News

Today marks one month since members of the 99% began the occupation of Memphis. We at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center have stood in solidarity with this movement and have offered resources, training and our personal support to this inspiring movement. Unfortunately as those occupying Civic Center Plaza prepared to celebrate the 1% in New York began evicting thousands at Occupy Wall Street. In response, the 99% will rally today at 5pm at Civic Center Plaza (map) and march at 6pm.

You are us, we are you, we are the 99%! Join us as we raise our voices and voice our discontent with the systems that allow 1% of Americans to  have undue control over the rest of us.

What follows is an official statement from Occupy Memphis:

In light of the overnight police raid on Occupy Wall Street, the 99% of Memphis is coming together today in solidarity to show support.

We, the Occupy Memphis General Assembly, are repulsed by the direct infringement on First Amendment rights granted to the American people by the Constitution. We are disgusted with the repressive tactics used by the New York City Police Department. Citizens were assaulted and arrested for practicing their rights. Journalists were blocked by police. Personal property valued at thousands of dollars has been destroyed.

Occupy Memphis will have a rally today at 5 p.m. in Civic Center Plaza to express our anger and disgust with these actions from law enforcement in an effort to stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street. While the City of Memphis has stated publicly the right for protesters to assemble as long as they are peaceful, other cities are not as fortunate.

Following our rally at 6 p.m., we will march to the Civil Rights Museum as a tribute to preceding generations who have fought for our rights; the same rights which have been ignored. While we understand the need for peace and safety, it is unlawful to suppress the voice and assembly of citizens who strive for political and social change.

“We need to speak out for people who tried to be silenced,” said Becky Muehling, one of the protesters with Occupy Memphis. “We need to band together, so that we can show the people trying to suppress our free speech: we will fight.”

“We cannot sit idly by as the livelihood and culture of our country is being trashed,” said Tristan Tran, another occupier who watched the Occupy Wall Street raid live online.

If you believe that the First Amendment rights of freedom of assembly, press, and speech exist always and not just between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., stand with us.

If you feel that your voice as a citizen has been suppressed by the power of lobbyists and self-serving politicians, speak out with us.

We invite the communities and city of Memphis to occupy this public space; to voice the issues which affect us; and together create solutions for a better society.

We the people shall speak for ourselves.

Occupy Memphis has been camped out in Civic Center Plaza, located in downtown Memphis, for 30 days. It stands in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street ongoing protests, which has been camped out in Zuccotti Park in New York City since Sept. 17.

http://www.occupymemphis.org

We are Occupy Memphis.  We stand with the Occupy Wall Street Movement and all other nonviolent democratic uprisings around the world.

We are here to denounce the control of our government by the 1%.  We the People have a right to govern ourselves; that right has been usurped by corporations, big banks, Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and the wealthiest 1% of our population.  These elites put profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality.

They say we have a budget crisis, but what we have is a priority crisis.  They say we have a fiscal deficit, but what we have is a deficit of democracy.  They have taken our silence for consent, but no more.

These words begin the first declaration of the occupation of Memphis. Beginning in late September hundreds of people gathered at General Assemblies and started building a movement to challenge the inequality (economic, racial and social) in the United States. Under a rallying cry of “We Are the 99%” the movement began on Sept. 17 as organizers occupied Wall Street. This initial occupation has sparked a movement of hundreds of occupations and solidarity actions around the country and globe.

Starting on October 15 Occupy Memphis has been occupying Civic Center Plaza in Downtown Memphis (map). An outdoor classroom, General Assembly space, food tent, medical station, and information booth have been erected in front of the more than 30 tents of those that sleep overnight. Occupy Memphis is here in solidarity with the actions of Occupy Wall Street, but the movement has become about more than just solidarity with actions in New York. It has become a movement of its own and it needs you. We are all a part of the 99%!

We want to be clear that this is not a project of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center. It is bigger than that. It is a movement that all of us lead. But we have been privileged to provide support and resources to the group since its inception. MSPJC staff provide regular trainings on Nonviolent Direct Action, Consensus Facilitation, Peacekeeping, and Community Building at the occupation site.

You can support Occupy Memphis in so many ways. You don’t have to spend the night to be a part of this movement. We are you and you are us. We are the 99%!

• Keep up online at OccupyMemphis.org. Tune in to their webcast live from Civic Center Plaza. And join their Facebook group.
• Attend a General Assembly. They take place every Wed. at 7pm, Friday at 9:30pm and Sunday at 3pm in Civic Center Plaza. There are also a number of working group and caususes that you can participate. Check the calendar here to find when they meet.
• Donate to support the cause. Occupy Memphis has a variety of needs outside of financial contribution. To see their needs list go here.

If you are new to the movement we highly recommend watching this Occupy Memphis video “In Our Own Words.“

Please join us for the graduation of the participants of our first Core Organizer Training on Thursday, November 3rd from 6-8 p.m. at our office, 1000 S. Cooper. Bring a side dish or dessert to share and help us celebrate this group of new grassroots community organizers!

Our graduates have completed the 8 week Core Organizer Training, where they’ve learned and experienced the foundational skills of being a grassroots organizer. Graduates had the direct, hands-on experience to facilitate meetings, practice talking to the media, strategize the steps of a campaign, and design and implement a direct action.

They learned additional skills in organizing diverse communities, campaign planning, transforming conflict, and they also learned important insights of themselves as organizers.

Come out this Thursday to learn more about the Core Organizer Training and to celebrate our most recent graduates’ accomplishments!

Also, put January 20-22, 2012 on your calendars now. This will be our first weekend-long intensive Core Organizer Training. This training will consist of the same 16 hours of skill building, but instead of meeting over 8 weeks, participants will be able to complete the training in one weekend. For more information and to register, email allison@midsouthpeace.org.

PEOPLE FIRST is a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center supported partnership with residents and activists working in the Binghampton community to raise voter turn out during elections and assist in long term resident-driven grassroots community organizing after the elections end.

For the past three months our team of activists and Binghampton residents have been canvassing door to door, talking with residents and neighbors about the issues that they care about. Moving forward People First seeks to engage and organize residents from all races and religions across the Binghampton community to collectively address the needs of the neighborhood as well as

ensure all redevelopment efforts in the area have real front end resident and community input. We have already hosted a candidate forum and have just finished our second monthly meeting with area residents, talking about issues of the community and planning long term organizing for positive action….but..it’s not all about meetings…it’s about building community.

People First – Binghampton Neighborhood BBQ and cookout. Is our fourth community event in the neighborhood. We hope that this event can be an ongoing fun and family friendly way to do some mass outreach in the community and network the efforts of various neighborhood and community groups in the area. The award winning BBQ team {TOO SAUCED TO PORK} will be cooking and serving pork shoulder sandwiches while supplies last.  We are also asking folks in the neighborhood to perhaps bring a side dish or a dessert to share..or better yet, bring their own grills and join us in cooking out. We are also reaching out to the community inviting Binghampton musicians and performers to come out to this event as well.

We think this would be a great chance for folks all across the very diverse area to begin networking and talking about joint community based action that puts PEOPLE FIRST.

People First – Binghampton Neighborhood BBQ and cookout is next Saturday, November 5th from 12 noon until 4pm at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard. (map)

If interested in volunteering, tabling for your organization and/or in becoming a sponsor, please contact MSPJC organizing director Brad Watkins at brad@midsouthpeace.org or call him at anytime at his office number 901-725-4990 or his cell at 901-495-0818.

We hope you will join us there.

In the city, warm season crops like basil, eggplants and okra and still hanging on in community gardens, but a hard frost is knocking on our door.  Although more and more people are growing greens and root vegetables over the winter, this is the season when many of us put our gardens to bed for the year.  The fall of the year always leads people to ask of GrowMemphis, “what do you do in the winter?”

While it might be nice to get a four month sabbatical every year, fall and winter are actually a very exciting time for GrowMemphis.  We get to turn our energies towards all kinds of things that the growing season has kept on the back burner.  This time of year is dedicated to making the next growing season better for farmers and consumers alike.  Let me give you some examples.

• GrowMemphis has been advocating for changes in the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program at both the state and local level.  With the help of partner organizations, we will be working over the winter with the Shelby County Health Department to plan outreach and training to engage more farmers in 2012.
• Plans are underway for the 2012 Farm to Table Conference for Mid-South Producers, which will likely take place in early February.   This conference debuted last year and had about 80 attendees, despite a snowstorm the day of!
• GrowMemphis is convening the first meeting of the Mid-South Farmers Market Alliance on November 10^th to bring the growing number of farmers markets together to share ideas and resources, and talk about how we can all work together to build a stronger local food economy.

As you can see, fall and winter is just the beginning of a different kind of growing season!  Count on the fact that while our gardens rest, GrowMemphis is busy setting the stage for a better year to come.  After all, next spring will be here before you know it.

Please join us this weekend for the Gandhi-King Conference, co-sponsored by the Peace and Justice Studies Association. Register now to be a part of this national gathering on Peace, Solidarity, and Justice.

Can’t make it for the whole weekend? One day-only rates of $20 are available this year!

There are also several events associated with the conference that are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:

Friday 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Film Screening: Little Town of Bethlehem in the

University Theater at Christian Brothers University. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Director, Jim Hanon, Grammy award winning artist Kirk Whalum, who did the film’s score, and Robin Salant of Indie Memphis.

Sunday 12:30p.m. Closing Ceremony at National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry St. Please join us for a closing ceremony at the National Civil Rights Museum. We will lay a wreath at the site of Dr. King’s assassination and say a prayer for peace. Grammy award winning performance artist Kirk Whalum will provide music.

Please also join us TOMORROW at Otherlands Coffee Bar for a concert to open the conference weekend with David Rovics. $5 cover. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8. We will also be doing pre-registration for the conference at Otherlands at 7.

A full schedule of the weekend with descriptions of all workshops and presentations is available at: www.gandhikingconference.org/schedule

We have some of the best speakers this year to date:

• Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers of America
• Dr. Clayborne Carson, civil rights activist and scholar and Director of the King Center at Stanford University
• Nipun Mehta and Pancho Ramos-Stierle, international human rights activists and members of Charity Focus
• David Bacon, international photojournalist and activist
  *simultaneous Spanish translation available for all speakers
• Plus special musical guest, David Rovics, and hundreds of presentations and workshops to choose from.

It’s not too late to register! Local rates are available, and you can register on site in the Canale Arena at Christian Brothers University.

See you over the weekend!!