'Bail Out Workers, Not Wall Street!'
What is it with rain-soaked Saturday afternoon protests in Times Square lately? Kind of a pain.
Nevertheless, a couple of hundred people braved the foul weather on 42nd Street today to say, "No Money for Wall Street and War - Bailout Workers and the Poor." The protest had originally been called by the Stop War on Iran Campaign with a focus on U.S. threats against that country. Organizers realized that a shift in focus was needed since the war has come home so decisively in the past week with the collapse of the capitalist financial system.
The Bush regime proposes a $700 billion to $1 trillion bailout for the banks, on top of the $612 billion war budget that quietly passed the House with bipartisan support last week. Add ons for expenses of the ongoing occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan will bring the total war spending to a whopping $3 trillion, no matter who is elected in November. This enormous shift in wealth from the working class to the rich comes at the same time unemployment is escalating and people are being evicted from their homes left and right.
Although the protest’s size was modest, it got a terrific response from people on the streets. As we stepped off to march downtown to Union Square, led by chanting from the amazing women of the Filipino organization BAYAN, some people came off the sidewalks to join us. Many bystanders snapped up literature - not a common happening in New York, where passersby usually feign indifference to everything.
There is a lot of fear, but also a lot of confusion - people are stunned by just how quickly the claims of eternal capitalist prosperity have unraveled before their eyes, even those who’ve been suffering a long steady decline in earnings and job security. That makes it all the more important that we are out here showing people they can take to the streets and don’t have to sit on the sidelines with only the option of pulling a lever in an election booth.
Along the march route, cops tried to seize sound equipment, but they were unsuccessful.
Groups that participated included Stop War On Iran Campaign, National Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, BAYAN, Troops Out Now Coalition, World Can’t Wait, Green Party, Al-Awda - Palestine Right to Return Coalition, Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, Nodutdol for Korean Community Development, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, American-Iranian Friendship Committee, International League of Peoples Struggles, International Action Center, Workers World Party, and Jersey City Peace Movement.
Sign the petition for an immediate moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.