Today, Monday May 13th, New Yorkers from Occupy the Pipeline, Occupy Sandy, and over twenty partner groups will march and rally to greet President Obama when he attends a fundraiser with members of the 1% at the Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue.

Carbon dioxide levels have now surpassed 400 parts per million, a long-feared milestone. We must act now.

Join us if you stand against fossil fuel pipelines, against fracking, against tar sands, and FOR a country powered by wind, water and solar.

Gather in Bryant Park starting at 5 (meet near the fountain off 6th avenue at 41st Street). Reverend Billy and his choir will lead us off with a rousing blessing and song. We'll begin to march at 5:30, then rally in front of the Waldorf Astoria at 6:30. Please wear yellow and orange to demonstrate your support for a clean energy future.

RSVP and Share on Facebook!

Event Partners: 350 NYC, 350 NJ, 350.org, 99Rise, Brooklyn For Peace, Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP), CREDO, CUNY Divest, Food & Water Watch, Global Kids Inc., Green Party of NY, Human Impacts Institute, NYC Friends of Clearwater, NYU Divest, Occupy the Pipeline, Occupy Sandy, Restore the Rock, Sane Energy Project, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, Sierra Club National, United for Action, World Can't Wait, WESPAC, YANA (You Are Never Alone).

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

[Photo attribution: Matt Richter]

Sandy Storyline has proudly announced its official selection in The Tribeca Film Festival’s inaugural Storyscapes program.

This powerful project features the personal stories from survivors of SuperStorm Sandy in audio, video, photography and text — contributed by residents and citizen journalists to be shared through an immersive web documentary and interactive exhibitions.

In this manner, Sandy Storyline tells the collective story of why the mutual aid provided by Occupy Sandy has been and remains required. It is a truly collaborative project, building a community-generated narrative of the storm that seeks to inspire a safe and more sustainable future.

The Storyscapes program will present five selections at a public, interactive installation, where storytelling and technology, authorship and openness will intersect.

Check out Sandy Storyline at the Tribeca Film Festival as we present our stories to the world.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Continue reading »

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 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

The events in this video happened December 17th, 2011, as protesters, including clergy members, attempted to Occupy the unused, fenced off section of Duarte Square on the corner of Canal Street and 6th Avenue in New York City on the three-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street.

Activist and community organizer Michael Premo was found not guilty on all charges on Thursday in the first jury trial stemming from an Occupy Wall Street protest. Video evidence presented in Premo's defense contradicted claims by police and prosecutors.

Premo, who more recently has been an important figure in Occupy Sandy efforts, was arrested on December 17, 2011 during a protest in lower Manhattan when Occupy protesters attempted to start a new occupation in an empty lot on Duarte Square.

Village Voice:

In the police version of events, Premo charged the police like a linebacker, taking out a lieutenant and resisting arrest so forcefully that he fractured an officer's bone. That's the story prosecutors told in Premo's trial, and it's the general story his arresting officer testified to under oath as well.

But Premo, facing felony charges of assaulting an officer, maintained his innocence. His lawyers, Meghan Maurus and Rebecca Heinegg, set out to find video evidence to contradict it. Prosecutors told them that police TARU units, who filmed virtually every moment of Occupy street protests, didn't have any footage of the entire incident. But Maurus knew from video evidence she had received while representing another defendant arrested that day that there was at least one TARU officer with relevant footage. Reviewing video shot by a citizen-journalist livestreamer during Premo's arrest, she learned that a Democracy Now cameraman was right in the middle of the fray, and when she tracked him down, he showed her a video that so perfectly suited her needs it brought a tear to her eye.

For one thing, the video prominently shows a TARU cop named Bosco, holding up his camera, which is on, and pointing at the action around the kettle. When Premo's lawyers subpoenaed Bosco, they were told he was on a secret mission at "an undisclosed location," and couldn't respond to the subpoena. Judge Robert Mandelbaum didn't accept that, and Bosco ultimately had to testify, though he claimed, straining credibility, that though the camera is clearly on and he can be seen in the video pointing it as though to frame a shot, he didn't actually shoot any video that evening.

Even more importantly, the Democracy Now video also flipped the police version of events on its head. Far from showing Premo tackling a police officer, it shows cops tackling him as he attempted to get back on his feet.

After watching the video, the jury deliberated for several hours before returning a verdict of not guilty on all counts.

One of Premo's lawyers, Meghan Maurus, said after the trial that his case highlighted the importance of having the press, livestreamers and professional video journalists present during demonstrations, and that "without that evidence, this would have been a very different case."

"The biggest thing for me coming out of this," Premo told the Voice, "is not being discouraged by the attempts of New York City to quell dissent and prevent us from expressing our constitutional rights."

Since their first issue in December 2011, Tidal has made it their practice to give name to our struggle, wrestling with the big ideas that propel us into the streets, with what we should do when we get there, and with where there in fact is.

This Friday, the folks at Occupy Theory will release their fourth issue of the magazine, featuring original pieces by organizers of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Sandy, Strike Debt and Free University. Join them that night for conversation as we move together towards the empowerment that greater clarity and the free exchange of ideas can bring.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy in the News

Jenna Pope documented last Sunday’s Forward on Climate Rally. Beautiful sights--the vistas of activists in D.C. to make their voices heard about climate change--beautifully captured.

Kevin Gosztola writes at FireDogLake’s The Dissenter blog about the recent history of climate change actions and points out just how high the stakes are. Our only hope to defeat the monstrosity of the Keystone XL Pipeline is continued, passionate action, that is to say, “...if everyone demonstrating channeled the spirit of the Occupy movement...”

Les Leopold of the Huffington Post explains why “the raison d’etre for Occupy Wall Street is proving correct. Much of high finance is based on a ‘corrupt business plan.’” Proof of Wall Street’s corruption continues to mount, with ratings agencies on the take, money laundered for drug cartels, and rampant insider trading, among many other ethical and moral malignancies.

On occupywallstreet.net Heather Marsh argues for a society with no financial system at all, a currency-free system in which the endless cycle of excessive consumption and meaningless busywork is ended. The proof that this could work already exists. “With no financial incentives,” Marsh says, “the internet has managed to create collaborative efforts which have pushed the potential of society far beyond what could have been possible before the internet.”

On the OWS Direct Action Blog, Mark Adams gives us the push we need to meet, to talk, to plan for spring.

Revisit Liberty Plaza in full swing in Why We Occupy, an open-source book of interviews gathered in the park in 2011. See the park grow and change in real-time through the heartfelt words of the participants.

Continue reading »

“The Occupy Wall Street movement may have faded from the headlines in the aftermath of the eviction of Zuccotti Park more than a year ago, but the issues that originally sparked it and the activism it inspired remain very much alive.”

This was the opening to a blog post called Who Were the 99 Percent? from co-authors of the recent study Changing The Subject: A Bottom-Up Account of Occupy Wall Street in New York City.

Regrettably, as reported by Allison Kilkenny in the Nation, many in the media have twisted the study’s findings regarding the makeup of OWS by dismissing the movement in an entirely new and spurious way: “this was a damned if they do, damned if they don’t moment for Occupy--they’re either poor, dirty hippies or the sons and daughters of the wealthy elite, but never, ever Americans exercising their First Amendment rights”.

Fortunately, we don’t need outside justification to know that ‘We Are the 99%’, and as the study depicts, nothing will extinguish the flame compelling us to speak out and inspiring us to act.

-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy in the News

In other news, Stacia Georgi at Brooklyn Ink wrote quite the positive story about the People’s Recovery Summit held this past weekend. Check out occupier and photo-journalist Jenna Pope’s album of the summit for the play by play.

Stopmotionsolo.tv provides comprehensive coverage of the recent Citizens United wedding, including a brief history of the ruling and a discussion of his concerns about pushing for a constitutional amendment.

Professor Marcuse discusses options in responding to disasters like Sandy, including the wryly titled “Banker’s Socialism”--the “deprivatization of disaster response”--the Private Market Approach and the Equity Approach, which is “using public assistance to ameliorate the damage caused by disaster.”

Featured Occu-Project: Flip the Debt

Check out how Occupy Unveils a New Debt Clock that Shows How Much the 1 % Owe Us.

This campaign to ‘Flip the Debt’ aims to "flip the debate" over the national debt by shifting the focus to the global corporations and super wealthy actually responsible.

Your blood will boil as you watch the numbers tick up on their ingenious online 'Debt Clock' calculating the amount of taxes dodged by corporations every second. Moreover, each tick is reminder to the 1% that “It's time that you paid your damn taxes!”

Occupy These Actions & Events

Saturday, February 9th, 7-9pm
Discussion: Energy Extraction and the Keystone XL Pipeline
Bluestockings Bookstore, 172 Allen Street
Leading mainstream scientist James Hansen has said if the Keystone XL pipeline proceeds it is “essentially game over for the climate.” Join us for a panel discussion about the Keystone XL pipeline and related energy extraction issues. We will skype in with activists down in Texas and Oklahoma, talk to an organizer who has been working at the Canadian Tar Sands oil extraction sight and with NYC Spectra Pipeline organizers. All proceeds from the night will go directly to the campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. With a continued fundraiser after-party in Brooklyn. Featuring Gay Panic and Glittered and Mauled.

Saturday, February 9th, 4:30PM - 6:30PM
Strategic research workshop
Organization of Staff Analysts, 220 East 23rd Street, Suite 707
Join members of NYC Radical Reference for the second in a series of strategic research workshops sponsored by the OWS Labor Outreach Committee. The workshops are open to all. In this event, we will explore what’s behind the legislation and policies that affect our lives as workers, as activists, and as citizens. We will see how to get the goods on candidates, lobbying, and political activity.

Sunday, February 10th, 1:00-4:00pm
Occupy the Subways
57th and 7th Avenue F Train Subway
In support of the workers at Golden Farm Market in Kensington Brooklyn, we will be Occupying the Subways beginning at 1pm and meeting the Boycott/Picket of Golden Farm at 2pm and staying there until 4pm.

Monday, February 11th, 6:30pm
Movement Mondays
Two Moon Art House and Cafe, 315 4th Avenue, Brooklyn
There are so many people and groups in the Occupy Wall Street ecosystem that are doing fantastic work. We learn about many of these projects as they’re happening or the day after. Let’s find out WHO is doing WHAT actions and events — well ahead of time! We can also serve as a focused incubation chamber for NEW ideas, strategize for the long term, and reflect upon our successes and failures so we can keep building and growing.

Thursday, February 14th, 8:30am-5:30pm
Justice for Dennis Flores - Rally at the Court
Brooklyn Criminal Court, 120 Schermerhorn Street
Dennis is a long-standing member of Occupy Sunset Park, as well as community organizer. Dennis Flores was arrested for defending one of the Rent Strikers against an attack by the slumlord’s hired goon. Hard to believe, but he’s actually being taken to trial on utterly ridiculous charges. Show brother Dennis your support! Turn out for a rally the morning of his trial!

Thursday, February 14th, 12:00pm-2:00pm
Valentines Day Message to Megabanks: Time to Break Up
NY Public Library, 42nd st. and 5th ave.
Join us to give HSBC, Bank of America and other megabanks Valentine’s Day Break Up Cards. Rally to call for a break up of the megabanks who are Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Jail and simply Too Big.

Saturday, February 16th, 6:30p.m-11:00p.m
Hot & Crusty Workers Victory Party
Brecht Forum, 451 West Street
The Hot and Crusty Workers Association invites you to a celebration with food, drink. dancing, live music and great conversation. Bring friends, coworkers, classmates. A voluntary $10 donation is suggested. For more information, call Rosanna at 347-652-5724 or Sándor at 917-520-5368

Saturday, February 16th, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Sandy Storyline Fundraiser
Cafe Dancer 96 Orchard Street, New York NY (b/w Broome & Delancey)
Join us for a party and benefit to help raise funds for Sandy Storyline, a participatory documentary project about Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath, told through the experiences of community members and volunteers. We are raising money to help support Sandy Storyline's projects, providing media education, community exhibitions and storytelling events for residents in Hurricane Sandy affected areas.

Sunday, February 17th, Noon Rally in DC. Buses Leave NYC at 7am.
Forward on Climate Rally
The National Mall, DC - to the White House
Join Occupy Sandy, Occupy the Pipeline, YANA, Rockaway residents and groups from around country for the largest climate rally in the nation's capital. In November, we came together in New York and New Jersey to provide disaster relief. Now we come together to call for real action on Climate Change. The very first step is for President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Sign up here for a bus ticket (reduced fairs and scholarships available). http://f17nycbusbrigade.wordpress.com

Friday February 22nd, 17:30-21:00
Tidal 4 Release
20 Cooper Square
Tidal 4 is being released this Friday evening. Come and pick up your own free copy! It will include original, commissioned contributions from many organizers of Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Sandy and Strike Debt, Collective pieces from the Tidal Team and friends and a Student Movement piece from Free University folks.

Saturday, March 1st and Sunday March 2nd, 12-6pm
Occupy Data Hackathon
Cuny Graduate Center, 365 5th Avenue
Data mining and visualization for the 99%. At the event, we’d like to focus on a few new data sets/projects. Occupy Sandy and Aaron Swartz’s work has come up, and generated a lot of interest. Any ideas, data resources you may know of or questions, please let us know: Occupy Data listserve or info@occupydata.nyc.

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.

Chris Hedges speaks at the People's Recovery Summit organized by Occupy Sandy. The Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew, Brooklyn, NY, February 2, 2013:

The corporate state has made it clear there will be no more Occupy encampments. The corporate state is seeking through the persistent harassment of activists and the passage of draconian laws such as Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act—and we will be in court next Wednesday to fight the Obama administration’s appeal of the Southern District Court of New York’s ruling declaring Section 1021 unconstitutional—to shut down all legitimate dissent. The corporate state is counting, most importantly, on its system of debt peonage to keep citizens—especially the 30 million people who make up the working poor—from joining our revolt.

Workers who are unable to meet their debts, who are victimized by constantly rising interest rates that can climb to as high as 30 percent on credit cards, are far more likely to remain submissive and compliant. Debt peonage is and always has been a form of political control. Native Americans, forced by the U.S. government onto tribal agencies, were required to buy their goods, usually on credit, at agency stores. Coal miners in southern West Virginia and Kentucky were paid in scrip by the coal companies and kept in perpetual debt servitude by the company store. African-Americans in the cotton fields in the South were forced to borrow during the agricultural season from their white landlords for their seed and farm equipment, creating a life of perpetual debt. It soon becomes impossible to escape the mounting interest rates that necessitate new borrowing.

Debt peonage is a familiar form of political control. And today it is used by banks and corporate financiers to enslave not only individuals but also cities, municipalities, states and the federal government. As the economist Michael Hudson points out, the steady rise in interest rates, coupled with declining public revenues, has become a way to extract the last bits of capital from citizens as well as government. Once individuals, or states or federal agencies, cannot pay their bills—and for many Americans this often means medical bills—assets are sold to corporations or seized. Public land, property and infrastructure, along with pension plans, are privatized. Individuals are pushed out of their homes and into financial and personal distress.

Debt peonage is a fundamental tool for control. This debt peonage must be broken if we are going to build a mass movement to paralyze systems of corporate power. And the most effective weapon we have to liberate ourselves as well as the 30 million Americans who make up the working poor is a sustained movement to raise the minimum wage nationally to at least $11 an hour. Most of these 30 million low-wage workers are women and people of color. They and their families struggle at a subsistence level and play one lender off another to survive. By raising their wages we raise not only the quality of their lives but we increase their capacity for personal and political power. We break one of the most important shackles used by the corporate state to prevent organized resistance.

You can read the rest of Chris Hedges' speech at Truthout.

Occupy Wall Street "One People" flash mob.

From February 1st to the 3rd people from across the grassroots community--organizers, volunteers, activists and storm-impacted residents--will meet at The People’s Recovery Summit to address how we can rebuild a stronger, fairer and more sustainable New York City together.

How do we strengthen access to good public schools for our children? How do we rebuild sustainably and equitably? How can we best organize our relief networks before the next time we need them? How do we make our communities healthier places?

Join us this weekend to explore these questions and participate in workshops, listen to speeches, attend trainings, share meals, hear music and help draft a unified people’s recovery statement. Restore power to the people - a better future is in our hands!

--from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team

Occupy these Actions and Events

Saturday, February 2nd, 10:00am-1:00pm
Sandy Walk, Ends at Staten Island Community Hub, 1128 Olympia Blvd., Midland Beach
Join Staten Island resident Bill Johnsen for a walk on the first Saturday of the month leaving from Brighton St & Billopp Avenue, Tottenville, ending at St. Margaret Mary’s Church, The Occupy Sandy community hub in Staten Island. The walk is in support of Uniting the Victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Sunday, February 3rd, 1:00pm-4:00pm
Occupy the Ferry, St. George Staten Island Ferry Terminal
Staten Island, New York 10301 82nd Street-Jackson Heights / Roosevelt Avenue 7 Train
As outreach to the 99% and in support The WORKERS at Golden Farm in Kensington Brooklyn we will be Occupying the Subways beginning at 1pm and meeting the Boycott/Picket of Golden Farm at 2pm and staying there until 4pm.

Friday, February 1, 2013, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Occupy Beyond Sandy
The Atrium 60 Wall St.
Despite all the GREAT work of Occupy Sandy, the problems of both Sandy Victims and the 99% remain and will only get worse with the plans of the 1% to gentrify in the aftermath of Sandy. 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.

Wednesday, February 6th, 9:45am
Flood the Court, 40 Centre St. (40 Foley Square)
The 2nd circuit court of appeals will be hearing oral arguments in the lawsuit against section 1021 of the NDAA. Your attendance will communicate that the public is invested in the outcome of this ruling and unwilling to sit idly by as due process rights are eroded. RSVP on Facebook.

[Via OccupyWallSt.org]

Restore Power to the People!

A free 3-day gathering of workshops, panels, concerts and performances to unite for a more equitable and sustainable rebuilding in Sandy's wake.

When: Feb 1-3
Where: Church of St. Luke & St. Matthew, Brooklyn

For more information or to register, see http://summit.peoplesrecovery.org/ and RSVP on Facebook.

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