freway blogging

[Amy Price]

The 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism are laid out and connected very logically:

 

1) life is suffering

2) suffering is caused by attachment

3) to end suffering, cut attachment

4) to cut attachment, follow the eightfold path

 

Here's my idea for The Truths of the 99% (Connecting the Dots):

 

1) You are the 99%

2) The 99% suffers. The 1% does not.

3) Suffering is caused by the greed of the 1%

4) To stop the 1%, demand economic, environmental, and social justice 

 

This would be used for a template for any messaging campaign.

 

So for the simplest BoA campaign:

 

1) Bank of America paid $0 taxes. How much tax did YOU pay?

2) BoA foreclosed on x families in 2011. They made record profits.

3) BoA paid lobbyists $Mil to push deregulation and wreck America's economy.

4) Stop the greedy BoA fat cats: Put your $ in a credit union!

 

Thoughts?

 

Caleb: This sounds like your kind of thing. Join the google group and weigh in!

 

Peace,

Amy

[Sarah Slamen]

Since we are talking about the broad messaging:
At eight-fold though (or number 4) it would really be "if you want to feel like you're Stopping the greedy BoA fat cats..." because like I and other critics of divestment have said before, 90% of deposits in big banks are not put in by the 99%. Divestment doesn't really "stop" any thing because they will have 90% of their deposits, best case scenario. This is an act of symbolism. If we want to "stop" Bank of America we have to organize enough of these like-minded people once we gather them with symbolism and sentiment to lobby for regulation, (nationalization in some place, imo) investigation, and criminal charges for some. In this campaign, I would prefer the B of BDS; boycott > divestment. "Boycott Bank of America!" in solidarity with the 99% who they don't serve and have robbed in order to keep their main depositors happy.

- S

 

...This would be used for a template for any messaging campaign.

[jesus]

BTW

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan's compensation  go up from 1.9 million in 2010 to 8.1 million 2011 according to the Huffington. I did not understand the particulars about what was merit based or salary.  But guess where all those fees the bank charges are going? 

I had this idea for a sign to hang over a bridge, "Fee: to talk to a teller, to use an atm, to use my debit card. Why do I bank here?"

[Edwin Munoz]

hey we couldn't find any plain white sheets at the resale shop.  any other ideas?

Edwin DeLeon Munoz

[Amy Price]

So #4) Boycott the BoA fat cats: put your money in a credit union!

 

Jesus: your fact about the CEO's raise could be the #1 of another BoA stream, don't you think?

1) BoA CEO got a %6.2 Mil raise. You're paying for it with higher banking fees.

 

 

other thoughts for this one? 

 

Peace,

Amy

[Sarah Slamen]

Our  "You are 99%: OWS Houston w/Twitter mention plus the fees + salary soundbyte seems like a great start for the campaign.

Supplies: I can arrange sheets in the future. There are a bunch at River Oaks Goodwill. For tomorrow, do you have access to butcher paper or can we just do poster board with cardboard backing? Rain is 40% chance tomorrow so the more water-proofed the better.

GJGH would like to know what we would want for an action on 5/9 by the end of tomorrow, I believe. What was the original discussion from the 4/8 GA around? We didn't really talk about the action yesterday. We can promo the action on the 17th too if we figure it out in time and at least a few times before 5/9?

[Amy Price]

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Sarah Slamen <sarah....@gmail.com> wrote:

Our  "You are 99%: OWS Houston w/Twitter mention plus the fees + salary soundbyte seems like a great start for the campaign.

 

So that instead of the taxes thing?

Supplies: I can arrange sheets in the future. There are a bunch at River Oaks Goodwill. For tomorrow, do you have access to butcher paper or can we just do poster board with cardboard backing? Rain is 40% chance tomorrow so the more water-proofed the better.

GJGH would like to know what we would want for an action on 5/9 by the end of tomorrow, I believe. What was the original discussion from the 4/8 GA around? We didn't really talk about the action yesterday. We can promo the action on the 17th too if we figure it out in time and at least a few times before 5/9?

 

We could do a divestment march downtown hitting the banks, like last time, during the day.

 

Or, we could pick a neighborhood and do an evening car caravan to branch locations, fix up the cars like they do for newliweds only topical. Flyer the neighborhood/blockwalk beforehand to get local participation but of course anybody interested could participate. Maybe King's area?

 

My pref is the 2nd, since it accomodates potentially more people and might help start ties to a neighborhood. Open to other ideas, as well.

[Sarah Slamen]

No I have no preference, I was just quoting the 6.2 thing you said. Those in attendance should choose the message that resonates most for them, just saying that it sounded like a solid 3 person op already.

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 12:46 PM, Amy Price <heig...@gmail.com> wrote

 

So that instead of the taxes thing?

So in the literal sense like fixing up cars like "Happily Divorced from BoA!" or adorning cars with our messages/facts?
 

fix up the cars like they do for newliweds only topical. Flyer the neighborhood/blockwalk beforehand to get local participation but of course anybody interested could participate. Maybe King's area?

 

This is so awesome! Sometimes I think I will miss our small group because we move so fast :)

- Sarah

[Amy Price]

Sarah, I like your "divorced from BoA" idea. Clever, catchier than just facts by themselves.

 

If we want, we can turn this into some real theater. Would be an especially good idea if we have just a few folks divesting: Like have a "bride and groom" accompany the divesters--announce that "we're marrying our local credit union", have people throwing birdseed, on divesters as they leave, etc.

 

Edwin and Selene: I have two light yellow sheets bought for cheap. Should I sew them together for tomorrow?

 

And I found this:

http://www.restockit.com/converting-013180-white-plastic-roll-table-cover-40-x-300-(cov013180).html

 

Unless somebody says different by the end of Tues, I'll buy this with the OWSH funds that are burning up in my purse for future hangs.

 

Peace,

Amy

[Selene S. Ballestas]

Amy:  No prob I just got out of class so let me know what u need me to do. Call me when u get a chance. 

Selene S. Ballestas

"what we think, we become"....