Sorry that I've been around less than I'd like, I've been busy working for the National Union of Healthcare Workers; working in the labor movement is deeply rewarding and time consuming...I highly recommend it!
I'm writing tonight to encourage anyone who can to come to and participate in OccupyOakland's General Strike tomorrow.
Your participation, whether in Oakland on the ground, or by taking action in place where you live, will amplify a powerful call for economic justice and a reordering of our national priorities on behalf of the people, not the powerful.
We have an opportunity to make change we ALL can believe in, not by supporting a candidate, but by taking action ourselves...
The most important aspect of Occupy Wall Street is that everyday people are taking direct action to say that our economic and political system has failed. And it has.
Unemployment + underemployment (U6) has been over 15% since February 2009. Ask any union organizer if they see the effects of this and they will tell you, "Every single day."
Employers have more power. Banks have more power. Corporations have more power. The wealthy have more power. And people have borne the brunt of a system that is rigged to favor the 1%.
That's not right.
When politicians have told us to "be patient," that "tax cuts will create jobs," that we need to "freeze workers' wages" and "accept austerity," that we need to "be realistic, and accept an oil pipeline that cuts our nation in two," most people stood on the sidelines, even though we disagreed.
Until now.
Now people are taking action into our own hands, because this just can't wait.
Workers are striking. Community activists are confronting corporate meetings. And people in Oakland responded to police brutality on our streets by coming out in twice the numbers and voting for a general strike.
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And that's why it's so important, if you are in the Bay Area, to find a way to come to Occupy Oakland tomorrow. For the 9am rally, or the Noon rally, or the 5pm rally and barbeque. Or come join us at 4pm or 5pm and march to the Port of Oakland in solidarity with dock workers on the West Coast.
And if you can't join us, then take some action of your own tomorrow. Maybe it's going down to the Occupy protest in your city or town. Maybe it's calling elected officials. Maybe it's building and organizing deeper connections with like minded people where you live.
The choice is yours.
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The point is simple. This can't wait. Occupy is happening because people are fed up.
When we take action together to demand economic justice, the world listens. The powerful have to reconsider their plans. (Mr. President, that includes the Keystone Pipeline.)
If you come to Oakland tomorrow, look me up. (Message me here at dkos, and follow jpmasser's MeetUp Plans.) If not, I look forward to seeing, hearing and reading about your protests in other cities and towns and suburbs, tomorrow and in the days and weeks to come.
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(I am proud to work for NUHW, the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Please like our new FACEBOOK page.)