[COMM-ORG] Occupy Wall Street (was Wall Street action: Labor, Community and Wall Street Activists Unite)

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed: as you probably know, there is so much happening in the "occupy"
mobilization, and we've reached the tear gas stage in Oakland last
night. Reporting, sadly, is not keeping up. Two sources of more
comprehensive information are http://www.occupytogether.org/, and
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/occupywallstreet/ Here is
also a collection of posts from various sources I've been getting the
past few days.]

From: National People's Action <npa at npa-us.org>

Four hundred Minnesotans occupy a Wells Fargo bank lobby last week.

Occupy Wall Street has inspired millions, and the movement is just
taking shape.

Over the last 10 days, we've seen countless heroes stand up and
challenge big banks, Wall Street and the 1%.

NPA Affiliates took over a Wells Fargo bank branch in Minneapolis,
coordinated a "Millionaires March" in New York which made stops at the
homes of some of the city's wealthiest, occupied the People's Park in
Des Moines, joined forces with Occupy Kalamazoo, held a weeklong action
to Make Wall Street Banks pay in Los Angeles, and 5,000 marched through
the streets to Take Back Chicago.

Meanwhile, Americans are holding strong in Zuccotti Park after police
tried to power wash them out on Saturday.

It's clear that we have the momentum. Now, we need to keep it.

Can you chip in $5 to keep the pressure on?
http://showdowninamerica.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1763&qid=1137967

We need more actions like these in the coming weeks--more boots on the
ground, more signs and banners to make our voices heard, and more buses
to get people face-to-face with bank executives.

With your help, we can take the fight directly to the 1% and make Wall
Street pay us back for the homes, jobs, and social services they stole
from us.

Chip in $5 today and help us continue to put up a bold fight with the 1%
-
http://showdowninamerica.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=1763&qid=1137967

Thank you for your continued support.

Until justice is delivered,

National People's Action (NPA)
-------------------------------

Showdown in America is a national bank accountability campaign of
National People's Action (NPA) - a Network of community power
organizations from across the country that work to advance a national
economic and racial justice agenda.

810 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60642
United States
National People's Action

**********************************

From: The Black Institute <info at theblackinstitute.org>

Black celebrities such as Kanye West, Russell Simmons and Danny Glover
have publicly supported the Occupy movement, but even with such an
endorsement, Black people have had relatively low attendance. Some
believe this is in part because when Black people turn on their
televisions or search the web, they look out into the crowd and see
mostly white faces. This gives Black Americans the sense that the
protests are not about them. However, someone must take the first step.
If Black people want to see themselves in the movement, Black people
have to put themselves in the movement.

In this week's blog <http://www.theblackinstitute.org/occupy_black_america>=
we explore the role of black america in the occupy movement. =C2=A0
Read it <http://www.theblackinstitute.org/occupy_black_america> and tell us=
what you think.


"":http://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/theblackinstitute/pages/107/attachm=
ents/original/OWS_and_OUR_Walmart_10.20_at_2_PM.pdf?1319038648

The Black Institute
http://www.theblackinstitute.org/ <http://www.theblackinstitute.org/>

The Black Institute - 39 Broadway, Suite 1540, New York , NY 10006

********************************************

From: kfryer at iwj.org

For Immediate Release
Oct. 19, 2011

Contact: Kelly Fryer
Cell Phone: 773-710-9837
Email: kfryer at iwj.org
IWJ PUBLISHES AN INTERFAITH PRAYER SERVICE FOR OCCUPY TOGETHER

National – Interfaith Worker Justice published a Prayer Service designed
to help people reflect on a moral economy within the context of their
religious tradition. Written for clergy and religious leaders, the
prayer service is aimed for those Occupying Wall Street and other
cities, and for congregational use.

Many people of faith are seeking to understand how their tradition calls
them to respond to the movement.

Joe Hopkins, a young adult missionary of the United Methodist Church,
working with IWJ’s Workers' Center Network, was one of 175 arrested on
Saturday in an act of non-violent civil disobedience at an Occupy
Chicago site in Grant Park. The crowd chanted together, “We are
unstoppable; another world is possible.”



Hopkins said, “Imagine that world: families live together in their
houses, the sick and elderly receive care, workers receive payment
before the sun sets. I invite you to take a moment of silence to reflect
on the voices so often ignored. Then when you’ve listened to those
voices, break the silence. Join us in that possible world. We are
building that world together right now, and you can build it with us.”

Kim Bobo, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice, told the
National Catholic Register, “The core issues here are the growing
inequality in the nation, the lack of responsiveness to that and the job
crisis.”

“There is a growing frustration,” Bobo said, “with what people have
witnessed in Congress, which almost had a total meltdown this summer and
couldn’t get anything done at all. People are just like ‘What are our
options right now?’ We’ve got to get attention from our policymakers on
these issues.”

The Interfaith Prayer Service is available as a free download here or at
iwj.org.

On Nov. 17-20, Interfaith Worker Justice and faith and labor communities
across the nation are preparing for action aimed to develop an economic
system oriented around Just Jobs.

Contact Kelly Fryer at 773-710-9837 for more information or to interview
Joe Hopkins or Kim Bobo.

---------------------
Interfaith Worker Justice has been organizing, educating and advocating
at the intersection of faith and work since 1996.

**************************************

From: movementforjusticeinelbarrio at yahoo.com


Greetings from El Barrio, New York

Receive embraces and solidarity from Movement for Justice in El Barrio.

Allies in Canada have invited us to visit them. A delegation of ours
will travel there to share our fight for justice.

We have also received an invitation to present at Occupy Montreal. As
part of our participation we will share how we fight, from below and to
the left, in El Barrio, New York.

We will also convene the Transnational Encuentro for Dignity & Against
Displacement with grassroot community organizations fighting in their
corner of the world.

While in Canada, we will present a workshop titled "From East Harlem,
NYC to the World: The Fight for the Liberation of Women".

We will also organize a public forum about the dignified struggle of our
Zapatista sisters and brothers and the repression they are currently
facing in their base communities of San Marcos Avilés, San Patricio and
Rancho La Paz.

We will keep you informed.

With love and solidarity,

Movement for Justice in El Barrio


*******************************************

From: Peter Dreier <dreier at oxy.edu>

Friends and Colleagues:



“Another Factory is Possible” is the headline on my article in the
current (November 7) issue of The Nation. I’ve been reporting on the
anti-sweatshop movement for over a decade and now there’s a significant
breakthrough. Anti-sweatshop activists are embracing Alta Gracia, a
company with a factory in the Dominican Republican that treats its
workers with respect and that is going head-to-head with brands like
Nike to sell socially responsible clothing on college campuses. Read
about it in my article, here
http://employees.oxy.edu/dreier/pubs/Another%20Factory%20Is%20Possible.pdf
or here

http://www.thenation.com/article/164072/perfect-factory-possible. Learn
more about Alta Gracia at its website: http://altagraciaapparel.com. I
encourage you to get your organization to order its t-shirts from this
remarkable and inspiring label that is challenging the idea that
globalization requires a race to the bottom.



It is always inspiring for people to learn about the courage displayed
by people in past struggles for social justice. In an article on the
Truthout website this week, I compare the recent hit film “The Help”
with a film made 21 years ago called “The Long Walk Home” (with Whoopi
Goldberg and Sissy Spacek). Both films are about African American maids
dealing with the indignities of racism, but “The Long Walk Home” (about
the Montgomery bus boycott) offers a much more uplifting view of maids’
participation in the civil rights movement, while “The Help” virtually
ignores the centrality of the civil rights struggle.
http://www.truth-out.org/help-ignores-history-activism-among-deep-souths-domestic-workers/1319044604



The “audacity” and “hope” that inspired lots of people to participate in
the Obama campaign in 2008 seems to have re-emerged with the Occupy Wall
Street movement. In my article, “Mobilizing a Movement” in the October
24 issue of The Nation
(http://employees.oxy.edu/dreier/pubs/Mobilizing%20a%20Movement.pdf), I
point out that Occupy Wall Street is dealing with a dilemma that has
faced many movements: how to link visionary calls for radical change
with specific demands for immediate reform? In any article in today’s
Huffington Post, “Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party”
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/occupy-wall-street-and-th_1_b_1025828.html),
I compare the two movements and suggest some lessons that the Occupyers
can learn from the Tea Partyers. For a comprehensive and insightful
analysis of the Tea Party, I encourage you to read Theda Skocpol and
Vanessa William’s book, The Tea Party and the Remaking of American
Conservativism, which will be published later this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Party-Remaking-Republican-Conservatism/dp/0199832633/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319232206&sr=1-7



My own new book – The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A
Social Justice Hall of Fame – will be published around May of next year
by Nation Books. You can order it from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/100-Greatest-Americans-20th-Century/dp/1568586817/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319233072&sr=1-10



Peter



_______________________

Peter Dreier

E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics

Chair, Urban & Environmental Policy Department

Occidental College

1600 Campus Road

Los Angeles, CA 90041

Phone: (323) 259-2913

Website: http://employees.oxy.edu/dreier


"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of crisis
remain neutral" - Dante