| Can you call Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer today, before Congress delivers more devastating cuts? Tell them: "We are the 99%. Don't cut our Social Security and Medicare to protect tax breaks for the 1%." Senator Kirsten Gillibrand |
If Wall Street thought banning tents from Zuccotti Park was going to stop the 99%, then they're just as shortsighted now as when they wrecked our economy.
Because yesterday, the nation saw the biggest day of action since the Occupy movement began—with tens of thousands protesting in New York and at bridges, schools, and other examples of crumbling infrastructure around the country.
Meanwhile, a band of courageous protesters is marching from Wall Street to Washington to bring the 99% to where it's been missing—our government. Like the first protesters to lay down their tarps in Zuccotti Park, the marchers are matching their commitment to the moment across 230 long miles to our nation's capital. Marching 20 miles per day, through cold and wet November weather, with feet swollen and bloodied, they report the warmest reception from the neighborhoods hardest hit by the economic downturn.1 As one protester said: "putting your body into something like this, I think it gives you the hope that there can be real change."2
The marchers are hurrying to D.C. to stop a terrible Super Committee deal that means more devastating cuts for the 99% instead of making the 1% pay their fair share.3 The risk is growing by the day. Democrats on the Super Committee have already offered huge cuts to Medicare benefits and Social Security, while Republicans demand even more—and if only one Democrat agrees, we're sunk.4 So let's make sure the Senate feels the energy of the 99% breathing down their necks.
The Super Committee's not likely to cut a deal the rest of the Senate won't support, so every senator—from true progressives to staunch conservatives—needs to be talking about how many people are calling them with the 99%'s message. Pick up the phone and call Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer today and tell them: "We are the 99%. Don't cut our Social Security and Medicare benefits to protect tax breaks for the 1%."
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Phone: 202-224-4451
Senator Charles Schumer
Phone: 202-224-6542
The 99% protesters have been heard and felt in cities and towns across the country. They've featured on front pages and in top stories for weeks. Yet politicians in Washington have been deaf to their calls. There's no other explanation for an offer by Super Committee Democrats of $500 billion in further cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits or proposals to make the Bush tax cuts for the rich permanent!5
But our leaders can't ignore what happened yesterday: more than 30,000 protesters in New York alone taking action across the city in a day of peaceful confrontations and passionate commitment.6 Former Philadelphia Police Captain Ray Lewis was arrested at a protest to disrupt the New York Stock Exchange, in dress uniform, saying that the police are being exploited by the 1%.7 And major union and political leaders were arrested as part of a group of 99 protesters, in T-shirts emblazoned with "99%," who staged a sit-in at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge.8
The message is clear. Eviction from Zuccotti Park and other Occupy sites around the country has only made the 99% stronger and more committed. A commitment demonstrated by the 99% marchers on a 230-mile pilgrimage from Wall Street to Washington.
Washington can't ignore all of us together. And they can't ignore thousands of us calling in today as the 99% to deliver an uncompromising demand: "We are the 99%. Don't cut our Social Security and Medicare benefits to protect tax breaks for the 1%."
Call now to deliver that message to Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer:
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Phone: 202-224-4451
Senator Charles Schumer
Phone: 202-224-6542
Thanks for all you do.
–Lenore, Michael, Laura, Marika, and the rest of the team
P.S. Our partners at Rebuild the Dream also have an urgent petition being delivered to Congress early next week to stop the Super Committee's threatened cuts to Social Security. Click here to sign.
Sources:
1. "Occupiers Hit the Road for New York-Washington March," Rolling Stone, November 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267963&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=6
"Occupy the Highway: The immense pain of walking from New York to Washington," The Washington Post, November 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267964&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=7
"On the ground with Occupy," Politico, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=26797&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=8
2. "Occupy the Highway: The immense pain of walking from New York to Washington," The Washington Post, November 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267964&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=9
3. "Occupiers plan epic New York to Washington march," Salon, November 8, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267966&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=10
4. "Democrats on 'super committee' propose a 'grand bargain,'" The Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267854&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=11
"Seven days left: Is super committee ball now in Democrats' court?" The Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267969&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=12
"AFL Warns Super Committee Dems: Not One Vote For GOP Plans," Talking Points Memo, November 18, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267968&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=13
5. "Super Committee Democrats Propose Scrapping Bush Tax Cut Debate In Exchange For Billions In Revenue," The Huffington Post, November 11, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267855&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=14
6. "Taking it to the bridge: Thousands cross Brooklyn river after 300 arrested in clashes with riot police," The Daily Mail, November 18, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267973&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=15
"Occupy Wall Street Two Month Anniversary: Protesters March To NYC Financial District, Plan Day of Events," The Huffington Post, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267972&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=16
7. "Retired police captain arrested at Occupy Wall Street," Daily Kos, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267974&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=17
8. "Clashes and More Than 240 Arrests on Protest's 'Day of Action,'" The New York Times, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=267971&id=33018-10220574-XLZm2Kx&t=18
MoveOn is committed to nonviolence in the long tradition of protest movements throughout our history that have brought America closer to our founding dream—liberty and justice for all. As progressives we respect all people, and will not support or endorse any violence or property destruction.
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