In an early sign of what promises to be a growing movement, 1,000 people defied
a torrential downpour to rally on Wall Street on Friday, April 3 in response to
a national call from the Bail Out the People Movement. The central demands of
the demonstration were: 1) a real jobs program; and 2) an immediate moratorium
on foreclosures and evictions.
The protest began with a rally began at Wall Street and Broadway, the center of
the financial district, at 1 p.m. on a busy
Friday: Participants included unions,
community groups, youth and students from Detroit, Boston, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, Buffalo and dozens of organizing centers throughout the
country.
Larry Holmes, a leader of the Bail out the People Movement and a co-chair of
the rally, said, "This is the opening of a serious nationwide struggle for
a jobs program." The Bail Out the People Movement is calling for a jobs
program similar to the Work Projects Administration of the 1930's, which
employed millions of people.
Speakers repeatedly denounced the $10 trillion that has been given to banks
over the past year.
While the government has given banks trillions of dollars, 4.4 million people
have lost their jobs since the economic downturn began in December 2007, more
than half of them in the last five months. Thousands have lost their homes in
foreclosures and evictions.
As the rain began to let up about halfway through the rally, several members of
the youth group FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) began walking
down
Broadway. The police wanted to keep everyone
off Wall Street, but members of FIST were determined to march through the
financial nerve center. The police converged on them and pushed them onto the
sidewalk. Four youth were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. One of
them was pushed around by the cops and also charged with resisting arrest. He
was held in jail for nine-and-a-half hours while the others were released after
three hours.
Meanwhile, the police ignored the real criminals, who were in the boardrooms
and executive offices overlooking the streets. One speaker at the rally, New
York City Council Member Charles Barron, said that the crooks who have received
$10 trillion that has been given to banks over the past year, should be looking
for bail money to get out of jail.
LeiLani Dowell, a member of FIST and a rally co-chair, described how the
economic crisis was hurting youth and explained that the hardships they face
are inherent to the system itself. The other rally co-chairs were Brenda
Stokely, a leader of the Million Worker March Movement, and Sara Flounders,
co-coordinator of the International Action Center.
Other speakers included Chris Silvera, secretary-treasurer of Local 808
International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Charles Jenkins, Local 10 Transport
Workers Union; a representative of the Stella D'oro strikers campaign;
Sandra Hines, of Detroit's Moratorium Now! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures
& Evictions; and Monica Moorehead, of Workers World Party.
Following the rally, the Bail Out the People Movement took their message
directly to the banks, marching down Pine Street to AIG, which has received a
total of $170 billion in bailout money, chanting "Jobs for All" and
"Jail "Em, Don't Bail 'Em." Protesters marched through
the narrow streets of the financial district, confronting financial giants like
Citigroup, Fidelity, AIG, American
Express, the Federal Reserve and the New York
Stock Exchange. They then proceeded on to Water Street, stopping at another AIG
building, and then went under the Brooklyn Bridge to Foley Square for a closing
rally.
Organized labor came out in full force marching behind their banners. There
were contingents from the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; District 37
Locals 375 and 768; Teamsters Local 808; United Federation of Teachers Local 2;
UFT Local 37-901; striking Stella D'oro workers; BCT Local 50 from the
Bronx; and New York City Labor Against the War. Others on the march included
members of District 1199 New England; Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical
Workers/AFSCME; United Autoworkers Local 100 of Detroit; and Transit Workers
Union of NYC.
The April 3 march was held on the anniversary of the assassination of Martin
Luther King Jr., who called for a right to a job or income for all. The
following day, the United for Peace and Justice Coalition held another march on
Wall Street which went down Broadway and ended at Battery Park. The Bail Out
the People Movement held a brief rally overlooking the New York Stock Exchange
and joined the march as it went by.
