Standing in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street NYC, hundreds of San Diego citizens will peacefully occupy the Civic Center Plaza in downtown San Diego, adjacent to San Diego City Hall (1200 3rd Ave.), starting on October 7, 2011. This nonviolent occupation is in protest of the global financial corruption currently invading politics, media and corporations, exemplified by the recent financial industry meltdown and following recession.
The occupation will continue indefinitely until a list of demands in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street NYC are met by all levels of government, including the City and County of San Diego, the state of California, the Federal Government, and by private and public banks and corporations.
The long term and overnight occupation will include marches, sit-ins, educational programs, practice of the democratic process, and General Assembly meetings wherein solutions to overlapping issues are identified, to name a few. This diversified group makes decisions via consensus.
Participants are requested to meet at Children's Park (1st Ave. and Island Ave.), by 3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 7. At 4:00 p.m., the group will march to Civic Center Plaza. Children's Park is adjacent to the Convention Center Trolley Station and is two blocks south of Nordstrom Horton Plaza.
"The Occupy Wall Street movement is sweeping across the country. People from all walks of life, political persuasions and occupations are joining together to demand that our economic system become more just," said Ray Lutz of Occupy San Diego. "Join our movement. With you, we can bring about change."
We, the American citizens, must claim our country and put ourselves on the line for peace and justice. It is time for us to discover both who we -- the other 99% -- are and what we believe and want. Now is the time for us to act. Unless we do, we are nothing. When we do, our nation will be restored.
Occupy San Diego is reaching out to existing political groups, active military personnel, veterans, activist groups and labor unions in the San Diego community to participate in the occupation. The United Steelworkers Union (USW, 1.2 million members), the Laborers' International Union of America (LIUNA, 500,000 members), the Transport Workers Union (over 200,000 members), and National Nurses United (NNU, 170,000 members) - have already announced their support for the Occupy Wall Street protests.
The top 1% control nearly a majority of the wealth in this country*. This lopsided distribution of wealth, coupled with outsourcing of jobs, bailouts, secret loans, subsidies, and profiteering in the financial sector have resulted in massive foreclosures, retirement and investment fiduciary failure, job losses, and homelessness.
About Occupy San Diego:
We are the 99%, and we will be quiet about this economic inequality no longer. We will take back for the people what already belongs to the people – our country. For more information, visit http://occupysandiego.org and for Occupy Wall Street please visit http://occupywallst.org. Twitter: @OccupySD; Facebook: OccupySanDiego
FOR PARTICIPANTS
Bring what you need to LIVE -- or nothing, we will take care of each other! Some suggestions:
1. Pack lightly, keep valuables to a minimum, keep compact backpack/tote with you most of the time.
2. Wear layered clothing, prepare for possible rain or hot sun (hats, sunglasses, etc.)
3. Feel free to bring food, water and supplies to share!
4. Tents, compact bedroll / sleeping bag, pad/air mattress, blankets
Participants are advised to check the occupysandiego.org web site for further details, including legal advice and instructions and what to expect and how to behave if arrested.
Transportation:
Occupying participants are advised to get rides to the site or use the Coaster or trolley and park in free station parking lots outside the downtown area.
If you are a company or individual who can donate or loan resources such as food, water, porta potties, power supplies, Internet hotspots, media equipment, or almost anything else, please email occupysd@gmail.com
Notes:
* The top 1% control over 40% of the wealth in the country, and the top 20% control 93% of the wealth.
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
A buddy of mine worked on a tuna boat 'till he was 30 and owns his house free and clear. Another guy I know runs a business installing commercial telephone systems. He has a nice home in Mt Helix and a summer house at Lake Havasu - both paid for. And he doesn't even have a high school diploma. Neither of these guys inherited their money. The "education industry" doesn't want the idea to catch on, because it will cut into their "profits".
And, you'd be surprised how fast money stacks up when you don't waste it. And, a blue-collar salary goes a long way with no rent or mortgage payment. Observe the 1% and take note. Then try it yourself.
I need some back up on that one.
Really? 99% can't pay? Can you point me to those numbers or are we pulling statistics out of the air?
A. Rand
For all her crazy ruminations Rand had yet to include buying the influence of government as one of her operating principles. She suffered from tunnel vision when it came to the value of "selfishness" but she did possess some scruples.
My hobby is casting pearls to swine.
The two fellas I described earlier really are the unique 1%. Very few have the discipine and patience to plan ahead and save, something the education system can't seem to teach anyone.
Our policemen here in California are, for the most part, much more professional than those on the east coast. I'm sorry, never heard of Ayn Rand. If we didn't give so much to the IRS they wouldn't have so much to give away. If mom & dad pay their son's college tuition isn't that an inheritance? Why not give him the money for a down payment on a house, or for the beginning of a savings account that will pay cash for a house in a few years? What good is it for a young guy to waste his time and his parent's or the government's money earning a degree in oceanography if he then goes to work as a car stereo installer? And I've seen this happen.
It's a zero sum game, the more money they have , the less you have. It's simple economics..........if you're a commie.
He, like most of her detractors, operate on hearsay.
This is her "selfishness". You put your own wellbeing first. However, you should not take away another's wellbeing just to further your own, nor should anyone take away your wellbeing to further their own. Selfishness, Rand-style, is not the same as the common use. She meant it as helping yourself to flourish, knowing that others will be able to flourish with you, as opposed to taking what you want, to hell with everyone else. Quite the opposite of tunnel vision, I think.
Why doesn't anyone care that one of their factories may be polluting the environment and causing numerous cases of cancer in one small community? Extreme conservatives instead focus on Occupy Wall Street and call the protestors Marxists. Does anyone want to know that one of the Koch companies was involved in bribery to secure contracts overseas? Instead of trying to understand what people are really fed up about, you would rather call the protestors socialists that are trying to take money from the wealthy. No, I don't want their money, I have plenty of my own. I just want them, and others like them, to stop trying to turn America into one giant corporation.
As for the protesters, I think they are a bunch of losers, but not by fault of their own. They have been misled by the likes of Mr. Comeau, Mr. Lutz and others. I am trying to point out an alternative way for them and others to succeed. We all like "alternatives", dont we? Well, working and saving is a proven way to succeed. The biggest obstacle to saving is the IRS who takes half your money right off the top. Many have used education to become successful, and that's great! But where education doesn't work there are many other ways to go.
if you want to bitch about someone, bitch about them..the irs are just worker bees here.. doug
(SF 11:50am on Wednesday, October 5, 2011: "If you really want to know why this movement has captured the imagination of people all over the country, then you should visit this website: http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com These are real people - with real stories - that just want a fair shot of getting their piece of the American Dream.") The billionaire Koch brothers, whose Dutch immigrant grandfather was a printer's apprentice, are hardly representative of the American Dream. Let's talk about how a foreign subsidiary sold oil equipment to Iran in compliance with US law. The Kochs did not later ban all affiliates from dealing with Iran. They also did not discover the bribery on their own and fire the guilty employees, paying severance under European law. The Kochs haven't won over 400 environmental awards since Barack Obama took office. Their 2005 purchase of Georgia-Pacific (which is not the world's largest recycler of wastepaper) makes them responsible for claims that were waived in 1997, others that were dismissed from court in 2011, and yet more that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality found to be completely without merit. We should not call people who want to take rich people's money "socialists." When the Khmer run out of one-percenters, other people also have money.