Sat., March 21:
March on the Pentagon
On the 6th Anniversary of Iraq War demand: U.S.
Out of Iraq & Afghanistan! Stop the Siege of Gaza!
Fri. May 1st
International Workers Day
Fall 2009
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.
Read complete text in the BOPM working paper.
Proposed Campaigns & Mobilizations
Organizing the Unemployed
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 Organizers The 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.
Read complete text in the BOPM working paper.