March to and Occupation of Sacramento - a good idea?

MARCH 1ST - MARCH 5TH ...STATE-WIDE MASS MOBILIZATION TO SACRAMENTO FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE .....details below!!!

 

.....but first, a few thoughts re: marches from the perspective of the Southern Freedom Movement:  A march is not a movement -- a march is strategic if it is part of a larger plan.  For  example:

Nashville 1960:  

Februrary: lunch counter sit-ins lead to a successful boycott of downtown stores.  

April: Local lawyer, C. Alexander Looby's house is bombed.  Organizers leveraged the outrage of this bombing by staging  a silent march of 4,000 to the steps of city hall where Diane Nash asks the mayor, Ben West, whether he thought segregation was moral and right. He said no, it is not right.  This was the turning point in the Nashville movement, which continued to provide leadership in the subsequent Freedom Rides (1961-3), Freedom Summer (1964), and in Selma (1965).

Selma, AL 1965:  

In 1962, SNCC came to Selma to help local activists register black voters but met heavy resistance from one of the most vicious sheriffs (Jim Clark) in all of the South.  King brought his (SCLC) organization's people, money and media attention to Selma in Jan., 1965.  Through a series of marches and other nonviolent actions, King was able to provoke a vicious backlash by the police that garnered national media attention (much to irritation of SNCC organizers).  King continued to escalate the confrontations as more and more members of the community were inspired to join the marches to the courthouse to try to vote.  To escalate (provoke the police) further, SCLC decided to have night marches with a deadly result. Jimmie Lee Jackson (16 yr old local black) was shot to death by a cop in a night demonstration/march in nearby Marion.  This led to King calling upon the nation's clergy and other activists to come to Selma.......Rev. Reeb (northern white) was killed.....the march from Selma to Montgomery. The march was designed to allow people to let off steam (black anger and outrage over the double standard of national outrage over Reeb's death but not Jackson's) as well as to demonstrate for the need for the passage of a Voting Rights Act.  SNCC opposed the march but went along with it in order to establish personal relationships with people in the counties through which the protesters marched.  These personal connections led to the formation of the Lowndes County Freedom Party (the first use of the symbol of the black panther) by SNCC leaders -- including Stokely Carmichael.

Best source of Civil Rights History is the crmvet.org website!

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KICK-OFF MEETING TO PLAN SAN FRANCISCO MARCH 1ST ACTION AND MORE

 WHAT:  Occupy San Francisco Action Council Meeting to Kick-Off Planning for San Francisco Participation in the March 1 day of Action followed by March 5th Mass Mobilization to Sacramento

(http://occupysf.org/2011/12/04/occupysf-action-council-intro, http://www.occupyeducationca.org)

WHEN:  Sunday January 29th, 2:45 -- 4:00 p.m.

WHERE:  Unite Here Local 2, 209 Golden Gate
            @ Leavenworth, Just North of 7th and Market (Near Civic Center Bart)

MARCH 1:   SAN FRANCISCO PARTICIPATION IN A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION IN DEFENSE PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES
MARCH 2-5:  99 MILE MARCH FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
MARCH 5: OCCUPY THE STATE CAPITOL

** A Broad-Based Call to Action for the 99%!
** No Cuts! No Concessions! Fully fund education and social services
** Tax the rich
** Support the Millionaires Tax
** Support the Oil Tax to Fund Education (Prop. 1522)
** Reject Jerry Brown's budget
** Defend Free Speech and the Right of Assembly
** End police attacks on Occupy
** Health care for the 99%
** Support workers' rights
** End immigrant scapegoating to cover-up economic injustice

ENDORSEMENTS FOR THE MASS MARCH MOBILIZATION (NOT A COMPLETE LIST):
AFT 2121
Alameda Central Labor Council
Berkeley Faculty Association
Berkeley Federation of Teachers
California Federation of Teachers
International Socialist Organization (Northern California)
La Raza Centro Legal
Oakland Education Association
Occupy SF Action Council
Occupy Solidarity Network Community Labor and Faith Groups
Occupy Bernal
Occupy CAL
Occupy Education NorCal
Occupy UC Santa Cruz_
Peralta Association of Teacher_
San Lorenzo Education
San Francisco Labor Council Executive Committee
San Mateo Federation of Teachers'
SEIU 1021
UAW 2865
United Educators of San Francisco
UPTE