"If the economy does not improve significantly over the
next year or so, fringe groups like the ones involved in
today's march may become more and more popular."
Protesters arrested at Wall Street rally
Jonathan Berr, Daily Finance.com, Apr 3rd 2009 at 4:00PM
Welcome to 1968.
That's the feeling that I got listening to a representative of the organizers of today's protest on Wall Street. Capitalism has not been so unpopular since the 1960s, or maybe the 1930s or maybe even the early 20th century, when terrorists stalked Wall Street.
Four marchers were arrested at the protest. I suppose the fact that people who think Wall Street bankers are greedy bastards in suits were taken into custody is not a surprise. However unpopular bankers may be right now, the police still work for the powers that be.
Today's gathering was called "The March on Wall Street: Bail Out The People Not The Banks." Organizers ambled through the narrow streets of New York's financial district, past the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), American Express (AXP) , the New York Stock Exchange, the
Federal Reserve. Their noise could be heard in nearby offices.
A protester is arrested in the financial district on April 3, 2009 in New York City. Dozens of anti-capitalist protesters gathered in the financial district to begin a two day rally against Wall Street and the recent government bailout of banks and financial institutions (photo: Spencer Platt. Getty Images)
Another march is scheduled to be held tomorrow. It coincides with the assassination of Martin Luther King.
To say that the protesters are skeptical of the value of government intervention in the free markets is an understatement. Why, they ask, is the government spending trillions of dollars to prop up the financial system?
"The other potential motive for big government expenditures during a time of grave economic crisis like during the 1930s is the motive that's of most interest to us," the organizer's Web site says. "That motive is fear
of workers rebelling. At the point that mass anger, organization and struggle has reached the critical point, stimulating the economy takes a back seat to trying to stop a revolution."
Think that sounds radical? Consider that one of the groups behind the march is the Workers World Party, a Trotskyite/Marxist-Leninist organization. Its goal of fighting for a "for a socialist society - where the
wealth is socially owned and production is planned to satisfy human need" is pretty clearly spelled out on its web site.
Free market conservatives and other admirers of capitalism should not be alarmed quite yet. These are small fringe groups whose ideologies have been widely discredited. But people who are struggling might find it appealing to join forces with the critics of capitalism.
If the economy does not improve significantly over the next year or so, fringe groups like the ones involved in today's march may become more and more popular.
Hundreds Rally on Wall St., Demanding Action to Combat Economic Crisis By Alex Kane April 3, 2009
Channeling widespread populist anger at seemingly never ending bank bailouts and excessive executive compensation,
hundreds of demonstrators converged on Wall St. this afternoon for a
rally and march through the financial district, even as a steady rain
continued throughout the day.
Organized by the Bail Out the People Movement (BOPM),
protesters held signs and posters reading “Bail Out the Unemployed,”
and “King’s Dream: A Job or Income For All,” in reference to the 41st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination,
which will be commemorated tomorrow by a United for Peace and Justice
march that targets the culprits of the financial crisis as well. The UFPJ march is calling for cuts in military spending to address the economic crisis.
“It’s wrong that working people are being kicked out of their homes
and are losing their jobs, while the rich get bailed out. It’s
disgusting. It’s creating a depression, a worldwide depression,” said
Jeremy Radabaugh, of BOPM and a former organizer for the United
Electrical Workers, the union that organized the Chicago factory occupation at Republic Windows and Doors last December.
Demonstrators came from around the country, including Baltimore, Seattle, Philadelphia and Buffalo.
BOPM used the protest to demand numerous measures to combat the
economic crisis, including a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures,
an end to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act and more..
Underscoring the urgency for action to combat the economic crisis,
the protest came on a day when newly released unemployment figures
showed that over 660,000 jobs were lost in March, increasing the official unemployment rate to 8.5 percent. The actual rate of unemployment is much higher, as the federal government’s numbers do not include people who have given up searching for jobs or part-time workers who would much rather work full-time.
Early on during the rally, the NYPD arrested four protesters who reportedly were walking down the middle of Broadway. A statement in response to the arrests on bailoutpeople.org read,
“The real criminals are in the boardrooms and executive offices on Wall Street, not the people marching for jobs, health care, and a moratorium on foreclosures.”
“I don’t think it’s fair that we bail out billionaires but we don’t
help the working people. And I’m somebody that lost their job, so I’m
really affected by this,” said Tsehai Hiwot, an activist with World Can’t Wait and the International Action Center, as she was holding up a long banner that read, “International Working Women’s Day ’09 Coalition.” She continued, saying, “Why do I have to pay my taxes [that go] into the pockets of people that made greedy investments?”
After a long slew of speakers from various organizations, including
anti-war and health care advocates, protesters started marching down
Pine St., chanting, “Bail out the people, not the banks,” as NYPD
officers on motorcycle followed.
The marchers stopped in front of the offices of the American International Group (AIG), the insurance behemoth that has earned the scorn of millions of Americans for paying executives exorbitant amount of bonuses while the federal government pumps bailout money into AIG. AIG’s Financial Products division is a main culprit in the financial crisis, due to its dealings with credit default swaps.
With beefed up police presence blocking the entrance of the AIG
building, demonstrators shouted, “AIG has got to go,” and “Jail them,
don’t bail them.”
“[This action is] directed at the bosses of the government, who are
down here on Wall Street,” said Dustin Langley, media coordinator for
BOPM. “Since our government doesn’t listen, we sometimes have to go
over their heads and straight to management. So we’re talking to their
managers now: AIG, CitiGroup, Bank of America, and Bear Stearns.”
The marchers also made stops in front of Bank of America offices,
chanting, “Bank of America, give back our homes,” and shouting epithets
at the onlookers inside the building.
The demonstration winded down late in the afternoon, and ended with speakers at Foley Sq., near Chinatown.
At mention of the recent protests surrounding the G-20 summit meeting that concluded yesterday, the crowd broke out in applause. “They’ll
know that anger is on this side of the ocean,” said Larry Holmes, an
organizer with BOPM.
“The banks don’t look out for the interest of the people. They look out for themselves,” said Brandon King of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
“And the government is in cahoots with the banks, using our money, our
taxpayer money, to bail out the banks when they have big bonuses like
AIG did. There’s mad homeless people on the street, and there’s also
massive loss of jobs. People need a bailout, banks don’t need that
shit.”
Sarah Secunda contributed reporting for this article.
Rally on Wall Street to 'Bailout the People'A repeat of the rally is planned for Saturday
AP - Protesters called on the government to "bail out the people" during a rally that worked its way up Wall Street on Friday.
Rally on Wall Street to Bail Out Regular Folks
Watch Video
A rally to help out the regular people pounded by the recession moved its way up Wall Street Friday.
Those attending the rally said normal citizens should get some of the billions of dollars being spent to save big business and banks.
The rally started in downtown Manhattan with a march down Broadway and ends at the iconic statue of a bull on Wall Street. Hundreds of people turned out even as a steady rain fell across the City.
The men, women and children are protesting near the offices of financial giants like Fidelity, American Express, the Federal Reserve and the New York Stock Exchange.
Police arrested four people on disorderly conduct charges after they tried to walk in the middle of Broadway in downtown.
They plan to repeat the protest Saturday, with chanting and drumming.
Activists protest bailouts near Wall Street
Fri Apr 3, 2009 11:02pm BST
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Several hundred demonstrators protested near Wall Street on Friday against the handling of the U.S. economic crisis, government bailouts of private banks and corporations and bonuses paid out at insurer AIG. Members of worker rights, healthcare and anti-war groups gathered in the rain holding posters that read "Bail Out the
Unemployed" and "No More $ For Wall St & War."
They also shouted demands for more jobs.
"This crisis is growing more dire everyday with so many people being kicked out of their home and jobs," said Dustin Langley, a spokesman for the 'Bail Out The People Movement', the main protest organizer that called for a moratorium on U.S. home foreclosures and the creation of a national jobs program. Hundreds of protesters lined up on Broadway to march past
the headquarters of American International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and close to the New York Stock Exchange and financial giants Bank of America, Chase and American Express, but were not permitted
on Wall Street.
The rally was held as the rate of unemployment in the United States soared to 8.5 percent, the highest in 25 years, after employers cut 663,000 jobs in March. Michael Feinberg, 51, a rabbi who runs a nonprofit workers rights group, held a sign that read 'Regulate The Profiteers,'
and argued that corporations who helped plunge the economy into
recession should not have received bailout money.
"That money should have been used to put people to work, to create jobs and healthcare, not to reward greedy financial speculators," he said. "This has to be a wake-up call that we have to change our national priorities about the way we do business in this country."
Friday's protest follows hundreds of others held around the United States since the bailout of investment banks began last year. Another demonstration is planned for Saturday in New York by the same group.
"These bankers ought to be jailed," said David Sole, 60, a chemist who traveled from Detroit to express his anger over the bailouts granted as the U.S. economy continues to slump.
With tears in his eyes, Sole decried the high number of home foreclosures and job losses suffered by his neighbors in Michigan. "It's unbelievable this would have happened in my lifetime. It's like we are in the 1930s," he said.
(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Michelle Nichols
and Anthony Boadle)
NYC protesters urge government to bail out people, not banks
NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Braving heavy and steady rains, hundreds of angry New Yorkers on Friday protested against the bailout of Wall Street and banks, urging the U.S. government to care more about the people who need jobs and medical care.
"We are very, very upset because so many Americans have lost their jobs, but the government seems only to care about Wall Street and AIG (American International Group) and sort of things," said Gavrille Gemma with the Bail Out The People Movement, which, together with other organizations, staged the protest in Wall Street.
Dubbed "The March on Wall Street: Bail Out The People Not The Banks," the protest attracted huge crowds of on-lookers although it was raining steadily almost the whole afternoon.
Many protesters criticized the capitalist system, which they said helped AIG and other companies "steal" money from "poor Americans." This was clearly reflected by the words on such banners which say "Capitalism is Dead" and "Go to the Hell, Capitalism."
After speakers from different organizations voiced their anger and views one by one in the corner between Wall Street and Broadway, protesters ambled through the narrow streets of New York's financial district, past the offices of JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express, the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve and AIG.
Their noise could be heard in nearby offices.
Several of the companies posted security guards outside their entrances.
"Just look at these people! Some are old and in poor health, but they have no medical care; Some haven't been able to find a job for months to support their families," said Richard Gayes in his 60s. "They need help, but the government only put billions of dollars to save big banks but to the ignorance of these poor people."
Shouting "Bail out the people, not the banks," "Shame on Wall Street," a female protester who only gave her name as Jenniffer said the U.S. government must stop doing "silly things" and "be wise enough" so as to become "a real government of the people, for the people and by the people."
The march ended at the iconic bull statue near Wall Street. The crowd planned a second protest on Saturday, which coincides with the assassination of Martin Luther King.
Police said four marchers who tried to block traffic by walking down the middle of Broadway were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
The Bail Out the People Movement posted a statement on its website immediately after the marchers were arrested, demanding the release of all arrestees.
Activists protest bailouts near Wall Street
Fri Apr 3, 2009 6:07pm EDT
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Several hundred demonstrators protested near Wall Street on Friday against the handling of the U.S. economic crisis, government bailouts of private banks and corporations and bonuses paid out at insurer AIG.
Members of worker rights, healthcare and anti-war groups gathered in the rain holding posters that read "Bail Out the Unemployed" and "No More $ For Wall St & War."
They also shouted demands for more jobs.
"This crisis is growing more dire everyday with so many people being kicked out of their home and jobs," said Dustin Langley, a spokesman for the 'Bail Out The People Movement', the main protest organizer that called for a moratorium on U.S. home foreclosures and the creation of a national jobs program.
Hundreds of protesters lined up on Broadway to march past the headquarters of American International Group and close to the New York Stock Exchange and financial giants Bank of America, Chase and American Express, but were not permitted on Wall Street.
The rally was held as the rate of unemployment in the United States soared to 8.5 percent, the highest in 25 years, after employers cut 663,000 jobs in March.
Michael Feinberg, 51, a rabbi who runs a nonprofit workers rights group, held a sign that read 'Regulate The Profiteers,' and argued that corporations who helped plunge the economy into recession should not have received bailout money.
"That money should have been used to put people to work, to create jobs and healthcare, not to reward greedy financial speculators," he said. "This has to be a wake-up call that we have to change our national priorities about the way we do business in this country."
Friday's protest follows hundreds of others held around the United States since the bailout of investment banks began last year. Another demonstration is planned for Saturday in New York by the same group.
"These bankers ought to be jailed," said David Sole, 60, a chemist who traveled from Detroit to express his anger over the bailouts granted as the U.S. economy continues to slump.
With tears in his eyes, Sole decried the high number of home foreclosures and job losses suffered by his neighbors in Michigan. "It's unbelievable this would have happened in my lifetime. It's like we are in the 1930s," he said.
(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Michelle Nichols and Anthony Boadle)
Below: Original Promotional Publication on Axis of Logic
Release Wall Street Protest Arrestees Now!
Drop All Charges!
Arrest Criminal Bankers, Not Workers!
Sign the online petition
As we write (3:00 pm Friday), thousands of activists, students, youth, trade unionists, and community organizers are marching through the streets of the Wall Street financial district demanding
"Bail Out the People - Not the Banks!"
Police have arrested 4 protesters so far, and they are being held at the 1st Precinct. All of them are members of the youth group FIST (Fight Imperialism Stand Together).
Please take action now to support the Wall Street protesters - demand that they be released and all charges dropped. The real criminals are in the executive offices and boardrooms of the banks and investment firms, not on the streets.
Here's how you can help:
1. Call the First Precinct in New York City at (212) 334-0611
2. Sign the online petition:
To: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYC City Council, NYPD
CC: NY Congressional Delegation, Congressional Leaders, the NY Legislature, President Obama, Attorney General Holder, members of the media
I am writing to demand the release of all individuals who were arrested at the Friday April 3 protest on Wall Street.
It is not a crime to demand that our money be spent on meeting people's needs, not for massive corporate bailouts. Marching for jobs and housing is not a crime!
The real criminals are in the boardrooms and executive offices on Wall Street, not the people marching for jobs, healthcare, and a moratorium on foreclosures.
Release ALL arrestees!
Drop the Charges!
Arrest Bankers Not Workers!
Volunteers needed! Attend a volunteers meeting! Add your organizing center. Be visible! Download the palm cards, posters, leaflets, stickers below with a click.
March
To demand a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures
To demand an END to the wars--BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
To support the EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT--the RIGHT to a UNION
To STOP Layoffs, Cutbacks, Tuition Hikes, and Transit Fare Hikes
March to Support Worker and Immigrant Rights (March on May 1 too!)
Mass March on Washington, D.C.
for Jobs or Income now! A National People’s Assembly
The widening war against the workers and oppressed peoples is intensifying. More lives are going to be devastated by the biggest global economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s.This crisis is the challenge of our lifetime. What we do or fail to do will prove decisive in the coming battle over whose interests in society shall prevail.
The time has come to launch a national campaign to organize the unemployed to fight for jobs or an income. The economic crisis is being defined by the Depression-level unemployment rate and the fight for jobs or income. The unemployment rate for African Americans is already twice as high and even higher for young Black people.
• Calling local or national level “WE NEED JOBS” demonstrations. A tactic that for youth would be to organize around the slogan “JOBS NOT JAILS.” Anything that helps to bring the unemployed out of isolation and gives them a voice.
• A People’s Assembly can serve to provide a public hearing for people to talk about the impact that the crisis is having on communities and what emergency measures are necessary to deal with the problems people are facing.
• Support and Expand the Moratorium NOW! Campaign that is fighting to force the government at every level to declare a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Organizers are demanding that the sheriffs and marshals be ordered by local governments to not carry out evictions. More and more, neighbors and activists are rallying to prevent bankers and police from carrying out evictions on the spot.
• Solidarity with Immigrant Workers The mass raids, jailings and deportations are not only to terrorize immigrant workers so as to make it easier to super-exploit and divide all workers—a principal weapon that bosses employ, especially during hard times. The Fightback will be imperiled if it cannot unite all sections of the working class and progressive forces around the active defense of immigrant workers’ rights.
• Recruiting an Army of Volunteer OrganizersThe Fightback needs both veteran activists with experience and skills as well as new people with the time and willingness to help. Most importantly, the Fightback needs volunteers who are able to work collectively, who are respectful of others and who are both capable and committed to interacting with working and poor people of all nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and ages in a manner that is patient, dignified, and devoid of negative presumptions.
BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE now has VERY exciting Friday and Saturday plans. We have just confirmed BOTH Friday and Saturday Rally Permits for Wall Street.
Friday, April 3
Rally
Gather at 1pm on Wall Street at Broadway (map)
Rally on Broadway from Wall Street south to Exchange and block further South to the 'Bull'. There will be contingents of youth, women, worker and immigrant rights, and more. Check back for details over the next few days!
MARCH on AIG
We will march through the narrow streets of the New York Financial District - Major financial institutions are all along Broadway and within one block of Rally - Chase, Fidelity, American Express, the New York Stock Exchange, the Federal Reserve, and more.
We will march east on Pine to the AIG Buildings at 70 Pine and 80 Pine and then to the AIG Building on Water St.
Then, we will march north on Water Street, which becomes Pearl Street, then becomes St James Place, turn west on Worth Street at Chatham Square in Chinatown to Centre Street, for an ending rally at 5:15 in Foley Square.
March route is only 1.2 miles total through busy office and housing areas at rush hour.
NJ PATH trains to World Trade Center and 5 minute walk.
Public Transportation from Foley Square after ending rally (map)
J,M, Z, 4, 5, 6, at Foley Square
2, 3, at Park Place and Broadway
A, C, at Chambers and Church St
1, 2, 3, at Chambers & West Broadway
NJ PATH trains to World Trade Center- a 7 minute walk
Bus Drop Off:
on Broadway at Wall Street on west side of street
Bus Parking and Pick Up:
On Church Street between Worth and Leonard.
From Foley Square go 2 blocks North on Worth Street to Church Street.
Saturday, April 4
RALLY
Gather with chanting, drumming and music: 12 Noon to 1:00pm on Nassau between Wall Street and Pine – over looking NY Stock Exchange and in front of the Federal Reserve and Chase Bank (map) Enter area at Pine and Broadway go East one SHORT block to Nassau This is just a block from the Friday Rally site.
We will join United for Peace and Justiceas they come by at Pine and Broadway, about 1:00pm. One block further at Wall and Broadway the whole march will turn Left down Wall Street, turn Right at Broad Street and the NY Stock Exchange, then turn Right on Exchange and go back to Broadway. From there the march will proceed South to Battery Park.
Bail Out People will have a table, displays and literature at Battery Park, along Eisenhower Way, going West toward Castle Clinton. Be sure to come by our table.
SATURDAY Bus Drop-off:
Broadway, between Wall and Pine on the West Side of street (map)
SATURDAY Bus Parking and Pick-up
Water Street between Broad Street and Old Slip
This is about 3 blocks EAST of the ending site at Battery Park
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED for FRIDAY and SATURDAY RALLIES
and for WORK SESSIONS on Wed and Thurs at 55 W. 17th St 2 to 9pm
On FRIDAY volunteers should be at Wall Street and Broadway by 11:30 to help set up sound, tables, banners etc.
At END Rally at Foley Square we need help in packing the truck for the next day’s March and Rally and picking up ALL trash, signs, papers in Foley Square.
We have to post and large clean-up bond and insurance with the NYC Parks Department. This bond is only returned if we leave the Foley Park area clean.
On SATURDAY volunteers should be at Pine and Broadway or a block down at Nassau between Pine and Wall Street by 11:00am.
Again we will need help on set-up and sound for the Rally
A few VOLUNTEERS will still be needed at Bail Out People site at Nassau between Pine and Wall to pack up materials and direct latecomers to the days events at Battery Park.
If you appreciated this article, please consider making a donation to Axis of Logic.
We do not use commercial advertising or corporate funding. We depend solely upon you,
the reader, to continue providing quality news and opinion on world affairs.Donate here
Print This 
Print This 