It is day 3 of the Occupy Boston demonstration, located at Dewey Square in Boston, MA. Unlike many social and political movements, the Occupy Boston demonstration operates as a pure democracy. Put simply, there are no bosses or people in positions of authority. Every decision is made through a “one person, one vote” style majority vote. Every member of our meetings has both the same decision making power and right to speak as every other member.
Order is kept through an agreed upon set of rules that every member willingly follows during our meetings. Due to the lack of any authority figures, order is kept through voluntary acceptance of the common rules rather than any consequence. Hand signals are used in leu of verbal comments to signal approval, disapproval or commentary so that nobody is shouted down. Speaking order is decided upon through the “stack” system where people are heard in a first come, first served basis.
While we have yet to formulate a set of demands or primary issues, one thing that we all agree upon is that a populist movement such as ours should operate as a pure democracy. One voice equals one vote and every voice matters; an ideal that many believe our government has abandoned of late.
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