Does the 1% versus the 99% mean it's time to throw the moneychangers out of the temple of finance?
For nearly six months, the People's Daily Campaign for Jobs & Justice has met challenges and grown, as more than 130 community-based, union-affiliated and religious organizations have join the campaign that People's Organization for Progress initiated last July. We haven't missed a single day of protest in the past 182 days. Through hurricane, flood, torrential downpour, and a pre-winter ice storm, the picket line/demonstration has rallied POP members, supporters and community residents every day.
Today however, POP and the Campaign for Jobs & Justice may have weathered our greatest test in the past six months. Christmas is traditionally a day folks feel compelled to spend at home with the family. To continue the campaign through this holiday constituted a serious challenge to the coalition. But, to some activists' surprise, today's rally drew more participants than many others days. Starting with about twelve pickets, the rally quickly grew to nearly fifty activists. As one veteran coalition member observed, "today may have been cold and windy, it might have been a day I'd have prefered to spend with my children, but it we had a great time!"
As much as the massive march and rally this past December 6th represented a turning point for the coalition and the campaign (see the People's Daily Campaign Honors Rosa Parks), the Christmas Day picket line proved the staying power of the People's Coalition for Jobs & Justice!
(to view a handful of additional photos from the Christmas Day demonstration click here)
2 comments:
This was clearly an important victory for the People's Organization for Progress. Carrying out a major public event on Christmas may simply feel like a "forbidden" activity in much of the US, but in the Black community, it is potentially even *more* alien. Let's remember the priviledged role of pastors and the church. Let's recall the historic role of the church during the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s.
While Muslim leaders, Yuroba and other Afrocentric indigenous religions, Black Hebrews and others may dispute the role of Christianity in the African American community, there is no denying that Christmas holds special resonance in the US today.
Hats-off and a special tip of the hat to Larry Hamm and POP for this successful demonstration!
Sorry to have missed this day, while being out of town. This was really a testament to the seriousness of P.O.P. members and suppoprters, and must have made a strong impression. from Bella
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