Sign to Demand Permits for the March on Wall Street South!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

SIGN ONLINE TODAY TO DEMAND THAT CHARLOTTE, NC AND THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION GRANT PERMITS TO THE COALITION TO MARCH ON WALL ST SOUTH

On May 9, thousands from around the country took the streets in Charlotte, NC to confront the Wall Street of the South during the annual Bank of America Shareholders meeting. This powerful collective action was only the first act, now we must fully turn our sights on building an independent peoples voice at the Wall St South during the Democratic National Convention this September. We must turn thousands of voices in the street into tens of thousands. Sign this petition today and tell the power brokers in Charlotte to stop standing in the way of the People’s right to raise their voice and speak their truth!

CLICK HERE to sign on and send the following petition text and to the Mayor and City Council of Charlotte, the Mecklenburg County Commissioners, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, the Democratic National Convention Committee, and members of the media

Text of Petition:

To City of Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx; Charlotte City Council; Mecklenburg County Commissioners

CC: Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz; President Barack Obama; CEO of Democratic National Convention Steve Kerrigan; the entire Democratic National Convention Committee; Secret Service; NC Governor Beverly Perdue; NC Attorney General Roy Cooper; US Attorney General Eric Holder

In September 2012, the Democratic National Convention will take place in Charlotte, N.C. Charlotte is home to the second largest concentration of finance capital in the United States, most prominently international headquarters of Bank of America and Wells Fargo’s eastern headquarters. Their role in the recent worldwide economic crisis is well known. During the September 2012 Convention, many people will want to exercise their constitutional right to protest and voice their opposition to the role of banks and corporations on our political process and to raise a real Peoples Agenda for jobs, justice and equality.

Yet our representatives in city and county government have stonewalled repeated attempts by community organizers to get a permit for a staging area and a march route the Sunday prior to the Democratic National Convention. Simultaneously, the city has moved forward on passing new ordinances that severely restrict free speech and expand the ability of police and security forces to target and profile protesters.

Our rights to assemble and speak are well established and legally guaranteed. Therefore the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Commissioners should:

Commit to provide protest organizers with permits that meet the court-sanctioned standard for such protests — that we be “within sight and sound” of the Convention sites and Bank of America Headquarters on Sunday, September 2, 2012; and
Immediately repeal any ordinances that will likely result in civil liberties violations, including but not limited to, authorizing police to search backpacks or coolers, a prohibition on public camping, expanded police power to profile or target any person who might be considered to be a protestor or “out of place,” giving them carte blanche to search, detain and/or arrest that person, and
Make public the permitting process for public parks and march routes the week before, and the week during the convention.

National nominating conventions have a disgraceful history of repression, mass incarceration, and police brutality against protesters, often fraught with a multitude of wrongful arrest lawsuits in the aftermath. The city should repudiate that reputation by upholding the people’s legitimate right to gather and protest in September. We, the undersigned, therefore call upon you to stop these violations of our constitutional rights by June 1, 2012.

Initial signers:

George Friday, Chair, North Carolina Green Party
John Heuer, Chair of North Carolina Peace Action* and Vice President of the Eisenhower chapter of Veterans for Peace
Corine Mack, Southern Piedmont Central Labor Council and Charlotte NAACP branch Community Outreach organizer
Andy Koch, NC Defend Education Coalition
Minister Tyrone Logan, Lloyd Presbyterian Church, Winston Salem, NC
Donna Dewitt, President of South Carolina AFL-CIO
Genaro Lopez, Director, Southwest Workers Union, San Antonio, TX
Jaribu Hill, Director, Mississippi Workers Center, Southern Human Rights Organizers Network
Ramsey Clark, Human Rights attorney, former US Attorney General, awarded UN Peace Prize
Rev. CD Witherspoon, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Baltimore
Efia Nwangaza, Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, Greenville, SC
Armando Robles, President UE Local 1110, Chicago, IL
Leah Bolger, Veterans For Peace President and Mike Reid, VFP Executive Director
John Long, Amalgamated Transit Union, Norfolk, VA
Sara Flounders, International Action Center
Teresa Gutierrez, co-coordinator of the May 1 Coalition for Workers and Immigrants Rights*
Leslie Feinberg, co-founder, Rainbow Solidarity for the Cuban Five, Syracuse, NY
Dave Welsh, Delegate, San Francisco Labor Council
Jerry Goldberg, Attorney, Moratorium Now! Coalition, Detroit, MI
Bryan Pfeifer, Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement
Pam Africa, International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Philadelphia, PA
Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK
Peter Shell, Pittsburgh Thomas Merton Center Antiwar Committee and UNAC
Joe Iosbaker, Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda and UNAC
Ralph Poynter, Lynne Stewart Defense Committee and New Abolitionist Movement,* New York
Mark C. Johnson, Executive Director of Fellowship of Reconciliation
Minnie Bruce-Pratt, LGBT + activist and author
Nicholas Camerota, Professor of Philosophy, Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts*
* = for identification only

Organizations:
Academi Watch
Al-Awda, Charlotte
Alliance for Global Justice
Anti-War Committee, Minnesota
Atlanta International Action Center
Bail Out People Movement
BAYAN USA
Center for Constitutional Rights
Charlotte Action Center for Justice
Citizens for Legitimate Government
CODEPINK
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality, Richmond, VA
Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO
Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Freedom Socialist Party
Herman@s Orgullosos en Las Americas (HOLA), Asheville, NC
International Action Center
International Socialist Organization, Charlotte NC Branch
Jill Stein for President Campaign
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, North Dakota
Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution
May 1 Coalition for Workers and Immigrants Rights
Michigan Emergency Council Against War and Injustice
Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc)
Moratorium Now! Coalition, Detroit
MortgageFraud in North Carolina
MOVE Organization, Philadelphia, PA
Movimento per la società di giustizia
NC Triad Jobs with Justice
Occupy 4 Jobs Network
Occupy Atlanta
Occupy Charlotte
Occupy Democratic Convention
Occupy Durham
Occupy NCSU
Occupy Winston-Salem
People of Faith CT
People Not Profit, Cincinnati, OH
People’s Coalition of the Carolinas
Queer Liberation Front
Radical Women
Raleigh-Durham Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST)
Revolutionary Students Union, Utah
Socialists of Greater Tampa Bay
Southern Chrisitan Leadership Conference, Baltimore City Chapter
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), UNC Asheville
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), UNC Chapel Hill
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), NCSU
United 4 the Dream
United for Peace and Justice
United National Antiwar Coalition
United Steel Workers Local 8751, Boston School Bus Union
Veterans for Peace
Wayside Center for Popular Education, Faber, VA
Winthrop Socialist Student Union, Winthrop State University, Rock Hill, SC
Workers World Party
Wisconsin Bail Out People Movement

CLICK HERE WallStSouth.org/WallStSouthPetition to sign on and send the above petition text and to the Mayor and City Council of Charlotte, the Mecklenburg County Commissioners, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, the Democratic National Convention Committee, and members of the media.

Go to WallStSouth.org to join the coalition, read the call to action, view endorsements, download flyers, sign up for updates, donate, and get involved!

WallStSouth.org
info@wallstsouth.org
704-266-0362

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Coalition to March on Wall Street South — Building People’s Power During the Democratic National Convention

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

It is with great enthusiasm that we announce that the Coalition to Protest at the DNC is changing its name to the Coalition to March on Wall Street South — Building People’s Power during the DNC. This decision was made unanimously by the steering committee of the coalition, made up of representatives from more than 60 organizations.

The growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement shifted the national dialog and shone a spotlight on the power of the banks, corporations, and the 1% in controlling the political process in this country. The policies that come out of Washington and our state capitols show this as clear as day. Neither of the two corporate parties, not the Democrats nor the Republicans, have addressed the dire situation faced by so many working people and families in this country. That’s why we believe that we must build people’s power from below to place demands on the system and struggle for the things we need — good jobs, education, housing, health care, and food. It’s clear that an independent people’s movement is needed because both parties serve and protect the interests of the banks, corporations, and the 1%.

Charlotte, NC is the Wall Street of the South, home to the world headquarters of Bank of America and the eastern headquarters of Wells Fargo. These two represent the worst, most notorious, and racist banks – for their role in driving the economic crisis, mass unemployment, home foreclosures, the prison industrial complex, including privatized immigration detention centers, funding environmental destruction and climate change, and many more attacks on our communities. Charlotte has the second highest concentration of finance capital behind New York City. In addition, North Carolina is one of only two states in the country where collective bargaining for public sector workers is illegal, it is the least unionized state in the country, and the South as a region is a bastion of right-to-work and anti-union laws. The decision of the DNC to hold it’s nominating convention here is injury to every family that has lost its home or worker that has been laid off as a result of an economic crisis caused by the banks and Wall Street. The irony has not escaped us.

As the DNC meets in Charlotte, we will challenge the power of the banks over our political process. We will use this opportunity when a national and international spotlight will be on North Carolina and the South, to raise up people’s demands for jobs, justice, and dignity and bring our grievances directly to the doors of one of the two major national parties and the big banks.

People across this country are fed up with business as usual. With every bank bailout, every budget cut, and every dollar dumped into the Pentagon and wars abroad, rather than spending the vast wealth of this country on people’s needs, the realities of who this system and the two parties serve becomes clearer everyday.

We will hold a mass March on Wall Street South on Sunday, September 2 in Charlotte. Other actions and activities will take place throughout the week to raise up the many struggles for justice being waged by communities across the country. See you in the streets of Charlotte in September!

The Coalition to March on Wall Street South — Building Peoples Power During the DNC

May 4, 2012

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National Conference of Coalition to Protest at the DNC calls for March on Wall St South, Sept 2!

Posted on April 20, 2012 by admin

National Conference of the Coalition to Protest at the DNC issues call:

March on Wall Street South, September 2!

Endorse/Join the Coalition
Donate today on WePay!
To find out how you can get involved, visit protestdnc.org
Follow on Twitter: @ProtestDNC
Like the Coalition on Facebook
Or call today: 704-266-0362

From September 1-6, 2012, poor and working people from across the world will march on the Wall Street of the South in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Participants at the April 14 National Organizing Conference

The Coalition to Protest at the Democratic National Convention held its national organizing conference April 14 in Charlotte to discuss action plans. Activists from throughout North Carolina, from Atlanta, South Carolina, Ohio, Detroit, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, New York City, Philadelphia, and Wisconsin, discussed and adopted action plans for Sept. 1-6.

The coalition represents more than 60 organizations from across the country including organized labor, peace groups, students and youth, immigrants rights, Occupy groups, and more.

Reports and updates were heard from members of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, Committee to Stop FBI Repression; Coalition to March on the RNC; the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) – AFL-CIO, the Moratorium Now! Coalition; North Carolina Coalition Against Corporate Power; Occupy 4 Jobs, Occupy groups throughout North Carolina and other states and the Wisconsin Bail Out The People Movement.

Plans for actions take shape

The conference resolved to call for a major mass demonstration, March on Wall Street South, set for Sunday, September 2. Charlotte, NC is second only to NYC in the amount of finance capital concentrated in the city. It is home to the world headquarters of Bank of America and the eastern headquarters of Wells Fargo, two of the most notorious and hated among the big banks for the attacks they are driving on our communities, from home foreclosures, to student loan debt, funding the prison industrial complex, and more.

Other actions discussed and adopted thus far for the week of Sept 1-6 include a Southern Worker’s Assembly; a People’s Tribunal on the Banks; supporting Charlotte’s Labor Day march; and a Youth/Student ‘Education Not Deportation’ Festival. There will also be Occupy events and actions taking place throughout the week.

Organizers demand right to protest, fight for permits

The city of Charlotte still has not granted any permits despite the Coalition’s efforts to secure permits for the past seven months. If the city does not grant them, the coalition will be launching a major campaign to demand the city issue permits.

Larry Holmes, Occupy 4 Jobs, at press conference April 13 outside Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte

The coalition held a press conference at the Bank of America Stadium April 13 in Charlotte with leaders from organizations across the U.S. to announce their plans to march during the DNC and to again demand permits. Said Elena Everett, co-chair of the Legal and Permits working group of the coalition: “The rights of the people to present their demands for economic, social and political justice to the delegates of a major electoral party must not be curtailed by excessive delay tactics.”

“We won’t tolerate any effort to stop us from exercising our constitutional rights to protest,” said Larry Holmes, with Occupy 4 Jobs in New York on April 13. “If they have to arrest 10,000 of us, if we have to fill the jails, … we will be here.”

Reports from RNC organizing, Bank of America shareholder’s meeting protest

A delegation from the Coalition to March on the RNC traveled from Florida to attend the conference and report on their organizing for protests during the RNC in Tampa from August 27-30. They are also fighting the city of Tampa for permits to march on the opening day of the convention. The two coalitions are working closely together and building solidarity for demonstrations at the conventions of the two pro-war, pro-Wall Street parties.

An organizer with the NC Coalition Against Corporate Power also gave an update on the upcoming major demonstration at Bank of America’s shareholder’s meeting on May 9 in Charlotte.

Make a donation to help build the March on Wall St South

In September 2012, thousands of peace, justice, labor, immigrant, and Occupy activists will gather in Charlotte, NC, the site of the Democratic National Convention, to raise a host of people’s issues.

Please consider making a contribution to help us secure permits and build a mass march on the Wall St of the South, as well as many other activities.

See you in the streets of Charlotte in September!

For more information on the Coalition to Protest at the DNC and if you are planning on participating:

Twitter: @ProtestDNC
Facebook: Coalition to Protest at the DNC
Web: protestdnc.org
Email: info@protestdnc.org
Donate here
Phone: 704-266-0362

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April 14: National Organizing Conference in Charlotte

Posted on March 23, 2012 by admin

National Organizing Conference of the Coalition to Protest at the DNC

Saturday, April 14 @ 9am
Charlotte School of Law
(2145 Suttle Avenue, Charotte, NC)

Just a few days after the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., organizers, freedom fighters and movement leaders from around the country will be participating in a National Organizing Conference to challenge the Wall Street of the South and the two corporate parties. Dr. King demanded “A Job or an Income for All” and stood with striking sanitation workers. In that legacy of struggle for social and economic justice, the Coalition to Protest at the DNC will meet and organize.

The national response to the murder of Trayvon Martin has revealed the pent-up outrage at long standing issues of racism, police terror, mass unemployment & mass incarceration, and endless cuts to programs people need to survive, while hypocritically funding endless wars, bailing out the big banks, and failing to prosecute any of the Wall Street Banksters who caused this economic crisis. In this spirit we will organize.

Delegations from across the country will be joining us on April 14, including activists from:

May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights in New York City
Occupy Wall Street
SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference), Baltimore Chapter
Moratorium Now! from Detroit, MI
Students for a Democratic Society chapters
The Occupy 4 Jobs Network
SC AFL-CIO
United 4 the Dream, Charlotte
Occupy Atlanta, Occupy Asheville, Occupy Durham, Occupy Greensboro, Occupy Winston-Salem, Occupy Chapel Hill, Occupy Raleigh, Occupy Columbia, Occupy Charlotte + more
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee
The National Lawyers Guild
+ many more!

The Organizing Conference will be an opportunity to discuss what issues will be bringing people to the streets of Charlotte in September, to discuss what kinds of actions we want to organize before and during the convention, and how to use the demonstrations to continue to build the movement for justice, peace, and equality. We’ll also be joined by organizers from the Coalition to March on the RNC and the NC Coalition to Challenge Corporate Power who will be sharing plans and preparations for protests against Bank of America in Charlotte and the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL.

For more information, please visit our website at protestdnc.org, or send us an email at info@protestdnc.org. Or, find the event on Facebook.

Below, please find some options for hotels in the area, and keep checking back for more updates as they’re available. Continue reading →

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Coalition to Protest at the DNC endorses marches and demonstrations planned for RNC in Tampa

Posted on February 23, 2012 by admin

The Coalition to Protest at the DNC, a convergence of socio-economic justice activists as well as progressive labor forces, send greetings from Charlotte, NC and around the country. We stand in solidarity with, and endorse, the Coalition to March on the RNC‘s demand for good jobs for all, especially from North Carolina, and other states, where denying public service workers the right to collective bargaining and union busting is a daily reality.

The Democrats and Republicans are ardently pushing austerity programs on the 99% with both parties pandering to banks and large corporations. Democratic leadership has greatly increased deportations, augmented war spending, and ushered in huge budget cuts, while the Republicans have fomented racism, xenophobia, and attacks on both women and the LGBTQ communities to sow divisions. We know that at the end of the day, both parties serve and protect the interests of the 1%.

The Coalition to Protest at the DNC calls for a mass people’s movement to demand a better future for our communities, and sees both the RNC, in Tampa, FL and the DNC in Charlotte, NC as ideal times to resist the economic crisis, the banks, the wars, and call for justice for all working people.

Money for Human Needs, Not Corporate Greed!