from the editors of OccupyWallSt.org: we know times are tough, but if you're able, please click here to contribute. Share everywhere! Love, respect, and solidarity forever! <3
This campaign is for expanding crucial Occupy media efforts (we represent OccupyWallSt.org, Occupied Wall Street Journal, Occupy Together, @OccupyWallSt, OccupyWallSt Facebook page, etc.) as well as supporting direct action organizing. The people behind these crucial projects have been working on daily basis for nearly a year for little or no pay. Our goal is to help support them with living stipends so they can continue working without having to choose between going hungry or promoting social justice. We also believe that with modest compensation, these people will be able to focus and expand their efforts and help bring Occupy back into the public eye.
For this purpose, we've set up a 501c4 not-for-profit corporation known as The Occupy Solidarity Network, Inc. which is capable of both receiving and disbursing funds in a transparent manner that complies with US laws and regulations. This corporation was founded by day one organizers to avoid paying a fiscal sponsor. All resources raised by this campaign support the following proposal.
THE NEED
May 1st, 2012 had been planned for months, with actions that occurred all over the country. Yet, despite over 20K people on the streets both domestically and abroad, the mainstream news coverage was lackluster at best. However, with the website destinations and social media entities that command very large #occupy audiences (@occupywallst=162.8K followers, @occupytogether=36K followers, OccupyWallSt fan page on Facebook=388K fans, OccupyTogether fan page on Facebook=222K fans) we have been able to keep the attention of the public and bring them to the streets with our reach and our message. Engagement continues to grow, despite media reporting of #occupy being over, people keep coming to the destinations and continue to engage with the material presented for reading, livestreamers to take viewers on the web into on the ground political demonstrations, and forums to communicate with each other.
THE VISION
It is integral to build a culture of political engagement in the United States that ties into the international struggle of false austerity imposed by governments controlled by big business. We see our role as that of classic agitation through the sharing of curated information. We see our role as organizers to bring people into the street. We see this effort, as presented, as lasting between two to five years. We have no intention to institutionalize the conversation that #occupy has started. Our goal is to bring as many people into the street as possible until power bends to the will of the people. This can arrive in the form of reformist policies, a new government, or even a society that doesn't need government. Our job is not to determine the outcome, but to amplify the voices and intentions of the #occupy movement.
THE TEAM
The OWS Media team is comprised of individuals who have been promoting the efforts of the #occupy movement since before September 17th. Many of us are day one organizers who are media or NGO workers, unemployed at the time of the occupation call, and built tools immediately to service the movement. In our team are programmers, writers, photographers, graphic designers, movers and shakers who have created some of the most revered media of #occupy which include the We Are the 99 Percent tumblr blog (selected as “MicroBlog of the Year” at the 2012 Shorty Awards by Tumblr founder David Karp), OccupyWallSt.org (Primary source for information on plugging into #occupy), Occupy Together (partnered with Meetup.com to provide a simple platform for organizing demonstrations and outreach efforts), and The Occupied Wall Street Journal (called the “newspaper of record” for #occupy by The New Yorker).
THE HISTORY
OccupyWallst.org was registered and created in July, 2011 shortly after the call from Adbusters. The founder, Justine Tunney, is also a founding member of the NYCGA Internet Working Group (which later became Tech Ops). Prior to September 17th, Justine and the team at occupywallst.org built a forums area, chat, and mapping features that were integral for people coming to #occupywallstreet from outside of New York City. A phone number was created and staffed by five people to answer all of the press calls that came in as well as answering questions about donations and ways to support from afar. OccupyTogether.org was founded early in the #occupy movement. Within 48 hours the site began to go viral reaching over 18k page "likes" in the first week and 1.77 million post views. since then it has continued to assist in organizing efforts by reaching out to communities outside of NYC. The Occupied Wall Street Journal was published in the first three weeks of the Zuccotti Park occupation. The paper became one of the strongest outreach tools and now provides content for several web outlets, including The Nation among others. These three media destinations have been sharing skills, content, and resources since being founded. Decisions are made democratically and responsibilities are shared.
THE PLAN
We need investment to both compensate the people working on this effort and to make the operation sustainable at least through the next two years. We are seeking funding to maximize the email list that we have been building (by purchasing a database/CRM system), to drive fundraising, engagement, and funding of direct actions. We would like to create a worker cooperative of the team members involved in the three teams. We will continue to market and promote the #occupy movement to people in the United States as well as provide a place for organizing. When the #occupywallstreet movement ends, we will divest the remaining financial resources left into community organizations based in the top five actively engaged communities.
If you would like to send a check you can mail it to:
The Occupy Solidarity Network
237 Flatbush Avenue, #156
Brooklyn, NY 11217
If you would like a different method of payment than PayPal:
We are the Invisible Army of Defaulters. We are your neighbors. We are your family, your friends. We are millions. We are everywhere. We are going to bring the system to its knees. We can, because we wield the one power that all the armies of the world can never defeat: The power of refusal. This power has destroyed the mightest empires. The same fate awaits the current system of mafia capitalism in America, an economic system driven by Wall Street CEOs who produce nothing, contribute nothing, who have bought our government and reduced it into a criminal enterprise whose main purpose is to support loan-sharking, gambling, extortion, and the slow reduction of American citizens into debt peons. Every dollar we take from a subprime mortgage speculator, every dollar we save from a collection agency is a tiny piece of our own lives and freedom that we can give back to our communities. To be able to take care of our children, our friends, our families is a value that no accountant can ever measure, that no government, loan administrator, or hedge fund manager can ever have the right to take away from us. We are an army of lovers who cannot be defeated. We are laying the groundwork for another world. Strike debt.
Resist. Insist. Stand together. Build. Never give up. #S17.
Posted 12 years ago on Aug. 10, 2012, 4:16 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Earlier this week, members of Occupy Wall Street revved up the Illuminator - our bat signal - and beamed a special message onto Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan: Trump is bulldozing the 99% and we stand with the victims of his senseless disregard for environment and cultural heritage.
The guerrilla screening of Anthony Baxter's dramatic documentary 'You've Been Trumped' tells the David-and-Goliath story of a village of fishermen and farmers invaded by Trump to build "the world's greatest gulf course" for elite foreign jet-setters on pristine coastland of immense environmental and scientific value. Initially rebuked by the local municipality, Trump lures in the Scottish government with promises of thousands of jobs. After years of lies, political corruption, journalist suppression, and harassment of local people, Trump has finally constructed just a fraction of his intended plan with mostly-foreign contractors and few permanent jobs.
Solidarity means to stand with oppressed people everywhere because their struggle is our struggle, and there are few clearer cases than this one of the 1% bulldozing the rights, land, and dignity of the 99% for pure profit. Donald Trump does not represent us, and Occupy Wall Street stands with the brave people of Aberdeen and the Menie Estate - and their allies everywhere - fighting for sustainable development and the rights of hard-working people to their own land and communities.
Posted 12 years ago on Aug. 10, 2012, 11:44 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Book Bloc is getting ready for #S17. Are you?
September 15-17 NYC: Three days of education, celebration and resistance
No Matter What Your Issue, If You Follow the Money....All Roads Lead to Wall Street.
Friday, August 10th, 2pm 99 Pickets Wheels 4 Workers
Join 32BJ SEIU workers and their supporters for the RIDE FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM — a bike ride to protest real estate developers like T.F. Cornerstone who are denying their largely immigrant service workers the security, retirement, safety-training and advancement opportunities afforded to 55,000 building workers in NYC. For just $2/hour per worker more, Cornerstone could stop this destructive race to the bottom.
Meet us at the starting line for the send off! Or get on your bike and make the ride!
2:00 – 3:30pm: Rally at Cornerstone’s HQ at 387 Park Ave South, Manhattan
3:30 – 4:30pm: Ride to Long Island City
4:30 – 6:00pm: Rally at Cornerstone: 4720 Center Blvd, Long Island City
Friday, August 10th, 2pm Food for Thought Film Series
La Casita, 414 45th Street, Brooklyn
Occupy/Occupemos Sunset Park continues its series with two films on urban financial crises and how people fought back against them. "TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS, BITE THE BULLET," from 1981, and "PEOPLE'S FIREHOUSE #1" from 1979.
Saturday, August 11th, 11:00am-7:00pm Occupy Town Square - Astoria/Long Island City
Astoria Park, 21 Hoyt Avenue North, Queens
Occupy Astoria LIC invites you to Occupy Town Square: a traveling celebration of free assembly. There will be a potluck picnic from 12-2pm, a swap-market, music, dance, teach-ins, storytelling and exchanging ideas about our neighborhood & our city.
Saturday, August 11th, 11:30am Broadcast of Occupy Brooklyn TV! On the web and on TV: all NYC, Verizon: Channel 43; In Brooklyn: Time Warner channel 35, Cablevision channel 68, RCN channel 83
Don’t miss Occupy Public Access TV’s first show! News and views from the international people’s resistance will be available both online and on TV.
Sunday, August 12, 12:00pm-4:00pm S17 Work Session
33 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn
Got some work to do for S17? Join teams from across OWS as we work on all the exciting stuff that needs doing for S17: websites, volunteer coordination, calendar updates, prep for the Monday Spokes meeting and anything else.
Sunday, August 12, 4:00pm The People’s Puppets of OWS Present: Jack and the Corporate Beanstalk
American Park in Greenpoint (Franklin St. between Milton St. & Noble St., Brooklyn)
Jack goes to college for a better future but realizes after being saddled with debt that she’s still at the mercy of the Corporate Giant. In this puppet music spectacle the audience is encouraged to get involved and help Jack take back the Golden Goose for the 99%.
Tuesday, August 14, 6:30 pm American Autumn Film Screening
Church of the Redeemer, 30-14 Crescent Street at 30th Avenue
Occupy Astoria LIC presents the Occu-Doc American Autumn as part of their ‘Documentaries for the 99%’ series. This Occupy movie is a powerfully unique one, as described by David Swanson: “We now have a film of our own. This is not amateur hour. This is a movie as well made, in technical terms, as any Hollywood blockbuster with Pentagon funding. But this is a movie with us in it."
Friday, August 17th, Midnight Every Night until September 16th #YesWeCamp 2.0 #PACAttack
Union Square
Join for a month of tactical #SleepfulProtests starting August 16th and culminating on the eve of Occupy Wall Street’s one-year-anniversary on September 16th. Assemble at #OccupyUnionSq for Eviction Theater to connect with sleeping groups each night at Midnight.
Saturday, August 18th, 2:00pm 4th Feminist General Assembly
Harlem Meer, Central Park - 110th St.
This will be a Feminist General Assembly focusing on the struggles of People of Color. We will work on actions to combat racial and economic injustice. Everyone is invited, allies welcome!
For Text Message alerts on your cellphone about daily events, actions, and important information, sign up for the ComHub SMS blasts by texting @owscom to 23559.
