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Over the last two weeks, an amazing wave of protest against Wall Street and the big banks has erupted across the country.
In Seattle, San Francisco, Ohio, and Boston (where 3,000 people rallied),1 grassroots groups have shut down banks and held sit-ins to demand that giant banks pay their fair share of taxes, end the foreclosure crisis, and create jobs.
In financial centers like Chicago and Atlanta, hundreds of people have set up encampments in front of major financial institutions for round-the-clock demonstrations.
Outside Los Angeles, community members have been running a 24-hour vigil around the home of Rose Gudiel, who faces eviction after getting foreclosed on for being two weeks late on a mortgage payment after her younger brother was murdered.2
But the biggest protests are on Wall Street itself. "Occupy Wall Street," which began with a brave group of young people, has swelled to thousands of students, unemployed folks, union members, and others who have persevered through intense police harassment and mass arrests to sustain a rolling 24-hour-a-day protest against the bankers who've wrecked our economy and undermined our democracy.3
On Wednesday, MoveOn members will join labor and community groups in New York City for a huge march down to the protest site—the biggest yet.
And because we can't all be in New York, we're going to stage a massive "Virtual March on Wall Street" online with our friends at Rebuild the Dream. Together, we'll add hundreds of thousands of voices of solidarity from the American Dream Movement for the protests across the country and show just how widespread outrage at the Wall Street banks really is.
The protests on Wall Street have been running for two weeks straight and are only getting bigger every day. The signs, placards, and chants focus on standing up for what the protesters are calling "the 99%" of us who are suffering while Wall Street bankers grow richer by the day.
In a telling moment last week, a group of bankers even went so far as to mock the protests while sipping champagne from balconies overlooking thousands of people marching down Wall Street.4
But adding mockery to the callous disregard for our country that we've seen from the big banks isn't slowing down the Occupy Wall Street movement one bit. The protests on Wall Street are set to grow even more this week and solidarity actions are already planned in dozens more cities.
You can see what's planned in your area by visiting the solidarity site Occupy Together: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264645&id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=3
And you can sign up to add your voice to the national "Virtual March on Wall Street" online here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/joinvirtualwallstreet/?id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=4
Thanks for all you do.
–Justin, Robin, Peter, Elena, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "BofA's Boston Building Draws Protesters; 21 Arrests Are Made," bloomberg.com, September 30, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264642&id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=5
2. "La Puente Family Fights Eviction from Foreclosed Home," KTLA.com, September 29, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264643&id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=6
3. "Anti-Wall Street Protestors Vow to Keep Up Fight," Reuters, October 2, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264644&id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=7
4. "Occupy Wall Street Protestors Meet Champagne Sippers," abcnews.com, September 30, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=264649&id=31654-10220574-LQtBf6x&t=8
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