Proposals Direct Actions for Week of October 24th

[haroldmiller]

- Monday October 24th 1pm: Banks need a ‘Hair Cut’
On Monday, October 24 hundreds of barbers are visiting Occupy Wall Street and other Occupations to dramatize the need for big banks to provide debt relief to homeowners and consumers as part of getting our economy going again.

We’re setting up at least six stools with barbers and capes printed or painted with the logos of the biggest six banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

Occupiers and supporters dressed as bankers will get haircuts as economists and activists explain what it means for banks to “take a haircut” on bad loans and how it could provide immediate relief to American families from crushing debt on mortgage loans, student loans, credit card loans and other consumer debt.


- Tuesday October 25th 12 noon: March around Downtown Albany and rally around some of the big banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley


- Wednesday October 26th 11am: Oil Executive is coming to the Campus of U of Albany for a lecture
Student groups are organizing an action on the oil executive starting with a press conference at 11am. (Need to get details from Sam Frumkin) We are asked if Occupy Albany can come and support.

- Saturday October 29th Robin Hood Action: Calling for stock transfer tax. I currently do not have details.


These items were not discussed by the Working Group but I ask for consideration

- Wednesday October 26th 5pm: Communication Workers of America (CWA) Hosting a Corporate Pig Roasting – The pig is Verizon. The action is taking place at West Capitol Park. We are if Occupy Albany can come and support.

- Thursday October 27th 12noon: Rally at the Governor’s office: To call on him to extend the Personal Income Tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers. By extending the Personal Income Tax or known as Millionaires Tax, we can save thousands layoffs thousands of people who works in the schools, restore courses at U of Albany and other universities, and save programs like project SNUG.

- Saturday October 29th 12noon: Tour through vacant bank owned properties. To highlight the need for banks to work with homeowners and not foreclosure on them. Action will be coordinated by New York Communities for Change. I am looking for support on this action. I will have additional details by Sunday’s GA.


Other actions for consideration beyond next week:

- November 5th Bank transfer day, I was told the action need to be done by November 5th. We can do our action on November 4th and not risk the banks being closed on the 5th.

- November 17th 100 Thousand person March down in Wall Street: Possibly coordinate moving Occupy Albany downtown Wall Street to support the action.

[rana]

Yes! I couldn't meet last night because I was busy making sure my 3 year-old didn't get lost in the dark. I'm totally in for the 3 weekday actions coming up. I'll find you down at the park.

[benbrucato]

Here is the language I would propose:

"Occupy Albany demands G20 nations impose a 1% Robinhood tax on all financial transactions and currency trades. We demand they slow down some of the $1.3-trillion easy money that's sloshing around the global casino each day – enough cash to fund every social program and environmental initiative in the world. We support the international day of action on October 29, and will rally at the State Capitol at 2pm to demand our local, state and federal legislators take all necessary steps to impose this tax immediately."

More info at: www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/robinhood.html

[hz]

While I really like some of these actions, I am -extremely- uncomfortable with saying that Occupy Albany 'demands' or 'endorses' any particular, specific viewpoint or political issue at this point. I enthusiastically support every individuals right to begin and participate in the direct action that they choose, but I do not think these actions should go before GA as if we must endorse them, as a whole.

The success of the movement, so far, has stemmed from the broad platform that we all stand on -together-. I do not want to see Occupy Albany muddied up and torn apart debating the merits of thousands of individual issues we -disagree- on. I feel like this is best done at an individual level, or in groups that come together to discuss such things.

It is seems like a herculean task to expect the members of the GA to fairly hear, accurately research, educatededly question, and then unequivacally decide on the merits of such complex issues as these 'demands' or 'endorsements.' in the matter of a few minutes. This hastily rushes the democratic process, our access to information, and our ability to make decisions based on our -own- convictions, rather than just a parroting of what was brought before us. Thinking for ourselves and educating ourselves is an important part of this movement.

I would not have had -any- problem with this 'proposal' if it had been simply a statement that these events were being organized or related to us by direct action working group. Making us decide -as a whole- that we are ready to endorse anything so specific seems uncomfortably premature.

[johnjaye]

Hi - not a member of the group but wanted to chime in with some feedback - just my opinion.

I wanted to articulate a concern regarding tonight's proposals.
For clarity, I am totally behind the "haircut" and "march on the banks", so feedback below doesn't apply to those.

My concerns are twofold:

Firstly, I have a strong concern about Occupy Albany "endorsing" or even "publicly supporting" the actions of other pre-existing movements or causes at this time.

There is a fine line between actions that arise from within the Occupy movement (such as the two I listed above), and actions where the Occupy movement is being asked to support/endorse an outside cause (even if it is a cause many of us support). I think the former is in the spirit of the overall movement and the latter very questionable at this point.

IMO Occupy is an inclusive movement - ie people join Occupy to support the larger cause... but not the other way around. It's a dangerous and slippery slope to reverse this and start "hiring" out occupy to support other movements. I think of it similarly to the attitude toward political parties, we just don't specifically support existing movements, as we don't support existing parties. Not to say that our ideas might not be similar or overlap with theirs...

This is of course only for GA approved actions...
If a group wants to go out on their own, not associated with the GA and Occupy, that's not the GA's say.

Secondly, with regard to the Robin Hood tax...
Adbusters originally called for the Occupy movement to formulate "one demand". Also there is a lot of critical discussion happening across the country trying to assess and figure out what our "demands" will be if any. The world is hanging on the edge of their seats to see what this will be, and this tension is critical to the movements energy right now.

That the Robin Hood action is being called for by AdBusters and being called a "demand" is concerning to me because: (1) it may be confused for the "one demand", (2) it did not spring up from the bottom up as is in the spirit of the movement, and (3) I personally don't think it's content is broad and inclusive enough to be the content of the movements first demand. We're just not there yet IMO.. not that we won't be, but this isn't it.


Again, I totally support the marches that have been happening and the causes that spring up from within Occupy...
And thanks Ben for your work - I am sure its hard and despite my concerns about some of the proposals, I totally respect and appreciation your and the groups work.

Nice work tonight - day two successful!

John

[hz]

Just wanted to add that an endorsement or answering a 'call for support' for one group necessarily means that we will be asked in the future to show this support for others ideas and issues.And iinevuitably means we can yes to some and must say 'no' to others. Then every request must become a discussion at the GA, and a possible division.

I would like instead to say, we do not endorse any group or specific political issue, but we welcome representatives of all the groups to come and do teach-ins or join us here in protesting their cause with all of our own concerns too, and we can assemble in support of each others rights to be a participating member of an actual 'democracy' that is answerable to people not profits.

[dylan]

I want to echo the comments posted by hz and johnjaye. I do not like the idea of Occupy demanding anything, let alone something so outside of our cities power to influence. This seems like it might be an issue we could do if there were a national agreement among the occupied cities to have a general strike to enfore, but without any type of enforcement mechanism it is an empty demand. I think we should be looking closer to home at issues we can positively influence.

I like the idea of supporting SNUG more directly for example and posted about this elsewhere. There were three shootings in Arbor Hill last night. We should find out if there's anything we can do with that. One other word about these actions is that maybe instead of endorsing them we can help these groups with outreach and tell people about them and attend ourselves as individuals.

[benbrucato]

Oct 23, 2011 0:50:39 GMT -5 johnjaye said:

Secondly, with regard to the Robin Hood tax...
Adbusters originally called for the Occupy movement to formulate "one demand". Also there is a lot of critical discussion happening across the country trying to assess and figure out what our "demands" will be if any. The world is hanging on the edge of their seats to see what this will be, and this tension is critical to the movements energy right now.

That the Robin Hood action is being called for by AdBusters and being called a "demand" is concerning to me because: (1) it may be confused for the "one demand",

You all raise important concerns. I want to address this one in particular. Let's dispense with this "one demand" stuff. It's ridiculous. If there is one demand that could possibly cover what we need to, it would be to demand the end of capitalism. Short of that, I think we are limiting ourselves too much to address our needs.

There's nothing divisive or limiting about the Robin Hood Tax demand. The only people it would affect are the top 1%. This is why it's such a brilliant proposal to be launched internationally - it addresses one of the tax-free ways in which the 1% has been able to amass such wealth.

[hz]

My point is not with the specific issues being brought up, but that we are being asked to support things that we haven't decided on from the ground up, with internal discussion and education. And that we are being asked to pass judgment as a group as a whole.

Right now, I personally, do not have enough information about the Robin Hood tax. There is opposition out there for example:

"Mike Devereux, director of the Centre for Business Taxation at Oxford University, has argued the tax would effectively be a stealth tax as the banks would pass all costs on to their customers, with no guaranteed transparency about who exactly would bear the costs."

That is one -example- concern. This is not a debate about the issue. But just a comment that any issue may (and should) be healthily debated, and perhaps declaring formal allegiance with such big issues is not appropriate at this time

[benbrucato]

Yes, it's complicated. Advocates for free financialized global capital flows who work with the IMF (like Devereaux) have argued against it. Thousands of economists have advocated for it. I put up the proposal on the general board 4 days before introducing it. It was read only about a dozen times. I hope some people who want to see this adopted by the GA will lead teach-ins on it from here forward so we can vote on it.

I'd like someone to propose we participate in the Global March on October 29. In the meantime, we can work on getting consensus on a proposal for the demand to go along with the action.

[benbrucato]

Since only 11 people have read this on the General Board, I'm reposting it here:


The General Assembly voted to support the following actions this week:

These were proposed by the Direct Action Working Group to the General Assembly on October 22.
(The support of the actions does not necessarily mean the endorsement of any particular position or demand as a group*)

Monday October 24th 1pm: Banks need a ‘Hair Cut’
On Monday, October 24 hundreds of barbers are visiting Occupy Wall Street and other Occupations to dramatize the need for big banks to provide debt relief to homeowners and consumers as part of getting our economy going again. We’re setting up at least six stools with barbers and capes printed or painted with the logos of the biggest six banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Occupiers and supporters dressed as bankers will get haircuts as economists and activists explain what it means for banks to “take a haircut” on bad loans and how it could provide immediate relief to American families from crushing debt on mortgage loans, student loans, credit card loans and other consumer debt.

- Tuesday October 25th 12 noon: Banking industry protest
March from Lafayette/Academy Park to Downtown Albany, with stops and rallies around some of the big banks: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley.

- Wednesday October 26th 5pm: Support for CWA
Communication Workers of America (CWA) Hosting a Corporate Pig Roasting – The pig is Verizon. The action is taking place at West Capitol Park. [Note: We do not all support the roasting of "real" pigs (Sus scrofa)]

- Thursday October 27th 12noon: Millionaire's Tax rally
Rally at the Governor’s office about the Personal Income Tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers, known as Millionaires Tax.

(*As an example of the above clarification: our support and participation in this action means that we as Occupy Albany will take part in this action, and encourage other to, but do not necessarily endorse a very specific political position or legislative strategy on the issue.)


The following action is taking place, but did not receive concensed GA support because of lack of specifics about the event and the particular actions taking place.
- Wednesday October 26th 11am: Oil Executive is coming to the Campus of U of Albany for a lecture
Student groups are organizing an action on the oil executive starting with a press conference at 11am.
We hope to provide more information and propose this again later, time permitting. People at OA may want to attend, regardless, but it has yet to get consensed support from the GA.

[hz]

Thanks Ben,

I know the 'endorse' can seem like semantics, but its a very big distinction to many of us. It is much appreciated that you have been accommodating! I love working towards consensus.

Let me know if you want a couple of these to go out in press releases, or if they are more for the general information of the group.

-Hezzie

[johnjaye]

Here is a document that was put forth by the NYCGA that I think we should all read if we havent:

www.nycga.net/resources/principles-of-solidarity/

Not that we are obliged to follow it, but they've been at this for longer than us down there and it may be helpful to review some of the products of their thinking and struggle... might help to give some perspective on this discussion.

[pinkoblues]

SATURDAY OCTOBER 29 IS OCCUPY YOUR CAPITAL DAY ACROSS THE COUNTRY. WE SHOULD TRY AND PLAN MANY ACTIONS TO COINCIDE WITH THIS. THERE MIGHT BE A LOT OF PEOPLE.

[denmarkvesey]

This kind of conversations should be done face to face about direct action don't be naive there are enemies in our midst

[Albanius]

There will be a presentation and discussion this evening to educate ourselves about the Robin Hood tax and the Millionaires tax, starting about 7:20 PM, after the GA.
This will help prepare us for the agreed action tomorrow on Millionaires tax and proposed Robin Hood action Saturday.
The discussion, coordinated by the Outreach/education/teachin WG, will be led by Prof Janet Spitz who is one of us; she has attended the occupation 3 times already and participated in the GA, to a lot of twinkles.

IMO we can resolve the problem over "demands" by proposing to the GA this language:
"there will be a march 2 PM Saturday October 29 from the Occupy Albany encampment to the State Capitol as part of an international day of action called by Adbusters, for a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions and currency trades, to slow down the Trillions of dollars of easy money sloshing around the global casino, and provide many billions of dollars to fund social and environmental programs urgently needed by the 99% who were devastated by the recent crash triggered by such speculation"

I suggest Ben be a prominent speaker at the rally at the Capitol, since he launched this project.

[benbrucato]

I would amend the proposal to the following:


Occupy Albany is participating in a march from the encampment to the State Capitol on Saturday, October 29, at 2pm. This is part of an international day of action proposing a Robin Hood tax on financial transactions and currency trades. Trillions of dollars of easy money slosh around the global casino every day. These untaxed trades have contributed to the growing rift between the top 1% and the rest of us. This tax would slow down these transactions and provide many billions of dollars to fund social and environmental programs urgently needed by the 99%. This tax is endorsed by over a thousand leading economists worldwide, including Nobel Laureates, and over 800 parliamentarians and government officials from over 30 different countries.


Citations:
1,000 economists: www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/13/robin-hood-tax-economists-letter
Nobel laureates Tobin and Stiglitz; 800+ officials from 30+ countries: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_to_the_Tobin_Tax

[benbrucato]

As for speaking: I'm battling some sort of infection now, but hope to be well enough to be there Saturday and would be happy to speak.

[Albanius]

I'm happy with Ben's latest language, hope everyone else is OK.

[hz]

I would suggest that specifics of wording is perhaps best handled by Media/PR, and that I acknowledge that it is understood by PR /Media that this march is being planned as stated above.

...provided the GA agrees with the plan.