project working group (NDP) is to build a network of people at the neighborhood level to organize in a face-to-face, democratic way around the problems and concerns facing us all both immediately (foreclosures, unemployment, food costs, child care, etc) and nationally (corruption of the political system, the great economic wealth divide, etc).

Ultimately, the goal is to break through the isolation that people experience and create face-to-face forums where direct democracy can take root throughout the city. If further national crisis hits, political networks and horizontally organizational direct democracy structures will be in place to challenge the parallel authority of the existing corrupt mainstream political structure.

Our aim is greater than gaining new "members" to the Occupy movement. The NDP is about building a wider direct-democracy movement for the future. Whether we organize around monthly meetings, assemblies, cookouts, block parties, teach-ins, skill shares, protests, or a combination of all and more, direct democratic organizing is the key.

In a segmented and isolated population facing hardship and an increasingly corrupt and unresponsive system, we have only ourselves to turn to for support and a new beginning.