Occupy did what?

http://video.goerie.com/?pl_id=24684&va_id=3439141

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:41:51 -0500

http://video.goerie.com/?pl_id=24684&va_id=3439141

Occupy movements like Occupy Phoenix drew national attention to...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:41:47 -0500

Occupy movements like Occupy Phoenix drew national attention to the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC. Occupy Phoenix hosted several prostests, made petitions and fliers, and other forms of direct action in order to raise awareness of what ALEC has done nationwide and in Arizona. The most notable actions have been large-scale protests both as part of a nationwide movement on February 29th, as well as on November 30th when the annual nationwide ALEC conference was held at a Phoenix hotel. After enduring pepper spray and arrest on Day One, some protesters returned to mic-check an ALEC member dinner during that same conference.

Occupy Phoenix has also worked to reduce the influence that ALEC has in Arizona (the Arizona legislator has one of the largest number of ALEC members in the country) by filing a complaint with the Corporation Commission against the regulated utilities who are members of American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on behalf of 88 consumers. The complaint is Inquiry No. 2012 103081 filed on 4 April 2012. Occupy Phoenix, in the complaint, asks the Corporation Commission to do an investigation regarding the rates and conflict of interest issues.

After nationwide attention and hard work from a coalition of groups and Occupy movements, ALEC has lost the support of roughly half a dozen companies. Some of these companies including some of the largest and best-known brands in American business— such as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Kraft, Wendy’s, Pepsi, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Video of the November ALEC protest can be found here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/occupy-buffalo-jpmorgan-chase_n_1560579.html?ref=business

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:41:45 -0500

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/31/occupy-buffalo-jpmorgan-chase_n_1560579.html?ref=business

Changed the cost-benefit analysis of foreclosures

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:23:00 -0400

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/02/occupy-minneapolis-foreclosed-home_n_1559763.html

… activists aren’t merely holding up signs and shouting slogans about the failings of the financial system — they’re trying to help members of a family who, they say, have suffered a direct blow at the hands of that system.

Activists have a phrase for this method. “Direct action,” said Anthony Newby, an innovator of the movement’s indoor-camping approach. “It’s about confronting power directly — not through a broker, not through a middle man, not through an attorney or a politician who will speak to legislators and try to come to some agreement. This is about homeowners directly confronting power and confronting big banks.”

The Occupy activists who took over the Cruz home call themselves Occupy Homes MN, a group that falls under the umbrella of a national movement called Occupy Homes.

Han Shan, an activist with Occupy’s New York branch, called Occupy Homes “a movement within a movement.”

Since its first appearance in October, Occupy Homes has sprouted offshoots in about 100 cities, from Atlanta to Detroit and Los Angeles, and helped thousands of underwater homeowners fight for their homes.

“When people see one house occupation at a time, that’s not going to get us to where we need to be. We want 15 million underwater homeowners to see this and think, It’s possible.”

Got NYC to Pass a Responsible Banking Ordinance (No Kidding!)

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 23:19:06 -0400

http://www.governing.com/blogs/view/los-angeles-new-york-pass-responsible-banking-rrdinances.html

Helped to organize exploited workers in NYC

Sat, 05 May 2012 10:55:00 -0400

http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/04/with-eyes-on-may-day-ows-allies-escalate-against-jefes/

A coalition including Occupy Wall Street, unions and community groups have called for “a day without the 99%” on May 1. One of the greatest challenges in preparation for that has been organizing precarious workers — those in non-unionized sectors like restaurants, domestic care, retail and freelancing, where jobs turn over fast and some lack U.S. work permits. Yet the Laundry Workers Center, which is part of the May Day coalition, is organizing worker-led campaigns capable of escalating to actions such as walkouts and facility takeovers if wages and conditions don’t improve. Even within unionized sectors, these types of workplace actions are rare in the United States. Yet this is just the kind of radical, unsanctioned organizing that the Occupy movement is trying to help spread through the call for a general strike that many assemblies have issued for May Day.

… within months, instead of being fired, the workers had been offered keys to the store by corporate higher-ups, the branch manager asked to join the campaign and Aran won the right to organize in the restaurant — an unprecedented victory for a non-unionized workplace.

Saved the Home of Monique White

Thu, 03 May 2012 14:33:00 -0400

After months of tireless defense by Occupy Minneapolis, US Bank called to offer Monique White a new loan. 15 months after the end of the Redemption period, and with a reduced principal. This movement won the impossible: Forcing the banks to deal with homeowners, something the government promised and failed to deliver.

Watch the video here.

Occupy Wall Street Has Seized Control of This Year’s Political Debate

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:24:16 -0400

“The movement may not have made headlines lately, but it has had a marked impact on both the Obama and Romney campaigns.

…

And in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine this week, the president openly embraced Occupy Wall Street as “just one vivid expression of a broader anxiety.””

Built a park in Tempe, AZ, despite police attempts to destroy it

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:07:51 -0400

http://www.moderntimesmagazine.com/page16/Arizona_Tempe_Park_120430/Arizona_Tempe_Park_120430.php

Activists played music and chanted. After police arrived at the edge of the sidewalk, a few minutes of a peaceful discussion ensued. Activists explained that they merely wanted to plant vegetables and flowers on a vacant piece of land. Police responded that the owner, Brookfield Property Management, would not allow it, and anyone from the group that attempted to enter the lot would be arrested.

Having been turned away, protesters moved to the other side of the railroad tracks that crosses University Drive between Farmer Avenue and Ash Avenue. There, they spent the afternoon digging, planting and creating a garden on a small piece of ground that records from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office website show is owned by the city of Tempe at the northwest corner of University Drive and Farmer Avenue. Although the city owns the entire parcel, most of it is vacant and protected by a chain-link fence.

28 lawmakers left ALEC this month

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:48:00 -0400

Occupy shone a bright light on the closed-door activities of ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council), and the real impact of the laws it writes (e.g. the as-yet unpunished death of Trayvon Martin thanks to ALEC’s “Stand your ground” law).

Corporations are fleeing in droves. And they are not alone. From the article

But as these corporations have fled ALEC, there has also been one other little-noticed exodus from the group: that of legislators. SourceWatch and Keystone Progress have been tracking the defections of lawmakers. Here are 28 who have left so far:

http://www.thenation.com/article/167583/meet-twenty-eight-lawmakers-who-have-quit-alec-month

Occupy measurably boosted small businesses across America with...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:42:00 -0400

Occupy measurably boosted small businesses across America with Bank Transfer Day

5.6 million Americans have switched banks in the last 90 days (Feb 2012) In large part due to the Occupy Wall Street movement’s call for a ‘Bank Transfer Day’ This is 3 times the normal rate.

More than $4.5 billion has shifted from big banks into the nation’s roughly 7,000 credit unions alone, according to the Credit Union National Association (CUNA). That’s a big win for small businesses, thanks to Occupy.

610,000 US adults (or 11% of the 5.6 million) cited Bank Transfer Day as their reason.

Occupy proved that it is possible to create a sustainable and green home.

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:47:00 -0400

At Liberty Plaza, the Sustainability and Sanitation teams worked constantly, in collaboration with the Kitchen, to keep the Occupation clean and green. Through the work of then strangers, we coordinated trash and recycling disposal, compost removal and delivery of food waste to NYC Community Gardens, grey water systems, and energy produced by bicycles. As gadfly journalists were drawn to these efforts and carting companies vied for our nutrient-rich compost, we prevailed, building bigger teams of volunteers to cart waste, empty wash bins, bag cans.

Occupy brought like-minded, environmentally and sustainability oriented people out of their smaller communities and in front of the world to see.

Occupy "transformed the liberal checklist"

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:37:41 -0400

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, writing in the Nation magazine in 2008

http://www.thenation.com/article/transforming-liberal-checklist?page=full

Almost all of us are capable of taking examples of good public policy and placing them in a transformational progressive framework. But history teaches that the overwhelming majority of elected officials follow movement builders outside government when it comes to the new and risky. So it’s time for progressive activists to focus their demands on transformational as well as transactional work. Once you recognize it, demand it and reward it, it will happen.

Occupy provides economic analysis that is easy to understand

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:51:00 -0400

Via the OWS Alternative Banking group

Occupy Berkeley created a farm from vacant land

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:50:00 -0400

This plot of vacant land on the Berkeley/Albany border is now a producing farm. This video describes how they did it! http://www.takebackthetract.com/

Provided a productive forum for people who want to create change in the world

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 22:50:00 -0400

Occupy has forged networks & relationships for the next generation of activism. But more than that, it has provided space for people who feel powerless to change a system that was founded by “we the people.” Occupy has given many people a community where they can contribute to real change in the world.

Occupy Wall Street put wealth disparities into Obama's State of the Union Address.

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:32:30 -0400

We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by, or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.

What’s at stake aren’t Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. And we have to reclaim them.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/state-of-the-union-2012-obama-speech-excerpts/2012/01/24/gIQA9D3QOQ_story.html

Next: count press hits—income disparity and the plight of poor people got way, way, more media attention after Occupy Wall Street started than it did before OWS existed.

Occupy Inspired Harvard Students to Walk Out of their Econ 10 Class

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:28:47 -0400

“Dear Professor Mankiw—

Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.

…”

http://hpronline.org/harvard/an-open-letter-to-greg-mankiw/

Stopped a lot of foreclosures

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:46:43 -0400

Occupy Our Homes: The movement has drawn attention to many of the predatory, discriminatory, and fraudulent practices perpetrated by banks during the foreclosure crisis, and across the country, Occupy groups, religious leaders, and community organizations have helped homeowners prevent wrongful foreclosures on their homes. Activists in Detroit are working to save their fifth home, and similar actions have taken place in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Atlanta. The movement has drawn so much attention that local political leaders and even members of Congress have stepped in to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

New York has a millionaire's tax

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:46:36 -0400

Andrew Cuomo campaigned for governor on the promise that he would not enact a “millionaire’s tax”. OWS protestors hounded him at every single stop in NYC, and set up an encampment across from the capitol in Albany. New York State now has a millionaire’s tax. You’re welcome.