Jan. 17 - Bail Out the People Not the Bankers Fightback Conference

[PhillyActivists]

Transportation from Philly will be available for this 
important regional conference.  Contact
Phillyiac at action-mail.org if you are interested in 
attending and need or can offer a ride.


Bail out the People – Not the Bankers Fightback Conference

Sat. January 17 –NYC In Commemoration of the 80th 
Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s Birthday

12 p.m. to 6 p.m. - Public School 41, 116 West 11 St., NYC

To Pre-Register - Endorse - See list of Endorsers: Go to 
www.bailoutpeople.com


Dear activists and organizers,

In many ways, the genocidal siege of Gaza that many of us 
have been demonstrating against in recent weeks is a 
harbinger of the widening war against the workers and 
oppressed peoples of the planet that is sure to intensify 
this year. In 2009, more and more lives are going to be 
devastated by the biggest global economic crisis since the 
depression of the 1930s.  So far it’s only the biggest 
banks that have been bailed out. This crisis is the 
challenge of a lifetime to those of us who have made a 
commitment to fighting for the rights of people. What we 
do or fail to do will prove decisive to the coming battle 
over whose interest in society shall prevail; the needs of 
the people or the greed of the relatively few who insist 
that their profits always come first.

The Bail Out the People Movement invites you to come 
together in N.Y.C. on Sat., Jan. 17, 2009 and help plan 
the fight back.  That Barack Obama will become president 
on Jan. 20 realizes a measure of King’s dream. But 
depression level joblessness, evictions and foreclosures 
made worse by cutbacks, war, bigotry and racism are not a 
dream but a nightmare. This is a time of many 
contradictions.  Many people feel that the new president 
will bring progressive change but at the same time, there 
are Black youth being summarily executed by police; 
Proposition 8; new attacks on reproductive justice and one 
of the biggest bigots presiding over the inauguration 
ceremony and the prospects of a widening war in 
Afghanistan. Part of the legacy of Dr. King is the 
understanding that no election or president--however 
historical and inspiring--can be a substitute for a mass 
movement in the struggle against war or for social and 
economic rights. Let’s come together and determine what we 
can do to help give birth to a desperately needed united 
fightback.

Organizations participating in panels and workshops 
include:
  
Al –AWDA--Palestinian Right To Return Coalition, BAYAN 
USA, Black Workers For Justice, N.Y. City Council Member 
Charles Barron, Fight Imperialism-Stand Together (FIST), 
 Guyanese Workers Association, Harlem Tenants Council, 
Health Care – NOW, Iraq Veterans Against the War, 
 Labor/Community Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and 
Evictions, May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant 
Rights, Million Worker March Movement, Moratorium Now! 
Coalition to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, Nat’l. 
Network Against Foreclosures and Evictions, New York City 
Labor Against The War, North Carolina Public Service 
Workers Union-UE Local 150, Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum, 
Striking Stella Doro Workers, Stonewall Warriors, Students 
For a Democratic Society, Take Back Our Union, United 
Students Against Sweatshops, Women’s Fightback Network

  Questions, challenges & actions to be taken up at the 
conference include:
  
* Gaza – its meaning for the global struggle for justice

* An analysis of Obama’s stimulus proposal – why it’s not 
enough

* Uniting behind an alternative program that puts people 
before profits
  
* A strategy for mass organization, mobilization and 
action

* The next phase of the fight vs foreclosures, evictions, 
layoffs & cutbacks

* Dr. King’s last dream: Opening the fight for jobs or 
income now

* The concept of a People’s Assembly
  
* Can an army of organizers be recruited?
  
* April 3 & 4 – a time for mass action (anniversary of Dr. 
King’s assassination)

Activists are already planning peace mobilizations for 
NYC, possibly on Wall St. This is a good idea. An even 
better idea is to mobilize for two days including Fri., 
April 3 when the stock exchange, businesses and banks are 
open and workers are there.

* May 1, International workers day 2009:  can it be a 
turning point?

Mass mobilization for immigrant and all worker’s rights; 
How can we strengthen participation and solidarity – 
especially now?
  
* March on Pentagon – Sat., March 21 (6th anniversary of 
the Iraq war)

* Workshops and breakouts (tentative list)

- Youths and students resistance
  
- Uniting the community struggles against racism & for 
social needs

- Uniting the struggles against the wars at home and 
abroad
  
-Working class solidarity: lessons from the 1930s and 
other periods:

Organizing workers, Solidarity with immigrant workers – 
Towards a radicalized labor movement