OWS plans "General Strike" for May Day

[BrainGlutton]

Yes, May Day. (http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/) (Why do Americans have to put Labor Day in September anyway?!)

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. This in and of itself is a tremendous victory. For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 125 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice.

Well, I won't be participating, because I'm a lawyer and there's just too much to get done around the office right now to take an arbitrary day off . . . How about you?

[silenus]

If I could take a political stand and go see "The Avengers" at the same time I might consider it. As it is, though...

[Eve]

For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 125 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice.
I plan to go to work and earn my paycheck, which I see as economic justice for both me and my boss.

[Shodan]

...the Occupy Movement has called for A Day Without the 99% on May 1st, 2012. This in and of itself is a tremendous victory. For the first time, workers, students, immigrants, and the unemployed from over 125 U.S. cities will stand together for economic justice. Good thing they aren't waiting until anyone gives a tin shit before declaring victory.

I wonder how the unemployed go on strike. Do they stop looking for jobs? Stop collecting unemployment?

Well, good luck to them with their strike. Hope their feelings aren't hurt if people say, "What strike?"

Regards,
Shodan

[RedWood]

Somebody always calls for a general strike every May 1 in Berkeley. :bored smiley: usually while sitting around a coffee place staffed by people who cannot afford to take the day off.

[Jack Batty]

SOLIDARITY!!!

I will not be at work on May Day!

Of course, I've already schedule that week off for vacation, but it's the principle of the thing.

[Loach]

Working 7-5.

[VunderBob]

I will be going to work that day as a political statement. F*** OWS.

[Slithy Tove]

Not exactly manning the barricades at Les Halles, but I do expect to be fucking off while reading the Dope as much as possible that day.

[BrainGlutton]

I wonder how the unemployed go on strike. Do they stop looking for jobs? Stop collecting unemployment?

March?

[Ravenman]

I was really skeptical of the original OWS strategy, but it worked. People became aware of the general political message, and many people ended up sympathizing to some extent with people that they'd rather not sit next to on the bus.

But a general strike? Give me a break. This is a terrible suggestion. It is like a Trotskyist and a French labor leader got together and decided that Americans love to strike... While totally ignoring that Americans tend to have very little interest or sympathy for strikers.

I predict fail.

[kayaker]

Occupy this.

[PacifistPorcupine]

i will join the droves of people that will be showing support by going to work as usual and totally forgetting about this.

[Mr. Accident]

I may be off that day, but it won't be because I agree with OWS. My sister is scheduled to have her baby that day.

Course it looks like she's in labor now, so who knows.

[3waygeek]

My natural sympathies would be to join the strike, however:


I'm on call for jury duty next week; if I get called up, I'd have to miss work at least one day. If that day happens to be Tuesday, I will go to jury duty -- they can arrest you for not going, whereas if I don't show up at work, I still get paid.
I'm scheduled for heart surgery on May 14, which will take me out of the office for at least three weeks.
I'm pretty much out of vacation time anyway, having taken it all back in March.

[Eve]

I was really skeptical of the original OWS strategy, but it worked. People became aware of the general political message, and many people ended up sympathizing to some extent with people that they'd rather not sit next to on the bus.
It did? Maybe it's just me, but I have not noticed one iota of difference from last year. Certainly I don't give more of a fuck about shit than I used to.

[Little Nemo]

I was really skeptical of the original OWS strategy, but it worked. People became aware of the general political message, and many people ended up sympathizing to some extent with people that they'd rather not sit next to on the bus.

But a general strike? Give me a break. This is a terrible suggestion. It is like a Trotskyist and a French labor leader got together and decided that Americans love to strike... While totally ignoring that Americans tend to have very little interest or sympathy for strikers.

I predict fail.I agree. The demonstrations were getting public attention so they were working in that sense. But this call for a general strike is going to fail massively and will make the movement look out of touch. And there's probably some truth in that - the fact that some leaders in the movement apparently thought they had the level of public support that would support a general strike does show signs of being out of touch with what the general public thinks. It makes me wonder whose idea this was.

[ExcitedIdiot]

(Why do Americans have to put Labor Day in September anyway?!)




I think it's because May Day was associated with the Haymarket Massacre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair) here. Labor groups in the US wanted to distance themselves from anarchists after they were blamed for the incident.

[Tom Tildrum]

The Washington Post didn't even mention the recent Occupy the Justice Department rally. The movement is a spent force.

[Bricker]

I plan to go to work and earn my paycheck, which I see as economic justice for both me and my boss.

+1

[El_Kabong]

I'd like to, but I have to work that day.

[Terr]

March?No, May 1st.

[BrainGlutton]

I plan to go to work and earn my paycheck, which I see as economic justice for both me and my boss.

It is good that you think so . . . Or, maybe it isn't . . .

[Hello Again]

It did? Maybe it's just me, but I have not noticed one iota of difference from last year. Certainly I don't give more of a fuck about shit than I used to.
I personally found it ironic that by Occupying Zucotti Park, the one thing the OWS did for sure was oust a falafel seller and a farmer's market. Stick it to the man guys! The farming, immigrant, street vending man!

(FYI, the falafel guy is back, but the farmstands seem to have moved permanently to Bowling Green)

[BrainGlutton]

I wonder how the unemployed go on strike. Do they stop looking for jobs? Stop collecting unemployment?

Martin Luther King's idea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_People%27s_Campaign) was that they should march on Washington.

[Sudden Kestrel]

What will this "general strike" affect? How will they manifest their strikedom? What exactly are they planning to stop doing? How do students go on strike? Does this mean immigrants will stop immigrating? Is it true that 99% of the US population lives in only 125 cities? If it's a Day Without the 99%, where are they all going to go, and do I have to go with them? (Ah hell, I'm starting to write like SMDBKL.)

I don't understand this newfangled form of protest.

[Hello Again]

Is it true that 99% of the US population lives in only 125 cities?
No.

About 80.7% of the US lives in Urban Areas or "Urban Clusters", and this number includes 486 Urban Areas.

If you restrict it only to Urban Areas, it's 71% of the population.
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/ua/uafacts.html

[Rick]

Occupy this.
You forgot the rest of the statement, let me add it for you.
::: kayaker points to their crotch:::

:D

[Airman Doors, USAF]

So the idea is that the 99% strike to show the 1% that they don't need them, or to somehow punish them? The people with money will shrug and go about their business even if everybody participates, and the 99% will go without a day's pay, and this will accomplish precisely what?

It's like the so-called gas holidays. People will merely defer their purchases to the next day. The catch is that this time the suggestion will result in a real loss of income.

Great idea. I'm all in. Of course, I'm off Tuesday, but it's the principle that matters, right?

[John Mace]

The Anti-Atlas Shrugged.

Hey, at least you posted this topic in the correct forum!

[Justin_Bailey]

So the idea is that the 99% strike to show the 1% that they don't need them, or to somehow punish them? The people with money will shrug and go about their business even if everybody participates, and the 99% will go without a day's pay, and this will accomplish precisely what?

And what about the people just going about their business? They have to deal with chaos at the short-staffed grocery store because a bunch of 99ers want to treat their jobs like a Facebook post meme?

Kony 2012 Green With Lace Strike For the 99!

:rolleyes:

[BrainGlutton]

Apparently they're intending more of a general demonstration than a general strike: (http://www.thenation.com/blog/167602/occupy-prepares-may-day-no-work-no-school-no-banking)

The plan initially drew the ire of some labor leaders who quickly declared their members would not participate in the so-called strike.

“It won’t happen,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, flatly told Buzzfeed. “They are not working with the unions in a serious way yet; nor are the unions working with them in a serious way. And it is the wrong strategy.”

Under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, a general strike in support of other workers is illegal. Furthermore, individual unions must call for a strike, so the participation of workers in a protest does not constitute a general strike.

The official OWS press release about May Day mentions the phrase “general strike” twice: once in the headline, and once in quotation marks in the first paragraph. Perhaps keenly aware of the likelihood that an across-the-board labor strike is not only unlikely but illegal, the day is now being described by organizers as a nationwide protest with themes of economic noncompliance. (Poster by Nina Montenegro, via Occuprint.)

“We wanted to create a broad space for people in all different circumstances from all sorts of backgrounds to be able to participate,” the OWS press release states. “But we also recognize that for some people skipping work is not feasible so we are encouraging people to participate how they can whether that involves wearing a button at work or leaving early or simply showing up to the march after work.”

[Smapti]

As much as I agree with OWS and sympathize with its objectives, I, like most of the 99%, don't have the liberty of just going without a day's pay.

So i'll be at work.

[John Mace]

You could wear a button!

[Dallas Jones]

OWS plans "General Strike" for May Day

Does this mean that the panhandlers will all take the day off?

[DJ Motorbike]

They have a raised fist symbol on the front page of their website. :rolleyes:

OWS is out of touch. Where I work nobody will participate. I'm certain that will be true for a vast majority of every work place tomorrow. Does anyone care if students go on "strike"? What does it even mean for the unemployed to go on strike?

What a joke.

[John Mace]

The web site is supposed to be in English, Spanish and French (what, no Russian?) but if you click the link for French, you just get the English version.

Why does OWS hate Canada? :)

[Lord Il Palazzo]

In honor of Occupy Wall Street, I'll be occupying and demonstrating at a local federal building; occupying my usual desk and demonstrating my ability to ignore OWS's BS.

[Justin_Bailey]

They have a raised fist symbol on the front page of their website. :rolleyes:

And a few days ago they had a "Free Mumia"protest. :smack:

As an Obama-supporting, card-carrying liberal, I want to like the Occupiers. But they make it so damn hard.

[John Mace]

And a few days ago they had a "Free Mumia"protest. :smack:
Well, their only choices were that or "eating meat is murder", so can you really blame them?

As an Obama-supporting, card-carrying liberal, I want to like the Occupiers. But they make it so damn hard.

They have a lot of time on their hands. This whole thing about not having leaders is a big part of the problem. If you don't have a leader, you're going to get the crazies. In fact, even sometimes when you do have leaders, you get the crazies. But no leaders, and the press is going to latch onto the crazies.

[Hypno-Toad]

After being off for a month due to pneumonia, one more day would hardly be much of a statement. Besides, I didn't learn of this strike until I was already at work.

[BrainGlutton]

And a few days ago they had a "Free Mumia"protest. :smack:

As an Obama-supporting, card-carrying liberal, I want to like the Occupiers. But they make it so damn hard.

"Free Mumia" is not the sort of thing that should make that hard at all.

[muldoonthief]

The official OWS press release about May Day mentions the phrase “general strike” twice: once in the headline, and once in quotation marks in the first paragraph. Perhaps keenly aware of the likelihood that an across-the-board labor strike is not only unlikely but illegal, the day is now being described by organizers as a nationwide protest with themes of economic noncompliance. (Poster by Nina Montenegro, via Occuprint.)


"themes of economic noncompliance"? Like stealing stuff?

Anyone else wish SmashTheState still posted here? He'd be good for a laugh in this thread.

[John Mace]

"themes of economic noncompliance"? Like stealing stuff?

To be fair, I think they mean not buying stuff. Unfortunately, the SF protest have already turned to vandalism.

[BrainGlutton]

Guide to the May Day events. (http://www.thenation.com/blog/167622/guide-may-day)

[BrainGlutton]

City-by-city events guide. (http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/)

[ratatoskK]

Not exactly manning the barricades at Les Halles, but I do expect to be fucking off while reading the Dope as much as possible that day.
Solidarity!

[Mr. Moto]

City-by-city events guide. (http://occupywallst.org/article/may-day/)

They left out bombing a bridge in Cleveland, didn't they?

;)

[muldoonthief]

To be fair, I think they mean not buying stuff. Unfortunately, the SF protest have already turned to vandalism.

Huh - I didn't buy anything yesterday. Does that make me an Occupier? Shit!

[Diceman]

"Free Mumia" is not the sort of thing that should make that hard at all.
:rolleyes: "Spare Mumia from execution" is a perfectly reasonable stance to take. "Free Mumia" is only possible if you deliberately ignore every last scrap of evidence, or if you are such a racist that you don't really care if he's guilty or not.

[Hi Medlo]

I've seen lots about the protests yesterday, but nothing about closing down bridges and tunnels in New York, or the 'general strike'.
Anyone know how those things worked out?