National Day of Action to ‘Occupy the Courts’ on 2 Year Anniversary of Citizens United Ruling
Inside and outside of courthouses in 46 states and 130 cities across the country, members of Occupy Wall Street and thousands of other concerned citizens will meet the two year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC with creative protest. The ruling, which further opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections and reinforced the fictitious legal concept of “corporate-personhood,” is widely seen as an erosion of our democratic institutions by gifting disproportionate power to unaccountable corporations whose bottom lines are their shareholders, not US stakeholders.
WHEN AND WHERE: January 20, 2012, 5pm Liberty Square (aka Zucotti Park); march at 5:30 pm to Foley Square.
WHAT: After rallying on the lit pavement blocks of Liberty Square, the Rude Mechanical Orchestra will clash and bang the way to City Hall. Performers and speakers at Foley Square include: Reverend Billy Talen and his choir, Chris Hedges, Virginia Rasmussen, Lawrence Lessig and Russell Simmons. Several City Council Members have also been invited to speak on equal ground with OWS participants and within the context of a People’s Mic.
“We assemble today in defiance of the repression of our right to assemble and the ‘one-dollar, one-vote’ system that has made a farce of our democracy,” says OWS participant Barbara Pressman. “It should not come as a surprise that four times as much money was spent to influence the 2010 elections as they in 2006, and we can expect a much bigger outpouring of corporate dollars in the 2012 election.”
The following day, Saturday January 21st, a Worst of the Worst Corporate Offenders Walking Tour will embark from Foley Square at noon, following a rally organized by Occupy Faith.
The NY organizers of Occupy the Courts, working in conjunction with the nation-wide coalition led by Move To Amend, were originally denied their right to assemble at the US District Courthouse (Southern District of NY). In suit, Move to Amend, together with the National Lawyers Guild, levied an appeal on behalf of NY organizers, which was denied. A solidarity protest in the state capitol with Occupy Albany will take place on Friday in turn.
Occupy Wall Street is part of an international people powered movement fighting for economic justice in the face of neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, and a government controlled by monied interests. #OWS is the 99% organizing to end the tyranny of the 1%. For more info www.occupywallst.org
