A training session, put on by 99% Spring attracted a lot of activist from the Wichita area this Saturday. The event was sponsored by the Sunflower community action group and MoveOn. Several other groups endorsed the action, such as the Peace and Social Justice Center of Kansas and the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. There were at least 300 people there who want to learn non-violent actions against the right-wing movement that wants to gut all of our rights and has allowed corporate interests to take over the entire government.
While some people mentioned voting as important others want to expose the actions of ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council)in their ownership of politicians who are already in office. ALEC is a major political PAC that works at the state level to finance politicians, such as our Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has made anti-immigrant and anti-voting rights legislation his main goal in office. ALEC is also responsible for the “stand your ground” law that is responsible for allowing the shooting of Trayvon Martin, in Florida.
A training session, put on by 99% Spring attracted a lot of activist from the Wichita area this Saturday. The event was sponsored by the Sunflower community action group and MoveOn. Several other groups endorsed the action, such as the Peace and Social Justice Center of Kansas and the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. There were at least 300 people there who want to learn non-violent actions against the right-wing movement that wants to gut all of our rights and has allowed corporate interests to take over the entire government.
While some people mentioned voting as important others want to expose the actions of ALEC (The American Legislative Exchange Council)in their ownership of politicians who are already in office. ALEC is a major political PAC that works at the state level to finance politicians, such as our Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has made anti-immigrant and anti-voting rights legislation his main goal in office. ALEC is also responsible for the “stand your ground” law that is responsible for allowing the shooting of Trayvon Martin, in Florida.
The audience was very diverse; from young high school aged people to those in their 50s and 60s. All are sick of the racist laws, the war on women and attacks on education by the present political leadership and our local politicians.
Louis Goseland, of Sunflower, gave a demonstration of how the gap between the wealthy top percent of this country and the other 99 percent of the population has steadily got much wider since the Ronald Reagan Administration.
“The wealthy families who own most of the wealth in this country actually add up to less than one percent,” Goseland said to the group. “From 1890 to 1929 it was 10 percent.”
Most of the afternoon was spent with groups envisioning the kind of community people wanted and how to protect it from Wal*marts and the other kinds of companies that ruin communities rather than add to them.
While my experiences were positive, other places had training sessions that didn’t go as smoothly. From the Kasama Project;
99%Spring is a bust at co-opting Occupy Wall Street
Everyone knows that I’m a big fan of Van Jones, and it’s not just because he’s hot. That’s not why I chose to participate in 99% Spring, however.I’m not one of those people who goes around worrying allot about co-option. I assume that if we all have the same goals, it doesn’t matter much. I didn’t think that 99%Spring was out to co-opt Occupy Wall Street.
I was wrong.
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