JAN 17
Fightback Conference

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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’s Birthday

In NYC:

A FIGHTBACK CONFERENCE

Bail Out the PEOPLE,
Not Wall Street!

Uniting & fighting against WAR and for economic & social justice in the biggest crisis since the depression of the 1930s!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 17th

12 to 6 pm
Public School 41, 116 West 11 St., NYC

Public School 41, 116 West 11th St. NYC

INVITED GUESTS/WORKSHOPS/ACTION PROPOSALS

CHALLENGES AND ACTION PROPOSALS TO BE TAKEN UP (PARTIAL LIST):

* BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE FIRST: A FIGHTBACK PROGRAM

* COMBINING A STRATEGY OF MASS ACTION AND DIRECT ACTION

* THE NEXT PHASE OF THE FIGHT AGAINST FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS

* OPENING THE FIGHT FOR JOBS OR INCOME NOW: CHALLENGING ORGANIZED LABOR TO DO MORE

* RECRUITING AN ARMY OF ORGANIZERS

* APRIL 3 AND 4TH, 2009: PROPOSAL FOR MASS MOBILIZATION ON WALL STREET ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF DR. KING’S ASSASSINATION--Some peace activists are planning peace mobilizations, possibly on Wall Street, in New York City on April 4th. This is a good idea. A better idea is to mobilize for two days including Friday, April 3, when the New York Stock Exchange, businesses and banks are open and workers are there.

* MAY 1, 2009: ON INTERNATIONAL WORKERS DAY--Mass mobilization for immigrant and all workers’ rights. How can we strengthen participation and solidarity, especially now?

* SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2009: MARCH ON THE PENTAGON--on the sixth anniversary of the war and occupation of Iraq

WORKSHOPS AND BREAKOUTS (LIST IN FORMATION)

* THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN THE FIGHTBACK

* UNITING THE COMMUNITY WITH ORGANIZED AND UN-ORGANIZED WORKERS

* THE ANTI-WAR MOVEMENT AND THE STRUGGLE VS. THE WAR AT HOME: FORGING A NEW RELATIONSHIP—Hear voices from the growing GI and Veterans’ Resistance Movement, Stop the war against Gaza, End the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Stop the War on GAZA, Defend Palestine!

* THEY SAY CUTBACK–WE SAY FIGHTBACK: The growing struggles against cutbacks, tuition increases, transit fare hikes, layoffs, and more

* CREATING AN ARMY OF ORGANIZERS

* IMMIGRANT WORKERS’ RIGHTS: FIGHTING RACISM IS THE KEY TO SOLIDARITY

Dear activists and organizers:

In 2009, more and more lives are going to be devastated by the biggest global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This crisis is the challenge of a lifetime to those of us who have made a commitment to fight for people’s economic and social rights. What we do, or fail to do will prove decisive to the coming battle over whose interests in society shall prevail--the needs of the people, or the greed of the super-rich few who insist that their profits always come first.

The Bail Out the People Movement invites you to come together in New York City on Sat., Jan. 17, 2009 and help plan the fightback. If you live in the western part of the U.S., we invite you to come to our West Coast Fightback Conference in Los Angeles on Sat., Jan. 24, 2009.

How fitting it is that we meet on the anniversary of the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. If ever there was a time to remember King’s legacy of struggle against war, racism and for economic and social justice, now is such a time!

That Barack Obama will become president on Jan. 20, realizes a measure of King’s dream. But depression- level joblessness, evictions and foreclosures made worse by cutbacks, war, bigotry and racism are not a dream, but a nightmare.

The nightmare is borne out in the numbers: $1 trillion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, $8 trillion to bail out the biggest and richest banks and bankers, while millions lose their jobs, homes, healthcare, ability to go to school, and sink into life-threatening poverty.

There is the promise of a “Stimulus program that will create or save some jobs.” But the stimulus will be a drop-in-the-bucket; it’s expected that one million jobs will be lost per month in 2009 in the U.S.

It is up to the people to fight for the right to jobs or a living income, along with a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions, as well as no escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

No election or president, however historical and inspiring, can be a substitute for a mass movement in the struggle against war or for social and economic rights.

Let’s take inspiration and example from some recent and current struggles like those of the Republic Glass and Doors Co. workers in Chicago who occupied their factory to fight for their rights, or the workers at the Smithfield meat processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, who fought for and won a union. Or the students at New York City’s New School who held a successful sit-in. Or the youth in Greece who are fighting police terror and economic oppression. The lessons of these struggles are that we will need to utilize both mass action and direct action in the fightback ahead of us.

Join with activists in New York and from across the country: If you are an anti-war activist, a union organizer, a student activist, or someone who first became excited about politics because of Obama’s campaign, or if you face losing a job, a home, the ability to go to college, healthcare, or a pension—and you are ready to unite and fight back--let’s come together and determine what we can do to help give birth to a desperately needed fightback movement.

Pre-register for the conference - -http://www.bailoutpeople.org/bailoutpeopleendorse.shtml

Endorse - http://www.bailoutpeople.org/bailoutpeopleendorse.shtml

See list of endorsers - http://www.bailoutpeople.org/mlkconfendorsers.shtml

Donate - http://bailoutpeople.org/donate.shtml

Sponsored by:
The Bail Out the People Movement
55 W. 17th St., Fifth Floor
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
www.BailOutPeople.org

Download leaflets

Sponsored By: The Bail Out The People Movement

Stop Foreclosures and Evictions!

On Wednesday, December 18, activists from the Bail Out the People Movement attended the MTA board meeting to protest proposed draconian budget cuts and fare hikes. The increase in subway & bus fares, layoffs, and service cuts are all going to fatten the coffers of Wall Street Bankers - the same bankers who have received hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout money.

Steve Millies, a long time activist, took the podium at the meeting and denounced the MTA as "a collection agency for the biggest banks and insurance companies," and said that the budget should be "thrown in the garbage can."

Today's New York Times reports:

“We don’t need any fare increases and we don’t need our transit system ravaged either,” said Mr. Millies, who said he was an Amtrak signal-tower operator and a member of the Bail Out the People Campaign, a group that has stood up for victims of the economic crisis. He called for the subway and bus fare to be reduced to $1, to help unemployed New Yorkers.

Then, referring to the authority’s chief executive, who was sitting about 15 feet away, he said: “Where is Elliot Sander?” He stooped, slipped off one of his shoes and shouted, “You made $300,000 last year.”

Immediately, authority police officers swarmed him and pushed him out of the room. He was clutching his shoe, a black, thick-soled oxford, in his hand....

“I wanted to show the sole of the shoe as a sign of contempt for someone who makes so much money and yet wants to raise fares on the disabled,” he said. He said that the authority’s plans to more than double the $2 fare for disabled passengers who use the Access-a-Ride service particularly incensed him.

He said the gesture was planned with Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi shoe-thrower, in mind.

“I was very much inspired by that courageous Iraqi journalist who was protesting the occupation of his country by the American and British oil companies and their governments,” Mr. Millies said.

Mr. Millies said the ticket he was given charged him with “intent to cause a public annoyance.”

“What’s the point of having a public hearing,” he said, “unless you allow people to annoy public officials?”

Activists all around the city and country are applauding Steve Millies. He did what millions of New Yorkers, who are paying more for everything while bankers are being bailed out, would love to do.

Millies reported for work yesterday at AMTRAK, where he has been a union worker for 24 years, and was told by his supervisors to go home because of this incident.

Action Alert:

Here's how you can help:

* Please call the NYPD Switchboard at 1-646-610-5000 - demand that the false charges against Steve Millies be dropped.
* Make a donation online at http://bailoutpeople.org/donate.shtml. Help us defend Steve Millies and continue to organize to demand "Bail Out the People Not the Banks!"

Steve Millies will be one of the many activists and community organizers attending the important January 17 Fightback Conference, held on the weekend of the 80th Anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 80th birthday. This important conference will include skill sharing, workshops, and planning for direct action and peoples' intervention against fare hikes, tuition and utility increases, evictions and foreclosures, as we continue to mobilize to demand "Bail Out the People - Not the Banks!"

MEDIA COVERAGE***

Youtube - Ch 11
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjAslDC3BbU

Say Whatever You Want, but No Throwing Shoes (New York Times):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/nyregion/18sander.html

The shoe must go on: MTA adopts 'miserable' budget
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/transportation/ny-limta185969267dec18,0,1516669.story

Touching your shoes during conference can land you in jail!
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/touching-your-shoes-during-conference-can-land-you-in-jail_100132527.html

This Shoe's For You: Emotions Boil At MTA Hearing:
http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/mta.cash.crunch.2.889271.html

At M.T.A. Hearing, Another Shoe Almost Dropped:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/at-mta-hearing-another-shoe-almost-dropped/

Rider to MTA boss: 'This shoe is for you!":
http://www.newsday.com/iphone/ny-nymta1218,0,5427568.story

This Shoe's for you, MTA! Protestor at board meeting inspired by Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/12/17/2008-12-17_this_shoes_for_you_mta_protestor_at_boar-1.html

MTA Board Approves Fare Hike, Service Cuts:
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/90797/mta-board-approves-fare-hike--service-cuts/Default.aspx

Disgruntled Subway Rider Attempts to Throw Shoe at MTA Boss:
http://www.wpix.com/landing/?Disgruntled-Subway-Rider-Attempts-to-Thr=1&blockID=164538&feedID=1404