The Organizations
Here is the letter signed by 40 organizations that launched the 99% Spring project. What follows the letter is a list of supporting organizations--a "Who's Who" of the socialist organizations in America.
Also of note, one of the trainers for non-violent direct action as seen in the 99% Spring training videos, Keron Blair from Jamaica, works at the Midwest Academy, which carries the torch in America for the propagation of the tactics taught by the radical Saul Alinsky. You can view some of my previous posts on Alinsky and his tactics at these links:
Another 99% Spring trainer is Mehrdad Azemun from Iran, who works for National People's Action.
DATE: February 15, 2012
TO: America
RE: The 99% Spring
Things should never have reached this point.
Every day, the American Dream seems a little farther away. More of our grandparents are being thrown from their homes. Our mothers and fathers can’t retire because their pension funds tanked. Our brothers and sisters are burdened by student loan debt. For our children, budget cuts have resulted in crumbling schools, skyrocketing class sizes, and teachers being denied the supports they need to do their best. Our friends and family are being denied collective bargaining rights in their workplaces and are falling further and further behind. Our neighbors are being poisoned by pollution in our air and water.
The numbers are staggering: in recent years, millions of jobs have been destroyed, homes foreclosed, and an unconscionable number of children live in poverty.
And worst of all: this is no accident. It is a result of rampant greed—the deliberate manipulation of our democracy and our economy by a tiny minority in the 1%, by those who amass ever more wealth and power at our expense.
We are at a crossroads as a country. We have a choice to make. Greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many. Tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us. A government that can be bought by the highest bidder, or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The choice is in our hands. This spring, we will act on that choice and rise up in the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers. We will not be complicit with the suffering in our families for another year. We will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.
From April 9-15 we will gather across America, 100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country. We will organize trainings to:
- Tell the story of our economy: how we got here, who’s responsible, what a different future could look like, and what we can do about it
- Learn the history of non-violent direct action, and
- Get into action on our own campaigns to win change.
This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.
We know great change is possible. We inherit a history of everyday people standing up for their own dignity, freedom, and self-determination, shaping our direction as a country. The seamstress in Alabama who launched a bus boycott. The farmers in New England and Virginia who imagined we could be a free nation. The workers in Flint, Michigan who occupied their plant to win collective bargaining rights. The farmworkers in California who liberated our fields. The women in New York who dreamed they could one day speak with equal voice. The mother who stood up in Love Canal to stop the poisoning of her community. And the students who risked their lives during Freedom Summer to register voters.
In the last year alone we watched the teachers and fire fighters of Wisconsin stand for the rights of workers. And we joined those who Occupied Wall Street, inspiring us to stand with the 99%.
We will rise this spring, because we DO hold these truths to be self evident—that all men and women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Will you rise with us? Can we count on you to join us April 9th to 15th to stand with the 99% for America?
Signed:
Sarita Gupta
Jobs With Justice
Bob King
United Auto Workers
George Goehl
National Peoples Action
Ai-jen Poo
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Justin Ruben
MoveOn.org
Joy Cushman & Judith Freeman
New Organizing Institute
Liz Butler
Movement Strategy Center
John Sellers & Andrew Boyd
The Other 98%
Mary Kay Henry
Service Employees International Union
Richard Trumka
AFL-CIO
Van Jones & Natalie Foster
Rebuild the Dream
Rashad Robinson
Color of Change
John Wilhelm
UNITE-HERE
Phil Radford
Greenpeace
John Cavanagh
Institute for Policy Studies
Scott Reed
PICO National Network
Tracy Van Slyke & Ilana Berger
New Bottom Line
Lawrence Guyot
Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
Julian Bond
SNCC Legacy Project
Leo Gerard
United Steel Workers
John Stocks
National Education Association
Daniel Cantor
Working Families Party
Larry Cohen
Communications Workers of America
Victor Sanchez, Jr.
United States Student Association
Becky Tarbotton
Rainforest Action Network
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers
Brian Kettenring
Leadership Center for the Common Good
Randy Jackson
UNITY
Saket Soni
National Guestworker Alliance
Bill McKibben & May Boeve
350.org
Sharon Lungo & Megan Swoboda
The Ruckus Society
Ian Inaba
Citizen Engagement Lab
Patrick Reinsborough & Doyle Canning
smartMeme Strategy & Training Project
Rachel LaForest
Right to the City Alliance
Brigid Flaherty
Pushback Network
Aimee Allison
RootsAction
Drew Hudson
USAction
Richard Hopson
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America
Bob Callahan
Change to Win
Michael Leon Guerrero
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
Roger Hickey
Campaign for America's Future
David Donnelly & Nicholas Nyhart
Public Campaign Action Fund
Aaron Ostrom
Fuse Washington
Jeff Ordower
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment
Karen Scharff
Citizen Action of New York
Marianne Manilov
Engage
Bruce Klipple
United Electrical Workers Union
Pablo Alvarado
National Day Laborers Organizing Network
LeeAnn Hall
Alliance for a Just Society
Leslie Moody
The Partnership for Working Families
Teresa Cheng
United Students Against Sweatshops
Arturo Carmona
Presente.org
Robin McGehee & Heather Cronk
Get Equal
Gerald McEntee
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
Hugh Espey
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Patti Lynn
Corporate Accountability International
Bob Nicklas
American Federation of Government Employees
Aparna Shah
Mobilize the Immigrant Vote
Celia Kutz
Training for Change
Chris Gabriele
People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER)
Chris Hicks
Student Labor Action Project
Corrine Fowler
Colorado Progressive Coalition
Phaedra Ellis Lamkins
Green for All
Lillian Walker Shelton
DC Jobs with Justice
Tom Swan
Connecticut Citizen Action Group
Sarah Weintraub
Vermont Workers' Center
Judy Hertz
Midwest Academy
Sondra Youdelman
Community Voices Heard
Eric Byler
The Coffee Party
Victor Menotti
International Forum on Globalization
Joe Hansen
UFCW International Union
Sulma Arias
Sunflower Community Action
Don Carlson
Illinois People's Action
Jennifer Ritter
Lakeview Action Coalition
Kirsten Moller
Global Exchange
Bob Fulkerson
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Rev. Bruce Wright
Poor Peooples Economic Human Rights Campaign
James P. Hoffa
International Brotherhood of the Teamsters
Elspeth Gilmore and Jessie Spector
Resource Generation
Pamela J. McMichael
Highlander Research and Education Center
Pamela Twiss
TakeAction Minnesota
Maura Cowley
Energy Action Coalition
Steve Kretzmann
Oil Change International
Will Tanzman
Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation
Jodie Evans
CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Steve Schnapp
United for a Fair Economy
Ethan Rome
Health Care for America Now
Arlene Englehardt
Pacifica Radio
(I have not researched every one of these groups, so I highlighted those that are either well know as marxist/progressive, or have a pretty obvious name that advertises their beliefs.)
Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.
Your article is very informative and a great resource!
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