coordinate before Friday's GA?

[sgoldman78]

Hi Everyone,

I'm from the outreach/pr/coalition building/teachin and ed/ working groups. We met last night and are super pumped!!!! We think it would be critical for all working groups to meet together before Friday because we feel like there are questions and overlap in responsibilities.

We are proposing a meeting on Thursday. It may be long but seems necessary so we can all get on the same page. As long as some, a few or many can come from each working group.

I know people of color caucus meets on Thursday so it would have to be after their meeting, but this is revolution and just the beginning of many late and sleepless nights!

Thoughts?

Shanna

[mkathy1]

I don't know where to post this, so I'll do it here. Women Against War just endorsed OA with this message:

We Are Indeed the 99%!

Women Against War is excited to endorse Occupy/Albany and the entire Occupy movement – which is doing such a great job bringing people together to talk abouthttp://blog.timesunion.com/wagingpeace/files/2011/10/occupy-albany-meeting.jpg the changes that we in the 99% need, with gatherings/actions now in over 100 US communities and over 1500 sites around the world.

Here in Albany, the Occupation of Lafayette Park starts at noon this Friday, October 21st, with the first General Assembly at the park at 5 PM that afternoon – as decided through consensus by approximately 200 people meeting last Sunday. (Lafayette Park, also called Academy Park, is across from the State Capitol and from City Hall.) For more information see occupyalbany.org/

blog.timesunion.com/wagingpeace/files/2011/10/occupyalbanybegin-231x300.jpgWe are urging our members to go to the park, join in the conversations, think together with others about how to move toward the country we want to be part of — where government policy and the way our economy is structured will make it a higher priority for the 99% to have jobs, housing, food and health care, than for the 1% of the richest, to have their incomes soar ever upward.

And as women working hard for the US to have a peaceful foreign policy, we say it’s time for policy makers to stop listening to, accepting contributions from, the military contractors — really, the sole beneficiaries of the US’s failed efforts in Afghanistan — and instead listen to the vast majority of Americans who want the US to reinvest the Afghan War’s $2 billion/week price tag in needs here at home –education, rebuilding our stumbling infrastructure and coating a sustainable economy.

We say the politicians need to make budget decisions based on the voices of most Americans: In a recent CBS News Poll, almost 70 percent said the Afghan war has lasted longer than expected, and almost as many (62 percent) said the number of troops in Afghanistan should be decreased faster than the current US timetable. Why wait till 2014 to end this terrible drain on US resources?

There is such a terrible disconnect between what we all want and need – and what our politicians are giving us. The Occupy movement is a powerful way to get their attention.

This period reminds me of 1968 when the escalating Vietnam War, the murder of Martin Luther King and the massacres of protesters at Jackson State and Kent State plunged many across the country into a reassessment of our basic institutions, bringing many campuses to a standstill. Then too the currents of protest were global. My mother was a correspondent in Paris and, excited by the enormous marches there, brought us back a wonderful poster emblazoned with Nous Sommes Le Pouvoir – We are the Power. That we are indeed when we realize our numbers.

Hope to see you all at Occupy/Albany! And please use the comment section on Women Against War’s blog to share your experiences. blog.timesunion.com/wagingpeace/we-are-indeed-the-99/2849/

October 18, 2011 at 6:01 pm by Maud Easter