The training started with one of the most successful slogans in the past 40 years: “We are the 99%!”
But who are the 99%? Have you ever thought that you were part of the 99%? What does it mean to be part of the 99%? Who are the 1%? Those and many other questions were answered after sharing in the 99% Spring Action Training, Dozens of trainings took place all around the country, getting together approximately 100,000 people concerned about the issues happening in our country. This included people who already are involved in some kind of social action or people who only want to know what this 99% concept is about.
The training included information about the origin of the 99% concept, the history of the economy break down and the history of the effectiveness of the Non-violent Direct Action.
The most moving moment of this training, from my point view, was to share our own concerns based in our own experiences, taking into account that we were a very diverse group, and that we have diversity of ethnicity, culture, economic background, language, religious beliefs and sexual orientation. In spite of all of that, we identified our similarities in the struggle and realized that every single one of the participants is trying hard to survive in this broken social and economic system.
Understanding that the people have the power to make changes without using violence is a huge accomplishment, putting it into action is the challenge.
We, the people, take the challenge. We come out to speak like we did in the non-violent action of May 1st. In solidarity with Homelessness Organized for Power and Equality (H.O.P.E), a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center sponsored organization who’s members exclusively are people who currently or formerly have experienced homelessness.
The May 1st action highlighted the injustice that our state government has committed using the law SB2508 against people most affected by the inequality of our economy system, people who experience homelessness.
This law SB2508 makes it a Class A Misdemeanor to sleep on public property owned by the state. Criminalizing poverty is not a solution, but is a marginalization of those who are most in need. And we need to be aware of this as a community who cares, because there are in fact several laws, like the anti-immigration laws, that also are criminalizing those who are most in need among us.
What we need is education, not marginalization. What we need is to empower ourselves; to take charge of our country, our economy, our society and create justice through peace.
If you want to know more about this training or other trainings, please contact us at Mid-South Peace and Justice Center 901-725-4990 or by email at gio@midsouthpeace.org
*Nuestros entrenamientos también están disponibles en Español*
Our trainings are also available in Spanish.