Step Up! April 11, 2009 Nationwide Protests to Breakup Banksters Bailouts -- A New Way Forward

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http://www.anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/

12 million unemployed. Foreclosures up 81%. Wall Street has taken over. We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy

To stop the banks, Americans are planning forceful, creative actions all over the country for April 11 at 2ET/11PT (unless otherwise noted). We'll make our voices resound in those closed-door meetings with the bankers. Spread the word. Actions are announced in: http://anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/rally-list.php


Our plan: Real structural change of Wall Street

DECENTRALIZE: Any bank that's "too big to fail" means that it's too big for a free market to function. The financial corporations that caused this mess must be broken up and sold back to the private market with strong, new regulatory and antitrust rules in place -- new banks, managed by new people. An independent regulatory body must protect consumers from predatory practices.

As Wall St. corporations grew bigger and bigger until they were “too big to fail,” they also became so politically powerful that they led to distorted and unfair policies that served companies, not citizens.

Its not enough to try to patch up the current system. We demand serious reform that fixes the root problems in our political and economic system: excessive influence of banks, dangerous compensation systems, and massive consolidation. And we demand that the reform happen in an open and transparent manner.

Read more about what we want and can achieve and see our blog for more related information.

Also, see these three great economic interviews that can get you up to speed from Bill Moyers (extremely interesting): Simon Johnson on the financial oligarchy, 2/13; William Greider on restructuring and ANWF rallies, 3/26; and William Black on financial fraud, 4/2.
The Consumers Union and A New Way Forward Letter for Regulatory Reform

Albuquerque, NM

Anchorage, AK

Augusta, ME

Austin, TX

Boston

Baton Rouge, LA

Charleston, SC

Chicago, IL

Columbus, OH

Dallas, TX

Detroit, MI

Denver, IA

Eureka, CA

Fayetteville, AR

Gainesville, FL

Hartford, CT

Iowa City, IA

Los Angeles, CA

New York City

North Bergen, NJ

Oklahoma City, OK

Philadelphia, PA

Phoenix, AZ

Pittsburgh, PA

Portland, OR

Providence, RI

Raleigh, NC

San Diego, CA

San Francisco, CA

Seattle, WA

St. Louis, MO

St. Paul, MN

Victoria, BC, Canada

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1. .

[Better Believe It]

4. Kick

[condoleeza]

2. We will be at the one in Portland

Amy Goodman will be there. Join us.

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3. Thanks condoleeza

[Pastiche423]

5. I live down the coast

Wanna pick me up on the way?

(O-kay I'm not exactly on the way, just five tiny hours south. ;-))

[omega minimo]

6. Oregon's a friendly place

unless yer from Kollyfonya!!

[Pastiche423]

7. Well...

I live on the southern Oregon coast now, but I am from San Francisco. So I definitely know what you mean.

[omega minimo]

8. cool. bailing north rather than east.......

:thumbsup:

[madfloridian]

9. More on this group from Democracy Now.

http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/4/10/a_new_way_forward_protests_scheduled

"Greg Coleridge is director of the Economic Justice and Empowerment Program at the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. They are sponsoring the protest being held in Cleveland on Saturday. He joins me here in Athens, Ohio.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Greg. And thanks so much for taking the, what, four-hour drive from Cleveland to Athens.

GREG COLERIDGE: Just about. Good to be here with you. Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about A New Way Forward. What is this decentralized action that’s happening around the country?

GREG COLERIDGE: Well, A New Way Forward is a relatively new organization, a grassroots citizen initiative, bottom-up, not affiliated with any existing formal, long-established organization, which gives it, I think, flexibility and mobility to respond to the needs and interests of people at the grassroots, who are increasingly concerned, angry, outraged at what has been going on since last fall, the blank check bailout of financial institutions from coast to coast, particularly the largest banks in this country that many people feel should not be helped in the way they have been but should be at least temporarily taken over, nationalized or democratized, depending on how people want to call it.

A New Way Forward, put together by a number of young activists who were very involved in the Howard Dean presidential campaign, decided they needed to organize this grassroots initiatives and serve as—I think it’s an arena where people from across the country can go and find information, inspiration and dedication of other people to organize grassroots, bottom-up protests that will be beginning this Saturday across the country at 2:00 in most cases, some communities elsewhere."

I think I saw the Orlando group had 23 signed up.

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10. .

[tbyg52]

11. Houston had about 10 show up

out of the 60+ that signed up. Oh well, better than nobody. And a TV station came.