May13

WHO DECIDES WHAT HAPPENS IN OUR COMMUNITIES - CORPORATIONS OR LOCAL RESIDENTS?

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Join in a Local Conversation in SLO Weds., May 16, 7 PM

Shannon Biggs, author and director of the Community Rights Program at international human rights non-profit Global Exchange, will speak on the topic of the rights of communities and of nature itself versus the power of corporate "persons". The free event will be held at the Ludwick Community Center, 864 Santa Rosa in SLO this Wednesday evening.

Providing information about what other communities have achieved by organizing and banning practices such as fracking, she will lead a discussion and deliver a call to local action on social, economic and environmental issues.

Since its founding in 1988, Global Exhange has worked to transform profit-centered society to becoming people-centered.

This event is sponsored by SLO Transition Towns, Empower Cal Poly and People of Faith for Justice.  For more information, go to http://slotransitiontowns.org/?p=921, or call 773-2847.

May07

OCCUPYSLO PROTEST AT THE BANK OF AMERICA WEDS. AT NOON

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In Solidarity With Protestors at Shareholders Meeting in North Carolina

Protestors at the May 9th Bank of America shareholders meeting plan to demand a halt to foreclosures, forgiveness of student debt, and an end to the financing of coal projects,  political contributions and seven-figure compensation packages.  Scheduled protest activities include an alternative shareholders meeting and a mock boxing match billed as the Bank vs. America.

In addition, behind the closed doors of the meeting, two separate investor groups will put forward resolutions, one barring contributions to groups with political ties, such as ALEC or the Chamber of Commerce, the other requiring disclosure of all political contributions by the bank.

Move On is encouraging protests around the country in support of the actions in North Carolina.  RSVP for the protest at noon on the 9th at the B of A branch on the corner of  Santa Rosa & Higuera at http://pol.moveon.org/event/99springaction. Or just show up and let the bank know the 99% haven't forgotten.  

 

Apr26

May Day - Tuesday May 1st

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General Strike May 1st

While American corporate media has focused on yet another stale election between Wall Street-financed candidates, Occupy has been organizing something extraordinary: the first truly nationwide General Strike in U.S. history. Building on the international celebration of May Day, past General Strikes in U.S. cities like Seattle and Oakland, the recent May 1st Day Without An Immigrant demonstrations, the national general strikes in Spain this year, and the on-going student strike in Quebec, the Occupy Movement has called for a Day Without the 99% on May 1st, 2012. For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 115 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice.

Occupy San Luis Obispo will be holding a rally in front of the courthouse on Monterey mid-day. Please come out and join us.
Apr22

OCCUPY EARTHDAY TODAY AT EL CHORRO PARK!

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There Is No Planet B

Billions will be celebating Earthday today across the globe. Will you be one of them?

OccupySLO will be doing a mic-check about oil company subsidies the day-long celebration at El Chorro Regional Park on Highway 1 across from Cuesta College. Meet by 1 pm at the Transition Towns Village (the big tree across from the Botanical Gardens gift shop. Look for... Rebecca.) Postcards about Occupy issues will be available for handout. Free shuttles from SLO and Cuesta will be running.
                               THERE IS NO PLANET B!
The International Energy Agency reports there will be irreversible climate change in 5 years unless concerted action is taken, including cutting carbon emissions by 6%.
Earthday was founded in 1970 by Gaylor Nelson, a Democratic senator for Wisconsin, in response to a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, but it was a non-partisan effort with Republican support. How things have changed! Except for oil spills.
It will take massive concerted action by Americans to force our government to take the steps necessary for survival despite the opposition of energy and other corporations interested only in short-term profit. For yourself, your children or grandchildren, will you do anything?
 

Mar29

CELEBRATE THE AMERICAN SPRING WITH OCCUPY SLO!

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Saturday, April 7 at Courthouse

OCCUPY SLO will be hosting events and festivities to celebrate the American Occupy Spring events being held throughout the United States and globally, to renew, reinvigorate and refocus on solutions for the economic and social inequalities faced by the 99%.

 

WHO: Everyone is invited

 

WHAT: Art Installation featuring a mini-Hooverville Town (www.history.com//topics/hoovervilles), Info. about local families losing their homes, petitions, music and food

 

WHERE: San Luis Obispo Courthouse on Monterey Street

 

WHEN: Saturday, April 7, 2012 (weather permitting)

11 a.m. Art Installation and activities

12 p.m. March through downtown

1:30 p.m. General Assembly

 

For more information, visit www.occuppyslo.org

Mar27

SPEAK OUT AGAINST RECENT ATTACKS ON WOMEN!

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Seminar Weds., March 28; March to Democratic & Repub. HQ's Sat., March 31

Wednesday, March 28 - Education Session

Where: Mitchell Park (Osos and Pismo Streets)
When: 4:30 PM - 6:00 (to be followed by Food Not Bombs)
What: Listen to guest speakers on topics ranging from the history of women's rights to the "hollaback" campaign and from sexual assaut to the recent political assaults on women
Bring your own chair. Also bring eating utensils if you plan to remain for Food Not Bombs

Saturday, March 31 - March Against the War on Women and Urge Our Representatives to do More to End it

Where: Meet at the Courthouse (on Monterey between Santa Rosa & Osos Streets)
When: 12 noon (followed by the General Assembly at 1:30, as usual)
What: March from the Courthouse to the Democratic HQ followed by the Republican HQ
*Bring your own sign
Mar24

IT'S SPRING AND PERFECT MARCHING WEATHER!

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Join Us at Noon Saturday at the Courthouse

It will be sunny, clear and crisp as OccupySLO demonstrates on behalf of the homeless, those forced out of their homes by foreclosure, unable to find jobs in the aftermath of the havoc to the world's economy caused by underregulated financial corporations, ex-vets whom the country supported until they came home from war, or those with problems ignored by our government.

Bring a sign if you can, but in any event come, and stay for the 1:30 General Assembly, also at the courthouse.

Mar19

CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERS SAFE PARKING PROGRAM FOR HOMELESS

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PUBLIC COMMENT TO BE HEARD AT MARCH 20 COUNCIL MEETING

At its 7 PM meeting on Tuesday, March 20, the San Luis Obispo City Council will vote on a proposed six month pilot program allowing homeless individuals to sleep overnight in their vehicles (maximum five vehicles) at the Prado Day Care Center.  The proposal also calls for staff to develop amendments to municipal code which will permit more effective enforcement of the current ban on sleeping in vehicles elsewhere in the city.  The public will be invited to comment.

The meeting agenda item is as follows:

RECOMMENDATION: 1) Adopt a resolution to temporarily suspend the enforcement of Municipal Code Chapter 17.16.015 (Recreational vehicle as dwelling unit) for six months for a portion of 43 Prado Road and authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, Inc. (CAPSLO) to implement a safe parking pilot program at the Prado Day Center for a six month time period with conditions outlined in Attachment 10; 2) Direct staff to return to the Council in six months to report on the success of the pilot program and consider changes to Title 17 of the Municipal Code to establish a permanent safe parking program; 3) Direct staff to develop amendments to the Municipal Code to improve parking enforcement to address persons sleeping in vehicles that are not participating in an authorized safe parking program.

 

 

Mar16

OccupyWallStreet 6 Month Celebration Postponed to March 24

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March Cancelled, GA Moved Indoors Due to Weather

Due to 100% chance of rain on Saturday, March 17th, the planned celebration of OccupyWallStreet's 6 month anniversary has been postponed to the following Saturday, March 24th.

The regular Saturday march has been cancelled, and the General Assembly will be held at the clubhouse of the mobile home park at 1255 Orcutt at 1:30 pm.

Mar15

Occupy Wall Street Celebrates 6 Months of Occupation

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11 AM, Saturday, March 17

Join Occupy San Luis Obispo in a celebration of 6 months of Occupy Wall Street!

Occupy SLO is hosting an event commemorating this important milestone in OWS history.
Come join us at the San Luis Obispo Courthouse for art, Occupy SLO t-shirt making (bring
your own shirt), snacks and fun. Join us in ushering in the American Spring and show your
support for social, economic and environmental equality.

Day: Saturday
Date: March 17, 2012
Time: 11 AM
Location: San Luis Obispo County Courthouse
Reason: Fun!

We will also be campaigning in support of the
California Label GMO initiative, so come on
down and sign your name on the petition!

Come for the festivities, stay for the march at
noon and the General Assembly at 1:30 PM.

Mar11

Press Release: We're still here!

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On March 4, 2012 Occupy SLO voluntarily removed its canopies from the San Luis Obispo County Courthouse grounds. Since October 2011, the canopies served as the center of activities in support of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement. We are now refocusing our energy on organizing actions that more effectively create awareness of the political and economic problems facing our country today.

Our regular weekly activities hosted on the courthouse grounds will continue as scheduled:

  • Wednesday 6:00 pm Food Not Bombs which provides a free, delicious vegetarian meal to all who attend
  • Thursday 6:30 pm silent march through farmers market
  • Saturday noon march and protest followed by our general assembly at 1:30 pm

We will also continue to host other special events such as the 6 month anniversary celebration in honor of Occupy Wall Street (Saturday, March 17th) and non-violence training seminar to be held April 9th from 3-6pm at Mitchell Park with a certified non-violence trainer.

The physical presence of Occupy SLO had been at the courthouse for over 140 days (one of the longest-running physical occupations in the country) and did so without any of the violent police raids experienced by other occupations. We can only consider this a success.

Although our canopies are gone, we are even more active than before. To find out how to get involved or for more information, please come to our Saturday general assembly or visit our website at occupyslo.org where you can find a full calendar of events, informative resources, as well as open discussion forums.

Sincerely, the General Assembly of Occupy San Luis Obispo

Mar08

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARCH 8

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Shall we discuss this article today at Mitchell Park?

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARCH 8

Its origins are in the struggles for equal pay and decent conditions amongst women in the USA in the 19th century.


On 8 March, 1857, garment workers in New York City marched and picketed, demanding improved working conditions, a ten hour day, and equal rights for women. Their ranks were broken up by the police. Fifty-one years later, 8 March, 1908, their sisters in the needle trades in New York marched again, honouring the 1857 march, demanding the vote, and an end to sweatshops and child labour. The police were present on this occasion too.


In 1917 this was the day the working women of Petrograd literally started a revolution. In protest at rising prices and food shortages, they filed into the centre of the city, calling on all fellow workers to join them. Down with hunger!’ ’Down with the war!’ Hunger was claiming the lives of thousands of children, older men and women, and the very sick and very poor.


Nearly a hundred years later, the world is undergoing one of the worst financial crises in its history; this is eroding gains women had attained. In Europe and America, and to some extent in other countries, a layer of working women have been able to insist on equal pay, equal opportunities and flexible working hours. In the 20th century, chauvinist attitudes towards women and sexist advertising were also challenged with some success.


Today on a world scale, the gains of working class and middle class women are under attack. Equal pay for work of equal value, where it has been won, has to be defended. If union leaders do not put up a fight, this and other basic rights come under attack. Advances in measures to relieve women seeking refuge from violent partners have been set back.


This, in a crisis, means nightmare worries over the shrinking budget – falling incomes and rising costs. As publicly-funded services are cut, it means finding more hours and energy for the care of children, and of sick and elderly members of the family. Mass unemployment amongst young people is a major worry. Education opportunities shrink and cuts or non-existent benefits mean young people are dependent on their families. The burdens on working class families become unbearable.


It is women who suffer most from wars, civil wars, famines, natural disasters, land grabs and environmental degradation. They suffer most from reactionary religious practices like forced marriages, genital mutilation. But it is also women who suffer most from our inability to develop economies for the benefit of all, instead of the handful of rich.


As Care International points out on their web-site: 70% of the world’s poorest billion people are women and girls, two thirds of people who cannot read or write are women and in many countries, more women are likely to die in childbirth than get an education. In a world where the rich in every country are getting richer and the poor poorer, the fight for survival becomes daily more urgent for women.


In countries like India and China, the majority of women and their children live in absolute poverty. A certain layer of society (about 300 million people in each case) has been raised from absolute poverty to a reasonable lower middle class existence. As the crisis hits, they are beginning to be forced back into the mire of poverty and homelessness.

Some are beginning to fight back on the question of housing and the environment. Workers – young men and women - who have been drawn from the poverty-stricken countryside into big factories have begun to fight against the long hours and slave labour conditions inflicted on them. In India, young workers at Suzuki Maruti, for example, have formed their own unions, taken strike action and won better pay and conditions....Young women in the hot-houses of China’s factories, sometimes work up to 12 hours a day. Recently they have been involved in important strikes. At Foxconn (which employs a million, mostly women, in China) suicide appeared as the only way out. The strikes of last year, however, won at least temporary improvements. Threatened mass suicides have again hit the headlines but the idea of mass struggle is gaining momentum. Many women will play a vital role in leading them to partial and full victories.

Women must have the chance to freely decide when and if to have children (and how many). As child-bearers, they can suffer huge emotional and material stress from both having and not having children.. Women should be able to enjoy sexual relations without fear of unwanted pregnancy. They should also, on the other hand, be helped with problems of fertility, again, with the full assistance of the state.
We need sensitively to conduct campaigns against forced marriages, rape, female circumcision. Religion is important to many people and they should have the right to practice whatever they wish as individuals, as long as it does not impinge on the basic rights of others. This includes the wearing of the burka, which right should neither be denied to women nor forced upon them.

In the past year, revolutions have been on the agenda. In the revolutions of North Africa and the Middle East, women have taken an important role in the battles on the streets and in the strikes which have brought victories. Young women have shown a fierce determination to win a different society than that prescribed by dictators or by reactionary religiousfundamentalists.
The size of the task which remains to be completed, however, in countries like Tunisia and Egypt has been illustrated by the brutal attacks on women even in Tahrir Square – centre of the revolution. Women have organised important demonstrations in protests at this. A recent report on British TV showed that even a year after the revolution in Egypt, 90% of parents are still subjecting their daughters to vaginal mutilation – robbing them for life of the possibility of experiencing sexual satisfaction. There is a long way to go in the struggle for equal rights!

One of the worst expressions of the exploitation and oppression of women is the gruesome practice of people trafficking, mostly with the aim of selling women and girls into forced prostitution. Campaigns against all forms of exploitation and oppression in present day society, and of discrimination on the grounds of sex, nationality, creed and sexual orientation, need full backing.

Women must stay to the fore in all the struggles for reform. They are already playing a vital role in the campaigns for youth jobs and in the strikes of teachers, civil servants and health-workers against cuts and austerity.
In Sri Lanka, women working in the Free Trade Zones have participated in strike action against the Rajapakse dictatorship’s pension reforms and won! In Pakistan an important strike of nurses was victorious. In Kazakhstan, women play a vital role in the fight against housing evictions. In the USA and elsewhere, the ‘Occupy’ movements have seen women expressing great anger against bankers and the pampered and privileged 1% who dominate society. The way in which ‘indignad@s’ is written in Spain – combining the feminine ’a’ ending with the masculine ’o’ - indicates a keen awareness of the importance of women and men being treated as equals.

On International Women’s Day, 2012, we know that women will play a vital role in developing a future society based on fulfilment of needs and wishes rather than greed and exploitation. Women will not accept the turning back of the clock. Such a society, achieved through democratic planning and control, will at last be able to utilise harmoniously and cooperatively, every human being’s talent and every natural resource of the planet to the greatest benefit of all human society.

Mar07

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY MARCH 8, 2012

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Celebratory Events at 1:30 at Mitchell Park

International Women's Day was first declared in March, 1911, an era in which women were struggliing for the right to work, to vote and to hold public office. Coincidentally, the infamous Triangle Fire which killed 100 female factory workers in a N.Y. building due to unsafe working conditions occurred in the same month.

The day is a world-wide celebration of the accomplishments of women in the last hundred years, spotlighting that even today as women do two-thirds of the work in the world. they receive only 10% of the wages paid and own only 1% of the land.

Please join us at Mitchell Park in SLO tomorrow at 1:30 to particpate in a women's self defense demonstration and a workshop on alternative medicine.

 

 

Mar02

SATURDAY IS B OF A DAY!

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We Love Them So Much We'll Stay The Whole "March"

Have you done your homework on the Bank of America, one of six too-big-to-exist banks in the country? Printed information to handout? Then come on down to the courthouse Saturday at noon, march to the nearby branch on Santa Rosa and demonstrate for an hour or so to focus attention on the unresolved problems which still require reform. Bring a relevant sign or come to the courthouse early to make one with the materials there.

To get you in the mood, listen to Breaking Up Is Hard to Do. Rebecca, this one's for you. All you need for your flash mob are three red gowns and two more chicks!