Occupy the NRA is launching a long term social action campaign to hold Wall Street firms accountable for their investments in gun manufacturers.
Join us for an Occupy the NRA hedge fund divestment action this Monday.
At 12pm on Monday, March 18th, Occupy the NRA will take action against Blackstone, Cerberus & Owl Creek Asset Management. These firms were chosen either because they own millions of dollars of holdings in gun manufacturers’ stock or bought stock as a direct result of the Sandy Hook massacre.
Take action to hit these bloodsoaked companies where it hurts most: their bottom line.
-- from the ‘Your Inbox: Occupied’ team
p.s. Not a fan of Facebook? Find this Occupy the NRA event on NYCGA.net.
#LifeOrDebt Week of Action Update
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”.
A large amount of medical debt has been bought and abolished, and announcements in that regard are forthcoming. Yet although this will provide real relief to thousands of people who need it, it is only crumbs in light of the 70 million who still owe money on medical bills.
There are a host of #LifeOrDebt actions planned in New York City. Full event entries are organized by date below in this newsletter, including actions like: You Are Not a Loan Music Video Filming, Strike Private Health Insurance, Life or Debt: A Day of Free Healthcare and Education, Occupy Town Square: Life or Debt, Hospital Closings Protest.
Debt like these are literally killing patients, students, providers and communities.
Join us to strike these debts down.
Occupy in the News
Subscribe to the OWS News Coverage blast here.
- Strike Debt Declares Healthcare Emergency: 'It's a Matter of 'Life or Debt''
- The Nation
- Strike Debt, one of the offshoot groups of Occupy Wall Street, has planned a week of action March 16–23 in response to what it calls a “healthcare emergency.” A majority of personal bankruptcies in the United States are linked to medical bills, with 75 percent of people declaring bankruptcy even though they have health insurance.
- Why the Police in Michael Premo's Trial Are Unlikely To Face Perjury Charges
- Village Voice
- Many of the readers who commented on last week's story about Michael Premo, the Occupy Wall Street protester who beat his criminal charges last week thanks to video evidence, wanted to know: Would the police officer whose testimony was contradicted by the video face any consequences? Would he be charged with perjury? The short answer is: Don't hold your breath.
- When Good Things Happen to Bad People
- Huffington Post
- On a chilly, sunny day early this month, Occupy Wall Street took another run at publicly shaming an untouchable Wall Street Behemoth: HSBC Bank.
Featured Occu-Project: Education for Liberation
The Paul Robeson Freedom School is starting up again and looking for volunteer teachers and youth interested in their 8-week summer program. The mission of the school is to build an empowering community of youth and adult leader-educators through exciting, interactive and culturally-relevant programs including: culinary arts, civil rights history, media literacy, and dance!
Call (347) 618-8675 or email paulrobesonfreedomschool DOT org to join. For more details see the New York Times article from last Summer on this “unsanctioned, unofficial Occupy Wall Street summer camp.”
Occupy These Actions & Events
Wednesday, March 13, 4pm
- Stand up for Immigrant Workers
- Smilers, 554 5th Ave
- Immigrant Worker Justice invites you to join a group of immigrant workers as they deliver a demand letter on a boss who has been exploiting them for years. For years, they have been subjected to sweatshop conditions, right in the heart of New York City. But now they're fed up, and are ready to exercise their protected right to demand change at their workplace.
Thursday, March 14
- Defend Education Day
- Your Campus
- 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.
Saturday, March 16th, 2pm
- OWS Open Space Summit
- SEIU Local 1199, 310 W. 43rd Street
- What are the challenges facing Occupy Wall Street? You are invited to an Open Space Summit to talk about accountability, transparency, resource distribution, anti-oppression, and the Occupy diaspora. OWS relies on our creativity and passion! Let's brainstorm collective solutions and move toward a new and improved OWS.
March 16th-23rd
- 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. 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 Questions? Contact: [email protected]. Find the event on NYCGA.net.
Sunday, March 17th, 10am-2pm
- You Are Not a Loan Music Video Filming
- Meet at the steps of Federal Hall on Wall Street (aka the Freedom Cage)
- Inspired by the Rolling Jubilee, some folks at the Everybody Now! singing in action group came up with a song based on the "You Are Not A Loan" chant. You can see a video of the song here. We will be creating a music video for this song and you're invited to participate! No dancing skills required
Monday, March 18th, 6:30pm
- OWS Strategic Action Lab Initiative with Lisa Fithian
- Assembly Hall, Judson Memorial Church (enter at 239 Thompson Street)
- Join together for an evening of discussion and planning with the intention of developing ongoing capacity within the larger OWS network to take direct action and build a culture of liberation. Lisa Fithian who has been working with OWS and other direct action networks over the years will facilitate. Please bring some food to share if you can.
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
- Come view "Earthlings" at Hunter College on March 13 and then follow-up with discussion there, less than a week later. Find the event on NYCGA.net.
Thursday, March 21st, 4:00pm
- Strike Private Health Insurance
- Bryant Park, New York
- Bryant Park 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!
- 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.
March 22nd - March 24th
- Organizing New York March 22-24
- 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. All coming up on March 22-24. (Your Inbox: Occupied has endorsed this event).