WASHINGTON- Representatives of Occupy DC talked with Capitol City School seniors Wednesday about the movement and how students can get involved.
Occupy DC participant Dany Sigwalt, who is in her mid 20s, says that galvanizing young people is an effective organizing tool.
“If young people in their basic education into the world realize that things are really messed up then we’re a shameful society,” she said.
After discussing how uprisings in Egypt, Libya and other parts of the world inspired the “Occupy” movement, students were encouraged to ask questions they had about the group and its beliefs.
Anthony Allen told students Occupy DC is about empowering citizens to ask questions about the state of government.
“We want you, and we want everyone, to not just accept what you’re told. Question everything because in the past we have been lied to,” he told the seniors.
The group members also encouraged government transparency and consensus decision making as ways to fix what they call a flawed system.
“We need to be able to see the problem in order to be able to fix them. The Occupy movement is doing a really awesome job at modeling that and I would like to see that spread,” Nicole Aro said.
Citizens’ personal responsibility is also key, according to occupiers.
“It works all the way down. Each of us is responsible for knowing and being aware of what’s going on,” Allen said. “That to me is really the only way that we will create long-lasting changes in this country.
The discussion piqued the interest of student Jonah Best.
“This seems a lot more focused and it seems like a lot more could get done since it does have these structures, ways to make decisions and since it’s in other cities as well,” he said.
The charter school invited the group to speak to students as a part of government class.
“Capitol City is really focused on real life and how to connect learning into the real world,” said government teacher Kavitha Kasargod. “There might be schools who would not be okay with having speakers like this come and talk to their students, but Capitol City’s really open to dialogue.”