A Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed September 19 - 26 (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!"
In September the eyes of the world will be on Pittsburgh, where the G20
countries will meet to consider what to do about the biggest global economic
crisis since the 1930s. The heads of governments, finance ministers and central
bankers that will be in Pittsburgh for the summit hear the concerns of bankers
and corporate executives all the time. They need to listen to the voices of the
millions of people who have lost their jobs and their homes because of the
crisis. The Bail out the People Movement, a coalition of community, labor,
religious, and grassroots activists, wants to help dramatize the crisis of
joblessness, and the need for action both in the U.S. and worldwide to the G20
summit. It is now clear that the stimulus legislation passed by the U.S.
Congress in March has done little to stop the loss of jobs. There is no
recovery for the unemployed, the underemployed and the poor; and things are
only getting worse. This is why we're asking you to help make the idea of a
Global Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through
September 26, the week of the G20 Summit, a reality.
A TENT CITY AND MARCH FOR JOBS On Sunday, Sept. 20, the tent
city will open with a rally and march for jobs. The main site for the tent city
will be next to the Monumental Baptist Church in an historic section of the
African-American community of Pittsburgh called "The Hill." This location is
just a short walk or march from the convention center where the G20 summit will
be held, and from the rest of downtown Pittsburgh. Unemployed people and their
supporters will inhabit the tent city from Sept 20 through Sept. 25. Additional
locations for other encampments in Pittsburgh are being considered as well.
This is why we're asking you to help make the idea of a Global Week of
Solidarity with the Unemployed from September 19 through September 26, the week
of the G20 Summit, a reality.
IF YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE -- THIS IS A WEEK OF SOLIDARITY WITH
YOU The Week of Solidarity with the Unemployed is also a week of
solidarity with those who have lost their homes to foreclosures and evictions;
those who have been forced to take part-time or temporary jobs because there
are no full-time jobs; workers who have seen their wages and hours cut;
autoworkers whose plants have been closed; immigrant workers who are fighting
for their rights; communities that are fighting gentrification and budget cuts
to social programs; students who are being forced out of school because of the
debt burden and rising tuition cost; the survivors and displaced victims of the
Katrina/Rita hurricanes and the government's criminally negligent response;
poor and working people everywhere, especially in poor countries who are
bearing the cruel brunt of the economic crisis; workers everywhere fighting for
the right to organize and in the U.S. for passage of the Employee Free Choice
Act in the U.S.; All who need single payer health care; retirees who need their
healthcare & pensions safeguarded; and young people, especially Black and
Latina/o youths whom the system has condemned to a jobless future.
IT'S TIME TO BAILOUT THE UNEMPLOYED WITH A REAL JOBS PROGRAM
In the days before and during the G20 summit, events and marches will take
place to emphasize this central point: More than just another stimulus package
is needed. It's time for a serious, direct and massive jobs program on par with
the Works Progress Administration of the 1930s. We must fight for a real jobs
program for the unemployed and underemployed that pays a living wage performing
socially meaningful work; and an income for those unable to work. Any claim
that the resources for a serious jobs program are not available must be
rejected. If governments, particularly the U.S. government, can make available
trillions of dollars for bailing out banks and corporations as well as funding
the Pentagon's endless wars, & Occupations, they can find the resources to
bail out the unemployed and underemployed.
THIS IS A GLOBAL CALL BECAUSE JOBLESSNESS IS A GLOBAL CRISIS
Mass unemployment is a global phenomenon. The right to a job at a living wage
must be a global demand. Instead of being pitted against each other, unemployed
and working people across the world can only improve their conditions by
working and fighting together for their common interests. Activists and
organizations everywhere are encouraged to support the Global Week of
Solidarity with the Unemployed and organize events in conjunction with it.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING'S FINAL CAUSE: THE RIGHT OF ALL TO A JOB OR
AN INCOME The need and the right of everyone to either a job or a
guaranteed income is the cause that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dedicated the
last year of his life to. The present global economic depression has made
King's last cause even more urgent today than it was when he was alive. Dr.
King also knew that: no matter the magnitude of suffering, governments do not
respond if those who are suffering remain invisible and silent. Even a
history-making president like Obama is still not a substitute for the mass
movement for social justice. During the depression of the 1930's, President
Franklyn Delano Roosevelt once told labor leaders who were asking him to do
more to help workers and the poor "I agree with you, now make me do it."
FDR's advice applies to Pres. Obama to. The purpose of the Global Week of
Solidarity with the Unemployed is to make sure that people who are usually
ignored are seen and heard.
ORGANIZING CARAVANS OF UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE AND SUPPORTERS TO PITTSBURGH
Over the next 10 weeks, organizing will be going on in every region of the
country to bring caravans of unemployed people and supporters to Pittsburgh in
Sept.
THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:
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