via NCAgainstCorporatePower.org

Converge for Justice
Occupy Wall Street, South
Break Up BOA’s Business as Usual!
May 6-9, Charlotte, NC

On May 6-9 people from across the country and world will be converging in Charlotte, NC, home of Bank of America’s Headquarters and their annual Shareholder meeting, to demand an end to their practices that are bankrupting our economy and wrecking our climate.

Homeowners, students, immigrants, environmentalists, workers, women’s groups, peace activists and more will be in Charlotte, bringing their stories, hearts and communities to the fight against Bank of America and the economic inequality, racial injustice and environmental destruction they have wrought.

Bank of America is:

• Number 1 forecloser of homes in the US,
• Number 1 funder of the US coal industry,
• Job killer by letting go of nearly 100,000 workers over the past several years,
• Bonus Buster paying its top five executives over $500 million in bonuses,
• Saddling students with a lifetime of debt, and
• Financing the war machine.

Bank of America, and its profits-over-people-and-planet business model, is drowning our democracy through huge financial contributions to lobbyists that are serving the interests of the 1% and are participating in corporate-funded groups like American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Financial Services Roundtable.

As a global community united for real economic and racial justice, it is time that BoA is held accountable, invest in public needs and services, or face being broken up to achieve the justice we need. Whether you are a community member, homeowner, worker or student, we need to come together to challenge corporate power and create an economy and democracy that works for all of us.

Join the 99% for a Week of Actions as We Break Up Bank of America’s Business As Usual!

Week of Action!

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Brooklyn College students at May Day General Strike!

Another University is Possible. Today, May 2nd, students from across NYC will be joining together at the Brooklyn College Campus to take back our future from the 1%. Hundreds of students will be staging a continuation of May Day and the Free University by taking over the Quad at Brooklyn College with teach-ins, political theater, food, music, and events to show an alternative university. While subsidies, tax breaks, and corporate loopholes continue to exist allowing banks and corporations to make record profits, slashes to education have resulted in students paying more and more in CUNY while receiving less and less.

Noon, Wednesday - May 2, 2012
Brooklyn College Quad (Next to the library and Bell Tower)

Schedule:
12:00: Sign Making, Music, Student Loan Debt Balloons
12:30: Political Theater: Wedding of CUNY Chancellor Goldstein + Kroll Security Group
1:00: Student Speakers, Reading of Solidarity Statements from Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, and The Quebec Student Strike.
1:30: March
2: 00: Free Lunch and Free University teach-ins: David Graeber, and others! - Many from the May Day Free University

Directions:

• 2,5 Train to Flatbush Ave/Brooklyn College, Walk one block West on Hillel Place
• B,Q Train to Ave H. Walk Four Blocks East on Ave H to the Campus Road (If security guards are assholes, then walk to another entrance. We will have tenure faculty at some of the entrances ensuring people get in.)

More Info:
http://takebackbrooklyn.wordpress.com/
http://www.facebook.com/events/367755709943853/

Tonight, at an exclusive 7pm auction, Sotheby's is expected to sell Edvard Munch's iconic painting "The Scream" for $80 million dollars. Outside, Occupy and labor allies will protest the Upper East Side art auction house in solidarity with 43 locked-out art handlers who have been replaced by Sotheby's with low wage temporary workers with no benefits.

Catering exclusively to the mega-rich (by providing a service that makes them richer and more exclusive,) Sotheby's is perhaps the most quintessentially 1% institution there is. Founded before the industrial era, it was the first company ever listed on the NY Stock Exchange, and today (despite the current "recession") is more profitable than at any other time in its 260-year history. Meanwhile, the Sotheby's workers who make those profits possible are given the shaft. Enough is enough. The 99% will not stand silent as union-busting companies like Sotheby's wage class war against us.

If you don't like Diana Taylor or Brookfield Properties (or if you liked Liberty Square), come Shut Down Sotheby's. Diana Taylor is on the board at Sotheby's and Brookfield, and told union members she would resign if the CEO gave the workers what they asked for.

If you love art, and believe that art belongs to all people, not to private wealth, please come shut down Sotheby's.

If you believe that paintings shouldn't sell for $80 million dollars, while some people can't afford food, rent, and medicine, come shut down Sotheby's.

If you believe that ALL workers have a right organize, come shut down Sotheby's.

If you believe the 99% must stand together, come shut down Sotheby's!

7PM @ 72nd and York Ave, NYC

occupySOTHEBYS

http://www.facebook.com/events/374180225958622/

TODAY IS MAY DAY! INTO THE STREETS!

Find events in your city here. Before you head out, check our Last-Minute May Day Checklist. If you are in NYC, check out the full schedule. If you can only make one event, come to the (permitted) Solidarity March leaving from Union Square at 5:30pm ET! (Note: This article will be at the top of our main page all day. To see other new posts, scroll down!)

Resources

Twitter Hashtags: #M1GS | #GeneralStrike | #MayDay
In NYC: #M1NYC | @OWSMayDay | @StrikeEverywher | @NYMay1st
Elsewhere: @OccupyGenStrk | @OccupyGenStrike | @BayAreaStrike | @oo_mayday
NYC Resources: Live May Day Radio NYC | Live May Day Protest Map
Other live-blogs: May Day NYC Live | The Occupied Wall St Journal | Village Voice | The Nation | The Guardian

Live Updates

(all times Eastern, all locations in NYC unless otherwise noted)

• 11:59PM: Reports of live ammunition being used on protesters in Egypt
• 11:59PM: More police arriving at #LibertySquare
• 11:47PM: Police are setting up barricades on north side of #LibertySquare , Park closes at midnight
• 11:40PM: Police are setting up barricades on west side of #LibertySquare
• 11:30PM: Reports of solidarity rally from Battery Park to #LibertySquare
• 11:07PM: At least 200 people at #LibertySquare , currently no tension
• 10:58PM: Reports of possibly 20 or more arrested at Vietnam Veterans Plaza, including medics, veterans, and clergy. Arrests allegedly made because of 10 PM park closing.
• 10:55PM: More police arrive at #LibertySquare along with what appears to be news vans
• 10:42PM: March arrived at 24hr park on Wall St & South St, on the waterfront.
• 10:42PM: First folks released from 1 Police Plaza as more brought in
• 10:13PM: Police surrounding people in Battery Park, giving a dispersal order. NYPD says they will begin making arrests in 5 minutes. Reports of kettling nets sighted as well.
• 8:38pm: Popular assembly about to begin at Veteran's Memorial - 55 Water St. #PeoplesAssembly
• 8:30pm: The permitted march is over. Meet up at Battery Park!
• 7:30pm: The very front of the march now reaching #LibertySquare. The sidewalks are barricaded, but the park is open. Crowd estimates place size between 10,000 to 25,000. Follow the action via this list of #M1GS street journalists on Twitter or any of the streams throughout this article!
• 7pm: From Foley Square to Union Square, Broadway is Occupied. March headed to Wall Street now. via @mollyknefel: ¨We are 32 blocks south of Union Sq. People just left there and the streets are full the whole way.¨
• 6:45pm: Occupy Chicago has shut down five Bank of America branches. Currently blockading Madison & Clark. Occupy Miami reports their livestreamer was targetted and arrested as their march was dispersing. Occupy Detroit tweets: ¨Police tell us to get out, no camping. We say we are here to stay. Camping workgroup meeting now.¨ In Seattle, where police used tear gas earlier in the day, the May Day march just passed the Space Needle. Back in NYC, via @davidgraeber: ¨Random harassment arrests start across Houston [Street]. Saw kid's head smashed repeatedly on concrete, just to show they could.¨
• 6:35pm: Wash., DC May Day march getting ready to leave Malcom X Park. Reports of police brutality in Montreal, Quebec. Tank/armored personnel carrier seen in Oakland.
• 6:25pm: Occupy Chicago has successfully shut down a Bank Of America. Watch as they move in. In San Francisco, Occupiers are rolling back the fence as they re-occupy the #SFCommune
• 6:20pm: via @allisonkilkenny: ¨Apparently, NYPD only letting 10 people out of union sq at a time, which, ya know, is a good way to kill a march.¨

Union Square just after 6pm

Broadway just after 6pm

• 6pm: 1000s still trapped in a labyrinth of police barricades trying to march from Union Square to Wall Street. Broadway is packed, stretching for blocks for the permitted march. Some people report being stuck in the same place for 45+ minutes. Chants: ¨Let us march!¨ Large union presence. Chants at front: ¨Obama, escucha! Estamos en la lucha!" "One struggle, one fight! Workers of the world, unite!" Reports that Occupy Oakland is being kettled. Los Angeles airport (LAX) has been closed for the day. (See info below.) Occupiers in San Francisco tweet: ¨#888Turk reoccupied #sfcommune¨
• 5:50pm: Many marchers still trapped behind police barricades, some becoming frustrated. Police with metal and plastic cuffs and batons drawn line up around march. Taxi Workers Alliance leading march out of the Square. Meanwhile, Occupy Oakland is being surrounded by three lines of riot police, trapping them in the street and threatening to use more chemical weapons.
• 5:40pm: In NYC, protesters are being kept behind police barricades and many are stuck in Union Square and unable to move out due to police interference. In Oakland, police have declared an ¨unlawful assembly¨ and issued a dispersal order.
• 5:30pm: Massive march headed by unions and immigrants rights groups leaving Union Square now, headed to Wall Street! Watch one of many streams live from NYC here. Protesters are reviewing basic march tactics: ¨Keep moving, keep on sidewalk. Don't engage or make contact with cops.¨ @NYCLU reports at least 30 arrests so far today. In Oakland, heavily armed police continue to aggressively attack protesters currently engaged in a stand-off. Oakland police have used tear gas twice already.
• 5:15pm: As riot police tear gas peaceful protesters in U.S. cities, CNN is covering a surprise 2am (local time) visit to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan by President Obama. We are still having a party in Union Square! Join us and see for yourself!
• 5pm: Calls made at Union Square to "cancel student debt, stop foreclosures, provide jobs and healthcare." Across the country, after police fire tear gas, protesters in Oakland are marching on City Hall, which is now being surrounded by riot police. Huge marches forming in Chicago, SF, Seattle, Boston, DC, Philly, Miami, LA...
• 4:50pm: via Occupiers in Chicago on Twitter: ¨We are having another Direct Action vs the Banks at 4PM [Central]! Want to join us? Come to 180 W Lake St!¨ Others in Chicago enjoying music in Federal Plaza. In NYC, Das Racist is taking the stage at Union Square.
• 4:40pm: Between music acts at Union Square, speakers from labor movement call for union rights, end to stop and frisk. Undocumented immigrants speaking now: "No human being is illegal! All workers have a right to organize, to unionize!" Crowd chants ¨We are one!¨ Immortal Technique up soon.
• 4:20pm: In Chicago, riot police on horses are on the scene as march reaches Federal Plaza on Dearborn.
• 4:05pm: Tom Morello and friends taking the stage now at packed Union Square singing "Worldwide Rebel Song." Watch live! Crowds have been estimated over 10,000 and growing.
• 4pm: Anti-capitalist march in full effect in Seattle. Occupy Detroit is ready to re-occupy. #M1GS is live in Los Angeles.
• 3:40pm: Confirmed that police in Oakland have used tear-gas and grenades on crowds including children, elderly, and people with disabilities peacefully demonstrating. Watch on livestream. In NYC, we are still gathering peacefully for a permitted march at Union Square and getting ready to march to Wall Street at 5:30! The Square is packed!
• 3:35pm: Marchers in Chicago taking a knee in the street in moment of silence for those who fought for the 8 hr day. In Oakland, reports emerging that police have used flash bang grenades and tear gas. via @BootsRiley: ¨The police have tried to arrest several people during bank shutdowns. All have been physically freed by the crowd.¨ via @OccupiedOakTrib: ¨Young woman being treated for a head wound, blood dripping down side of her face¨
• 3:30pm: The #Guitarmy has reached Union Square.
• 3:27pm: Speeches taking place on livestream around the Maypole at Union Square.
• 3:15pm: Multiple marches of thousands are continuing to enter Union Square for the permitted Solidarity Rally and March with performances from Immortal Technique, Das Racist, Tom Morello, and many more! Come hang out and see a free concert! Occupy Denver, Occupy San Francisco, and many other May Day events are being livestreamed.

Union Square, NYC

Oakland, CA

Chicago, IL

Los Angeles, CA

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Legalize! Organize! Unionize!

We want to be heard! We need to be heard! We will be heard!

We are here to celebrate May Day. We are here to celebrate our power as people who have found unity of purpose. Today we assert our power as working people. We declare our solidarity with all people of the world. We affirm our rights to economic security, to meaningful work, to health care, to public services, to safe and healthy communities, to free, quality public education from pre-K to college, and to civil liberties. Today, we stand in solidarity with all who take popular action to secure such rights, as we begin to form genuine alliances that challenge a system that breeds inequality.

We are here to decry the rampant growth of social, political and economic inequality. We seek an end to an era wherein a handful of political and economic elites govern in the name of democracy. We want an end to assaults on our human rights. We want an end to tax breaks for the rich. We want an end to the attacks on our right to organize. We want an end to the mass incarceration of people of color. We want an end to all wars and an end to the militarization of our foreign policy. We want an end to our current political system that is bought and paid for by 1%- ers. We want legalization, equal rights, civil rights, and a path to citizenship for immigrant working families. And we want citizenship to mean, as it should, that all people are to be treated justly and equally by their government.

Recall that for over a century May Day has been a time when the stirrings of spring lead people of good will towards visions of revolutionary renewal. The powerful wish to take these dreams away from us. They never will. And so it is on this Mayday, in the wake of a growing planetary uprising for justice, we dare to look forward to a world when the borders that divide us will be made meaningless, to the birth of genuinely democratic culture of communities managing their own resources for the common good, and where the value and dignity of no human being on this planet is considered inferior to any other.

We the people, including organized and unorganized workers, employed and unemployed, public and private, documented and undocumented, here, today, re-commit ourselves to being in solidarity with all people of the world. Our revolutionary spirit will only grow and deepen.

We are here to announce that "Another world is not only possible, but is on her way." We are Tahrir Square. We are Santagma Square. We are Puerta Del Sol. We are Wisconsin. We are Ohio. We are New York. We are Puerto Rico. We are Los Angeles and Oakland and a multitude of cities across the country and the world. We are the 99%! Our time has come.

Let freedom spring!

¡Si se puede!

--joint declaration from May 1st Coalition, Labor union representatives, La Fuente, New York Immigration Coalition, New Immigrant Communities Empowered (NICE), El Centro de Inmigrante, National Institute for Latino Policy, Mothers on the Move, National Lawyers Guild, Occupy Wall Street Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group, Occupy Wall Street en Espanol, Occupy Wall Street Latin America, National Lawyers Guild, Community Farmworker Alliance, Adelante Alliance, Jornaleros Unidos, Restaurant Opportunities Center-NY, Domestic Workers United, New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Laundry Workers Center United, Brandworkers International, Independent Workers Movement, La Peña del Bronx, Centro Guatemalteco Tecun Uman, Philippine Forum