Grassroots Global Justice Alliance (GGJ) supports the workers, students, children and families, the LEFTBAY99 coalition of social justice organizations, OCCUPY/Liberate Oakland, and all those who are taking action as part of the Oakland General Strike of November 2.
We echo organizers’ call to “FORECLOSE ON THE 1%” and “OCCUPY THE BANKS!”! Wall Street, big bankers, and corporate CEO’s should pay for the damage they have done to the global economy, to the 99%, and especially to poor, working-class, indigenous and people of color all over the world.
We believe this general strike is an inspiring example of the type of people power that can grow in this moment. The strike will show that it really is the majority of us who work hard to run our society, and to clean up the messes created by greedy banks, gold-digging investors and polluting corporations.
The strike is also an inspiring model of how to move beyond the false divisions of spontaneous uprising vs. organized movement, of autonomous forces vs. social justice organizations. Instead, this strike shows what can happen when these forces join together against the 1% of profiteers, as well as the police forces that are being deployed to protect their interests. We condemn the police violence that sought to displace the Occupy Oakland encampment. We see this act as part of the larger racially-biased U.S. police and military industrial complex that must be challenged and dismantled as we condemn the wealth accumulation of the 1%.
We affirm the right of ALL PEOPLE to reclaim space in the spirit of democratic dissent and radical transformation. This includes women, trans and gender-variant people, people of color, people with disabilities, landless people and homeless people. We stand in solidarity with the Oakland and Bay Area organizers, as well as those around the country, who continue to do the hard work to ensure that this right is preserved.
We stand in solidarity with the Oakland General Strike as an anti-capitalist struggle that is part of a global movement for an economy that works for both the people and the planet. We pledge to continue to support efforts like this as we build grassroots internationalism for a more just and sustainable world.
We call on all participants in the Oakland General Strike to continue this state of mobilization beyond November 2. We invite you to build towards the next global day of action on December 3rd. This will be a day to connect the global economic crisis to the global climate crisis, a day to denounce the corporations that profit from harming our communities, our families and our planet, and a day to lift up grassroots solutions for economic and climate justice.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE NOVEMBER 2! LIBERATE OAKLAND, OCCUPY THE BANKS, FORECLOSE ON THE 1%!
JOIN GGJ AND LA VIA CAMPESINA NORTH AMERICA ON DECEMBER 3: 1000 DURBANS FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE! STOP PROFIT FROM POLLUTION! BUILD AN ECONOMY FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET!