The Coalition for the Homelessreports the number of people living in New York City homeless shelters has reached an all-time high of 43,000. Critics attribute the spike in homelessness to the Bloomberg administration’s alleged failure to help move homeless families into permanent affordable housing. Housing advocates say the problem was exacerbated by the city’s cancellation of the "Advantage" apartment rental subsidy, with as many as 8,000 former aid recipients now facing eviction. We get a report from Democracy Now!’s Chantal Berman, who interviewed several aid recipients who could soon lose their homes, and speak to Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst at Coalition for the Homeless in New York City
A new video released by Occupy High has announced a May 1st "Walkout" as they stand in solidarity with the Occupy movement and workers everywhere.
Here is the text of a letter addressed to the city of New York that was read aloud in the video:
Dear New York City,
We, the students of public education, are here to inform you about the injustice that is taking place in our school system:
* The privatization of our school system
* The budget cuts
* Lack of appropriate leadership
* Malicious closings/phasing out of schools against the communities’ wishes.
* Cell phone policies
* Overcrowded classes & abuse of SAFE rooms
* Over policing of our schools and the criminalization of our youth
We feel that these issues are setting our students up for failure, and we DEMAND a change! We believe that trying to control our schools is just another symptom of the blatant racism in our country similar to the government’s response to the senseless killing of Trayvon Martin.
Because of this, our first action will be a mass student walkout on May 1st at 12pm to Fort Greene Park. We will be holding teach-ins, teen summits & other peaceful events.
Please add your name to our letter and support us in our struggle for our education.
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done. The best way to create hope is to create opportunity.
Also a short note from the filmmaker:
It's easy to bemoan our political leaders and we no doubt expect way too much from them. They are, after all, no more than elected public officials. We vote them into office to represent us. When they fail to represent the will of the people and the nation, we need to replace them and find those that will. This democratic process is but one of the goals of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. OWS can now be found in 951 cities in 83 countries including Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa. OWS is a people-powered movement that began in the financial district of New York City and has grown into a global occupation. It's people from all over the world asking for better management. People asking this from their leaders and nations. People recognizing that governments commitment to the future is short-sighted. People exercising their right to demonstrate -- which is the most basic emblem of democracy. Everybody is each of us. If you think you're too small to make an impact, remember how annoying it is to try and sleep with a mosquito in your bedroom. I made this film to demonstrate.
From OWSPR.COM - The hub for Occupy Wall Street-related film, art, music, and graphic design.
