In a few days, we will gather for the National Occupation of Washington, DC. This spring, the focus will be on next steps to build an independent nonviolent movement for transformation of our society.  Participants will make connections with occupiers from around the country, will acquire skills, knowledge, ideas and resources for organizing in their local communities and will engage in direct action to bring attention to issues of concern to the 99%.

NOW DC will kick off with a march to the EPA for a rally to demand that the EPA does its job to protect people and the planet instead of protecting corporate profits and to stop the war on whistleblowers. Dr. Helen Caldicott and Ralph Nader will join whistleblowers Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Susan Morris at the rally. Noam Chomsky urges you to be there in this new video statement.

Over the weekend, we will join Occupy the Department of Education and the Backbone Campaign will hold a direct action training to plan for creative actions on foreclosure and college debt. On Saturday, March 31^st, we hope to hold a peacekeeper training session in Washington.  We still need 9 more peacekeeper volunteers in order to hold this training. If you are able to volunteer as a peacekeeper, please contact peacekeepers@nowdc.org.

The first 2 weeks of NOW DC will focus on education, beginning on April 2^nd with a full-day strategy conference called “Controlling the Corporations” at the Center for the Study of Responsive Law.  This conference is free and open to the public. Advance registration is requested. Following that will be the NOW DC Social Forum. The schedule of workshops and panels is available.  The social forum is also free. Please let us know if you will be there by sending a note to rsvp@nowdc.org.

NOW DC is organized by occupiers from all across the country. This is an all-volunteer effort and all events, including the OccuFest, are free and open to the public. We need your support in order for this to be a success. If you plan to participate in NOW DC, please volunteer by contacting volunteer@nowdc.org. If you cannot participate, please support if you are able by making a donation.

The racism that connects these murders

Winning justice for the murders of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi means challenging the racism at the heart of U.S. society, writes Khury Petersen-Smith.

March 27, 2012

Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi
FOLLOWING THE news these days is like witnessing a parade of horrors. As soon as you regain your composure after being disturbed by an incident of racist violence, another comes into view.
Each day is bringing new details about the murder of Trayvon Martin, the Black teenager killed by racist vigilante George Zimmerman, whose body was drug-tested and classified as a "John Doe" by Sanford, Fla., police, as his parents desperately searched for their missing son. The same police department has allowed Zimmerman to go about his business without arrest.
On March 14, a few weeks after Trayvon's murder, police in Del City, Okla., killed Dane Scott Jr., an 18-year-old Black man, after pulling him over for a traffic stop. Scott--who the cops say was armed when they killed him, although no weapon has been produced--was shot in the back by police. He is among the latest African Americans killed by police this year, in a long list that includes Ramarley Graham in New York City, and Stephon Watts and Rekia Boyd in Chicago.
Then came the murder of Shaima Alawadi on March 21, one week after Dane Scott Jr. died.
The mother of five was viciously beaten into unconsciousness with a tire iron in her home in El Cajon, Calif. She died five days later after being removed from life support. According to Shaima's daughter, who discovered her mother's body, the killer left a note near Shaima, an Iraqi Muslim who wore a hijab, which read in part, "Go back to your country, you terrorist."
Yet police said in a statement, "Evidence thus far leads us to believe this is an isolated incident."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SPEAKING ABOUT the murder of Trayvon Martin, President Barack Obama said that we would all have to do some soul-searching to ask how such a killing could happen. But an honest look at racism in the U.S. reveals that these killings are neither isolated, nor complicated, nor surprising.
Trayvon, Shaima and others are the latest victims of a deeply bigoted society, and their killings are the bitter fruits of the most recent trends in institutional racism.
Racist violence has been a feature of U.S. society since the founding of the country. Both before and well after 1776, establishing the U.S. involved settling a land that already had inhabitants--the indigenous of America were subjected to a racist genocide. The enslaved Black population endured tremendous violence. And wave after wave of immigrants to the U.S. has been met by racist brutality.
In other words, racist violence in the U.S. is as old as the country itself.
One particular form that racism has taken recently is the criminalization of Blacks and Muslims.
The past 40 years has seen the mass incarceration of Black people on a level unheard-of in the U.S. or internationally. According to anti-racist legal scholar and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Michelle Alexander, there are more Black people currently incarcerated in the U.S. than there were Blacks in prisons in South Africa at the height of apartheid.
A central part of the effort to lock up so many Black people has been ideological. Through government policies, policing and the media, "Black" has become associated with "thug."
The same institutions are responsible, particularly since the September 11 terror attacks and the launching of the "war on terror," for making "Muslim" synonymous with "terrorist." Untold numbers of Muslims and Arabs have been detained, interrogated and deported since 2001.
The mainstream media and the political elite have been enthusiastic partners in whipping up a racist frenzy about the supposed Muslim terrorist threat. They are the ones who should take Obama's words about soul-searching to heart--the policymakers in the Obama administration (and Bush's, and every administration before that), and the media executives whose TV news channels nightly portray Blacks as criminals and whose newspapers promote fear of Arabs and Muslims and celebrate the invasions of their countries of origin.
Another contributing factor to the climate of racism today has been the behavior of the right wing during the 2008 election campaign and after.
As it became clear that their bid for the presidency was a losing one, the 2008 Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin increasingly invoked racism to attack Barack Obama and mobilize the hard-core right wing of the party.
McCain rallies became notorious as places where Nazis were welcome and calls for the murder of Obamawere tolerated. Meanwhile, right-wing media personalities like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity preached a doomsday scenario if a Black man actually became president. On the night Obama was elected, racists burned a Black church to the ground in Springfield, Mass.--one of many on a list of hate crimes that coincided with Obama's election.
Yet the Obama administration has been virtually silent about the rise of hate crimes and the climate of open racism tolerated in American politics. All of these things set the stage for the latest racist killings.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IT'S IRONIC that African Americans on the one hand and Arabs and Muslims on the other are cast as the violent threats to an otherwise peaceful American society. It's obvious to anyone paying attention that these groups are subjected to violence.
Among the tragic aspects of Shaima's murder this month is the fact that she and her family emigrated here from Iraq, a country made barely habitable by two--count them, two--U.S. invasions in the last quarter century and an occupation that falls on the list of crimes against humanity in world history.
Together, these killings are revealing a nightmare of a society, with racist violence as a feature of daily life.
That racism must be rooted out. As disturbing as the news has been over the past few weeks, the antiracist solidarity that is growing in response to these crimes is very heartening. There have been rallies and marches across the country demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, and people everywhere are using social media to communicate about the killings and show solidarity with victims of racism.
There is nothing new about the police murder of unarmed Black people or hate crimes against Blacks, Arabs and Muslims. What is inspiring today is that many people are drawing a line with these recent incidents--and deciding that they will not go unchallenged.
Justice for Trayvon and Shaima will require far more than the arrest and prosecution of their killers. We have a whole set of racist institutions to take on and destroy. As anti-racists, we need to take these killings as a call to action and this moment as an opportunity to revive a tradition of relentlessly fighting oppression.
If racism is a central feature of U.S. history, struggle against it has been as well. We must rebuild, deepen and strengthen that struggle.
via:The Socialist Worker

National Occupation of Washington, DC Lifts Occupy to New Levels Through Powerful Education of the Movement

The National Occupation of Washington, DC Seeks to Lift Occupy to New Levels With Powerful Educational Programs

The National Occupation of Washington, DC which begins on March 30th and ends on April 30th will include protests, music and art but its anchor is education of the movement.

The major educational activities begin on April 2nd with the "Control the Corporation" conference at the Carnegie Institute of Washington.  The conference organized by the Center for the Study of Responsive Law was designed for the Occupy and will include how people can work toward controlling corporations impact on elections, slow privatization, create better paying jobs and mobilize for the future.  The full schedule is below or at http://nowdc.org/content/control-corporation.  Please register in advance at http://csrl.org to help planning for food and space.

Over two weeks the NOW DC Social Forum will hold more than 70 sessions where members of the Occupy and their allies will examine the first six months of the movement and discuss what worked, and what did not work.  Also discussed will be how labor and Occupy can work together more effectively, what strategy and tactics are most effective, how the Occupy can work with the media, as well as create its own media.  A range of economic issues including job creation, co-operatives, sustainable and local economies, health care, energy, biodiversity and food production will be examined as will issues of war and empire.  Goals, strategies and tactics of the Occupy will be examined in multiple sessions.  The full schedule can be seen below or at http://nowdc.org/content/social-forum-schedule.

"We want occupiers to share information, network and learn so they can bring new information and skills back to their Occupation.  This is an opportunity to lift the Occupy to a new level of strategy, activity and cohesion," said Margaret Flowers, MD, one of the organizers of NOW DC and one of the original organizers of the Occupation at Freedom Plaza, www.OccupyWashingtonDC.org.

"With twenty-six occupations voting solidarity with NOW DC and Occupiers from across the country organizing these events, this is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to learn from each other.  And, the DC community is rich with advocacy talent that can add to the already impressive skills in Occupy," said Kevin Zeese, also an organizer of NOW DC and of Occupy Washington, DC.

For more information on the overall National Occupation see www.NOWDC.org. The calendar, which continues to grow, includes not only the educational activities but other actions, http://nowdc.org/calendar.  And, the OccuFest, a music and arts celebration of Occupy on April 14th and 15th, can be seen here: http://nowdc.org/content/occufest-information. 

Control the Corporation

April 2, 2012 8am-6pm

Carnegie Institute of Washington

1530 P Street NW

Washington, DC 20005

 

To register for Control the Corporation go here: http://csrl.org (this will help plan food and space for the day).
The Agenda:
8:00     Registration & Breakfast
8:45     Welcome – Ralph Nader
9:00     Countering the impact of corporate control of the electoral process
            Bob Edgar – President, Common Cause
            Theresa Amato – Executive Director, Citizen Works
            Rob Richie – Executive, Director Fair Vote
            Lou Dubose – Editor, The Washington Spectator
            Harvey Wasserman – Anti-Nuclear Activist
10:10   Holding corporations accountable for their crimes
            Russell Mokhiber – Editor, Corporate Crime Reporter
            Bill Black – Professor, University of Missouri School of Law – KC
            Patrick Burns – Director of Communications, Taxpayers Against Fraud
            Kent Greenfield – Professor, Boston College Law
            Carl Mayer– Mayer Law Group
11:15   Protecting the “Commons” from the insatiable advocates of privatization
            Phineas Baxandall – Federal Tax and Budget Policy Analyst for US PIRG
            David Morris – Vice President, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
            Wenonah Hauter – Executive Director, Food & Water Watch
            Jamie Love – Director, Knowledge Ecology International
            Margaret Flowers –Congressional Fellow and co-chair of the Maryland chapter of  Physicians for a    
            National Health Program
12:15 LUNCH
1:00     Occupy the Future
            Christopher Hedges – TruthDig columnist
            Kevin Zeese – National Occupation of Washngton, DC
            Robert Weissman – President, Public Citizen
            Dean Baker – Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
2:05     Creating economic models that provide jobs/Increasing minimum wage
            Gar Alperovitz – Professor of Political Economy, UMD
            Greg LeRoy – Executive Director, Good Jobs First
            Dimitra Doukas – author of Worked Over
            Gayle McLaughlin– Mayor, Richmond CA
            Alexis Baden-Mayer –Political Director, Organic Consumers Association
3:15     Mobilizing for Action
            Ralph Nader – Consumer advocate
            Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman – Executive Director and Founder , SumOfUs
            Tom O’Brien – United Steelworkers
            Michael Gecan – Industrial Areas Foundation
            David Freeman – former head of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Sacramento Municipal Utility District
            (SMUD), Power Authority State of New York.
4:30     Reception

NOW-DC Social Forum
Friends Meeting of Washington, DC 
2111 Florida Ave., NW (near DuPont Circle)

Please at rsvp@nowdc.org

Schedule of Workshops
April 3-5 & April 10-13

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

9 AM - 11 N

Workshop A3.1: PR and messaging: Re-shaping the occupy narrative Track 2 We will look at the current occupy narrative and mainstream view of the movement, and then give an overview of how mainstream media works and delve into tools and strategies that Occupy can utilize to craft and convey its own narrative to the public.  Alex Pio, Occupy Portland

Workshop A3.2: BioDemocracy: Using the Tools of Direct Democracy – Ballot Initiatives, Local Laws and Direct Action -- to Throw the Bums Out & Heal the Planet Track 4 OCA explains use of grassroots tools of Direct Democracy – Ballot Initiatives, Referendums and Recalls – to effectively challenge the hegemony of the "one percent," with examples of historic successes and explanation of the process behind the ballot initiative in CA to require the labeling of GMO foods – a move that poses a direct, meaningful threat to the power of Monsanto and Big Food Inc. Alexis Baden-Mayer, Organic Consumers Association

Workshop A3.3: Occupy Trading Cards Track 4 This workshop will introduce and create "Occupy Trading Cards" as a reflection and self-assessment tool, as a well as a tangible way to share “lessons learned” with others from the Occupy Movement.   Olivia Robinson, Jenny Graf Sheppard, Janelle Treibitz of the Occupy Trading Cards project

Workshop A3.4: Occupreneur Workshop: Creating an Employees Market Track 4 This workshop will discuss innovative strategies for employment, skill assessment, alternatives to corporate jobs, skills-building, and strategies for taking economic security back into our own hands. Roya Brown, Occupy Denver

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A3.5: Occupy and Electoral Politics  Track 1 Panelists will discuss their experiences using electoral politics as an organizing tool, the relationship between social movements and electoral politics and the state of electoral politics at present in the US. They will seek to answer if the Occupy Movement and electoral politics fit together and if so, what form that relationship would take. Margaret Flowers (moderator), Mark Dudzic, Sam Jordan, Kevin Zeese and Ian Williams

Workshop A3.6: Horizontal Structure and AA: Using the 12 Traditions as a guide Track 4 This workshop will present the 12 Traditions of AA as a guide to understanding horizontal structure and group discussion of its implications for Occupy groups. Bernadene Zennie, Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Washington, DC

Workshop A3.7: Capitalism is Organized Crime & Socialism is the Alternative Track 1 This workshop will discuss what socialism looks like and how it would address some of the most pressing issues facing the working class today, including unemployment, homelessness, mass incarceration, police brutality and the rising costs of health care and education.  Strategies for how workers can join the struggles to fight to shift power from the 1% ruling class to the 99% will be included.  The workshop will discuss the question of whether a revolution is possible in the United States. Radhika Miller 

Workshop A3.8: Robin Hood Tax USA: Banks Should Pay Their Fair Share Track 1 This workshop will introduce the rationale and plan of action for the Robin Hood Tax Campaign (aka Financial Transactions Tax) in the USA.  Update will be given on global campaign, progress in the USA, and opportunities for occupy action during global week of action, May 18-25. This small microtax on the financial sector has the power to raise billions of dollars every year. These funds could give a vital boost to job creation, education, and the fight against poverty in the USA – as well as, tackling poverty, end HIV/AIDS, and combating climate change around the world. Donna Smith National Nurses United and Paul Zeitz, ACT V: The End of AIDS, and others

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A3.9: The Institutional Labor Movement: What It Is and What It Isn't Track 5 Three longtime veterans on labor struggles from inside and outside of the labor movement, will lead a wide-ranging presentation and discussion about the labor movement and the challenge and opportunity that labor is faced with as a result of the Occupy movement. Mark Dudzic, Gene Bruskin, Dennis Serette 

Workshop A3.10: Left/Right Coalitions Against War and Empire Track 1 The workshop will explore the Right/Left coalition against war and empire as exemplified by ComeHomeAmerica and parts of the Ron Paul 2012 campaign. The Right/Left coalition may also extend into other areas, e.g. the effort to stop ObomneyCare which has been joined by the Right and by 50 physicians, favoring Single-Payer, who have filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court.  Civil liberties is another area where Left and Right can join forces. "Jacob Hornberger, The Future of Freedom Foundation. Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, The American Conservative magazine.  John V. Walsh, University of Massachusetts Medical School. "

Workshop A3.11: Achieving Independence From Corporations: Why and a Little How Track 1 Rather than depending on faceless, distant corporations to supply your most basic needs, find ways to supply them yourself—whether as an individual, a family, a community or an occupation. This workshop will talk about why it’s worth investing time and money on independence—or interdependence—along with some first steps toward controlling your own supplies of water, heat and shade, electricity, and food. Mary Wildfire

Workshop A3.12: Strategy, Conflict, & Creativity - Tools for Harmonizing Grassroots Power Track 3 In the wake of a tumultuous Fall and in anticipation of a vibrant Spring how will the populist uprising manifest and draw new members to the cause? How can we build movement identity that is sympathetic and inviting? Overcoming obstacles, misconceptions, and confusion about the nature of conflict, the activist-organizer's role in building movement power, and understanding grand strategic principles are essential if we are to deliver meaningful victories. Bill Moyer The Backbone Campaign

 

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A4.1: Cooperatives and Community Wealth: Building Blocks for a People-Centered Economy Track 4 A facilitated discussion on cooperatives and community wealth building as tools for creating a people-centered economy  Examples will include Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, a network of "green" worker-owend cooperatives that supply needed services to area hopsitals and universities, providing jobs and building wealth in commuities that suffer from high unemployment. Additionally, this workshop will provide information on resources and technical assistance providers that can assist with cooperative development and community wealth building in communities across the US. Steve Dubb, Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland

Workshop A4.2: The inner workings of Occupy: A practical look into organizational cultures and structures that make activism work Track 2  Occupy is a broad-based, non-hierarchical, participatory decision-making movement, comprised of a multitude of autonomous acting and loose-knit affinity groups. A number of mechanisms have developed to facilitate these functions. This workshop will cover what works and what doesn’t in different activist groupings in terms of structure (or lack thereof), organizational culture, decision-making mechanisms, internal communication and barriers to participation. Alex Pio, Occupy Portland

Workshop A4.3:

Workshop A4.4:

 

11 AM to 1 PM

Workshop A4.5: The Mystic Activist: Navigating the similarities, tensions, and compliments between social activism and personal transformation Track 6 This workshop explores the relationship between activism, which seeks to change the external social world, and spirituality, which seeks to change within.   How are these modes similar and different.  Do they compete?  Do they contradict one another?  Can they complement each other? Christopher Mandel

Workshop A4.6: Organizing 99ers, the Un, Under & Not Yet Employed to actively & publicly support a public works program Track 5 The goal of this workshop is to equip you with message tools, steps to integrate us into your current campaigns and specific outreach targets that can actually be used on the ground Kian Frederick

Workshop A4.7: Self determination in the belly of beast:popular education and lessons from movement history Track 2 Participatory workshop using social history timeline & small groups to explore lessons of esp. labor & black freedom struggles of 20th century for today’s movement – changes in society and how movements have to be located within historical conditions. Some exploration of occupy within current moment will also be included. Walda Katz-Fishman & Virginia Leavell

Workshop A4.8: The Right Time for Reviving the ERA Track 1 Why we need the Equal Rights amendment NOW! Dorli Rainey, National Lawyers Guild

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A4.9: Narrative Praxis: History & Critique Track 2 It is said that history is written by those who win... history is also what we live ... the stories we tell ourselves frame our conceptual understanding, personally and collectively. How we "frame" our experiences as members of the occupy movement, will ultimately become the story of our movement. This workshop will address issues of personal narrative, as a collective history, as well as a means to constructively critique the movement. In this workshop we will discuss social movements, media, and occupy, as well as the means by which we can use our personal stories to reflect upon and frame our movement as we move forward with the American Spring.  Chappell Howard

Workshop A4.10: Transforming Oppression: Confronting our History to Move Forward Track 2 Participatory workshop using social history timeline & small groups to explore reality of our history of oppression rooted in race/nationality, gender, and class in the US to move forward. some exploration of challenges of the  oppression of larger society coming into occupy spaces and why we have to confront that reality within current moment of our movement is to win. Walda Katz-Fishman, Anne Luna & Rebecca Mintz

Workshop A4.11: BFF's 4evr?  How Occupy and Labor can organize and win by giving up on love and strategically working on specific campaigns together Track 5 "Our goal is to equip you with a better understanding of why each organization functions as it does and to arm you with specific tools to to employ the strength of each group within your campaign " Kian Frederick

Workshop A4.12: Battle in the Pacific: The 99 Percent against the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPAA) Track 1 Now, after 18 years of offshoring jobs and growing public opposition to the same failed trade NAFTA model, U.S. trade officials are pushing a NAFTA with Asia  that not only replicates the worst of the past, but champions outrageous new corporate proposals that would cost  jobs, drive down wages, decrease access to medicine, worsen labor conditions and keep the same policies in place that caused the global economic crisis. Once again the 99 percent from the streets of Wall Street to Vietnam will pay the price. Join the movement and join those determined to fight corporate globalization and the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPAA). Brooke Harper, Global Trade Watch

Workshop A4.13: The Move to Amend strategy for winning real democracy in the U.S.A. Track 1 In October of 2009, a small group met in a living room to plan a response to the expected Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. Just over two years later, Move to Amend is the nation's leading, largest, and most diverse campaign for progressive constitutional reform. What are the goals of the Move to Amend, and how does this campaign expect to achieve them? This workshop tackles the political and organizational challenges that face this movement for constitutional reform, ranging from issues of capacity building, attempts at co-optation, debates over collaboration with the Right, the question of constitutional convention versus congressional action, and more. Move to Amend is history in the making. Ben Manski

 

Thursday, April 5, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A5.1: Fitting Occupy into the existing Activist ecosystem: If and how occupy should interact with nonprofits, unions, political organizations and other grassroots activism organizations Occupy does not exist in a vacuum, there are many other groups and organizations out there that share interests and values with Occupy. Who should occupy interact with? How can mutually beneficial relationships form without the threat of co-option? Join the discussion and share your ideas Alex Pio, Occupy Portland

Workshop A5.2: Ending Wall Street Health Care and Seeking Health Justice Track 1 This workshop will describe the consequences of market-driven health care and what health justice looks like using a human rights framework. Margaret Flowers, MD Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare-Now

Workshop A5.3: Campaign to Break up Bank of America Track 3 With the economy finally on the upswing, the federal government should learn from the mistakes of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent a similar disaster from occurring. Specifically, it should prevent banks from becoming so large, complex and interconnected that their failure would tank the economy—creating “too big to fail” institutions. The solution is to break them up and reform them so they are simpler, smaller and safer. That is the argument Public Citizen made in a petition to financial regulators with regard to the financial behemoth, Bank of America. Micah Hauptman Public Citizen

Workshop A5.4

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A5.5: ​How to Take Power Track 3 Strategies and tactics for moving beyond protest, toward co-managing the new world that is happening.  By Paul Glover, author of How to Take Power and other books, founder of more than a dozen community organizations and campaigns (including Ithaca HOURS local currency).  Paul Glover

Workshop A5.6: Occupy and the Article V Constitutional Convention Track 1 To educate participants about the history of Article V, developments of the past few years, and what it all means for occupations today. John de Herrera

Workshop A5.7: Health Care for the 99%: Organizing for Health Justice Track 1 This will focus on the movement assembly process at the community assembly level and how that fits into the bigger picture of movement building connecting to the World/US Social Forum as well. HC99% has been really strong in connecting with the local issues to bring the bigger picture. We will talk about the different tactics we've used to do that. Katie Robbins and Josh Startcher

Workshop A5.8: Ethics of Live Streaming in Direct Action Track 3 To address the internal confusion and danger that live streaming presents in direct action situations.  The concept of transparency vs solidarity will be addressed. This would be "most" benificial for those engaging in live streaming events but could also help participants determine if a particular live streamer is to be trusted.   Flux Rostrum

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A5.9: Battle in the Pacific: The 99 Percent against the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement Track 1 Now, after 18 years of offshoring jobs and growing public opposition to the same failed trade NAFTA model, U.S. trade officials are pushing a NAFTA with Asia  that not only replicates the worst of the past, but champions outrageous new corporate proposals that would cost  jobs, drive down wages, decrease access to medicine, worsen labor conditions and keep the same policies in place that caused the global economic crisis. Once again the 99 percent from the streets of Wall Street to Vietnam will pay the price. Join the movement and join those determined to fight corporate globalization and the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPAA). Brooke Harper Patterson, Global Trade Watch

Workshop A5.10: Alternative Currencies: Creating a Community Time Bank Track 4 Shira Jones (Anacostia Time Bank)

Workshop A5.11: League of Uninsured Voters (LUV) Track 3 The tough love strategy for winning health care access. "We don't send our signatures to Congress; we send our medical bills." And more!  Paul Glover, founder of health co-ops and author of Health Democracy

Workshop A5.12: Deep Politics and Deep Spirituality:  Three Case Studies in Facing the Demonic: Healthcare, 9/11, and Banking Track 6 We can only birth a new world by first facing our own shadow—especially the collective shadow—and then reconnecting with our truest heart. Humanity’s shadow work is, quite simply, a political and cultural battle over control of planet earth as we face off with the demonic and regressive dimensions of national and global politics. Byron Belitos

 

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Evening Event A5: 13 The Path to Victory: Roundtable on the Move to Amend after Citizens United v. FEC Track 1 Ben Manski and others at the Josephine Butler Center

 

SAT APRIL 7

Workshop A7.1 Metanoia: A change of heart Track 6 "The term derives from the Ancient Greek words μετά (metá) (meaning ""beyond"" or ""after"") and νόος (noeō) (meaning ""perception"" or ""understanding"" or ""mind""), and takes on different meanings in different contexts.

In the context of this NOW DC  workshop/discussion, we are using the term to mean a resulting ""change of heart"", brought on by experience. Join us for this workshop, discussion group and experiential delving into one of the most powerful aspects of human consciousness." Bernadene Zennie

 

 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A10.1: PR and messaging: Re-shaping the occupy narrative Track 2 This workshop begins by taking a look at the current occupy narrative and mainstream view of the movement. It continues to give an overview of how mainstream media works and delves into the tools and strategies that Occupy can utilize to craft and convey its own narrative to the public.  Alex Pio

Workshop A10.2: A Solution to Corporate GREED! Track 1 Corporations are the embodiment of what is wrong with out economic system.  The Corporation is the repository of much of our nations wealth.  It is hidden in “retained earnings,” and used to manipulate our political leaders and skew the tax system.  I will present a direct and comprehensive solution for freeing up the capital needed for American Job growth.   Jerome Pelloquin

Workshop A10.3: Occupy Movement: Vision, Grand Strategy and Tactics Track 2 So much is happening in the Occupy Movement. How will these activities lead to the end of corporate rule and create a participatory democracy so that the 99% has more control over and benefit from public policy? We will discuss the vision that unifies us, the rationale for a nonviolent grand strategy and the diversity of tactics which serve that grand strategy. Margaret Flowers, Kevin Zeese and Rich Rubenstein

Workshop A10.4: Common, Universal Strategic Plan for a Peaceful, Prosperous, Just World Track 1 "This workshop will describe and refine the proposed  Common, Universal Strategic Plan for a Peaceful, Prosperous, Just World which is outlined on WeThePeopleNow.org.  This Strategic Plan provides short and long term actions with clear goals and a grand strategy for occupiers and other individuals and organizations interested in progress, change and reform. Ron Fisher

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A10.5: How to Handle the Media Track 3 The mainstream media is looking for a story. How can you give them one? And how can you craft your message so they won't mess it up? (Well, no guarantees on that last one!)  Join Lisa Simeone for a candid discussion on the media and how it works. Lisa Simeone

Workshop A10.6: Occupreneur Workshop: Creating an Employees Market Track 4 This workshop will discuss innovative strategies for employment, skill assessment, alternatives to corporate jobs, skills-building, and strategies for taking economic security back into our own hands. Roya Brown

Workshop A10.7: Whistleblowing Track 1 Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

Workshop A10.8:

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A10.9: The Mystic Activist: Navigating the similarities, tensions, and compliments between social activism and personal transformation Track 6 This workshop explores the relationship between activism, which seeks to change the external social world, and spirituality, which seeks to change within.   How are these modes similar and different.  Do they compete?  Do they contradict one another?  Can they complement each other? Christopher Mandel

Workshop A10.10: Occupy Our Stories-Workshop Writing Project Track 2 Life in the Liberated Zone’s approach for getting to the truth about our lives and experiences is the collective creative writing of our stories. This workshop will be offered for folks who want to go into depth with the Occupy Our Stories writing process. Julie Barnet

Workshop A10.11: Occupy and the Justice Department: End Mass Incarceration Track 3 This Teach-In on mass Incarceration and the repressive apparatus of the state will explore how we can build a united front to end mass incarceration and the criminalization of black and latino men, immigrants, muslims, whistle-blowers, and radicals. This panel will build for a civil disobedience action and demonstration already scheduled for April 24 in front of the Department of Justice on the birthday of former deathrow prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal's eloquent writing and defiant voice in the face of state repression has for the last 30 years taught us all something about courage and the human spirit's inclination toward freedom. His message articulates our highest aspirations as a society. On April 24, we will bring our fighting  spirit to the DOJ and our  desire to live in and create a decent and different world.  Johanna Fernandez CUNY Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Workshop A10.12: How to minimize the impact of Infiltration on the Occupy Movement Track 2 Throughout US history, social movements have been infiltrated. The Occupy Movement is challenging concentrated wealth and empire. We will discuss how to recognize infiltration and how to minimize the impact while maintaining the strengths of the Occupy Movement. Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, OccupyWDC

 

 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A11.1: The inner workings of occupy: A practical look into organizational cultures and structures that make activism work Track 2 Occupy is a broad-based, non-hierarchical, participatory decision-making movement, comprised of a multitude of autonomous acting and loose-knit affinity groups. A number of mechanisms have developed to facilitate these functions. This workshop will cover what works and what doesn’t in different activist groupings in terms of structure (or lack thereof), organizational culture, decision-making mechanisms, internal communication and barriers to participation. Alex Pio

Workshop A11.2: Building the Movement from the Ground Up: Local Communities Standing Up to Courts & Corporate Power The political strategy behind "rights-based" organizing and examples of where the strategy has resulted in towns passing laws encompassing the right to local self-governance, the rights of nature, and the denial of corporate constitutional rights. Ruth Caplan, Alliance for Democracy

Workshop A11.3:

Workshop A11.4:

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A11.5: Narrative Praxis: History & Critique Track 2 It is said that history is written by those who win... history is also what we live ... the stories we tell ourselves frame our conceptual understanding, personally and collectively. How we "frame" our experiences as members of the occupy movement, will ultimately become the story of our movement. This workshop will address issues of personal narrative, as a collective history, as well as a means to constructively critique the movement. In this workshop we will discuss social movements, media, and occupy, as well as the means by which we can use our personal stories to reflect upon and frame our movement as we move forward with the American Spring.  Chappell Howard

Workshop A11.6: Transformational Strategies: Occupy Politics, Shifting Toward A New Society  Track 1 "The Occupy Movement: Demonstrations of Discontent,  Linking Goals and Strategies: Reopening the Dialogue: Why Vote? The Teach-In will include plenty of time for discussion, Q&A and productive debate on each of these areas." People For A New Society (PFANS)

Workshop A11.7: Robin Hood Tax USA: Banks Should Pay Their Fair Share Track 1 This workshop will introduce the rationale and plan of action for the Robin Hood Tax Campaign (aka Financial Transactions Tax) in the USA.  Update will be given on global campaign, progress in the USA, and opportunities for occupy action during global week of action, May 18-25. This small microtax on the financial sector has the power to raise billions of dollars every year. These funds could give a vital boost to job creation, education, and the fight against poverty in the USA – as well as, tackling poverty, end HIV/AIDS, and combating climate change around the world. Donna Smith and Paul Zeitz

Workshop A11.8: US on the war path: Current and future acts of aggression Track 1 David Swanson and ??

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A11.9: Community-Based Accountability and Restorative Justice in the Occupy Movement Track 2 It's no secret that factionalism, oppression, and direct violence have threatened the Occupy movement from within while state force threatens it from without. This workshop is about addressing internal conflict in a constructive and nonviolent way that is non-reliant on state structures. We will focus on efforts that have thus far been made at Occupy D.C. as well as the potential to expand this work to other Occupy locations and to the broader progressive community. Matt Johnson, Jenn Polish, Makeda Crane & Walda Katz Fishman

Workshop A11.10: Re-Envisioning Our Future: Models & Values For A Cooperative New Society Track 4 "Understanding The Present: Economic/Cultural/Political Basis and The Meme of Capitalism 

Envisioning  An Alternative: Re-thinking Everything;  Build  A Meaningful Movement: Evolution Now!

Set the Goal: A New World To Win " People For A New Society (PFANS)

Workshop A11.11: Holding those who commit war crimes accountable Track 1 David Swanson, ??

Workshop A11.12:

 

 

Thursday, April 12, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A12.1: Fitting Occupy into the existing Activist ecosystem: If and how occupy should interact with nonprofits, unions, political organizations and other grassroots activism organizations Track 2 Occupy does not exist in a vacuum, there are many other groups and organizations out there that share interests and values with Occupy. Who should occupy interact with? How can mutually beneficial relationships form without the threat of co-option? Join the discussion and share your ideas Alex Pio

Workshop A12.2:

Workshop A12.3:

Workshop A12.4:

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A12.5: Battle in the Pacific: The 99 Percent against the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPAA) Track 1 Now, after 18 years of offshoring jobs and growing public opposition to the same failed trade NAFTA model, U.S. trade officials are pushing a NAFTA with Asia  that not only replicates the worst of the past, but champions outrageous new corporate proposals that would cost  jobs, drive down wages, decrease access to medicine, worsen labor conditions and keep the same policies in place that caused the global economic crisis. Once again the 99 percent from the streets of Wall Street to Vietnam will pay the price. Join the movement and join those determined to fight corporate globalization and the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPAA). Brooke Harper Patterson, Global Trade Watch

Workshop A12.6: Ethics of Live Streaming in Direct Action Track 3 To address the internal confusion and danger that live streaming presents in direct action situations.  The concept of transparency vs solidarity will be addressed. This would be "most" benificial for those engaging in live streaming events but could also help participants determine if a particular live streamer is to be trusted.  Flux Rostrum

Workshop A12.7: Transformational Strategies: Occupy Politics, Shifting Toward A New Society Track 1 "The Occupy Movement: Demonstrations of Discontent,  Linking Goals and Strategies: Reopening the Dialogue: Why Vote?The Teach-In will include plenty of time for discussion, Q&A and productive debate on each of these areas." People For A New Society (PFANS)

Workshop A12.8:

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A12.9: Alternative Currencies: Time Banks Track 4 Shira Jones (Anacostia Time Bank)

Workshop A12.10: State, County and City-Owned Banks and How They Can Fund the Sustainable Economy Track 1 "How could local governments reduce their borrowing costs and insure against interest rate volatility without putting themselves at the mercy of this Wall Street culture of greed?  One possibility is for them to own some banks.  State and municipal governments could put their revenues in their own publicly-owned banks; leverage this money into credit as all banks are entitled to do; and use that credit either to fund their own projects or to buy municipal bonds at the market rate.  It will include a review of the systemic peril of compound interest, the money creation powers of depository banks, and a review of the only public bank in the USA -- the Bank of North Dakota.  " Marc Armstrong & Ruth Caplan Public Banking Institute

Workshop A12.11: Re-Envisioning Our Future: Models & Values For A Cooperative New Society Track 4 "Understanding The Present: Economic/Cultural/Political Basis and The Meme of Capitalism;

Envisioning An Alternative: Re-thinking Everything;  Build  A Meaningful Movement: Evolution Now!

Set the Goal: A New World To Win " People For A New Society (PFANS)

Workshop A12.12:

 

 

Friday, April 13, 2012

 

9 AM - 11 AM

Workshop A13.1: Campaign to Boycott Wells Fargo and End the Prison Industrial Complex - the Root of Mass Incarceration in the US Track 3 "The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prison population.The private prison industry, financed by Wells Fargo and other Big Finance, wrote laws that keep 2.3 million people behind bars each day, nearly 60% people of color. Join the campaign to boycott Wells Fargo and end mass incarceration and abuse of people." Christopher Glenn, PEERS: Promoting Empowerment Education and Re-entry Solutions

Workshop A13.2:

Workshop A13.3:

Workshop A13.4:

 

11 AM - 1 PM

Workshop A13.5: Great Public Banking Debate: Should State & Local Governments Own Their Banks? Track 1 This debate will center on whether cities, counties and states should place public money (tax revenues, fees) into public institutions for the benefit of the public, or, if they should continue to use private bankers in this role.  Some feel that the creation of credit has too long been delegated to a cadre of private middlemen who have flagrantly abused the privilege.  Others feel that government cannot be trusted to run a bank. Let the debate begin! Marc Armstrong & Others

Workshop A13.6: Occupy Longview (WA) and the IWLU: How Occupy and Labor Can Help Each Other Track 5 "To establish and strengthen the link between Labor and Occupy, several issues will be discussed, including how to present your idea to your local GA, inter-Occupy communications, speaking to Union Officials and the rank and file, dealing with the media and realizing the strength of the Occupy movement.·         Accepting and dealing with the politics of Unions

·         Realizing the basic connection between Occupy and Organized Labor : We both want a better standard of living for the middle class.

·         Understanding Unions, and the law, Taft-Hartley, and the importance of Occupy

·         Picking the battle that we can all fight:  goes back to messaging too.

·         Public outreach, attending labor council meetings, flyer's, even door to door canvassing" Paul Nipper

Workshop A13.7: Creating an Impressive Banner Drop Track 3 We will create large banners and learn how to successfully create an impactful banner drop in the most unexpected places. Tarak Kauff

Workshop A13.8: From Tahrir Square to Liberty Square: Building a movement to end war for empire Track 1 This workshop will examine organizing strategies to build a mass movement within the United States that fights for equality and economic justice, and defends those struggling for independence around the world. Our organizing panel and discussion will explore common ties between the Occupy movement in the United States, and the struggle against U.S. imperialism. "Heather Benno ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)"

 

Lunch

 

2 PM - 4 PM

Workshop A13.9: Capitalism is Organized Crime & Socialism is the Alternative Track 1 This workshop will discuss what socialism looks like and how it would address some of the most pressing issues facing the working class today, including unemployment, homelessness, mass incarceration, police brutality and the rising costs of health care and education.  Strategies for how workers can join the struggles to fight to shift power from the 1% ruling class to the 99% will be included.  The workshop will discuss the question of whether a revolution is possible in the United States. Radhika Miller 

Workshop A13.10: BioDemocracy: Using the Tools of Direct Democracy – Ballot Initiatives, Local Laws and Direct Action -- to Throw the Bums Out & Heal the Planet Track 4 OCA explains use of grassroots tools of Direct Democracy – Ballot Initiatives, Referendums and Recalls – to effectively challenge the hegemony of the "one percent," with examples of historic successes and explanation of the process behind the ballot initiative in CA to require the labeling of GMO foods – a move that poses a direct, meaningful threat to the power of Monsanto and Big Food Inc. Alexis Baden-Mayer Organic Consumers Association

Workshop A13.11: Occupy Food Justice Track 4 A discussion of the actions done by OWS Occupy Food Justice working group such as the Seed Exchange and how to create community gardens in the city, compost and more! Dee Dee Maucher

Workshop A13.12:

 

Panel: 7 pm to 9:30 pm at Luther Place The 99% Deficit Proposal: How to create jobs, reduce the wealth divide and build a peaceful, just and sustainable society Track 1 Bill Hartung of Project for Defense Alternatives, Gar Alperovitz of the Democracy Collaborative, Kevin Zeese of ItsOurEconomy and Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program.

For Immediate Release

NOW DC

March 19, 2012

 

Occupy EPA Receives Support for American Spring!

 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor, Noam Chomsky, has given his full support and endorsement of the Occupy EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) demonstration and rally being held on March 30, 2012 outside EPA headquarters in Washington, DC.  Chomsky has written 100 books on U.S. foreign and domestic policy and is considered one of the preeminent intellectuals and activists of the 21^st Century.  Dr. Chomsky is preparing a promotional video encouraging public support of Occupy EPA and the occupy movement throughout the United States.

 

Occupation, civil rights, environmental, and community groups from around the country will launch the American Spring (AS) on Friday, March 30^th at 12:00 noon with a march from Franklin Square Park (13^th and I Sts, NW, Washington, DC) down 12^th Street to the EPA Headquarters at 12^th and Pennsylvania, where the rally will begin at 1:00 pm on the lawn in front of Lisa Jackson’s office at the EPA’s headquarters.        

 

The march will be lead by NOW DC organizers Dr. Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese and  EPA Whistleblowers Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo and Susan Morris.  Speakers will include:  Pediatricians, Drs. Helen Caldicott and Margaret Flowers; Lawrence Lucas from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Coalition of Minority Employees;  Alexis Baden-Mayer of Organic Consumers Association; activist Lisa Longo; Department of Energy Whistleblower, Joe Carson; a Gray Panthers representative; King Downing an anti-racial profiling attorney; Patrick McCann, a member of Veteran’s for Peace; and representatives from occupy groups.   

 

On Saturday, March 24^th, the Occupy EPA will also demonstrate outside the “D.C. Environ-mental Film Festival” to protest the appearance of Administrator Lisa Jackson at the National Museum of American History, where she will be introducing the documentary “Watershed” produced by Robert Redford’s son.  “Mr. Redford, an environmentalist of long-standing, must not be aware of Lisa Jackson’s war against Whistleblowers at the EPA and her poor and egregious civil rights record,” said Dr. Coleman-Adebayo, author of No Fear: A Whistleblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA.  “I am sure if Robert Redford knew what was going on at EPA against the employees and the poor communities and those of color that are being adversely impacted by Lisa Jackson’s policies, he would be appalled.” 

 

The Occupy EPA and NOW-DC groups have listed four demands that will be addressed at the demonstration that include:  An end to Lisa Jackson’s War Against Whistleblowers and victims of civil rights abuses at EPA; a reversal of the President’s decision on smog that will impact on millions of Americans to support corporate greed; environmental justice for poor communities and communities of color; an independent investigation into vanadium poisoning, fracking, mountaintop removal and other green crimes; and a demand that Lisa Jackson step down as the EPA Administrator. 

 

For more information, visit: www.occupyepa.com, nowdc.org and www.marshacoleman-adebayo.com; Contact: Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo (240-731-9577) or Dr. Margaret Flowers (410-591-0892)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OCCUPY POWER

 Schedule of Events

March 30 – April 1, 2012

 

Friday, March 30: Travel to Washington and set-up at Franklin Square

12:00 Noon -  march from Franklin Square Park to the EPA for a rally called "Protect the planet for a sustainable future" with OccupyEPA

1:30 pm -  march with OccupyDOE (Department of Energy) to the Capitol to end privatization of public schools

Saturday, March 31:  Peacekeeper Nonviolence Training

"Bail Out America" Direct Action Training

Occupy DOE Teach-ins

First NOW-DC General Assembly, Franklin Square Park

Doo-wop Dance Party

Gray Panthers Social Justice Gala

 

Sunday, April 1:  Veteran’s Peace Training 

Veteran's Peace Team training (must apply and be accepted by Veterans for Peace, limited spaces available for non-veterans)

Occupy DOE Teach-Ins

Monday, April 2:   Housing Direct Action

8:00 am – 6:00 pm - The Center for the Study of Responsive Law will be holding the “Control the Corporation Conference” at the Carnegie Institute of Washington.  This conference is open to people attending the NOW DC -- all occupiers welcome.  The conference will be held at 1530 P Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, April 3:  Education Direct Action 

Tuesday-Thursday - April 3 to 5:  NOW DC Social Forum: Phase I

Friday-Monday - April 6-9:  Occupy Faith Weekend

Saturday-Wednesday - April 10-14: NOW DC Social Forum: Phase II

Wednesday-Thursday - April 14-15: Celebrate Occupy Power with Music, Arts and Speakers

Friday, April 16 Onward: NOW DC Direct Action(s) - Nonviolent Marches and Rallies

Saturday - April 17: A17 Occupy Congress Mobilization 

Saturday - April 24: Occupy DOJ (Department of Justice)

Thursday-Friday, April 29-30 - Clean-up, After-Action and Depart

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2012 - National Day of Work Stoppage