A proposal for Occupy Oakland to endorse and participate in the December 6th National Day of Action Against foreclosures.
Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head and a place to call home. Millions of Americans have worked hard for years for the opportunity to own their own home; for others, it remains a distant goal. For all of us, having a decent place to live for ourselves and our families is the most fundamental part of the American dream, a source of security and pride.
In 2008, we discovered bankers and speculators had been gambling with our most valuable asset, our homes–betting against us and destroying trillions of dollars of our wealth. Now, because of the foreclosure crisis Wall Street banks created with their lies and greed, millions of Americans have lost their homes, and one in four homeowners are currently underwater on their mortgage.
Not only do we have thousands of people without homes, we have thousands of homes without people. Boarded-up houses are sitting empty–increasing crime, lowering the value of other homes in the neighborhood, erasing the wealth that lifts families into the middle class.
The Occupy Wall Street movement and brave homeowners around the country are coming together to say, “Enough is enough.” We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them.
On this day, people from around the country will be mobilizing to protest foreclosures, take back homes, stop foreclosure auctions and a number of other actions that highlight the role of the banks in the current housing crisis and work to concretely stop people from losing their homes.
This day of action has already been endorsed by Occupy Wall Street and is now being coordinated on a website called occupyourhomes.org. Furthermore, Occupy Oakland has already endorsed actions such as housing takeovers that target foreclosed properties.
On December 6th, Occupy Oakland will participate in this National Day of Action and will mobilize all of our communities to come out and take action. A number of committees and organizations are already working on this action and will be planning delegations to specific sites but we are currently calling for a central meetup spot at Oscar Grant Plaza at 9am where protestors can join delegations. There will also be opportunities to do actions at lunchtime and after work.
This isn’t on the calendar. For those of us that are too far to come to hear about this and or have full time jobs we look on the calendar to hear about collective actions. PLEASE add this event to the calendar its very important and more people will come support.