There's a fresh wind ablowin'...

Greetings, Friends

There is a fresh wind ablowin' and we don't yet know quite where it will take us or how strong it will get.  But it is exciting.  I just got off an AFSC conference call where I learned what the Occupy movement looks like across the land.  Each place seems to have its own character.  And yet they all have much in common.  The system is broken.  Some would phrase it as there having been a corporate coup that has taken over the government.  Others phrase it in terms of corporate greed and the vastly different economic realities of the top 1% of the population and the remaining 99%.    It is a street movement with lots of new people getting involved.  It is a movement that unions and others are trying to support (but must not co-opt).  Their rallying cry last night helped stop what could have been a very ugly confrontation in NYC this morning.  It has a lot of potential.
I am puzzled when media fuss that they don't hear demands.  Aren't they listening?  People are angry at the corporate control of governement.  Undo the concept of corporate personhood.  At the very least, undo the recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United.  The economic disparities are not acceptable.  No one in this country should be homeless or hungry.  The demands: whatever it takes to right those wrongs - changes in tax policy, shift funding from the military to meeting human needs, ending wars... There are many ways to do it.  It is true that much of what is voiced (and on which there seems to be pretty broad agreement)  are the things people are angry with.  But implied in most of those things are various solutions.
What remains to be seen is how sustained these efforts are to not just protest what is but to build something new.  The General Assemblies are a remarkable step in that direction.  Not everyone has the time for regular participation, but for many it is their first encounter with a group operating mostly by consensus and committed to nonviolence.  In many places there are struggles to address race and class issues, of how to connect with the important organizing already going on.  But it is a work in progress.
So... find the encampment near you and check it out.  Lots of groups are having events on the national day of action this Saturday.  Go to the Occupy Together website and watch the movement grow.  Look for it on Facebook and YouTube (there are some amazing videos being created!).
Once again the calendar is full of great events.   This Saturday there are lots of Occupy events plus a town hall with Barney Frank at 2pm.  Sunday is the program With Hiroshima Eyes: The Hibakusha Experience and Art of Junko Kayashige at Providence Friends Meeting at 4pm.  Tuesday there is a press conference on recent racial incidents in Worcester with a petition to the city council.  Next Monday there is a forum on women's heath issues at Brown.  ... Check out the calendar.  And get involved!
Thanks so much for all you do.  In Peace  Martha