Category Archives: Community Economic Development

Robert Pollin | Forum on the Financial Crisis 2008 | 1&2

Robert Pollin

Co-director and Professor of Economics

POLLIN

POLLIN

Pollin is Professor of Economics and founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of  Massachusetts, Amherst. His research centers on macroeconomics, conditions for low-wage workers in the U.S. and globally, the analysis of financial markets, and the economics of building a clean-energy economy in the U.S. His books include A Measure of Fairness: The Economics of Living Wages and Minimum Wages in the United States (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya (co-authored, 2008); An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa (co-authored, 2007); Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the contoursLandscape of Global Austerity (2003); and The Living Wage: Building A Fair Economy (co-authored, 1998); and the edited volumes Human Development in the Era of Globalization (co-edited, 2006); Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy (co-edited, 1998); The Macroeconomics of Saving, Finance, and Investment (1997); and Transforming the U.S. Financial System (co-edited, 1993). Most recently, he co-authored the reports “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy” (June 2008) and “Green Recovery” (September 2008), exploring the broader economic benefits of large-scale investments in a clean-energy economy in the U.S. He has worked with the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Economic Commission on living wageAfrica on policies to promote to promote decent employment expansion and poverty reduction in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. He has also worked with the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and as a member of the Capital Formation Subcouncil of the U.S. Competiveness Policy Council.

 

 

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A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed | September 20- 25

Endorse |  Donate  |  Volunteer  |  Become a Local BOPM Organizer  

 

"G20 flyers" by Bail Out The People Movement
“G20 flyers” by Bail Out The People Movement

 A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed
September 20- 25

(During the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA)

Yes to Jobs & Human Needs; No to War & Wall Street Greed

 Sunday, September 20 – Rally & March for a Real Jobs Program

  • Building a Tent City in Pittsburgh for the Unemployed & Supporters the weekend before the G-20 Summit
  • Organizing Caravans of Unemployed People and Supporters to Converge on Pittsburgh during the week of September 19-26
  • Marches, Protests and Events Before and During the G20 Summit addressing demands such as: Bring the Troops Home from Iraq & Afghanistan Now! &  Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, World-Renown Political Prisoner, Journalist, Activists and ‘Voice of the Voiceless!”

http://bailoutpeople.org/

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Filed under Actions, Actions | Events, American Politics, Black Politics, Civil Rights, Community Economic Development, Economics, Events, Federal Budget, For the Workers, Foreclosure/Housing, Human Rights, Labor, Obama Administration, Peace, Protest

March on Wall Street & AIG on APRIL 3 | Bail Out People, Not Banks!

Endorse April 3 & 4 | Become a Local Organizer for April 3 & 4 | Find an Apr 3-4 Organizing Center Near You
Donate | Download BOPM Working Paper



WE NEED JOBS NOW!
MORATORIUM ON FORECLOSURES!


For march details, assembly points, etc., see: http://bailoutpeople.org/logistics.shtml


Why We Need a Bail Out the People Movement

The workers and poor are in the biggest economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s.

Corporations are laying off while demanding deep concessions from those still employed. State and local governments are cutting jobs and slashing services. Health, schools, libraries, parks, mass transit—all are on the chopping block. Tuition and transit fares are being raised.

More than half a million jobs are being lost every month. Unemployment is the worst in more than 25 years. As bad as that is, joblessness for African Americans, especially the youth, is twice as high.

Millions of families have already lost their homes because of predatory lending and high unemployment. Millions more face foreclosure or eviction. Depression-style tent cities are growing.

On every front, working people are facing an unprecedented attack.

Since March 2008, one year ago, the federal government has committed almost $10 TRILLION of the people’s money to bailouts for Wall Street and the banks, hoping to restore their profits and start them lending money again. It hasn’t worked.

Bailing out the rich doesn’t help the people. Putting profits before the needs of the workers, employed and unemployed, is just deepening the suffering and the economic crisis. It is capitalist greed that brought this crisis on in the first place.

We demand that the government, instead of bailing out the banks, put up the money to guarantee everyone a job or income and that it stop the foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs that are devastating the people.

DO THE MATH: Just $1 trillion out of the $10 trillion Washington has committed to the banks could pay for 20 million jobs with salaries of $50,000 a year! That would wipe out unemployment and underemployment in this country.

It’s time to organize and fight back

The Bail Out the People Movement has launched a national campaign to organize and fight for jobs or an income–and for a national moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.

In January, many groups and individuals from different cities came together at conferences in New York and Los Angeles to launch this fightback. We said then that our objective must be to make the struggle proportional in size, scope, organization and militancy to the threat this crisis poses to the social conditions of the working class. That requires a perspective and plan for the mass organization of working and poor people on a scale unprecedented since the defining labor battles of the 1930s.

The fightback movement must be prepared to utilize a wide range of tactics in the struggle, including mass mobilizations, demonstrations, direct actions, sit-ins, occupations, strikes, boycotts, encampments and most importantly, organizing.

An essential part of our work must be to forge solidarity in the large, complex, multi-national working class in the U.S. This means grappling with and overcoming divisions caused by oppression based on race and nationality, immigration status, gender and sexual orientation.

Racism must be pushed back. Unionists and communities must come to the defense of immigrant workers who are being dragged out of their workplaces in chains and locked up in jails—often with their families.

This crisis is worldwide. Corporations are running to wherever they can pay the least and profit the most. Solidarity needs to transcend all geographical boundaries, local and international. That is key to the success of the fightback.

Who We Are

The Bail Out the People Movement is a growing national coalition of community organizers, youth and student activists, labor unionists and grassroots activists united around the demand: “Bail Out the People–Not the Banks!”

Since last October, coalition affiliates have been organizing demonstrations, press conferences and speak-outs, packing City Council meetings, and helping stop evictions and foreclosures in Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Lansing, Los Angeles and New York.

  • In New York, the Bail Out the People Movement lists hundreds of endorsers and 35 groups as organizing centers for the April 3 Wall Street demonstration. BOPM started last October with a rally on the steps of Wall Street’s Federal Hall where Black leaders, youth organizers, labor militants, Katrina survivors and immigrant rights activists pledged a united struggle against the capitalist banks oppressing the people. It organized a regional fightback conference on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Since then, the coalition made national news with a protest against a foreclosure auction at the Javits Center and was a major force at the International Women’s Day mobilization.
  • The Michigan-based Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has held countless demonstrations in Detroit and at the State Capitol in Lansing to demand a moratorium. It has also helped stop evictions by mobilizing supporters in solidarity with people about to lose their homes and providing them legal help.
  • In Los Angeles, the Labor-Community Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has mobilized unions and grassroots organizations to demand a moratorium on foreclosures.
  • In Baltimore, the Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions has been leading a mass campaign to get the City Council to pass Bill 09-0289, which would require a 365-day notice before any foreclosure eviction could occur in that city.
  • In Boston, the Women’s Fightback Network and the Heat and Light Campaign have gone to the streets to demand the governor declare an economic state of emergency and implement a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs.
  • In Buffalo, N.Y., the struggle began last October with a “Bail Out the People, Not the Banks” rally in the financial district. The coalition has gone on to march against fare increases and, on the campuses, to protest tuition hikes and cuts in financial aid.


While the politicians, bankers and corporate media keep the masses out of the decision-making process, the coalition’s priority is to plan activities and strategies for a people-first fightback.

Here’s what we are working on:

May Day Mobilizations across the Country

Establishing as broad a coalition as possible for mass mobilizations on International Workers’ Day, May 1. The program for May 1 is centered on the struggle for immigrant workers’ rights; it was immigrant workers who in 2006 revived the spirit of workers’ struggle on May Day with massive demonstrations and walkouts across the country. This year the Bail Out the People Movement is participating in the mobilizing for May Day and immigrant rights. We will also include the demand for jobs or income and other demands that reflect the needs of the workers and the poor, including opposition to the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

March on Washington for Jobs/Convening a People’s Assembly

With worsening social conditions, the summer is not likely to be quiet. The combination of the economic crisis and police repression–which is epidemic and deadly all year round but tends to peak during the summer–could spark rebellions of workers, unemployed and oppressed people. The late spring and summer could be a time of intensive organizing. It’s time to start planning for a mass march on Washington, D.C., for jobs and other demands.

There is ongoing discussion among the groups in the BOPM coalition and others about the convening of a National People’s Assembly in Washington in the fall. Such a gathering could help consolidate the base and work of the fightback and set the direction and course of action for the next phase of this gigantic struggle.

Join us!

This period presents us with both crises and opportunities of historic magnitudes.

The fightback must recruit an army of volunteer organizers–both veteran activists with experience and skills as well as people new to the movement but 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 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.

Please contact the coalition at 212-633-6646 or www.BailOutPeople.org to find out how you can become part of this army of organizers.

Most importantly, join us in the streets – Friday, April 3, at 1 pm while Wall Street is open for business – continuing on to April 4 – and beyond!

Bail Out the People Movement
Solidarity Center
55 W. 17th St. #5C
New York, NY 10011
212.633.6646
www.BailOutPeople.org
bailoutpeople.org/cmnt.shtml

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Filed under Actions | Events, American Politics, Civil Rights, Community Economic Development, Economics, Foreclosure/Housing, Labor

PATOIS | The Sixth Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

The 6th Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

The 6th Annual New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival

March 26 – April 5, 2009
patoisfilmfest.org

This year, PATOIS will be better than ever. More than 50 films, 8 world premieres, 20 filmmakers presenting their films, food provided by at least six different New Orleans restaurants, workshops, panels, and live performances by local and national musicians at venues around the city, as well as out in the streets!

Complete information about our programming is available online at patoisfilmfest.org, and programs are available at spots all around New Orleans.

We have discounted and free tickets available for youth, and for others who might not otherwise be able to afford tickets. For more information, please write .

SOME OF THIS YEAR’S HIGHLIGHTS:

Thursday, March 26
Opening Night Film
7:00pm
American Violet
Canal Place Landmark Cinema, 333 Canal Street

Filmed in New Orleans, the film confronts racial profiling through the inspiring story of a 24-year-old African American single mother living in a small Texas town who chooses to fight the local district attorney and the unyielding criminal justice system he represents.  Starring Nicole Beharie, Academy Award nominees Michael O’Keefe and Alfre Woodard, plus Tim Blake Nelson, Charles S. Dutton and Xzibit. Director Tim Disney will present the film and answer questions.

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Putting their careers before our economy

From James, Gabriel, Clarissa, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team.

The Obama stimulus plan provides desperately needed money to help turn the economy around. But six Republican governors want to block some of that money from reaching their states–they’re trying to score political points instead of letting the money go where it’s needed most. Help us call them out:

http://colorofchange.org/sixgovs/?id=1672-704486

Mark Sanford

Mark Sanford

First, they attacked the expansion of unemployment benefits–assistance directed to those hit the hardest by the economy. Now they’re going further, led by Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina who says he’ll block $700 million for schools and public safety in his state. It could mean up to 7,500 teachers in South Carolina losing their jobs.1

With your help we can hold these governors accountable–but time is running out. The deadline for governors to accept the full range of stimulus funds is rapidly approaching. Can you add your voice? It only takes a second:

http://colorofchange.org/sixgovs/?id=1672-704486

Rick Perry

Rick Perry

It’s incredible. President Obama’s stimulus package provides money for states to help stabilize families and keep the economy moving. Some of that money is to help states extend unemployment benefits for people in dire need of help. There’s also money to prevent schools from facing cuts as states tighten their budgets. But a handful of Republican governors–Bob Riley of Alabama, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana–are putting politics over people.2,3

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin

All six governors have threatened to turn down the unemployment expansion funds, and most critics see their actions as partisan grandstanding. Four are 2012 presidential contenders,4 and one is facing a tough primary challenge for reelection.56 They also claim that taking the stimulus money would leave their states in debt when it runs out in three years. But that argument rings hollow–state legislatures could reduce benefits to pre-stimulus levels at that point. They all have a vested interest in seeing Obama fail. They’re attacking the President’s policies to increase their own profile and to cozy up to the most die-hard conservatives.

Now, Gov. Sanford of South Carolina is going further with this political posturing, and there are indications that others may follow.7 Sanford says he wants to use money meant for schools, health care, and public safety to pay down his state’s debt. This would in no way stimulate the economy of South Carolina.

Sanford has said that if he can’t use the money to pay down debt, he’ll reject it. That would seriously harm South Carolina’s economy, affecting everyone in the state–but it would have a disproportionate impact on Black people in the state. Schools in many Black communities in South Carolina already suffer from years of neglect.8 And in every state where GOP governors are threatening to block stimulus funds, Black unemployment is at least twice the rate of White unemployment.9

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal

Bob Riley

Bob Riley

Haley Barbour

Haley Barbour

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Filed under Actions | Events, American Politics, Community Economic Development, Economics, Federal Budget, The Obama Administration