Alert To All Georgians & States Nationwide!

Georgia state legislators are getting ready this week to attempt to criminalize our constitutional right to protest via the passage of Senate Bill 469.

If approved by the Georgia House and signed by the Governor, SB 469 would criminalize peaceful acts of protest, including public picketing related to labor disputes outside of any privately owned buildings. Individuals or union members or any individual employees who participate in such protests could be fined up to $1,000 a day, and organizations, which support such actions, could face penalties of up to $10,000 a day. Moreover, the bill adds a category of “conspiracy to commit criminal trespass,” which would make it a high and aggravated misdemeanor to plan acts of peaceful civil protest. The bill also includes provisions that weaken the power of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively with their employers by restricting the ability of workers to negotiate contracts with employers that provide for union dues and agency fees, therefore effectively de-funding Georgia’s unions and further penalizing their right to political and economic protest. 

Occupy Atlanta, Georgia unions, and a broad coalition of other concerned Georgians will amass this coming Saturday March 17th at 11am at the Georgia State Capitol to take a stand against this villainous attack to our constitutional rights. We will bring our voices, our signs, our beliefs, and our democratic bodies and will peacefully assemble to STOP SB 469. We urge workers, people of faith, social justice advocates, people of all political backgrounds, and you to join us in protest and solidarity and call for this bill to be immediately rejected. This law is a corporate attempt to legalize the political and economic strangulation of the 99% and we cannot afford to ignore this unconstitutional attack.

SB 469 shares characteristics of model legislation crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (A.L.E.C.) an out-of-state, secretive, corporate-funded council of which member corporations actually help draft laws that are then presented to their lawmaker allies. The lead sponsor of the bill is Georgia state Senator Donald Balfour, a Waffle House vice-president who believes that working people who stand up for their rights are criminals who ought to be in prison. The timing of SB 469 also suspiciously coincides with the lay-off coalition protests that are on-going at AT&T Atlanta headquarters on West Peachtree Rd.

We all know that for years corporate money has been used to drown our votes and warp our democratic institutions. But now the powerful seek to suppress our presence in the streets. We are witnessing in real time how corporations seek to directly rule our society with the support of their fraternal lawmakers, a militarized police force, and the privatized prison industry complex that makes a profit with every new arrest. Allowing the political-corporate axis to get away with this will pave the way for additional repressive legislation to the point where corporations and their political stooges will “legally” squeeze away our rights to protest anything, anywhere, anytime. The criminalization of otherwise protected activities represents an assault on the nation’s ideals and our fundamental human and democratic rights. As Atlanta native, Martin Luther King, Jr. said on the night before he was killed, “The greatness of America is the right to protest for right.”

What kind of country do you want to live in? Does this fit your definition of the United States? How will this law affect the future of your children? Does it matter what political party or views you espouse? Should your right to protest be criminalized?

Fight back against the scandalous actions of this legislative session, which have also included legislated attacks on women, minorities, immigrants, the environment, the poor, and all Georgia taxpayers.

Stand up for your rights, or prepare to lose them.

What you can do

• Join us on Saturday March 17 at the Georgia Capital at 11am, ALL DAY. Bring your voice, your homemade signs, your friends and family and some cash to pay for parking.
• Spread this post by email and on your social media.
• Call Georgia representatives and tell them what you think of this law.
• If you have media contacts, please notify them.
• If you belong to a coalition, organization, or community group  mobilize them to show up to the protest.

Occupations across the US, Stand With Us In Solidarity!

• This bill is part of a national strategy.  Similar legislation could be coming to  your state soon.
• Spread the word on your site and social media.
• Notify your local and national media contacts.
• Bring the heat on this law at the national level.

When: Saturday, March 17,11 am – 1 pm.
Where: Georgia State Capitol, 206 Washington Street Southwest Atlanta, GA 30334
MARTA: Georgia State Station

Occupy Atlanta
www.occupyatlanta.org
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyAtlanta
http://twitter.com/#!/owsatlanta

Media Contact: media@occupyatlanta.org
Action Contact: action@occupyatlanta.org
Outreach Contact: outreach@occupyatlanta.org

Occupy Atlanta hopes to foster a full discussion of the implications of SB 469, something which did not occur in the Georgia Senate. On March 13 at 4 pm we will hold our own General Assembly on the steps of the building where the Georgia General Assembly meets, and discuss the bill Occupy-style. We will offer the state senators who did not get to speak on the merits and flaws of SB 469 the opportunity they were denied by their colleagues. State Sen. Vincent Fort and State Sen. Nan Orrock have already indicated they will attend, and we hope others will as well. Any senators who voted for the bill and wish to defend it are also welcome. Our General Assembly, as always, is open to all.

A nation-wide epidemic of misogynist legislation has spread to Georgia. Occupy Atlanta will walk in solidarity with a coalition including:

ACLU of Georgia, Atlanta Women’s Medical Center, Democratic Women’s Council, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Georgia Equality, Georgia Rural Urban Summit, Georgia’s WIN List, Georgia Women for a Change, Georgia WAND, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Men Stopping Violence, MoveOn, National Association of Social Workers – Georgia Chapter, Planned Parenthood Southeast, Raksha, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW, Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, Young Democrats of Georgia

We will walk in a single file around the Capitol from 11:30 am to 1 pm in support of these rights for all Georgia women:

to determine when and whether to have children,

to have a healthy pregnancy and birth;

to become a parent and parent with dignity, and

to have safe and healthy relationships and families.

Self-determination for women is inextricably tied to self-determination for our entire society. We are “the 52%”

On Saturday, the General Assembly of Occupy Atlanta adopted this simple demand: End corporate influence in politics and government. SB 469 is one example of how corporate interests dominate our state government. AT&T and other ALEC members are using the legislative and legal mechanisms of our state to further their own interests, against the interests of the tax-paying working people of Georgia. Tomorrow, Occupy Atlanta and a coalition of other groups and individuals will rally to put a stop to this example of ALEC legislation and corporate subversion of democracy. 5 pm at the Georgia State Capitol.

End corporate influence in politics and government. Start with SB 469.

Occupy Atlanta Rallies to Save Freedom of Speech in Georgia

With at least one American Legislative Exchange Council lobbyist in attendance, Georgia Senate Bill 469 which would impose hefty fines on pickets and turn planning a protest into a crime, was passed in committee today despite testimony that it was unconstitutional and unenforceable. The room, packed mainly with union members erupted in a chant of “KILL THE BILL!” and one Occupy Atlanta protester was arrested while others were escorted out.
AT$T is on the board of ALEC, and this legislation has their clear stamp on it. Tomorrow, February 29, Occupy Atlanta will rally in front of the Capitol at 10 am, followed by a march back to AT$T at noon to address the source of this attack on the First Amendment and labor rights in Georgia.

For more information on how corporations are pushing “model legislation” through state legislatures nation-wide, see www.alecexposed.org

Higher Ground Empowerment Center(HGEC) is a neighborhood church in the heart of Atlanta’s Vine City. For the past 108 years, Higher Ground Empowerment Center has been a pillar in the historic Vine City community, one of Atlanta’s most under-resourced communities. HGEC has offered an array of much-needed programs and services including free healthcare screenings, a food pantry, job fairs, an annual Vine City Thanksgiving dinner, Karate classes for youth, Saturday tutorials, and summer camps for students.

In 2008, the church suffered a major blow in the form of a disastrous tornado that ripped apart the property. In order to rebuild, the church was forced to take out a loan, one that became increasingly difficult to pay back and unrepresentative of the resale opportunities as donations and property values fell during the recession.  The church repeatedly attempted to refinance the loan to be more representative of the property’s value, but BB&T, a company whose CEO, Kelly King, claims that their “foreclosure process is a values based on an approach where [they] work with our clients,” has not responded.  The cruel irony is that BB&T bank spends about 5 million dollars a year on teaching positions and research on what they refer to as “the moral foundations of capitalism.” We find these morals and values suspiciously absent when the opportunity to profit off of the very people who bailed out BB&T to the tune of $3.1 billion comes about.

HGEC’s Pastor Dexter Johnson stated, “108 years of history, we don’t want to see it disappear, be lost in foreclosure. 2012 is the year of triumph. Though we may be down, we are not broken, we will not be moved.”

Occupy Atlanta stands in solidarity with HGEC and the Vine city community. 1/12/12 Occupy Atlanta will be holding a press conference at HGEC, 561 spencer st NW Atlanta 30314 at 11am. We will be setting up an encampment outside the church and will not leave until BB&T makes a deal that works for the church.

The Pittman family has lived in their home in the Old Fourth Ward since 1953. The late Eloise Pittman was a pillar in the community and a leader at her church. She was also a victim of one of the worst predatory loans that Occupy Atlanta has ever seen. When Eloise, a 62 year old retired school board employee, wanted to refinance her home in 2006 Chase gave her an adjustable rate loan totaling over $300,000 for a home that, according to the tax assessor, was worth half that much. Eloise was the victim of a repulsively predatory loan.

Eloise Pittman passed away in late November.  Her family is now left with a mountain of debt, and is trying to save a home that’s been in their family for nearly 60 years. Chase has been unwilling to find a solution that keeps them in their home.

The mortgage is owned by Chase. Today, we appeal to you for help. Can you take the time to call, fax, and email the CEO of Chase Bank with a simple message; Make the Pittman family’s mortgage work. Rectify predatory loans.

Keep the Pittmans in their home!

Contact Chase Bank Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon:
Phone: 212-270-1111
Fax: 212-270-1121
Email: jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com

All this action takes is the commitment to send a few messages, the commitment of a few minutes of your time. That commitment could help keep the Pittmans in their home  and send a message to the big banks that we will not let them make Americans pay the price for their irresponsible practices. We are the 99%, and we out number bank executives.

Since the early 2000′s banks have been targeting communities of color with predatory loans. In an attempt to feed swelling profit reports, banks began handing out loans that appeared, on face, extremely attractive. The catch:  these loans turned ugly fast. By creating and pushing financial instruments like adjustable rate mortgages with teaser rates or pay options, loans with balloon payments, and interest-only clauses, banks offered loans that were affordable at a glance, and impossible to pay a few years down the road. In essence, they stacked the deck against hardworking Americans.

In recent years, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward has become a target for gentrification within the city. Properties in this historically black district of Atlanta have been scooped up by developers, demolished, and turned into pricey condominiums at the expense of the Fourth Ward community.

The Pittman family has lived in their home in the Old Fourth Ward since 1953. The late Eloise Pittman was a pillar in the community and a leader at her church. She was also a victim of one of the worst predatory loans that Occupy Atlanta has ever seen. Despite the fact that the Pittman family is now under immediate threat of eviction, Occupy Atlanta will do whatever it takes to defend the home.

On Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 12:00 pm Occupy Atlanta will be holding a press conference on the lawn of the Pittman family home at 404 Glen Iris Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30308.