Day 3 of our drive to March On Wall St and so far the support has been unbelievable. Never did I think that we would take this thing so far. Yet we still have a long way to go. We still do not have permits. We need volunteers to help organize people and keep everybody safe. This will be a peaceful protest march and we want to keep it that way.
In your comments, please tell us where you live, how you want to participate and who else you can get involved. This will be BIG and we need all the help we can get.
P.S. Artists and graphics designers, please help us with ideas for signs, costumes, uniforms, anything will help. Write your own protest diary if it helps you get your voice heard. I want to get a cardboard box and cut it into a sign that says "Will work for change", but that's just me. Tell me what you think.
On Nov 4th POTUS Obama asked us to help him change things for the better. On March 8th and 9th he will get our support.
More below the fold.
Just to remind you why we are marching.
#1. Prosecuting the Bush Administration is vital to maintaining our civil liberties. Freedom means not being held hostage in your own country. Justice means equal justice for all.
#2. Working class America needs to stand up for itself in the face of those who would give themselves bonuses out of our bailout money. If you have a friend who has lost their job or if you are worried about your own you should help out if you can.
#3. Equal rights for all Americans. Gender, race, religion, sexuality or income level, we should all be treated as equals before the law and by each other.
#4 Our environment. This planet is our home. If big business destroys it and the politicians enable them they can move to Jackson Wyoming or Vail Colorado (no disrespect to CO or WY) and ignore it. We can not. Neither can our children. We must act now!
#5 Bring our troops home! Illegal wars (Iraq) or just plain failed ones(Afghanistan,Iraq) are a waste of American lives and a drain on our nations resources. These wars limit our ability to truly keep our country safe. Do you think Katrina couldn't use all those national guards, or TVA, or MI where people are starving, or any where else for that matter. Bring them home now!
There are other reasons to show up and march or just get involved. Reasons like love, compassion, empathy, solidarity, hope, change, patriotism (The kind where you love you country and what it should stand for, not what you think it should stand for ). Remember, Patriotism is not favoring your country over another or agreeing blindly with everything people say that makes America sound great, it is standing up for your rights and the rights of those who can not stand up for themselves. To me, American Patriotism is giving all of us a chance at the American dream, but we can not just hope for it, we have to make it happen for ourselves.
I have written an e-mail to Michael Moore in the hopes that he can assist us. The letter reads as follows.
Hello, Mr. Moore
I am trying to organize a protest march through NYC on Mar 8th and 9th. I have never done anything like this before and thought that I might ask for your help and advice. I am very familiar with your work, as I imagine many literate and open minded Americans are, and I have always admired your passion for activism and the rights of others, be it in the business world or the voting booth.
Many of the Americans who voted for Barack Obama for president did so because they believe that we need change. Not just a changing of the guard but real change. We were told that "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. . . We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. " I probably won't get a reply here, but I figured "Why not? If anyone knows about fighting the hard fight he does. " So, here goes.
After watching with outrage the fraud that is TARP and soon AARP, as well as the absurdity that was the Big 3 bailout, I and many other Americans feel the need to publicly voice our grievances with Wall St and the greed and indifference that CEO's and the Republican party exhibit as they go about their business as usual. We need Health Care reform now, we need EFCA passed now, we need consumer debt relief instead of fat cat band-aid bailouts and we need to do it now.
This started as a diary on the Daily Kos, where I believe you are a contributing member as well. It is posted under the name MinistryOfTruth if you would like to look it up. It was kind of a rant that had been building up for months at first, but the response I received was overwhelming. People all over the country volunteered to help. People said they would organize in their cities. Some offered money, others their support. The time for action is now. This is a moment in American history when all issues become one, health care, labor, civil rights and liberty, immigration, free speech, equal rights, as well as the need to address Iraq, Afghanistan and the need to prosecute the Bush Administration for violating the everything act of 1776. I did not see myself starting something like this but now I have and I will see it through to the end, but I need your help and anyone else who can.
This is something this country wants and needs. People are losing their homes, freezing in KY and MI, hungry for food on the table and a chance at the dream and they are being denied it by the same people who have already prospered by our system and seek to deny that chance to everyone else. This should be our Woodstock, our march on Washington and our "I have a dream!" for everyone. Please help if you can.
I would like to march from Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn bridge, past city hall down Broadway and the WTC, and finishing up with a rally at Battery Park over-looking the Statue of Liberty on March 8th. It has been pointed out to me that March 8th is the birthday of the NYSE, which was founded back in 1817. I thought it would be an appropriate way to help them celebrate the occasion. On March 9th a second protest should be held in front of the NYSE. Although this is a protest rally it should be a celebration of our freedoms and our ability to exercise them, for, if we never exercise our rights how will we be sure we really have them?
Please, help me. Help us. If you can not help I understand. Even your support alone would be greatly appreciated. If you can not help but know anyone who can regarding getting permits, organizing, volunteering or just participating, anything at all, then this e-mail will be a great success and I will be very grateful. I can not offer you anything else, just a voice at our table and a place by our side.
Thank you for reading. I appreciate your time and wish you the best.
From one Joe Sixpack to another, thank you.
Please tell your friends about this. Tell your family. Tell your co-workers. Tell strangers on the street if you need to. If you know civil liberty lawyers tell them. If you have any previous experience in activism or if you have organizational skills and just want to help, please do so, we need all the help we can get. Together we can do anything. In 1969 Americans gathered at Woodstock to be the voice of freedom for their generation. Let's do it again in 2009. Come to NYC and join us here on the 8th and 9th of March, or do it at home, but do it however you can. I have no idea how this will get financed, but, it doesn't matter, we will find a way somehow. You do not have to give us money, just your voice in the air and your feet marching along with us where ever you may be.
Good luck to you and yours.
Also, if you vote in the poll that yes you will march or get involved, write a comment stating where you live and how you can help. We need to get this message out there. The more the merrier.
Thank you.
UPDATE! - We are calling Daily News, Metro Paper and AM New York re: Advertisement. Who knows, what the hell? They may do it for free. Please share this with friends. We hope it will be BIG. Don't miss out, and, if you can't make it to NYC get in touch with me and we can help you try to organize in your city. Thanks!