In this video, an activist talks about the idea that, in our form of government, we owe each other an inter-connected responsibility as a result of having formed a society, that, according to Wikipedia, was created by people through a "process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules and accept corresponding duties to protect themselves and one another from violence and other kinds of harm."
As a result of Rudin Management Company paying pennies on the dollar for the real estate of St. Vincent's Hospital, what, in effect, Bill Rudin and the Rudin family have done is to violate the terms of our social contract. The Rudin family are saying that they don't care that the larger community is being harmed as a result of their billion-dollar luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's real estate properties. As a result of the luxury condo conversion, the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan is being left with no full-service hospital and no Level 1 Trauma Center.
What should citizens then, therefore, do, now that the top 1% is now in violation of our social compact ?
On Christmas Eve, activists spent the night on the frigid sidewalk, in protest, and in full legal compliance with a court ruling that was issued pre-Zuccotti occupation. That court ruling, People v. Bounville, still allows protesters to occupy a city sidewalk for over-night sleep protests. Whereas powerholders, such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn continue to stick to their rationalisations for the eviction of Zuccotti Park and the requirement for protest permits, correspondingly, these politicians join the Rudin family in violation of our social compact. Once more and more activists figure out that the 1% no longer abide by our social compact, then activists will educate citizens. Then, citizens will join activists in their only remaining option : to #Occupy.
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