[I've been a community activist for almost 20 years now-- this is an incredibly exciting new coalition(!); here's hopin' the amazing new http://The99Spring.com coalition described below can spring to life locally here in the 20th c.d./Hudson Valley/Catskills/Capital District/North Country region-- working with Occupy Poughkeepsie, Occupy Northern Dutchess, Occupy Albany, Occupy Hudson Valley, Occupy Together Hudson, Occupy Saratoga Springs, Occupy Glens Falls, Occupy Together Delhi, and Occupy Together Otsego!...(see http://www.OccupyPoughkeepsie.org ; http://www.OccupyAlbany.org ; http://www.OccupyWallSt.org ; http://www.OccupyHudsonValley.org ; http://www.occupyhudsonvalley.org/branches/occupy-northern-dutchess ;
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Saratoga-Springs-NY/177105335702575 ;
http://www.twitter.com/OccupyGFalls ; http://www.meetup.com/occupytogether/Delhi-NY/ ;
http://thedailystar.com/localnews/x2010688006/Local-Occupy-group-looks-beyond-rallies/print ;
http://www.meetup.com/occupytogether/Hudson-NY/527052/ ...let me know if you're interested in making this happen here this spring folks-- in a big way!....Joel (845-444-0599) joeltyner@earthlink.net]
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[re: below-- see JoelforCongress.org -- this is EXACTLY why I'm running for Congress]
From www.CommonDreams.org/view/2012/02/15-11...
Published on Wednesday, February 15, 2012 by Common Dreams
April 9-15, 2012 -- 100,000 Americans Will Train for Non-Violent Direct Action
The 99% Spring
DATE: February 15, 2012
TO: America
RE: The 99% Spring
Things should never have reached this point.
Every day, the American Dream seems a little farther away. More of our grandparents are being thrown from their homes. Our mothers and fathers can't retire because their pension funds tanked. Our brothers and sisters are burdened by student loan debt. For our children, budget cuts have resulted in crumbling schools, skyrocketing class sizes, and teachers being denied the supports they need to do their best. Our friends and family are being denied collective bargaining rights in their workplaces and are falling further and further behind. Our neighbors are being poisoned by pollution in our air and water.
The numbers are staggering: in recent years, millions of jobs have been destroyed, homes foreclosed, and an unconscionable number of children live in poverty.
And worst of all: this is no accident. It is a result of rampant greed-the deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%, by those who amass ever more wealth and power at our expense.
We are at a crossroads as a country. We have a choice to make. Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The choice is in our hands. This spring, we will act on that choice and rise up in the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers. We will not be complicit with the suffering in our families for another year. We will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.
From April 9-15 we will gather across America, 100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country. We will organize trainings to:
Tell the story of our economy: how we got here, who's responsible, what a different future could look like, and what we can do about it Learn the history of non-violent direct action, and Get into action on our own campaigns to win change.
This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.
We know great change is possible. We inherit a history of everyday people standing up for their own dignity, freedom, and self-determination, shaping our direction as a country. The seamstress in Alabama who launched a bus boycott. The farmers in New England and Virginia who imagined we could be a free nation. The workers in Flint, Michigan who occupied their plant to win collective bargaining rights. The farmworkers in California who liberated our fields. The women in New York who dreamed they could one day speak with equal voice. The mother who stood up in Love Canal to stop the poisoning of her community. And the students who risked their lives during Freedom Summer to register voters.
In the last year alone we watched the teachers and fire fighters of Wisconsin stand for the rights of workers. And we joined those who Occupied Wall Street, inspiring us to stand with the 99%.
We will rise this spring, because we DO hold these truths to be self evident-that all men and women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Will you rise with us? Can we count on you to join us April 9th to 15th to stand with the 99% for America?
Signers:
Sarita Gupta
Jobs With Justice
Bob King
United Auto Workers
George Goehl
National Peoples Action
Ai-jen Poo
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Justin Ruben
MoveOn.org
Joy Cushman & Judith Freeman
New Organizing Institute
Liz Butler
Movement Strategy Center
John Sellers
The Other 98%
Mary Kay Henry
Service Employees International Union
Van Jones and Natalie Foster
Rebuild the Dream
John Wilhelm
UNITE-HERE
Phil Radford
Greenpeace
John Cavanaugh
Institute for Policy Studies
Scott Reed
PICO National Network
Tracy Van Slyke and Ilana Berger
New Bottom Line
Leo Gerard
United Steel Workers
Daniel Cantor
Working Families Party
Larry Cohen
Communications Workers of America
Victor Sanchez Jr
United States Student Association
Becky Tarbotton
Rainforest Action Network
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers
Brian Kettenring
Leadership Center for the Common Good
Randy Jackson
UNITY
Saket Soni
National Guestworker Alliance
Bill McKibben and May Boeve
350.org
Sharon Lungo and Megan Swoboda
The Ruckus Society
Ian Inaba
Citizen Engagement Lab
Patrick Reinsborough
smartMeme Strategy & Training Project
Rachel LaForest
Right to the City Alliance
Brigid Flaherty
Pushback Network
Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America
Bob Callahan
Change to Win
Michael Leon Guerrero
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Roger Hickey
Campaign for America's Future
Aaron Ostrom
Fuse Washington
Jeff Ordower
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment
Karen Scharff
Citizen Action of New York
Marianne Manilov
Engage
Bruce Klipple
United Electrical Workers Union
Pablo Alvarado
National Day Laborers Organizing Network
LeeAnn Hall
Alliance for a Just Society
Leslie Moody
The Partnership for Working Families
Teresa Cheng
United Students Against Sweatshops
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From http://The99Spring.com itself...
April 9-15, 2012
100,000 Americans will train
for non-violent direct action.
Our country is at a crossroads. We have a choice to make. Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The choice is in our hands. This spring we will act on that choice.
In the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers and inspired by today's brave heroes in Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin, we will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.
From April 9-15 we will gather across America, 100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country. We will organize trainings to:
1. Tell the story of our economy: how we got here, who's responsible, what a different future could look like, and what we can do about it
2. Learn the history of non-violent direct action, and
3. Get into action on our own campaigns to win change.
This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.
We are the 99%. For the 100%. And this is our moment.
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Don't forget folks-- say it with some authority-- WE ARE THE REAL MAJORITY(!): [it's true; see below]
[again-- see http://www.JoelforCongress.org -- this is what I'm running my campaign on; what I've always said; make it happen-- send $: Joel for Congress, 324 Browns Pond Rd. Staatsburg, NY 12580!]
Fact: "86% of Americans say Wall Street and its lobbyists have too much influence in Washington in a January poll by Time magazine, and 77% of Americans say too much power is concentrated in the hands of a few rich people and large corporations in a January poll by the Pew Research Center.
[from "Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable" by Sarah van Gelder (Jan. 20th):
http://www.YesMagazine.org/blogs/sarah-van-gelder/corporate-rule-is-not-inevitable ]
Fact: 81% of Americans support taxing millionaires/billionaires more: solve federal budget woes.
[ http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/7333/what_americans_want_the_peoples_budget ]
Fact: 80% of Americans oppose Citizens United Supreme Court decision; corporations aren't people.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2010/02/in-supreme-court-ruling-on-campaign-finance-the-public-dissents.html ; http://www.freespeechforpeople.org/node/75
Fact: 78% of Americans support protecting Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid from any cuts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-shows-americans-oppose-entitlement-cuts-to-deal-with-debt-problem/2011/04/19/AFoiAH9D_story.html
Fact: 59% of Americans support expanding Medicare to cover us all-- to save $400 billion a year; in fact, "Americans prefer a single-payer system of health care two-to-one over a privatized system; single-payer is a model in which health care delivery would remain largely private, but would be paid for by a single federal health insurance fund (much like Medicare provides for seniors and comparable to Canada's current system)"
[from Ralph Nader's new book-- "Getting Steamed to Overcome Corporatism": http://www.csrl.org/gs/ ;
http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer/ ; PNHP.org]
Fact: 67% of Americans support $10/hour minimum wage to put money in pockets of working class.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/06/americans-minimum-wage-poll_n_752921.html
Fact: 53% of Americans support full federal funding for Planned Parenthood & reproductive justice.
http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/15708
Fact: More New Yorkers support protecting drinking water with statewide ban on fracking than not.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/new-york-gas-drilling-rul_n_900011.html
Fact: 54% of Americans support full funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-- not cuts.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2011/02/16/harris-poll-epa-budget/ ]
Fact: 79% of New Yorkers support Clean Money Clean Elections-- real campaign finance reform.
http://rochesterturning.com/2008/04/28/poll-says-3-of-4-new-yorkers-support-publicly-financed-elections/
Fact: 59% of Americans support our troops coming home from Afghanistan/Iraq NOW without delay.
http://www.thinkprogress.org/2011/05/11/afghanistan-get-out-59-percent/
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