May 17, 2013
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Every week we are inspired by the many people throughout the country
who are doing excellent work to challenge the power structure and put
forward a new path for the country. The popular resistance to
plutocracy, concentrated wealth and corporatism is decentralized,
creative and growing.
One growing series of protests has been the
“Moral Monday” demonstrations in North Carolina. They do not have ‘one
demand’ but rather are challenging the systemic corruption, undermining
of democracy and misdirection of a state government that puts human
needs second to corporate profits – which they have dubbed ‘Robin Hood
in Reverse.’
This week 49 of 200 protesters inside the capitol were arrested singing,
chanting and echoing many of the same concerns that demonstrators have
for the past three Mondays. Last week there were 30 arrests, the week
before 17. Among those
arrested was an 83 year old retired minister, Vernon Tyson, who was merely a spectator, but he gave a great interview cheering on the protests after his release. And,
a group of historians were among those arrested who put these protests in the context of US history.
Another courageous protest involved
seven undocumented immigrants who blocked the Broadview Detention Center where
immigrants are being incarcerated. They blocked the doors to the
detention facility, linking arms together using pipes, chains, and
locks. They were protesting the record-high deportations under President
Obama, and the lack of leadership from Illinois representatives to call
for a suspension of deportations. On the West coast, the always
creative Backbone Campaign supported allied faith communities with a
giant banner lift over the private for-profit immigration detention
center asking
“Who Would Jesus Deport?” and an inflatable lady liberty exposing the unjust policies that break up families.
There was a recent
victory for Seattle teachers and students that
resulted from their citywide protests against standardized testing. The
school district announced that testing in the high schools would not
occur next year. The teachers said they will keep protesting until the
tests are banned from lower grades as well.
We hope the Chicago teachers, who
won a major battle with Mayor Rahm Emanuel earlier this year when they went out on strike, have great success
this weekend when three days of marches are held against the mass school closings in
Chicago. The teachers union has developed a great organizing strategy
that unites teachers with students, parents and communities. This
battle is one of many across the country to
stop the thinly veiled corporatization of education.
In another education protest, the students
@FreeCooperUnion continue to occupy the office of the president after one week.
They are painting the walls black until he agrees to step down, and are
highlighting his $750,000 annual salary. They are protesting a plan to
begin to charge tuition at the university; this plan will not affect
these students, but future students who attend Cooper Union.
The
heart of the conflict faced in the United States is the inequity of an
unfair economy supported by a corrupt two party system. This week there
was a
very creative protest in New York City against the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim of Mexico.
He’s made his billions with the help of government allowing a monopoly
on phone service resulting in Slim gouging the public. Now he gives a
small percentage of that wealth back in philanthropy and people applaud
him. But, the protesters were very effective, laughing out loud
whenever he spoke. They responded when someone asked “Why is everyone
laughing?” with “Because Slim’s philanthropy is a joke!” and followed
with mocking kazoos.
In contrast to the world’s wealthiest was
the Poor People’s Campaign which marched from Baltimore to Washington, DC ending
at Freedom Plaza. The march occurred on the anniversary of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s campaign and raised issues of poverty, police
violence, unfair economy and non-responsive government.
Another march was announced in Pennsylvania from Philadelphia to Harrisburg from May
25 to June 3 to stop spending on prison construction and instead invest
in building communities. Also, from Philadelphia the
‘Operation Green Jobs’ March from Philadelphia to Washington, DC will begin on May 18 and is organized by the Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign.
A campaign that is growing every week is the fast food worker strikes. The
largest fast food walk out was held
in Detroit last week, even the scabs walked out, and this week the strikes
spread to their fifth city, Milwaukee, WI.
It is great to see these workers, who no doubt saw themselves as
powerless, standing up and demanding fairness. If you eat at fast food
restaurants, this would be a good time to stop, and let them know why –
you support the workers who are demanding a living wage.
US Empire
and imperialism continue to cause protest. Obama’s Asia Pivot, moving
60% of the US Navy to the Asian Pacific is causing a lot of distress.
On
Jeju Island people are fighting for their survival against a massive Navy base. Jeju is the “Peace Island” that was
harshly abused during the US occupation of
South Korea after World War II before the Korean War. And, South
Koreans, who regularly protest against the US military, are
protesting the US war games that are practicing dropping nuclear bombs on North Korea and invading it.
Protests
are mounting in the United States against the abusive Guantanamo Bay
prison where more than 100 of the 166 prisoners at Guantanamo are
participating in a hunger strike and two-dozen are being brutally force
fed. These prisoners have been held without trial for over 10 years, and
even though 88 have been approved to leave, they remain. The
Green Shadow Cabinet came out with a statement describing how Obama could close the prison (and why Congress is not an excuse) and
what you can do on
the 100th day of the hunger strike this Friday. Show solidarity with
these prisoners who are being abused by the US government.
Diane Wilson, a shrimper from the Gulf Coast who works with CODE PINK and Veterans for Peace, is
on her 15th day of an open-ended solidarity hunger strike in Washington, DC.
She explains why she is taking the extreme step of a hunger strike to support the Guantanamo prisoners. And S. Brian Willson is joining Diane in hunger strike.
Another protest related to US Empire occurred in Oak Ridge, TN where
Transform Now Plowshares activists protested nuclear weapons by
cutting through four chain-link fences and spray-painting biblical
messages of nonviolence on a building that warehouses an estimated 400
tons of highly enriched uranium, the radioactive material used to fuel
nuclear weaponry. This week an 83 year old nun, Sister Megan Rice, and
two other activists were found guilty of damaging government property.
As the jury left the courtroom the people in the courtroom sang to them
“Love, love, love, love. People, we are made for love.” Sentencing is
several months away and they face a potential 30 years in prison.
Environmental
protests are boiling up throughout the United States. When President
Obama came to New York for a fundraiser (where he raised $3 million),
protesters
greeted him with signs calling for him to “End the War on Mother Earth” and opposing the KXL pipeline.
Protesters from the Appalachian Mountains came to the EPA in
Washington DC to protest polluted water caused by Mountaintop removal
for coal. The protesters displayed the dirty, opaque water in jars in
front of the EPA. And Climate Justice activists from CoalIsStupid.org
blocked a freighter delivering coal in Boston with two men on a lobster boat on May 15th.
But
more and more Americans are realizing that while we protest the
extraction of oil, gas, uranium and coal, the reality is that the root
of the problem is in the American Way of Life (AWOL). One activist from
Portland made the point that
the Tar Sands starts in our driveways and
we need to change the AWOL in order to truly combat it. We agree that
our strategy has two prongs: protest and build i.e. Stop the Machine and
Create a New World.
In addition to how much energy we each use, we need to look at where our food comes from. An Occupy group in Berkeley,
Occupy the Farm, made that point this week when they took over University of California land to grow farm for the community locally.
Another
area where we are seeing continued growth in the movement is in
thinking through how we do our work and in developing strategy to
achieve our goals. We published a
live streamer “Code of Ethics” developed
by people who work in the citizen’s media. Note the high ethics and
cooperative approach they take to getting the media out.
Many are
thinking about strategy to make the movement more effective. Gar
Alperovitz, a political economist who has been writing about
alternatives to big finance capitalism in the United States has a new
book out focused on strategy, “What then Must We Do,” and we published a
review of the book by Sam Pizzigati of Inequality.org entitled:
A Promising Path for Pummeling Plutocracy.
Upcoming actions:
May 17th,
Support the Guantanamo hunger strikers on
the 100th Day of their hunger strike with phone calls and tweets to the
White House and protests in DC, NY, Chicago and other cities.
May 18th,
‘Operation Green Jobs’ March from Philadelphia to Washington, DC organized by the Poor People’s Economic and Human Rights Campaign.
May 18th to 23rd the
Home Defenders League Week of Action against the banks and foreclosures in Washington, DC.
May 18th to 20th there is a
weekend of protests against the closure of schools in Chicago.
May 22nd
Stop the Frack Attack People’s Forum in Washington, DC.
May 25th
Protests against Monsanto everywhere
May 25th to June 3rd
March from Philadelphia to Harrisburg against prison spending.
June 1st,
Get on the Bus For Bradley Court Martial Trial with buses leaving from Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, New York City and Willimantic, CT.
June 14th to 16th
Trade Justice Action Camp in Bellingham, WA by the Backbone Campaign
June 24th to 29th is the beginning of “
Fearless Summer” that starts “
an epic summer of actions.”
You can order or print
OccuCards to
bring with you to these actions. There are cards for all of the issues
being protested above and new cards are being created.
And
watch for the transformation of October2011/Occupy Washington DC into
Popular Resistance, daily news and resources for effective activism,
coming in June. Sign up here if you want to be notified of the launch.
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