Democracy Spring

Democracy Spring Logo

Democracy Spring was a product of the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Democracy Spring "...is a civil resistance movement organization committed to ending the corruption of big money in politics and protecting the right to vote for all people." According to their website, their strategy is "to help create the necessary conditions to elect a wave of progressive, pro-reform candidates into Congress and state legislatures across the country...[who will ultimately] enact our reform agenda."^[1]

In July 2017, an email went out to followers that claimed that the "parent organization" of Democracy Spring 99Rise "is officially adopting Democracy Spring's name and principles, integrating fully into the new organization it originally launched." In the email, Kai Newkirk, Curt Ries, Kyle Amsler, and Lola Ellis were names as "99Rise leaders and members of the Democracy Spring Interim National Coordinating Committee."

The Grand Strategy

According to their website, Democracy Spring "organized the largest American civil disobedience action of the 21st century, with over 1,300 people arrested after sitting-in on the steps of the US Capitol." Their goal is to "take over the [Democrat] party."

From their website:

"We are pursuing an ambitious and morally imperative strategy to build a mass movement of civil resistance that can push through fundamental reform to repair our corrupt political system. But with the devastating results of the 2016 election and an aggressively anti-democratic Republican Party now in control of the White House, Congress, and 2/3 of state legislatures, there is some serious groundwork to be done.

"From now until the 2018 midterm elections, we will be focusing on defending American democracy from Trump and the GOP's blatant attacks, while at the same time, forcing the Democratic Party to break with Big Money and represent everyday people. We will build a 50-state nonviolent army of volunteer leaders across the country to drive these two strategic components, using public protest, civil disobedience, local trainings, local organizing, and creative nonviolent actions.

"The goal of this first phase of the strategy is to help create the necessary conditions to elect a wave of progressive, pro-reform candidates into Congress and state legislatures across the country. Once we've transformed the political landscape—either after 2018 or 2020—we will mobilize our grassroots movement in a massive and sustained national civil resistance campaign, aimed at forcing Congress and the President to enact our reform agenda."

"the most important protest of the 2016 election"

An article at Salon discussed the Democracy Spring march that resulted in over 1,000 arrests:

"On April 2, activists launched a colossal 10-day, 140-mile march from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. This was the preface to the mass arrests.

"At least 1,240 protesters were arrested in the week from Monday, April 11 to Monday, April 18, according to police, on charges of crowding, obstructing or incommoding. Some activists even tied themselves to scaffolding in the Capitol rotunda.

"Activists say even more people were arrested. The Nation put the figure at 1,400. The left-wing magazine refers to Democracy Spring and the allied Democracy Awakening protests from April 16 to 18 as 'the most important protest of the 2016 election.'"^[2]