Americans Have Had Enough! National Demonstrations At Major Banks On March 19th

[Better Believe It]

Americans have had enough!

On March 19, 2009 Americans in cities nationwide will hold demonstrations at the offices of major banks and other corporations to demand more responsible corporate behavior and call on Congress to enact the change that will make it happen ⎯ employee free choice act and healthcare reform.

March 19 Events will be held in: Alabama Arizona California Colorado DC Florida Georgia Iowa Illinois Indiana Louisiana Massachusetts Maryland Maine Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana North Carolina North Dakota New Hampshire New Jersey Nevada New York Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Virginia Washington and Wisconsin.


National Sponsors:
ACORN
Brave New Films
Catholics United
Change to Win
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Interfaith Worker Justice
Jobs With Justice
MoveOn.org
Partnership for Working Families
SEIU
United Students Against Sweatshops
Working Families Party

Regional Sponsors:
American Friends Service Committee, Project Voice
Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee
Brazilian Immigrant Center
Bread & Roses Heritage Committee
Brockton Interfaith
Catholic Scholars for Social Justice
Centro Presente
Chelsea Collaborative
City Life/Vida Urbana
Coalition for Social Justice
Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries
Dominican Development Center
Dorchester People for Peace
Essex County Community Organization
Gay and Lesbian labor Activists Network
Greater Boston Labor Council
Irish Immigration Center
Jobs with Justice
La Communidad
Labor Guild, Archdiocese of Boston
Mass Global Action
Mass Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
Mass Nurses Association
Mass Senior Action
Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition
Massachusetts Neighbor to Neighbor
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
MassCOSH
National Lawyers Guild
New England Jewish Labor Committee
Student Labor Action Project
Union of Minority Neighborhoods
United for a Fair Economy
United for Justice with Peace
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development

For more information click here:

http://takebacktheeconomy.org/

[skooooo]

1. I'd like to think this would get a big turn-out.

Anyone else heard of it before today?

[handmade34]

2. got wind of it a couple of days ago

I move every three weeks so difficult for me to plan... I just noticed that Portland, OR is organizing, I'll be there!!!

[scarletwoman]

3. k&r -- thank you for posting this! (nt)

[RB TexLa]

4. n/t

[KitchenWitch]

5. Looks like there will be a protest in my city

I will be there.

[originalpckelly]

6. Oh that's so cute, you think you can change their opinions by holding up signs!

I bet there will be a couple of nice chants too. I wonder how many stereotypically "different" people will be there at these protests.

Keep being deluded that it will actually matter. These people let us protest so that we will get our frustration out, then they keep right on doing what we protest against. Protests don't do shit.

Revolutions do not happen in the streets or on battlefields, they happen in our minds. The only way to change America is by changing the minds of the people, and not the rich people, but normal Americans. Protesters are just blown off by the general public, because you can't make real arguments in a protest to change someone's mind.

[Downtown Hound]

7. You can stay home then. n/t

[originalpckelly]

8. I'll go.

But I know it won't do much, unless people are already pissed off, which they might be.

It's just an excuse to let cops start shit.

[Downtown Hound]

9. Exactly six years and two days ago, I did this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV1mHXqmi-o&feature=channel_page

First act of civil disobedience I ever committed. It wasn't the last. What you see here was only a trial run of what came later in San Francisco when the war actually broke out. I got gassed, pepper sprayed, arrested. The works. Back then things seemed so hopeless, we knew we were going to go to war and we knew it was going to be a disaster. And it was. And we failed to stop it. And we're still there. And there's a part of me that thinks it was all for nothing.

But if you had told me back then if we would have had our first black president six years later, and that he'd be a liberal, I would have laughed at you. And if you had told me that we'd have huge Democratic majorities in Congress, I would have thought you were crazy. Maybe all that would have happened whether we had protested or not. And then again, maybe it wouldn't have. We'll never know for certain.

But I think, that as long as people are willing to take a stand, even if it's a hopeless stand, then there's hope. We don't do it because it's going to change the world overnight. We do it to keep the fire burning. And as long as it burns, then there will always be hope.

[originalpckelly]

18. We're trying to change the world like it's the 1960s.

We have the most powerful tool for social change in the history of humanity, and yet we limit ourselves to the physical world. When we the people assemble, even if it's peacefully, they can gas us and arrest us. They can't arrest you because you changed your mind, and as long as we don't advocate violence, then it's completely legal. They can't make shit up so they can arrest you. They can't send an agent provocateur to your mind. If there's one thing to believe in, it's conclusions. Do not believe in anything else. If you can prove what you "believe in" with actual hard evidence, then even when challenged, you're conclusions will be stronger than any opponent's attempt to overturn them. Beliefs are fragile, conclusions are concrete and only change when real evidence is presented to overturn them.

It's very easy to observe, through logical debate, that this nation is getting screwed by everyone at the top. It's time it stops.

[Common Sense Party]

10. Will there be puppets?

I'll only go if there are puppets. And drums. Puppets and drums are the only true instruments of change.

[originalpckelly]

19. AT LEAST the puppets are cool.

Last demonstration I went to had puppets. I was one of them. Let's just say it's cool. It doesn't change anyone's mind, just re-enforces the choir's resolve I suppose.

[Synicus Maximus]

25. But no mimes. They are just scary.

[Better Believe It]

17. Is that what you would have told civil rights demonstrators in the 50's and 60's?

Learn a little history about America and it's protest movements and you won't come off sounding like an idiot!

Hopefully this is just a first small step toward organizing powerful mass movements that can bring about change we can believe in!

[originalpckelly]

20. Get out of the '60s.

This is 2009, not 1969. The people in charge know how to minimize the importance of protests.

[Hannah Bell]

11. kind of a lousy job of organizing, isn't it? 2 days from now & this is the first DU hears of it?

Most folks can't change plans on 2 days' notice.

[leftstreet]

14. Oddly enough it's on the same day as the Iraq War protests

Iraq Anniversary protests in several cities.

[FrenchieCat]

16. that's so the media can blend it all together,

and just say "protests against Obama administrations all over!"

It will be a blast!

[originalpckelly]

21. Why the fuck aren't there any protests on the WEEKENDS?

You know, when most people have some kind of free time without having to leave work? The economy is bad enough, who knows what one absence could do to a job.

[SlowDownFast]

12. A non-event without torches and pitchforks

and the willingness to use them.

[JackRiddler]

23. patience!

[orleans]

13. and don't forget SEPTEMBER 19TH!

(annual international talk like a pirate day)

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/

[earth mom]

15. K & R!!!

:kick:

[originalpckelly]

22. Kicking.

Even if it won't do much, if you can go, go.

[Better Believe It]

24. A reminder for tomorrow