Occupy 11/2012: New forms of creative “direct action”

During the last 6-9 months most Occupy groups have been relatively invisible in the mass media. But just because something is invisible, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Think radiation… or back room deals… or the vast webs of fungi and ant civilizations under the forest floor… or climate change…

Well, it seems some Occupiers are being as newly creative as when the movement first showed up a little over a year ago. Here are two of the more remarkable news items I’ve seen about them. One describes Occupy’s brilliant “People’s Bailout” program. The other hails their Occupy Sandy grassroots crisis storm recovery engagement in New York, which is also noted in Sarah van Gelder’s review of top down and grassroots storm recovery efforts at
http://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/climate-driven-hurricane-sandy-teaches-coop….

 

As with all the other Occupy efforts, there’s lots you can do to participate, if you want. Take a look….

 

Coheartedly,
Tom

 

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/08/1159310/-Buying-Debt-What-OWS-has-be…

 

Buying Debt – What OWS has been up to.
by triumph110

 

Brilliant! Why hasn’t anyone thought of this sooner? If you are in debt, from medical issues or what have you, most companies sell that debt to a debt collection company that hounds you to pay it off. Usually buying the debt is cheap. A few hundred dollars will buy you thousands of dollars of debt. So a company pays $500 for $10,000 of bad debt. The company calls and harrasses you and says they got a great deal for you – pay them just $2000 and they will wipe the debt away. They make a 400% profit as they act like vultures on the poor and downtrodden. Let me tell you of the brilliant plan Occupy Wall Street has come up with.

 

They bought $14,000 of bad debt for a whopping $500 and then “poof” made the debt disappear forever!

 

“Now OWS is launching the ROLLING JUBILEE, a program that has been in development for months. OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT.”

 

And now they are taking it nationwide with a show and fundraiser. AND YOU CAN HELP.

 

A brilliant name too – The People’s Bailout.

 

See http://rollingjubilee.org/ for more…

 

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http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/02/1154537/-AMAZING-Occupy-Wall-Street-…

 

FRI NOV 02, 2012 AT 08:18 PM PDT
AMAZING: Occupy Wall Street Leading Massive, Volunteer-Powered Recovery Efforts in New York
by The Troubadour for Writing by David Harris Gershon

 

They are thousands-strong and growing: entering devastated neighborhoods yet to see outside help from established aid organizations.

 

They are staffing donation drop off sites, running mobile food kitchens and delivering hot meals. They are distributing food and supplies to the stranded, locating trapped seniors, and aiding clean-up efforts.

 

In short, they are helping some of New York’s most vulnerable right now, and the work being done is simply breathtaking. And that work is growing by the hour.

 

Loosely organized under Occupy Sandy, Occupy activists have, in conjunction with 350.org and Recovers.org, created in very short order a massive, malleable volunteer network that is reaching untold numbers of New Yorkers still in the dark and cold.

 

They have established donation drop off sites in Rockaway, Coney Island, Staten Island, Chinatown, the Upper East Side, the Lower East Side, Harlem and all across Brooklyn.

 

And the volunteer opportunities, which you can find at
http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ or https://www.facebook.com/OccupySandyReliefNyc?fref=ts
are just as intense as they are varied.

 

Lisa Sikorski, one of many activists coordinating supply distribution efforts, described their efforts:

 

“‘We’ve been getting tons of donations. This is all donations in here,’ Sikorski said, pointing at tables. ‘We also gave away a ton yesterday. Stuff has gone out to the Rockaways, Sunset Park, Coney Island. There are people coming in with rolling carts, school communities have come up with truckloads of stuff and unloaded it. This is all community-driven donation right now, all of it.'”

 

People beyond those being directly helped are beginning to notice Occupy’s incredible work. While snarky and backhanded, Bob Hardt of NY1 had this to say:

 

“It’s a bad sign for the world that Occupy Wall Street and a Sikh group from Queens are doing a better job at distributing hot food than the largest international relief group in the world.”

 

And independent journalist Sarah Jaffe Tweeted this not long ago:

 

“I see a lot of people retweeting the red cross donation link, but I saw no red cross workers today. @nychange & @OccupySandy doing real work”

 

Now, make no mistake. The Red Cross and FEMA are operating shelters, food kitchens and distributing supplies as well. My point here is not to malign them.

 

My point? To shine a light on the incredible work Occupy activists are doing in locations where aid organizations have yet to lay roots. And to shine a light on the work they will continue to be doing, perhaps with your help.
http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/ or https://www.facebook.com/OccupySandyReliefNyc?fref=ts