The Occupy Sandy website, http://occupysandy.net, has been revamped to help us all better engage in mutual aid with the survivors of the SuperStorm.

In whatever manner you have taken part, it’s important to recognize and remember that the crisis isn't over. Not by a long shot.

Areas hit by Sandy still need volunteers. Please join us.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy in the News

The Revolution Will Be Augmented: OWS Should Embrace Google Glass

Silicon Angle

Already Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and other protesters have visited the idea of activism and citizen journalism on the front lines of large scale protests by using smartphones and live streaming–but it’s nothing compared to the surveillance capabilities of law enforcement agencies. (ht OWS News Coverage blast: subscribe here).

Free Health Care & Spirited Activism Transform NYC Public Spaces Saturday

Washington Square Public Blog

Occupy Town Square, Strike Debt, and other Occupy Wall Street groups, gathered together Saturday, March 23rd for “Medical Emergency: Life or Debt” with Washington Square Park as the hub.

Cyprus: What Every Occupier Needs to Know

OccupyWallStreet.net

Nicholas Levis from the Alternative Banking Working Group weighs in on the crisis in Cyprus after they rejected a proposed 10 billion European Union bank bailout. Cyprus constitutes “an experiment in total exercise of class power, to see how far a people can be pushed and what might be learned for future cases.”

Mortgage Protesters Occupy Bank in Barcelona

NBC News Photoblog

Members of Mortgage Victims' Platform (PAH), occupy a bank branch during a protest to support neighbors who are facing evictions processes in Barcelona, Spain, on March 19.

Let Me Ascertain You: The Civilians Podcast

By the Civilians

Let Me Ascertain You, from award-winning investigative theater company The Civilians, is a weekly podcast series of performances crafted from interviews with real people about current and controversial topics, including Occupy Wall Street, Atlantic Yards, the adult entertainment industry, Evangelical Christianity, and more. Last week they aired their finale from a 5 part Occupy #S17 series.

Occupy Wall Street and Strike Debt Stand in Solidarity With the Community of East Flatbush and the Family of Kimani Gray

OccupyWallSt.org

“Predatory debt, public austerity, emergency restructuring, climate crisis: the disasters of Wall Street hit black and brown people the hardest”. Prior to a solidarity march this Sunday, the following was published - providing details on the rationale of so many occupiers who are supporting the #BrooklynProtest, in a manner that will help provide mutual understanding for solidarity with this neighborhood-led local effort.

Featured Occu-Project of the Week

For over a year now, Occu-Evolve has been holding weekly assemblies and actions focused on "race, class, gender, identity, cultural and structural and direction of the movement.” It was formed out of an ardent commitment to providing outreach to the 99%, particularly people of color, the working class and neighborhood assemblies.

Occu-Evolve’s efforts at this time couldn’t be more timely in light of the tragedy of Kimani Gray and the #BrooklynProtest it has inspired. Check out their Occupy For Kimani (and all victims of police injustice) page for details on “positive, clear, organized and coordinated actions, communication and planning for Justice for Kimani Gray, as well as other victims of unjust and deadly police actions and encounters.”

Continue reading »

Via OccupyWallSt.org:

76% of Americans are in debt. 15% are being pursued by one or more debt collectors. 22% of Americans are too impoverished to qualify for credit. That forces them into informal debt like payday loans or worse, which generate interest rates of up to 500%. So add that together and we have the 99%.

Strike Debt and the Rolling Jubilee believe that no one should have to go into debt to cover basic human rights like health care, education, and housing. One in seven Americans is being pursued by a debt collector. Credit card debt is often the “plastic safety net” that covers for gaps in household budgets caused by financing such essentials.

Medical debt is an area of personal debt that no one from outside the United States can even understand. Spanish activists are campaigning against the privatization of their national single-payer health system. They see any payment for medical treatment as the breakdown of a decent society. The idea that people might be driven to bankruptcy by medical debt is literally incomprehensible.

But in the United States, we find that no less than 62% of all bankruptcies involve medical debt. Of these people, three-quarters actually had medical insurance. So many drugs and procedures are not covered, and so high are the deductibles, that an insured person can easily find themselves unable to cover their medical bills. Two-thirds of working households do not have the resources to cover a $1000 emergency. One hour of a specialist doctor’s time can cost that alone.

Even these stark figures conceal the discrimination built into health care for people of color, low-income workers and LGBTQ populations. More than half of African-Americans struggle to pay medical bills, compared with 34% of Hispanics and 28% of whites. Black and Latino New Yorkers are more than twice as likely as whites to be uninsured. Despite some progress in recent years, LGBT individuals are less likely to have health insurance, more likely to delay seeking medical care and medication, and more likely to have a number of physical and mental health problems.

Continue reading »

Via OccupyWallStreet.net:

On March 10th, 40 Occupiers gathered at Judson Church for the Unorganized Workers Assembly to share experiences and tactics about a wide range of workplace organizing campaigns and projects around the city. The assembly was sponsored by Occupy Your Workplace (OYWP), a working group coming out of OWS. From Hot N Crusty to Golden Farm and Tom Cat Bakery, restaurant workers to carwasheros, Student-Worker solidarity at Columbia University and organizing in the Arts industry, New York is buzzing with initiatives.

Breakout groups discussed both the theory and practice of workplace organizing as well as ways to build solidarity across campaigns. There was also a discussion of an ongoing project of OYWP: a workplace Operations Manual inspired by the Debt Resistors manual, which issued an open call for submissions about workplace experiences of the 99%. The manual aims to locate the strategies and tactics of resistance used by the 99% to gain power and visibility in the workplace. There is also an editorial group open to people willing to work on shaping the manual.

Join the Occupy Your Workplace/Organize the Unorganized Facebook group and learn more about the OYWP mailing list, find details about any of their projects, or to get information about upcoming Unorganized Workers Assemblies.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy in The News

Tidal #4: Block by Block is ready for download. Articles include meditations on Debt and the Commons, reflections on Occupy Sandy and the connections between Occupy and the Civil Rights Movement.

Occupywallstreet.net reports on the third day of demonstrations spurred on by the death of sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray, with on-the-scene coverage from Occupy activist Austin Guest.

On the blog, Waging Nonviolence, Yotam Marom compares his feelings about Kimani Gray to those he had in 2011 when Georgia executed Troy Davis, “I remember the rally held at Union Square, and the feeling that it was one of the most real political moments I’ve ever experienced — with the deepest hurt and the rawest anger mingling together in a beautiful and tragic human knot.”

Alexis Goldstein, former VP at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch and now OWS activist, reports back on a recent visit to the Rachel Maddow Show where she talked about the Senate hearing on JPMorganChase’s so-called ‘whale’ trades--the risky derivative trades that ended up costing the company six billion dollars in losses. After a nine month investigation, the bank was found to have “ignor[ed] risks, deceiv[ed] investors, [and fought] with regulators.” According to Goldstein, “the great abuse of the London Whale trade is that it was done with “excess deposits,” which is depositor money (your checking account, my savings account) that is not loaned out. JPMorgan gambled customer money, and then lied about it.”

Strike Debt’s coming action--abolishing over one million dollars in medical debt for randomly chosen people in Indiana and Kentucky--can’t help but garner attention. CNN Money and The Daily News reported on Strike Debt’s work and helped to spread the word about the national week of action taking place right now.

Featured Occu-Project

http://osproject.tumblr.com/

In the spirit of mutual-aid, the Occupy Sandy Grants/Projects Group brings you this web-based resource of projects coming out of OS and OWS, and tips on structuring and funding them.

Submissions welcome, contact Kristian at knammack AT gmail.com.

#LifeOrDebt Week of Action

Thursday, March 21st, 4:00pm

Strike Private Health Insurance

Bryant Park

Kick off the Strike Debt week of action with a rally and creative actions against the private insurance companies!

Saturday, March 23rd, 9:30am-7:00pm

Life or Debt: A Day of Free Healthcare and Education

Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South and Washington Square Park

Join us on March 23 for a day of free healthcare, radical education and a march to highlight community hospital closings. @Washington Square Park 9:30am – all day: Free education, legal advice, performances and music 2pm – March to highlight community hospital closings

@Judson Church 9:30am – 1:30pm: A health fair with FREE HEALTHCARE! 5:30pm – 7pm: Continuation of health fair. We also plan to have practitioners on call to answer medical questions live on the internet all day!

Saturday, March 23rd, 9:30am-7:00pm

Occupy Town Square: Life or Debt

Washington Square Park

Occupy Town Square has joined Strike Debt in a day of free healthcare, radical education and a march to highlight community hospital closings. If you are interested in tabling, doing a teach-in, or have other ideas for how you would like to participate, drop us a line!

We also plan to have practitioners on call to answer medical questions live on the internet all day! It wouldn't be an Occupy Town Square without the OWS Screen Printers! Bring your blank T-shirts, totes and other clothing for the brilliant screeners to customize.

Sunday, March 24th, 1:00pm

Hospital Closings Protest

Former Site of St. John’s Hospital Queens, 90-02 Queens Blvd.

St. John’s Hospital Queens has been closed for about 4 years now. At the time of its closing, St. John’s and its sister hospital had debts and losses in excess of $110 million. Our debt-ridden healthcare system drives hospitals into closure. Join us to demand that healthcare, hospital, and medical debt be absolved, so that healthcare stops driving community hospitals — and people — into bankruptcy.

Occupy these Actions & Events

March 22nd - March 24th

Organizing New York

United Federation of Teachers building, 52 Broadway

A “Force Multiplier” is an approach or tool that dramatically increases effectiveness or impact.

For the new generation of political changemakers, mastering the tools of organizing is that force multiplier. That’s the thinking behind Sunday’s Rootscamp, a day long unconference that is part of a three day Organizing New York training event.

Master advanced social media techniques, grassroots fundraising, tips on messaging for the media, or learn about new tools and strategies you haven’t even heard of yet. Have questions? Please email ONY@organizing20.org. (Your Inbox: Occupied has endorsed this event).

Saturday, March 23rd, noon-2pm

Divest from TD Bank Day of Action and Rally

Union Square, 14th Street

Join Occupy the Pipeline, 350.org and Sane Energy Project as we call out TD Bank for Greenwashing their Image! We are Calling for All Concerned Citizens to Stop Providing Tar Dollars for Total Destruction! If you have money in TD Bank we think it’s time to MOVE YOUR MONEY. You don’t have to live in NYC to join in this Action! Learn more

Sunday, March 24rd, noon-3pm

National Day of Action to Save the People’s Post Office

James A. Farley Post Office, 421 8th Ave

Congress has manufactured a crisis in the Post Office by requiring it to pre-fund its employee benefits for 75 years. Their ‘solution’ is to cut Saturday Delivery service, following the standard prescription of cutting public services before privatizing them. Tell Congress to stop dismantling the Postal Service so it can keep Delivering for America at this rally.

Monday, March 25th, 7:30pm

Everybody now! Direct Action Singing Group

Judson Memorial Church

To be a part of Everybody Now!, all you have to do is start to sing (or whistle, or hum). We amplify the voice of direct action, not just in loudness, but in beauty and in power. New to Everybody Now? Our mission statement lives here: http://everybodynow.net/about/

7:30-8: Skill Share, 8-9:30: Singing Together, 9:30-10: Discussion + Snacks

Do you have ideas for songs that you would like to share? Or an event/rally/action/march that you think we should collaborate with? Let us know!

Wednesday March 27 - 7pm

Building an Alternative to the Two Parties of Wall St.

CUNY Graduate Center Room 5414 (365 5th Ave, Manhattan, btw 34th & 35th)

Join Occupier Kshema Sawant, Lucas Sanchez from NY Communities for Change and Eljeer Hawkins for a discussion how we can continue to build a left alternative to the two parties of Wall Street. Last Fall, Kshama Sawant ran against the Washington state’s Democratic Speaker of the House to demonstrate that it is, in fact, possible to challenge the two parties of big business. She won a historic 29% of the vote as a Socialist Alternative candidate even though her campaign refused corporate donations and was largely ignored by the corporate media!

Friday, March 29th, 6:30-9:00pm

Women’s History Month Assembly

60 Wall Street

In this special assembly to honor and commemorate Women’s History Month, we will discuss the issues surrounding women and the importance of organizing around Feminism and Womanism and their connection and effectiveness in combating the issues that People of Color, the Working Class, Women, Poor People and all of the 99% face today.

Saturday, March 30th, 10am-8:00pm

Building the Commons - Making Worlds

The Brooklyn Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue
“Making Worlds: a Commons Coalition” was formed during the occupation of Zuccotti Park in order to bring projects working to reclaim the commons to the fore of the Occupy movement. Last year’s Forum on the Commons sought to conceptualize and explore different areas for commoning – natural resources, arts and education, care and reproduction, alternative economies. This year, we would like to open up space for a horizontal conversation with a strong focus on the concrete processes of commoning that are taking place or could take place in New York City now. To register and for a detailed schedule please visit makingworlds.org

A few months ago, Occupy Wall Street offshoot Strike Debt made international headlines through its Rolling Jubilee initiative that raised more than $500,000 to purchase and abolish debt.

Strike Debt will soon be making a big announcement about a large amount of medical debt they have abolished, and is calling for a week of education and organizing culminating in a day of action in New York City on March 23.

Join us for a week of action to declare a healthcare emergency.

The attention this buy will generate can be utilized to highlight the profound inhumanity and inequality of our medical payment system and create a vision of a world where healthcare is truly treated as a right.

Strike Debt is demanding the cancellation of all medical debts and a radically transformed healthcare system based on everybody's need for wellness and not the 1%'s desire for wealth.

Take action March 16 – March 23 for this matter of "Life or Debt".

Save the date, and stay tuned for updates about #M23.

-- from the 'Your Inbox: Occupied' team

Occupy in the News

Michael Premo, OWS activist, was found innocent of all charges stemming from the Duarte Square protest at which he was said to have resisted arrest. A Democracy Now cameraman caught the whole thing on tape and Premo was exonerated. As Premo's lawyer said: "the case highlight[s] the significance of having the press, livestreamers and professional video journalists present during demonstrations." So keep your cameras rolling!

For insight into Occupy in the U.K. and internationally read Tim Gee's post at the Guardian blog. This insightful post takes stock of the difficulties facing the movement as it goes up against the rapacity of global capitalism, gives credit to the development of Strike Debt, and offers some suggestions of tactics for moving forward.

Food for thought:

At occupywallstreet.net, Toby Cumberbatch of the Electrical Engineering Department at Cooper Union challenges the school to rethink its mission and to reclaim the ideals of its founder, Peter Cooper, with a series of radical proposals. This fight goes "beyond the boundaries of Astor Place and NYC." As he puts it, "the concept of education that is as free as air and water is critically important for the survival of humankind."

Featured Occu-Project

"OWS Radio," which has been airing weeknights at 6:30 PM EST on WBAI 99.5 FM New York since October 2011, is a show by and for the Occupy movement, covering Occupy news, Occupy theory, and Occupy tactics.

Regrettably, WBAI is facing a struggle for their survival in the wake of the impact from Superstorm Sandy, so please consider a donation to support this Pacifica station which was both the birthplace of "Democracy Now!" as well as one of the earliest major media outlets to give voice to Occupy Wall Street!

Occupy These Actions & Events

Sunday, March 10th, 2pm

Unorganized Workers Assembly
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South

Join the Occupy Your Workplace group for a discussion of strategy and tactics of workplace organizing. We'll have several folks present who have experience as workplace "salts" - workers who get jobs with the aim of organizing. Workers who are curious about organizing, experienced organizers and activists, union members, and all other workers and non workers welcome. RSVP for the event on Facebook.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Defend Education Day
Campuses Nationwide
SDS/Occupy Colleges is hosting a National Day of Action against Tuition and Fee Hikes. Join to get updates on flyers, coordination calls and other distribution materials. Message Occupy Colleges and we will help promote your campus/ organizations demonstration.

Tuesday, March 19th, 5:30pm

Screening of "Earthlings" and Occupy for All Species: Social Justice in the Age of Climate Change (a talk by Mickey Z.)
Hunter College 695 Park Avenue
"Earthlings" is a movie that intends to free us from a dark cave, into seeing what is hidden from most of us...the shadows of happy circus elephants by whom we are "entertained"; the "fashionable" clothes we wear; the cosmetics we wear in search of "aesthetics", or the happy farm animals we see on children's books. Oscar Award winner Joaquin Phoenix narrates.
Come view "Earthlings" at Hunter College on March 13 and then follow-up with discussion there, less than a week later.

March 16-23

Tar Sands Week of Action
Our grassroots movement to stop the tar sands is growing! For TransCanada "business as usual" means death and destruction for our communities. Together we can stop this multinational corporate bully and their toxic profiteers. Sign up to host an action/event in your community as part of the Week of Action to Stop Tar Sands Profiteers, March 16-23. Show up at their offices, public events, and extraction sites to demonstrate that we won't stop until they do. Find a TransCanada or investor's office in your community: http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/local_action kxlblockade@riseup.net.

Monday, March 18th, 12pm

Occupy the NRA's Hedge Fund Divestment Campaign Event
Owl Creek Asset Management 640 5th Ave #20
Occupy the NRA (ONRA) is launching a long ­term social action campaign to hold Wall Street firms accountable for their investments in gun manufacturers. We will push these firms to divest their stocks in these blood­soaked companies, hitting them where it hurts most, namely, their bottom line. On March 18th, 2013, we will use direct actions in the Occupy tradition against Blackstone, Cerberus & Owl Creek Asset Management (OCAM). We chose these firms because they either own millions of dollars of holdings in gun manufacturers' stock or bought stock as a direct result of the Sandy Hook massacre.

March 22-24

Organizing New York March 22-24
United Federation of Teachers building, 52 Broadway
Join hundreds of leaders, organizers, techies and activists to share our wisdom, skills, and talents. We will have workshops, discussions, consulting and networking opportunities, visionary speakers and a provocative debate around strategy and practices.
Over three days right by Wall Street, we will bring together a thousand people to learn from each other, share stories and strategies and build our skills, organizations and movements.
This is an event that occupy organizers will be participating in to build and share their skills. It will assuredly build upon the success of last year's OWS unconference that was held in collaboration with Organizing 2.0.

Rolling Jubilee is a Strike Debt project that buys debt for pennies on the dollar, but instead of collecting it, abolishes it. Together we can liberate debtors at random through a campaign of mutual support, good will, and collective refusal. Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits.

Called a “bailout of the people by the people,” jubilee comes from many faith traditions including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A jubilee is an event in which all debts are cancelled and all those in bondage are set free.

Banks sell debt for pennies on the dollar on a shadowy speculative market of debt buyers who then turn around and try to collect the full amount from debtors. The Rolling Jubilee intervenes by buying debt, keeping it out of the hands of collectors, and then abolishing it. The objective being not to make a profit, but to help each other out and highlight how the predatory debt system affects all our families and communities.

Since they launched their effort, they have raised $561,587 which will purchase and abolish $11,236,570 of personal debt.

Check out their website to learn more, or to get involved.

Saturday, February 2, 2013 - 2pm
Eastside Arts Alliance, 2277 International Blvd.
Oakland, CA

On Saturday, February 2nd, Strike Debt Bay Area will host Oakland’s first Debtors’ Assembly.

As individuals, families, and communities, most of us are drowning in debt for the basic things we need to live, including housing, education, and health care. Even those of us who do not have personal debt are affected by predatory lending. Our essential public services are cut because our cities and towns are held hostage by the same big banks that have been bailed out by our government. All of us are outraged that big banks don’t have to pay their debts, but we do.

Debt keeps us isolated, ashamed, and afraid—of becoming homeless, of going hungry, of being crippled or killed by treatable illness, or of being trapped in poverty-level jobs. Those facing foreclosure, medical debt, student debt, or credit card debt feel alone, hounded by debt collectors, and forced into unrewarding work to keep up with payments.

Strike Debt is building a movement to challenge this system while creating alternatives and supporting each other. At the Debtors’ Assembly we will come together as a community and begin to rethink debt, not as an issue of individual shame, but as a political platform for collective resistance and action. Come to the Assembly to learn about tools for escaping the closing walls of debt, to share resources and skills, and to magnify our assembled energy. As we share our experiences we can begin to take back from the financiers what they have taken from us: our freedom and our future.

Debt resistance is just the beginning. Join us as we imagine and create a new world based on the common good, not Wall Street profits.

ORGANIZATION INFO: Strike Debt Bay Area is the local chapter of Strike Debt, an international movement of groups working to build popular resistance to all forms of unjust debt. Strike Debt has organized the Rolling Jubilee, the ]Debt Resistors Operations Manual](http://strikedebt.org), and local debtors’ assemblies. Strike Debt supports the creation of just and sustainable economies, based on mutual aid, common goods, and public affluence. We owe the financial institutions nothing. It is to our friends, families and community that we owe everything.

[Via OccupyWallSt.org]

Last week's petition delivery action was a great success, delivering a clear message that OWS would not stay silent while the New York Post lied about us yet again. People from Occupy Faith and concerned activists spoke with humor and eloquence against a backdrop of banners printed with the names of the thousands of people who signed the petition. Music was played and songs were sung, but we’re still waiting on our apology, let alone a thank you note for the good time!

--from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team
OWS in Media

The brides were blushing, the grooms oddly impersonal, as the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling was marked with a magical direct action wedding on the steps of Federal Hall.

The discussion at Strike Debt’s MLK day event at Judson Church was enormously stimulating. If you missed it, take a look at Strike Debt’s Visioning Workbook to get up to speed with the issues raised that day.

New York City school bus drivers have been out on strike since Wednesday, January 16th and as is now standard treatment for striking workers, have been smeared and vilified for it. Our featured blog post "Strike Lessons" offers up a refreshing alternative in an analysis of the situation that explains why we can and must strike, as well as a list of picket locations so that we can show some on-the-ground solidarity.

Occupy these Actions and Events

Sunday, January 27, 3pm

Occupy the Climate: Hurricane Sandy, Eco-activism and the Vegan Option,
Jivamuktea Café @ Jivamukti Yoga School, 841 Broadway, 2nd floor, (212) 353-0214
A gathering/teach-in and an urgent call-to-arms on Post-Sandy life. Climate change contributed to the impact and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the number one cause of human-created greenhouse gases is the global animal by-products industry. Mickey Z. will help you do the math!

Sunday, January 27, 1pm

Screening of "We're Not Broke"
Unitarian Church of All Souls, Reidy Hall, 1157 Lexington Avenue
Screening of a film by Karin Hayes and Victoria Bruce. “The story of how U.S. corporations have been able to hide over a trillion dollars from Uncle Sam, and how fed-up Americans from across the country have taken their frustration to the streets.” With special guest J.A. Myerson, founding member of UncutNYC and early participant in the occupation of New York City, Zuccotti Park. Free and open to the public. Refreshments served.

Friday, February 1, 2013, 6:30pm-9:30pm

Occupy Beyond Sandy
The Atrium 60 Wall St.
With the many issues that still remain before and after Sandy, it’s time we examine our work and continue to organize for the 99% to fight Wall Street and build the Occupy Movement. Please join us. We are involved in several continuous actions all around the city and attempting to build a mass movement.

February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd

People's Recovery Summit
The Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew, 520 Clinton Ave.
The People's Recovery Summit is a three day event of workshops, trainings, horizontally facilitated discussions, and evening entertainment. Residents, activists, organizers, volunteers, and all concerned citizens will unite to build a more equitable and sustainable New York City post-Hurricane Sandy. Come participate for any and all parts of the weekend and help ignite a people-powered recovery! Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner will be served.

Tuesday, February 5, 7pm

Divesting from Fossil Fuels
Cooper Union, The Great Hall, 7 East 7th Street between 3rd & 4th Avenues.
America’s colleges and universities prepare the nation’s young people for their future. Yet those same institutions invest in the fossil fuel companies that are profiting enormously from the carbon that’s going to wreck the climate. Thousands of students are building a national movement demanding that university endowments divest from the fossil fuel industry.

Occupy Sandy Update

Occupy Sandy is looking for individuals and groups for food preparation, canvassing, muck-out, mold remediation, construction, driving, coordinating volunteers and more. To find out more about how to get involved please email OccupySandyVolunteers@gmail.com or call 347-770-4520. For more information go to occupysandy.org. Support local businesses by using the Occupy Sandy Local Registry.

[Via OccupyWallSt.org]

A report by Strike Debt on the disaster wrought by Hurricane Sandy and the government’s response. This is a preliminary and living public service document that highlights the use of loans as the main form of assistance to help those affected better understand the choices being imposed on them. You are not a loan!

INTRODUCTION

This report is a preliminary and living document highlighting the economic effects of Hurricane Sandy on New York City. It examines how the use of loans as the main form of “aid” to disaster-impacted communities is not effective at addressing individual or community needs. Further, the use of loans may lead to disastrous longer- term economic consequences for the impacted communities.

Although Hurricane Sandy was the first “Frankenstorm” to hit New York City, in recent years climate disasters have become a regular sight on the evening news. From Hurricanes Katrina and Irene to Midwestern droughts and wildfires in the Southwest, many communities are facing these types of crises all across the country. As our climate has changed, the burden of the cost of disaster has also been shifting. Individuals are now expected to shoulder relief expenses that used to be shared publicly. Victims are faced with long-term, unexpected economic consequences as well as displacement from the communities they call home.

This report was compiled based on observations made at a community meeting in Midland Beach, Staten Island on November 18, 2012, as well as on interviews with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Small Business Association (SBA) representatives, legal assistance volunteers, volunteer relief workers, local business owners and community members throughout New York City. Data was drawn from newspaper articles, statements from advocacy organizations and official reports.

FINDINGS

The economic costs of the disaster are placed on individuals. Federal aid programs require victims to first apply for loans before qualifying to apply for FEMA aid.
“Aid” programs favor those who can take on debt. Preexisting inequalities are further exacerbated by this form of aid.
Federal programs are inflexible and fail to meet even basic needs of affected individuals and communities.
Relief options are not clearly communicated or well understood. Policies are so complex that even lawyers are confused and are “learning as they go.”
Mold is at a crisis level. Residents will not receive FEMA aid to pay for the mold remediation necessary to make their properties even temporarily livable.

read more at interoccupy.net or download the entire report as a .pdf.

[Via OccupyWallSt.org]

This is your moment of clarity #188: Everybody wants to know where Occupy is heading. Why aren't they getting pepper sprayed on the news anymore?? Here's your answer.

Keep fighting,

Lee

[LeeCamp.net]

An update on the Rolling Jubilee: Occupy Wall Street reports that the show's over – with enough raised to abolish over $5,000,000 of debt! Keep the Jubilee rolling: click here to donate!

People shouldn’t have to go into debt for an education, because they need medical care, or to put food on the table during hard times. We shouldn’t have to pay endless interest to the 1% for basic necessities. Big banks and corporations walk away from their debts and leave taxpayers to pick up the tab. It’s time for a bailout of the people, by the people.

For every $1 donated, we are able to buy and abolish $20 worth of debt.