(So as to not bury the lede, skip to www.onmay12.org and bookmark it).
If you are in New York City or if you can get here, you might want to mark your calendar for Thursday, May 12 for "The Day We Made Wall Street Stand Still."
I first learned of the event in yesterday's reporting in the NY Daily News :
Unions to rally against Wall Street, Mayor Bloomberg on May 12, protesting potential budget cuts
Unions are hoping it'll be the shout heard around Wall Street - and City Hall. They'd also like its echo to reverberate into 2013.
On May 12, demonstrators will stage what they hope will be a massive rally against the financial industry - and Mayor Bloomberg - over policies and budget cuts that could mean layoffs and the slashing of social services.
snip
Organizers are billing the rally as "The Day We Made Wall Street Stand Still." Participants include community groups and unions such as the United Federation of Teachers and 1199/SEIU.
Those references sent me off to the UFT and SEIU websites in search of more info.
A search of the UFT Action Calendar for May 12 came back with:
No events found. Try selecting different filters.
Hmmm....odd. Maybe they're waiting until after the May Day action to update with this one?
So, I tried 1199SEIU's website and their events page. May 12 is showing as an open date with no events on the May 2012 page. Curioser and curioser.
Back to the Daily News
"The big banks wrecked our economy and are back to making billions in profits and lavish bonuses, while the rest of us are still cleaning up the mess," said Mary Brosnahan of the Coalition for the Homeless.
She says the mayor should "ask Wall Street bankers to contribute their fair share to fixing New York City, rather than enacting devastating cuts."
Off to the Coalition for the Homeless website for a little digging. Nothing under the "Events" tab at the top of the page, so I'm starting to ask myself "WTF?" BUT, scrolling down the front page led me to an Events sidebar with a link to On May 12 and this caption:
Demand that Mayor Bloomberg stop rewarding the Big Banks with tax breaks and sweetheart deals, while balancing the budget on the backs of regular people.
A click of the link expanded upon that caption w/ additional information...getting warmer...
On Thursday May 12, 2011 thousands of working people, students, seniors, and community activists, will take Wall Street to school and create a giant classroom without walls in order to teach New Yorkers about who really destroyed our economy and what we can do to save it.
We will demand that Mayor Bloomberg stop rewarding the Big Banks with tax breaks and sweetheart deals, while balancing the budget on the backs of regular people.
Starting at 4:00 PM orientation will begin in public assembly sites throughout the Wall Street area, each one with a different theme: housing, jobs, education, children/youth, peace and more.
At 4:45 PM, we will march into the Financial District where we will stage the city's largest teach-in and educate Wall Street and all New Yorkers on what it will take to rebuild our economy.
At 6:00 PM we will regroup and discuss our next steps to insure that Mayor Bloomberg makes a commitment to a strong and fair economy for all.
And they also include this jackpot link:
http://www.onmay12.org/
The block quote above is the event's Action Statement.
Here's the info on "Agreements"
On May 12, we are coming together for a massive convergence on Wall Street. It is a collective action, rooted in the spirit of those who have come before us in the struggle for justice. We come of our own authority to join our energy with thousands of others in a peaceful and massive convergence on Wall Street. We come together to learn from one another, to listen and to teach and share what we know. We have not asked permission and will use public spaces to assemble and converge. We ask that all who participate come in a spirit of cooperation, respect, mutual support and peace. We ask that all participants agree that we will bring no drugs, alcohol or anything that can be construed as a weapon and that we will harm no living thing.
Sounds reasonable.
The Issues page includes policy statements on What Banks Should Do:
* New York’s big banks must give up their subsidies and sweetheart deals – we’ve got to press “pause” on tax credits and other payments that might have made sense in the boom times but don’t make sense now.
* New York’s big banks must end the practices that hurt public finance – they must stop foreclosures and modify mortgages, they must pay back what they owed our county clerks but avoided through the MERS scams, they must unwind the toxic interest rate swaps that were promised to save government funds but ended up costing the taxpayers.
* New York’s big banks must take cuts to their multi-million dollar public contracts, just like government agencies and non-profit service groups are being asked to do.
The website also has useful links such as downloads of various flyers promoting the event and How to Get Involved.
So "Who's Doing it??
Community Organizations
Alliance for Quality Education (AQE)
Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ)
Center for Children Initiatives
Center for Working Families
Citizen Action NY
Coalition for the Homeless
Community Voices Heard
CUNY Mobilization Network
Housing Works
Human Services Council
Make the Road NY
New Deal for NY
New York Communities for Change
New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts
Organization for a Free Society
Picture the Homeless
Teachers Unite
United For Peace and Justice
United Students Against Sweatshops
Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC)
VOCAL-NY
Who Cares? I Do. Campaign
and
Unions
1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East
SEIU Local 32BJ
Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1104
Communications Workers of America Local (CWA) 1180
Communications Workers of America (CWA) District 1
Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY)
United Federation of Teachers (UFT)
So NYers feeling left out while Cheeseheads have been having all the "fun" -- our day is coming. See you on Wall Street on May 12.