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OPEN LETTER: THE U.S. OCTOBER 2011 MOVEMENT STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR GLOBAL ALLIES
Inspired by the courageous, nonviolent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Greece, Spain, and elsewhere, people in the United States have come together to form the October2011 Movement. This fusion of peace, social justice, environmental, student, and immigrant rights organizations is in solidarity with all who seek a peaceful, just, and sustainable future and stands ready to engage in its own campaign of nonviolent resistance beginning in Washington, D.C., this October. We recognize that your revolution is our revolution, that American Empire prevents you from achieving self-determination and economic justice, and that only together can we achieve our shared goals.
October marks the beginning of the11th year of the U.S. invasion and destruction of Afghanistan. It marks the beginning of yet another federal budget that delivers unlimited funds for war and corporate interests while putting in place an austerity budget for services that meet human and environmental needs. But this October will mark the beginning of something else in the United States — a moment when we will unite to demand an end to a system that puts profits and warfare over the welfare of people and the environment.
The response to our call, which is but one week old, has been tremendous. Already more than one thousand have pledged to join this resistance action in Freedom Square and that number is growing rapidly. Leading figures from a wide range of communities have stepped up to join the call. Among them are noted African-American scholar and activist Cornel West; Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC ) President Baldemar Velasquez; Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent and author Chris Hedges; single-payer health-care advocates David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler; noted environmentalists Derrick Jensen and Harvey Wasserman; and antiwar leader Ret. Col. Ann Wright, along with numerous other prominent peace activists. You can see more of the people who signed up by visiting www.October2011.org.
History is knocking on the door of the United States and its people are ready. As the crises in our communities and around the world grow, so must our response. We can no longer abide the outrageous and growing wealth inequality in this country. We cannot accept a government “of, by, and for” the corporations. We cannot remain silent while our leaders continue to exploit and slaughter people in distant lands or while millions of us have no access to health care. A majority of Americans want the wars to end. We want investment in jobs, education, and environmental protection. We want banks to invest for our future, not for their executives’ pocketbooks. We want laws that are just, lawmakers who obey them, and the power to hold them accountable when they do not. For that, we need a judiciary biased toward justice, not the partisan powers and big business interests they serve.
In the United States the people have little voice in the process of governance, as elected officials and institutions have been corrupted by concentrated corporate interests that have bought and paid for them. The people have no control over their own lives and the direction of their own communities. The brave who speak out for justice are often ignored, harassed, or imprisoned. Unified resistance has become the essential avenue for change.
Our time has come. We pledge to stand together in nonviolent resistance to corporate greed, government corruption, violence and injustice. We must follow our brave brothers and sisters of the Arab Spring and developing European Summer into an Autumn of an American awakening. With our bodies united in resistance and our voices coalesced into one sustained cry for justice, we can and must Stop the Machine and Create a New World!
It is very difficult for us to get honest information about democracy movements around the world from the U.S. corporate-controlled media. Please visit our website at www.October2011.org and keep us informed of your actions. We have called our action “Stop the Machine! Create a New World!” Together we will end concentrated corporatism and create a peaceful, just, and sustainable future that respects all of humanity and the planet.
Written by the October2011.org Movement, a coalition of individuals and organizations seeking to end corporatism and militarism in the United States.
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Here are the World People's Constitutional Justice accomplish right march strategy!
http://worldintelligence.webnode.com.ar/news/world-society-freedom-right...
My, My, My, Oct 2011 Coalition Planners,
Neither my wife nor myself nor both can afford to travel 3,000 miles to support the Oct 2011 Coalition in Washington DC. Nor can we afford to donate money to the cause.
We pay $1000 per month for health insurance. Deductible is $4500 per year for my wife and $4500 per year for me.
Four and five years ago, it was necessary for me to spend my full deductible for two years for treatment of a spinal disease. 2010 and 2011, if was necessary for my wife to spend her full deductible for two years for cancer treatment.
$1000 per month for four years equals $48,000. Deductible for four years equals $18,000. The total during the four years of ill health came to $66,000 and the $12,000 per year continues, plus another $200 to $300 per month co-pay for physical exams, lab tests, prescription and non-prescription medications, etc.
Asking folks to show up in Washington for Oct 2011 falls well short of practicality for many, perhaps most, who are most in need of a governmental shift away from serving the wealthy to serving the average United States citizen.
The average U.S. citizen is barely scraping along. Neither travel to Washington nor donation for the cause is within our means.
Your plan angers me for it is thoughtlessly ill-conceived, thus will fail, thus a few hundred million good folks will continue to suffer while their faux leaders neglect their needs and pander to mammon, whose wealth ensures that they remain in office to preserve and further a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
While your agenda is most commendable, satisfying human needs, I deem your methods, to this point, of accomplishing that agenda to be absolutely silly.
How about responsible and respectable people throughout the country, big and small town America, calling together and guiding many, many gatherings of folks (able to get there), folks dedicated to the well-being of the average American.
Moneyed backing is good. The, quite successful, Tea Party certainly has it.
Sincerely,
James Jarvis, a needy CA American among myriads of needy Americans in all states, including those who can make Oct 2011 in Washington DC (lucky them)
Hiya, James! While I agree that events such as these are very expensive and not typical for those who are scraping by, I completely understand why this event is in place and why it costs what it does. While people like us won't necessarily be able to attend, those with money who ARE attending clearly have our best interest in mind. These events cost money! With any luck, the attendees with money will be able to fight the good fight! With any hope, we'll be able to see affordability for new and various innovative treatments. It's also because of charities like these that we find a new alternative cancer treatment being released every so often. Let THOSE who CAN speak on our behalf. =)
You don't have to go to Dc. Last time I looked there was activity planned for LA, SF, SD and I'm sure quite a few other communities now or organizing. I sympathize with your medical problems, join the club, we are all suffering. Stop your complaining and get out there and do something to change the status quo.
I'm just curious how much backing we can muster since the tea party mobilization was largely done by huge, out there leaders like Glenn Beck with a devote following.
I hope I can make it to DC... I'm going to try, but my education also demands compliance as well.
I wish the cause the best, absolutely.
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Greetings James from North Carolina...yes we are in very difficult times...capitalism has us by our asses and soon they will smother us completely if we do not fight back in any way we are able to...I do not live as far as you do, I am 5 hours south of DC, it will cost me almost 200 dollars round trip, just for fuel.
Suffering by anyone should not be undermined...I would love to see my relatives and cousins from the reservations (where some of the poorest people in this country live) show up in great numbers or send at least one representative from each. Or have those living and working in migrant fields show up in force, ready to give their time to protest...I could go on with those who need to be there, especially those of us who suffer from poverty or just hanging on by a very fine thread.
I am a disable Native woman who is in constant pain...I have not had a job in years and am disabled and no income of my own, not even SSDI and not yet old enough for SSI...my survival is totally dependent on my partners income which adds up to nothing extra after our basic bills are paid.
I have had to pawn some items for gas money, so I can drive around my area and travel to DC and can only hope my vehicle withstands the trip up... Even driving in my area, largely rural is costly...fuel is expensive.
While it would be great if, all of us who are suffering tremendous hardships and suffering...could be given a stipend or pay for our transportation cost (Food I understand will be donated), but the reality is this is ultimately about us, those who are suffering the most and in my thinking we have to try in any way we can to be there.
It is important to ask others to help us... collectively and individually and it is most important to understand that none of us are in this alone. We all have our reality and it is a painful gloomy one.
Too, I am no longer that young healthy person who has more flexibility, or energy.
Going to DC will be a huge sacrifice for my family and me. BUT I will be there.
If we are to change our situation, we have to take that ultimate sacrifice...for me I see this mobilization as our last chance to turn things around. To get rid of the capitalist system once and for all. It is crashing and we can help bring it down, so we can start building a new and better world. But first we will have to make even harder sacrifices then the ones we are forced to make every day to just eek out a living.
We need justice, and human rights here at home, as do those who are forced to endure the daily onslaught of US/NATO bombs.
All I have left that I own is my dignity and fighting back, joining those in DC or Occupation Wall Street is a matter of life and death. We must fight for life, quality of life for ALL of us.
I do know when we see a fight that we think is just as much ours as the next person's, feeling at a loss to not be able to contribute adds to our frustrations, and to our suffering, but we have to figure out what role we each can play to help fight for ourselves and for others.
I will fight for you and your wife, as I will all my relatives, cousins and comrades who may not be able to for what ever their reasons.
"If there is no struggle there is no progress... Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will... -- Frederick Douglas
thanks for this. I agree with what you write, and think many of the people in DC will be local, or people who are financially and logistically able to come and stay.
That being said, I do want to let you know that there ARE local actions being planned on Oct 15th (http://warisacrime.org/content/united-national-antiwar-committee-unac-announces-plans) so you may find something near you or plan your own.
also, it will hopefully be possible for those unable to get to DC to act in solidarity locally, be it by internet, phone etc. any ideas you have for this are welcome.
lastly, there is something being planned in San Francisco for west coast folks who can't come out.
peace,
catarina
When my 20 yr old son, now living in CO, remarked, "there's nothing I can do; I can't change anything. All I can do is work, pay taxes; "they" (govt) are in charge of everything..." I knew I had failed him & his sister. I didn't show them or teach them how American democracy is supposed to work. I didn't fully convey that our govt is OF, FOR and BY the people; us, the "common folk." So I told him what I was going to do, and he is now afraid for me. Afraid I'll be arrested & jailed. Afraid I'll be noticed & monitored as a "threat" to the govt because of what I am speaking out about now. I told him, "yes. I may be. But it will be worth it to give you the kind of country I was born into, and that you & your sister deserve."
What am I doing? I'm voicing my opinion on social media (twitter, FB) loudly. I am calling these politicians for what they are: Corporatists ARE fascists. THAT is what "corpocracy is- govt controlled by corporate rule IS fascism. And Fascist leaders are anti-American; they are traitors. They are committing treason. Plain & simple.
What else am I doing? I'm attending October2011 for as long as possible. I'm bringing a tent & cooler of food & water. I'm asking for donations from those that can't go, but support the action, from my social contacts- because I am a single mother, and I am disabled & on "entitlement" income. To make it possible, I'm giving legal custody of my 12 yr old daughter, my sweet beloved baby, to my sister...so that I can carry my voice & the voice of others like me, to Washington DC.
I'm doing this as the most loving thing I can do for my children's future. To give them the country where Democracy was born, and where every voice has a say in how we are governed. I'm willing to chain myself to my wheelchair & willing to be arrested & jailed. For my children.
I so agree with you!! I have 2 children in their 20s & the first grandchild on the way.
I have sat back & watched this country slowly deteriorate ever since JFK was assasinated for trying to stand up for our rights. I was only 5 at the time, but remember how much my parents supported him. He was a visionary who saw where our country was headed & sacrificed his life in defense of our rights. We have not had a leader with that level of integrity & courage since then.
I have been part of the problem by allowing myself to be brainwashed by the elite who control everything in this world...government(all branches), banks, education, healthcare, corporations, etc. I did not even realize how much I had been deceived until recently. Now that I know, it is time to take a stand. I want to make this world an even better place for my children, than how I found it. One way I know I can do that is to join the occupation of Freedom Plaza. If we ALL stand together in this, what choice do they have? WE ARE THE PEOPLE, not the 1% that control 99% of the worlds wealth!!
Beautiful!
Willing to sacrifice for your children, for the next generation, to take the stand for what is rightfully theirs.
God speed!
It would be good idea if only OUR troops were standing beside us to REMOVE the corporate occupiers from OUR offices and buildings! IF Americans REALLY want to shut it down? Cut the cord and STOP buying ANY of their products! the ONLY thing any of these criminals understand is ...NO money! Want to get their attention? Organize a massive strike like Iceland and then after you shut them down...PROSECUTE all of the treasonous traitors and co! They ALL belong in THEIR prisons for profit! STOP giving them your money for their garbage, including airline tickets!
I think we are making progress with the elite getting the message, but we must continue & not back down. You are right about our troops & I think a lot of them are beginning to realize that. You are also right about us not buying their products. I say we all stop buying anything, unless it's absolutely necessary & even then only buy products made in the USA. We should ALL stop paying income tax, it is illegal anyway!! Maybe even stop paying mortgages & other debts to banks & corporations. I don't know what it will take to make them listen, but we might have to temporarily sacrifice our comfort in order to bring about a change. If we stand together, they cannot defeat us!!
October 6, 2011 falls on a Thursday. My prediction is that on the following Sunday afternoon (assuming any attendees honoring their pledge of non-violence actually make it that far without a broken nail or paper cut) approximately 15% of our brave patriots will strap on one of those cutesy bike helmets and Trek away to the Starbucks nearest their Georgetown flat to [blog|brag] ad nauseum about their bold defiance ... another 15% will text their chauffeurs to bring 'round the limo then champagne-celebrate their stand against "the Man" (for them, "Daddy") all the way home to Manhattan ... and the remaining 70% will linger on for a few more hours--betrayed, stunned and bewildered--only to ultimately be arrested, catalogued and released or simply swept away to catch the next bus home, where their reward for allowing themselves to be sold out will be the loss of their jobs and what little remains of what they fancifully called their own...
Prove Me Wrong, Sheeple: For Once, Prove Me Wrong
To What Good Purpose in Nature's Awesome Earth do you think your comment above serves in any way to help Our Common Struggle?
As I struggle to be somewhat Unitarian about it, my further reply to your trollism is to write: Iron, you shot your Bolt spewing less than useless RUST!
IronBoltBruce's earlier posting served a purpose, as does one of his latest:
###
MY PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
I hereby openly and before God and the Kleptocracy endorse and stand ready to support the "Occupy Wall Street" event:
https://occupywallst.org/users/ironboltbruce/
I also hereby reverse my previous position and guidance, and reinstate my support for the "Stop the Machine" event:
http://october2011.org/statement
I recognize that in so doing I am allying myself with people who do not share all of my political beliefs, that I will be standing side-by-side in protest with those of the Far Left - including Communists, Socialists and Anarchists - as well as those of the Far Right - including Libertarians, Tea Partyists and Ron Paulists - and that their race, ethnicity and name for the Almighty may differ from mine. But politics makes for strange bedfellows, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all who join this protest agree that our Ruling Omnipotent Fascist Kleptocracy is the enemy of all Mankind.
I ask those more closely associated with these events to consider me at their disposal to support to the limits of my resources and abilities any and all actions - including non-violent civil disobedience - aimed at toppling the Kleptocracy, exposing the truth about 9/11, repealing the Patriot Act, reversing Citizens United v. FEC, ending our perpetual wars for oil and profit, retrieving the trillions of dollars stolen from or made burden of the taxpayers, and restoring Jeffersonian Democracy and the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America.
Lastly, I recognize that making this pledge public may have ramifications including and not limited to being placed on no-fly or other surveillance lists, and for that I say Big Brother be damned: I do this for my grandchildren, in hopes they can grow up as free citizens rather than indentured slaves.
WILL YOU JOIN ME?
https://occupywallst.org/signup/
###
Source: http://wp.me/p19dS3-9o
I know it is hard to have any hope in our species. Please don't give up. they made it this way ( economically enslaved/weakened) on purpose! Pass it on to the youth, educate, inform, because they are being lied to in schools! I know one can get discouraged, as I hear people everyday say how its too late, or 30 people cannot do it etc. 300 million CAN do it! If for ONE day (to start) Americans did NOT buy anything and threw their breakers etc. Imagine... Please don't give up!
I agree with you Kimberly...We must not give up!! I think the situation has gotten so bad in the USA, that we have no choice. Although for the most part the media is ignoring what is happening on Wall Street & some are getting arrested illegally, for the most part, they are making their point!! They have not backed down yet. I will personally be in Washington. I encourage everyone else who possibly can to join me.
Obviously, the struggle for democracy in Egypt is not over. But, there would not be a struggle if one, then thousands, then millions of beings hadn't answered the call to come out into the streets. How many held Tahir Square until change really happened? 10-20,000? Imagine.
The only thing "they" did was to facilitate abdication of my power to "them". If we really want it...
Tahrir square was only the symbol, still it held 2 millions Egyptians for 18 days from 25 january to 11 Fevruary, the day Mubarak fell. In all of Egypt there was 12 millions in the streets for these 18 days.
Bruce, your assessment of those who attend this protest and how long they will stay may be mostly accurate. But the fact of the matter is that not everyone who attends *can* stay as long as others. Some who participate are struggling every day to pay bills, take care of children, buy food, etc. for themselves and families.
The simple act of getting to D.C. may be a financial strain on many, even those who sincerely want to be there and who understand the importance of this.
Yes, there will be many who show up with their Starbucks coffee, driving the Beemer, etc. So what? Maybe they are sincere in their support, maybe not. It's not for us to judge.
And it certainly isn't ours to judge those who come by bus, broken down car, bike, or walk and who can't stay past a day or so. The fact that they show up is important. The fact that they are making their voice heard, even if only for a brief time, in the capitol of the oligarchy is important. Don't denigrate the efforts of others or presume to judge motives based on your past experiences or your own biases. This is a new, powerful, potentially history making event. We should welcome anyone who agrees with us.
I only say all of this because I am one of those who will be there only for a day or two. I have a family to take care of and provide for and can't be away for long. But I will make my voice heard in Washington, despite the expense of getting there. Please don't dismiss my (or others) participation as any less than yours or others or as anything less than complete support. That's just another example of the division that already exists. And, as far as I can tell, this is about coming together to make significant change.
In my country, Philippines, when our people had enough of the dictatorship of the late president Marcos, people came together to protest against his regime. Arms locked in the streets the non-violent protest grew in numbers as the days went by until it became a revolution (EDSA Revolution) and
brought down a tyrant.
Did it change anything? Faces changed in the seats of power, Philippines still the same or maybe worst!
Hi, Bruce - Being aware of the plethora of issues is NOT Enough! Writing to the powers that be is NOT enough! Refusing to participate in 'the machine' is NOT enough!
WE MUST ACT AS ONE TO AFFECT CHANGE
This will be hard, because SO MANY AMERICANS earn SO MUCH MONEY by adding to the ever-growing federal DEBT. And you better believe that these folks know how to get the vote out! Oh yes!! The largest proportion of the voting populace gets out there every time to ensure their parasitic lifestyle is not threatened, while every year there are fewer of us left on the outside looking in, paying our taxes and working to support these folks.
Who, among us, will be the first to refuse this 'free' money, or shall we call it what it really is - 'yen', not 'dollar'?
Let's see, when China invades Taiwan and the USA wants to get involved, will they really loan us the money we will need to attack them back?? That is just a sample of how crazy things really ARE!!
As in Pogo, "We have met the enemy, and he is us!"
We used to shout - "The Streets Belong To The People!" haha!! Not for long! In many states they've already been privatized!! -
(just as your drinking water supply will be Very Soon! BEWARE! or, at least Be Aware!)
Then you will REALLY see people ready and willing to kill one another!! You can't drink oil, (and look at what we, as a nation, will do for That Shit!) but you MUST drink Water!!
So, Brother Bruce, I'll be there - and I'll stay there. And, I hope I will see you there - love, peace and hope to you- mariel
ps Not arriving by limo! (what kind of sheeple do you hang around with, anyway?!)
I LOVE IT...See ya there!!
you'll need power. You'll need the military's support for the revolution to succeed.
Dann Rivera, right on the button!!! Note Veterans for Peace continual activism, note former Col.Andrew Bacevich's lectures and recent books, note some Military Men's explanation of 9/11 "truths", Never forget Gen. Smedley Butler or Pres. Eisenhower's Farewell Speech and check out a four-star general's(Wesley Clark) 2004 presidental primary candidate's campaign comments to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco about the horrible realities of the 1999 Neocon Edict-come-true:Arrogant,Exceptionalist,AUTHORITARIAN, demands for an Endless War on Terror as Divine Right, as dictated in The Project for a New American Century!
When the time is right, why not expect tens of thousands more servicefolk to come out into the sunlight of peaceful outcomes! AND ALL TOGETHER IT WILL GET DONE, PERHAPS LATER THAN SOONER!