Thousands of demonstrators are planning to disrupt business-as-usual on Wall Street and at the NY Stock Exchange, sending a message to Obama and world leaders meeting at the UN Climate Summit on the 23rd: “Our economic system both causes, and profits from the crisis that is threatening humanity.”
Monday at 9:00 am, large numbers of protestors, dressed in blue to represent the seas that surround – and may one day engulf – NYC, will gather at Battery Park in lower Manhattan to begin a rally and a mass civil disobedience demonstration, aimed at confronting the root cause of the climate crisis; an economic system “based on exploiting frontline communities, workers, and natural resources.”
“Runaway climate change and extreme weather events, such as the extreme flooding that we saw here in New York City with Hurricane Sandy, are fueled by the fossil fuel industry,” said Michael Premo, an organizer of the action who was also a driving force in the Occupy Sandy recovery effort. “We are flooding Wall Street because we know that there’s no greater cause of runaway climate change than an economic system that puts profit before people — and before the planet.”
Flood Wall Street is a response to a call for non-violent direct action made by the Climate Justice Alliance, a coalition of people of color and working-class organizations. “Join us as we meet the scale and urgency of the crisis,” says the call, “by standing in solidarity with all frontlines of resistance and resilience around the world, and taking non-violent direct action against the corporations driving the extractive economy.”
Rally speakers Monday include Naomi Kline, Chris Hedges, Rebecca Solnit, and other speakers from the Climate Justice Alliance. Coming on the heels of the Climate March – what is forecast to be one of the largest-ever demonstrations on climate change, activists are planning to “rise to the steps of the NY Stock Exchange” at 12:00 pm, flooding the area with bodies in a massive sit-in.
Thousands who are coming to New York for the Sunday march are likely to stay overnight and join the direct action demonstrations on Monday.
The planned direct actions are shaping up as a collective effort by a broad spectrum of diverse climate and social justice organizations. Organizers include Occupy Wall Street veterans, student divestment activists, housing activists, artists and more.
The internet is abuzz with info about the coming week’s actions as many groups including the Climate Justice Alliance, Popular resistance, and other political action organizations are broadcasting both the Sunday March and Monday action on their face book pages and web sites.
A rally organizer wrote; “There is no time to waste – Wall Street must be transformed. Through the power of people taking collective action we will build an economy based on justice and sustainability, and stop the climate crisis.”
Web Postings for Monday’s schedule include Nonviolent Direct Action Training at 11 AM, at Battery park. At 12 PM – the Flood Wall St action will commence, including mass Sit-in at the New York Stock Exchange. A “Full call to action” and information will be available at: Flood Wall Street and, #floodwallstreet.
For updates and more information activists are urged to sign up here and to Join the Facebook event and on Instagram here.
New web sites have appeared in recent days announcing the actions and giving directions for joining the protests, starting with breakfast in the Park, and Music from Rude Mechanical Orchestra Monday at 9AM.
Protestors looking to join an action, or who need more info or support for their own planned action, have been directed to: Direct Action Support Hub, Full Calendar of Events , Climate Justice Alliance Call To Action and to People’s Climate March
All at two main sites; Flood Wall Street and Beyond the March.
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