NYC: Converge on City Hall Park Tuesday, June 14, and stay till Bloomberg’s budget is defeated!

Combined leadership of Beyond May 12 and New Yorkers Against Budget Cuts
plan ‘camp-in’ following massive rally against Bloomberg’s Banker Budget

The steering committees of the two large coalitions that mobilized on March 24 and May 12 against the massive cuts proposed in Mayor Bloomberg’s executive budget announced plans for a unified and protracted resistance and camp-in beginning Tuesday June 14.

The two groups call on all members and supporters to join the massive protest called by DC37 that day, which will begin at 4:30pm and officially end at 6:30pm. The camp-in will begin immediately after the union rally ends. Participants and supporters can meet on the east side of City Hall, directly across from the Municipal Building, near the south entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge subway station.

The camp-in will take place on the sidewalk without tents, and thus be legal and constitutionally protected, according to Lynn Lewis, director of Picture The Homeless – a group that has a record of dozens of such actions. Lewis presented copies of a judicial decision in the case of Met Council v. NYPD on June 12, 2000, which said in part:

"the Court concludes that… the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution does not allow the City to prevent an orderly political protest from using public sleeping as a means of symbolic expression… The City concedes that… the conduct involved in this protest poses no particular danger to vigil participants and no risk of obstructing the sidewalk."

A Tactical Leadership Team comprised of representatives of groups participating in the protest and guided by the experienced PTH team is in formation. All other aspects of the effort are under way, with coordinators for legal support, popular education, outreach, food, sanitation, supplies and logistics. Volunteers are needed for all these areas of work.

A general meeting of all coordinators and those who wish to participate is scheduled for Sunday, June 12 at noon, at the Solidarity Center, 55 W. 17th Street, 5th Floor, between 5th & 6th Avenues. Refreshments will be provided.

Representatives of organizations are encouraged to let organizers know of your group’s plans, and if possible, the number of participants expected.

The stated goals of this protest, as discussed and decided at the combined leadership meeting, are:
1. Expand, deepen and intensify the struggle against Bloomberg’s pro-banker, anti-people budget.
2. Mobilize on as large a scale as possible.
3. Defeat or blunt the budget attacks, which cut taxes for the rich while imposing austerity on poor 
    and working people.
4. Stage a protest event that is massive, growing and continuous.

Participants in the meeting came from the following groups:
Organization for a Free Society, Bail Out the People Movement, AFSCME District Council 37, Transport Workers Union Local 100, Teachers Unite, New York Communities for Change, International Socialist Organization, New York UnCut, New York Coffee Party, Coalition of the Homeless, Community Voices Heard, Picture The Homeless, Freedom Party, Professional Staff Congress/AFT, Urban Youth Collaborative, Students for a Democratic Society, Coalition for Educational Justice, Million Worker March Movement

For more information, or to let us know you are coming to Sunday’s planning meeting at 12 noon at the Solidarity Center, email: nocutsny@gmail.com or LaborCommunityForum@gmail.com.