Occupy Wall Street reignited a movement for economic justice. Now WOW — Women Occupying Wall Street — aims to do the same for feminism. They’re bringing together a broad range of New York City feminists—and unapologetically using the word—to launch a new, inclusive activism for gender justice and against the War on Women.

The First Feminist General Assembly is Thursday, May 17 at 6:30 in Washington Square Park.

Yes, it’s a meeting—but not just any meeting. The invitation list ranges from SisterSong: Women of Color Reproductive Justice Center to the Sex Workers Outreach Project, from the Granny Peace Brigade to Hollaback, a group of 20-somethings using cell phone cameras to broadcast the faces of street harassers. The conversation will be personal as well as political.

It’s as if the Suffragists were getting together with the Sixties reproductive rights activists. And feminist drummers. And men (OWS’s Men’s Circle) doing the childcare.

Gender justice is crucial to economic justice, say the organizers. No society is truly democratic without sexual and gender-identity freedom. The Recession and government cutbacks are hurting women and kids most. And all over the world economic and social progress depend on individuals’ control over their own reproductive lives and on freedom from gendered violence. Feminism opposes domination, by anyone of anyone.

Contact: Dior Vargas (646-238-0447) or Melanie Gold (212-769-4987).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5-14-12
Contact: press@occupywallst.org, 347-292-1444
Contacts for each day of action below

Today: Stroller March for the 99% with Parents, Kids, Community Groups & Labor
NYers “Roll & Stroll” for Justice, Secret Prank Planned for Mayor 1%

As part of the Another NYC week of anti-austerity actions, which began on May 10th and will culminate on May 15th in a mass convergence at Times Square, NYC organizations and individuals from all across the city will join together for a family friendly Stroller March for a better future for NYC’s children, schools and families. Communities will come together to fight the Bloomberg budget attack on afterschool and childcare programs, children’s services and education.

Monday, May 14 – Focus on Education & Students | Contact
 Jonathan Westin: 347-410-6919 or Michael Kink: 518-527-2787
Grand Army Plaza, 59th & 5th Ave. (SE Corner of Central Park), 5-7pm
Also happening today: Picket and leafleting at Bloomberg LP, 731 Lexington Ave, 7am-4pm. Continue reading →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: press@occupywallst.org, 347-292-1444
Contacts for each day of action below

ANOTHER CITY IS POSSIBLE, ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE

Continuing to shift the discussion from austerity to economic inequality, Occupy Wall Street and dozens of NY-based organizations join global days of action, May 10th-15th

Beginning on May 10th and culminating on May 15th in a mass convergence at Times Square, NYC organizations and individuals from all across the city will join together in action around the many issues we face: from cuts in social services, to an austerity agenda that redistributes your tax revenue into private hands, to the financial institutions (that we bailed out) that continue to make record profits at our expense. Actions on May 12th and 15th are in conjunction with global calls for action–coinciding with coordinated protests across Europe and the Mediterranean. Watch the video here (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=Iyh5794bjjg). Continue reading →

For Immediate Release: May 4th, 2012
Press Contact: press@occupywallst.org, 347-292-1444
For this action only: Mark Bray, 201-820-8230

Members of Occupy Wall Street Stage Sit-In 
at NY AG Eric Schneiderman’s Office
Citizens Risk Arrest to Demand Public Accounting of Federal Mortgage Fraud Investigation

New York, NY–Today, more than a dozen people staged a sit-in at the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, pressuring him as co-chair of the federal Financial Fraud Task Force’s Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group, to make good on his pledge to investigate and hold accountable Wall Street’s crimes that have contributed to an economic crisis and more than 11 million underwater homeowners in the US. Participants in the sit-in and demonstration expressed outrage at the lack of apparent progress in investigating or prosecuting the crimes of the big banks against the American people and our economy.

AG Schneiderman recently called on the public to “help make this investigation as strong and thorough as it needs to be.” Those organizing and participating in today’s sit-in say they are answering that call (the AG’s words appeared on several signs), and have vowed to stay until Schneiderman agrees to attend a public forum in New York to provide answers about the about the working group’s resources, staffing, and timeline.

Outside, dozens of people passed a hat to raise funds for the working group, which critics have decried as woefully underfunded and understaffed. The Obama administration has so far promised 55 investigators (who have yet to be appointed), compared to the approximately 1000 federal investigators focused on the much-smaller Savings & Loan crisis of the 80s and 90s.

“Since its creation more than 3 months ago, the silence from the federal mortgage fraud working group has been deafening,” said Han Shan, one of the sit-in participants. “We’re here to make some noise and show we won’t be satisfied with lip service and lies. Homeowners and working people across the country continue to suffer from the economic crisis created by Wall Street fraud, and we want accountability now.”

Alex Krales, one of the people sitting arm-in-arm on with protesters on the floor of the building lobby, demanded that the task force “step it up,” citing the fact that no banks or bankers have had to answer for their infamous crimes against the American people and our economy.

Outside of the office building at 120 Broadway where the Office of the New York State Attorney General is located, only about a hundred yards south of the Occupy Wall Street movement’s birthplace in Zuccotti Park, scores of demonstrators rallied in support of the sit-in. In addition to signs that quoted Schneiderman’s own words, people held banners that said “Banks Steal Homes” and “Bring the Banks to Justice.”

More post action updates to be posted soon.

# # #

For May Day: Mark Bray, 201-820-8230
Rebecca Manski, 773-758-3400
Liesbeth Rapp, 501-772-0272

8 AM–2 PM – Bryant Park, Occupy Wall Street May Day Gathering (42nd & 6th)
OWS will be at Bryant Park with a mobile occupation (popularly known as a “Pop-Up Occupation”); the day will include free food, a free market, skill-shares, workshops, teach-ins, public art and more. Bryant Park is a staging place for the early morning ’99 Pickets’ actions targeting various corporations around midtown. 99picketlines.tumblr.com At 12pm, Tom Morello from the band Rage Against the Machine will arrive at Bryant Park to enlist 1,000 guitarists, string players, and singers to take part in the Occupy Guitarmy. occupyguitarmy.tumblr.com (http://a NULL.elf NULL.mylogomail NULL.com/sendlink NULL.asp?HitID=0&StID=72928&SID=0&NID=811768&EmID=155243707&Link=aHR0cDovL29jY3VweWd1aXRhcm15LnR1bWJsci5jb20v&token=de558947f373a5071a18fdbf68e35e5976dc7b90)

10 AM-3 PM – Madison Sq. Park, Free University with Occupy University (23rd & 5th)
The Free University offers a public space for the 99% to disengage from an unequal system and imagine a model for alternative education with a day-long event featuring lectures, workshops, skill-shares, and discussions — all open to the public. University professors from around the city will bring their classes to the commons. university.nycga.net (http://a NULL.elf NULL.mylogomail NULL.com/sendlink NULL.asp?HitID=0&StID=72928&SID=0&NID=811768&EmID=155243707&Link=aHR0cDovL3VuaXZlcnNpdHkubnljZ2EubmV0Lw%3D%3D&token=de558947f373a5071a18fdbf68e35e5976dc7b90)

2 PM – Occupy March to Union Square with Guitarmy
Vibrant procession stepping off from Bryant Park, proceeding through midtown to Union Square with the Occupy Guitarmy.

4 PM – Union Square (14th and Broadway), May Day Solidarity Rally
The May Day Solidarity Coalition (http://maydaysolidarity2012 NULL.org/coalition/), where Occupy Wall Street will join labor unions, May 1st Coalition For Worker and Immigrant Rights, students, and faith & community groups for a massive rally at Union Square. Musical performances by Das Racist, Dan Deacon, Tom Morello, Immortal Technique, Bobby Sanabria, Toshi Reagan and other special guests. Large crowds expected.

5:30 PM – Solidarity March to Financial District (2 Broadway @Bowling Green)
A coalition of labor, immigrant, OWS, community, student, and faith organizations will march from Union Square into the heart of corporate corruption on Wall Street, ending at 2 Broadway with a rally featuring a variety of speakers, musical performances and more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: press@occupywallst.org (press null@null occupywallst NULL.org), 347-292-1444
For this action only: Austin Guest, 831-917-6400

OWS to protest Wall Street greed in heart of Financial District
Arrests anticipated as NYPD blocks 1st Amendment rights of the 99%
Last Spring training before big May Day actions

This week, activists from Occupy Wall Street will bring an outcry about Wall Street greed to the doorstep of the New York Stock Exchange.  In the heart of the New York’s financial district, protesters will lie down and put their bodies on the line for economic justice and aggressively assert their First Amendment rights. The NYPD has continued to trample OWS’s right to protest on Wall Street. Stories of economic injustice suffered by individual protesters will be on cardboard signs.  This event will empower ordinary people to lift up their voices in resistance to the corrupt financial system.  All those participating have never been arrested before.

When/Where: April 27 at 4pm, New York Stock Exchange at Wall St. & Broad St. Continue reading →

Tuesday, May 1st, will be a nationwide emergency outcry in over 100 cities about economic conditions in the US. This is another important step in the growth of the populist resistance movement in the world’s lone superpower. On May Day, the Occupy Movement, the Immigrant Rights Movement, the Labor Movement, and the Student Movement across the country will march and organize in solidarity for economic justice.

We are the 99%.

• Four years after the financial crisis, not a single of the Too Big to Fail banks is smaller — in fact, they all continue to grow in size and risk. Not to mention they are now immune from prosecution for foreclosure fraud.

• Over a million homes are in foreclosure in the US; 3.2 million homes have been foreclosed on since 2008; in total, 18.5 million homes are vacant, while 3.5 million families are homeless.

• The two major political parties are expected to spend nearly a billion dollars each to sell the presidency. Corporate money flooding politics is undermining the very principles of American democracy.

• 1 in 2 college graduates are jobless or underemployed and the national student debt is about to hit $1 trillion.

There will be an array of events in NYC, where the Occupy movement began, and other major cities including: LA, DC, Chicago, Minneapolis, Miami, Detroit, Atlanta, Austin and many more. We call upon people to refrain from shopping, walk out of class, take the day off of work, and other creative forms of resistance disrupting the status quo of the 1%.

Stay tuned. For NYC plans visit www.maydaynyc.org (http://www NULL.maydaynyc NULL.org/) for a list of May Day actions planned nationwide www.occupywallst.org/article/may-day (http://www NULL.occupywallst NULL.org/article/may-day)

For Immediate Release: 4-26-12

“Rage against the Machines” Tom Morello to perform on May 1st in Union Square

Press Conference to be followed by a “Know Your Rights” Training for Immigrant Workers at 6:30pm at 1199SEIU


Continue reading →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2012
CONTACT: press@occupywallst.org, 347-292-1444
For this action only: 99picketlines@gmail.com

Workers across New York City are organizing “99 Picket Lines” building up to (and through) May 1st (May Day, International Workers Day). On May 1st New Yorkers will join a broad coalition of unions, immigrants rights groups, community- and faith-based organizations, worker centers, and the Occupy Wall Street movement in a mass mobilization against the economic, social, and political injustice wrought by the one percent.

KEY PICKETS INCLUDE:

Wednesday, April 25, 6-7 PM, Restaurant Opportunities Center at Capital Grille
(155 42nd Street, b/w 3rd Ave and Lexington)
Workers are protesting against Darden Corporation, the owner of Capital Grille restaurant, which has committed egregious wage and hour violations, sexual and racial discrimination, and has retaliated against workers who organize.

Thursday, April 26, 3:30 PM, New York Taxi Workers Alliance March & Protest
March from Queens Medallion Leasing (21-03 44th Ave in Long Island City) to SLS Jet then Midtown Garage (in Long Island City)
Taxi drivers are leading a sweatshop march and protest, demanding an end to rampant lease overcharges, and calling for the first fare raise in eight years to ensure taxi workers can earn a living wage and to create a Health and Wellness Fund for workers.

Wednesday May 2, 7 PM, Teamsters Local 814 
Sotheby’s Auction House (72nd and York)
Sotheby’s has kept its art handlers locked out of their jobs for over 8 months demanding wage and benefit cuts and the gradual elimination of their union.

The purpose of the 99 Picket Lines is to draw attention to the common struggles of workers across the city. Moises Cerezo, a line cook at the Capital Grille Chrysler Center, said that at his workplace “There is racial discrimination, wage theft, an abusive environment, retaliation for organizing, and more, and that’s why we fight; but we know that many other workers have a similar struggle against their bosses, against the 1%. That is why we not only have our campaign, but we will stand in solidarity with all workers on May Day.”

On May 1st, many more pickets will start from a convergence point at Bryant Park at 8am and target Chase Bank, Standard and Poor’s, The New York Times, ABC, Wells Fargo, Blackrock, Fidelity, and Lazard, among others.

The pickets began on April 18 led by the Laundry Workers Center at Hot and Crusty Pizza in the Upper East Side and April 20 when UAW Legal Services workers picketed the office of the wealthy chair of NYC Legal Services, Joe Genova who is spearheading the attacks on unionized workers.

For more on the 99 picket lines, including participating organizations, visit www.facebook.com/99PicketLines (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/99PicketLines) 
For more on May Day in NYC visit www.maydaynyc.org (http://www NULL.maydaynyc NULL.org/)