Arrests and Creative Nonviolent Actions at Atlanta's TPP Negotiations

As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade talks unfold in Atlanta in an effort to finalize the pro-corporate deal, the quickly formed Atlanta #StopTPP Coalition, which includes American Friends Service Committee has come together to organize a number of rolling nonviolent actions to make it clear that the anti-democratic trade deal is not in the best interest of regular everyday people around the globe. The citizens in Atlanta and the global community have continued to nonviolently resist the agreement. We won’t stand for a wholesale auction of our rights, our freedoms and our democracy to multinational corporations who put profits over people.

Community members and concerned citizens from labor, faith, youth, senior, environment, LGBT, and others are coming together and inviting all within our United States and the global community to draw a line in the sand in Atlanta and to demand that the TPP shall not pass!

The Atlanta and global community will not stand for the TPP corrupting our democracy and eliminating our rights by putting corporations such as Walmart, Chevron, Cargill, and McDonalds in greater control of our daily lives leading us into a global race to the bottom. The undemocratic and secretive TPP would threaten good jobs, public services, access to affordable life-saving medicines, the environment and our climate, consumer health and safety and much more in our communities across the world.

Yesterday, during the TPP negotiations, cancer patient Zahara Heckscher was arrested after disrupting the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in a protest aimed at maintaining access to affordable cancer medicines in the 12 countries affected by the trade treaty.

Heckscher, in a t-shirt reading "I HAVE CANCER. I CAN'T WAIT 8 YEARS", and holding an IV pole that read "TPP: Don' t Cut My IV,” refused to leave the Westin Hotel, the site of the negotiations between U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and the other TPP trade ministers. She demanded that they show her the secret TPP text to verify for herself and other people living with cancer around the globe that TPP would not include a "death sentence clause," the text of the U.S. proposal to extend de facto monopolies on biological medicines by up to 8 years.

Heckscher, a seven-year breast cancer survivor, calls herself a cancer thriver. She has been treated by biologicals including trastuzumab (Hercepin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta). She is currently undergoing chemotherapy as part of a clinical trial, and continues on denosumab (Xgeva) treatment as well.

According to Heckscher, "For thousands of women to die unnecessarily of breast cancer because of the TPP is a horrible, cruel, premeditated, and avoidable catastrophe. The provisions being decided by TPP ministers today could allow drug monopolies on biologics for 8 years. Some of these medicines cost up to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars a year."

"When you have breast cancer today, you can’t wait 8 years or 7 years or 6 years for a treatment to become available or affordable. When you have cancer, even a one-year delay in affordable medicine can be a death sentence. That is why we call this proposed provision of the TPP a 'death sentence clause.' If it passes, thousands of women like me will die waiting."

As the day progressed there were dozens of creative actions including a disruption of a TPP reception hosted by the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the use of high powered projection devices to project images on the hotel negotiations are taking place in.

Today community members disrupted the lobby chanting, "Stop TPP, no corporate greed" as longtime human rights activist Daniel Hanely attached himself to a railing on the floor that negotiations were happening. Daniel was eventually arrested and is still incarcerated. Daniel made sure that these trade negotiators got the message that the people across the world absolutely will not stand for these corporate dominated trade deals. Daniel took a big risk today, and his bail is likely to be high, please consider contributing and sharing his to his bail fund by clicking here.

Today at 5pm hundreds of Atlantans will gather at Woodruff Park and march to the Westin where the negotiations are happening. Can we count on you to join?

Civil Disobedience at the Georgia Capitol

Photo by Steve Eberhart

Last year Georgia lawmakers failed to expand Medicaid in our state, falsely claiming that Georgia couldn’t afford it. Over a year later the results have been disastrous. The four rural hospitals listed that Medicaid Expansion would have kept open have been forced to close their doors Charlton Memorial Hospital, Folkston Ga, Hancock Memorial Hospital, Sparta Ga, Lower Oconee Hospital, Glenwood Ga, Stewart Webster Hospital, Richland Ga. According to the Institute of Southern Studies almost 1,200 Georgians needlessly died in 2014 along because Medicaid was not expanded.

An estimated 650k regular everyday Georgians, like Athens resident Adam Lassila, could receive life saving preventative care with Medicaid Expansion. Adam, who will attend Monday's rally states, "I recently suffered a serious head injury. I was able to receive high quality health care without incurring thousands of dollars of debt only because I was lucky enough to hurt myself in Argentina, instead of my own state, whose stubborn and inhumane political ploys have thrust me into the horrible gap where the Medicaid expansion should be."

Photo by Jim Chambers

In an effort to curb the extreme forward motion toward a healthcare system that strongly resembles a third world nation, Moral Monday Georgia brought Georgians from around the state together Monday for a day of learning, lobbying, and bold direct action in the tradition of Kingian Nonviolence.

After a very spirited press conference inside the Georgia Capitol 12 Georgia residents, all part of the Moral Monday Georgia movement, went to their knees and blocked the south steps of the Capitol with a clear message, “Hospitals are closing, people are dying”. Sometimes we run out of words to say; we have made all the points there are to make; published all the reports about the healthcare crisis in Georgia.


Photo by Steve Eberhart

With Georgians who are loved and needed dying everyday and live saving hospitals shutting down we simply can’t afford to walk away from the fight to expand medicaid. Now is a time for bold drastic action. Monday’s arrestees ended up spending 17 hours in jail but in doing so forced the issue back into the spotlight in Georgia. We sincerely hope Georgians keep pushing; keep fighting; keep organizing for a state that puts real people before dogmatic politics.

We encourage those that can to contribute to the Georgia Civil Disobedience Fund to support bold actions like this.

Moral Monday Statewide Tour In Georgia!!

 American Friends Service Committee is excited to announce that we will be working with the Moral Monday Georgia movement to organize a statewide tour called, "Jail For Justice".

Can you help host "Jail for Justice' tour in your community between July 28th and August 11th?

What is the 'Jailed for Justice' tour?

Over the course of the 2014 Georgia legislative session Moral Monday brought a national spotlight on what many have called the worst session in a generation. Moral Monday was able to create real dialogue about Medicaid expansion, Stand Your Ground law, a woman's right to choose, workers' rights, and other important issue through a series of dynamic actions that included mass civil disobedience.

Over the course of the year there were 81 arrests. Arrestees were young, old, white, black, brown, gay, straight and everything between. Elected officials and prominent faith leaders also participated in civil disobedience with the intention of bringing attention to the attack on poor people.

The, "Jailed for Justice" tour will feature a diverse group of 3-5 Moral Monday  arrestees who will talk about why they choose to put their freedom on the line for their beliefs and what their hopes and dreams for the movement are as we count down to November's election and look forward to the 2015 legislative session.

Each tour stop may include a different line-up of Arrestees.

What are some of the Goals for the, "Jailed for Justice" tour?

*We hope to bring the message of the Moral Monday Georgia movement across the state.

*We hope to create space to hear about the issues Georgian's are most concerned about and foster discussion about how we might work together to create the change we want to see.

*We plan to do voter registration at every stop!

*We plan to organize a meeting with community/faith leaders after each tour stop.

*We hope to begin the hard work of building the statewide movement Georgia needs to change the political landscape.

Please email tfranzen@afsc.org or jrodriguez@afsc.org if you are interested in hosting a stop on the tour!

Forward Together!

Undocumented Youth Risk Freedom to End Segregation in Georgia

Today Georgia undocumented youth led a coalition that included Moral Monday Georgia folks in disrupting the Georgia Board of Regents meeting today. Why? As Lucino Gopar puts it, "Today we celebrate 50 years since desegregation, but students are still banned from colleges, we must end segregation now!"

The Georgia Board of Regents has created policy that bans undocumented students from attending the top 5 Georgia colleges and forces them to pay international tuition anywhere else, which is basically impossible for regular people to attend college.

On this election day as Georgians head to the poll we should keep in mind that tens and thousands of very hard working Georgians are locked out of the system.

Today, in an act of civil disobedience,  undocumented youth and allies blocked Washington st outside the Board of Regents meeting much like the Board of Regents is blocking access to education for some of our most talented young Georgians.

We are asking folks to support arrestees by donating to the bail fund: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/georgia-civil-disobedience-fund 

We also ask that you sign and SHARE  this new online petition calling on the Board of Regents to lift the ban:

https://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/end-university-segregation-in-georgia-1?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button

Finally if you could take a moment to call the Georgia Board of Regents at 404-962-3050 & demand an end to university segregation in GA! Reverse policy 4.1.6!

Moral Monday Arrestees Speak Out

Over the course of Georgia's 2014 legislative session the American Friends Service Committee has been excited to be able to play a leadership role in launching Georgia's Moral Monday movement. We were all inspired by North Carolina last year and as 2014 approached many had come to believe that the Moral Monday model could be an effective southern strategy.

Since Georgia's 2014 session began there have been a number of Moral Monday Georgia actions at the State Capitol. Over the course of two of those actions over 30 Moral Monday Georgia coalition members participated in very principled nonviolent civil disobedience. 

On Monday February 17th arrestees gathered together to speak out about why they felt moved to put their freedoms on the line. Below is their collective statement along with some video footage:

"We are young, we are old, we are black, we are white, we are gay, we are straight, we are men, and we are women. Many of us are very religious, some are not.  As a group we are not aligned with one political party. We have many differences, we are people who would normally not mix, but there is something that has brought as all together for a cause we believe so deeply in that we have been willing to put our freedoms on the line.

We believe that Georgia has been high jacked by an extreme radical agenda that our state simple can no longer afford. Year after year we see a budget and tax code the benefits a few at a cost to everyone else. We see the standard of living going down for the overwhelming majority for the benefit of those that already have too much. We see the majority of our state’s politicians acting in the interest of big business to the detriment of everyday Georgians.

So we have come together to build a Moral Movement in our state, to remind our elected officials who they are accountable to. We believe our state budget is a Moral document, and that all Georgians should benefit from our state's prosperity, not just the rich. We are in a crisis of economic priority, not one of economic resource; we know there is enough to go around.

So far over 30 of us have been willing to put our freedom and public records on the line to bring attention to this extreme radical agenda.

On January 27^th 10 members of the Moral Monday Georgia Coalition refused to leave Govenor Deal’s office until he expanded Medicaid to Georgians, a move that would bring health care to an estimated 600,000+ uninsured Georgians and 70k good paying jobs to our state at no cost initially. Ironically struggling Georgians pay for people all over the country to have these benefits yet we are denied do to our Govenor’s ideological stubbornness.

On Monday February 10^th 24 of us held a sit in State Senator Jesse Stone’s  office because he refused to move forward SB280, which would repeal Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law, a law that has a proven track record in making our state less safe, and has come to represent the legalization of modern day lynching.

We have risked our freedom because we believe that everyday Georgians are worth fighting for, we believe our standard of living should be on the rise, not decline, we believe there’s enough to go around, we believe that the least of these is worth fighting for, we believe that a Georgia that prioritizes education, health care, women's rights, LGBT rights, good jobs with fair wages, fair housing practices,racial justice, and environmental justice is possible and worth fighting for."

Unions and Allies Risking Arrest Right Now to Protect 740 AT&T Union Jobs

AT&T recently announced the “surplus” of 740 union AT&T jobs despite their revenues soaring to $126.7 billion and a CEO that made over $27 million in 2011.

Occupy Atlanta, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, Communication Workers of America, and AFSC have just entered the AT&T Atlanta headquarters and are refusing to leave until every single job cut is rescinded. Simultaneously, an occupation with tents is being set up outside of the building.

Watch the Occupation of AT&T Now

Multinational Corporations like AT&T have been undermining workers standards of living for decades. If we stand up for union jobs with AT&T we can stand up for a future where there's enough for everyone; a future that creates space for all of us to thrive. Lift up the South, lift up this nation.

Let's not get it twisted, there's enough resources to go around. The crisis isn't about resources, it's about economic priority. It's time that the 99% stand up to the unprecedented wealth consolidation that has been robbing our communities. Together we can take these 740 jobs off the chopping block. Let this action be the beginning of a movement to put human need above corporate greed in a very real tangible way.

It’s time to bring the energy from Wisconsin into the South and it’s time to unite the Occupy movement with concrete worker struggles across the country.

Call AT&T to rescind all of the 740 proposed layoffs now:
205-977-0722 Michael Matthews Vice President Southeast Labor Relations

Send a personal e-mail message about these layoffs to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson here:
randall.stephenson@att.com

Contribute to the Occupy Atlanta Legal fund to support actions like this:



--
Shabnam Bashiri
Occupy Atlanta
action@occupyatlanta.org
occupyatlanta.org

Tim Franzen
American Friends Service Committee(AFSC)
www.afsc.org
tfranzen@afsc.org

Roger Sikes
Atlanta Jobs with Justice
www.atlantajwj.org
404-782-0737

Ernest Talley
Communication Workers Of America
etalley@cwa.org

Ben Speight
Atlanta Jobs With Justice

The Dream Is Coming

This afternoon over a hundred people gathered at Hurt Park for a demonstration of undocumented students demanding their rights to higher education. Undocumented students shared their stories of coming to this country and exactly what they were fighting for. Supporters gathered and chanted against the ban of undocumented students in 5 major State universities. This protest, organized by students across the country- with the help of GLAHR, marched into Georgia State and delivered a letter demanding the university to refuse the ban. The people united then marched their way to Courtland street where they occupied the road in an act of civil disobedience.

Several motorists were blocked for over an hour before law enforcement were able to direct traffic the opposite direction of the protest. Students from the university were excited to see such an action occuring and many of them who had seen this happening from windows of the school came down to support. As more and more people came to support and block the streets there became awareness to the public on the Board of Regents ban of undocumented students.

The 7 young brave and inspiring men and women sat across courtland street not to block traffic, but to make a statement. This statement is that they will no longer remain in the shadows and wait for legislators and government officials to make a change. They can no longer wait, and will no longer wait. They really are undocumented and unafraid.

After nearly two hours the undocumented students were arrested by zip ties and taken to Atlanta City Jail where many people will continue to support them by having a vigil at 7:30pm.

La lucha sigue. The fight continues to make education a basic human right. We are in awe of the bravery of these students who may now be risking deportation. We have chosen a side and that side will no longer be apologetic for being undocumented, will no longer be afraid, and will no longer wait for change. This is the side that wont stop fighting.

http://www.thedreamiscoming.com/ For more information or to donate.

Picture credit- Kung Li

Josie Figueroa

American Friends Service Committee

My Arrest in Millen, GA Protesting the Corrections Corporation of America Prison

I wrote the previous blog entry describing the action in Millen, GA December 15, 2010 in protest of the ground-breaking ceremony of the new prison.

The first video shows my arrest. I had not wanted to be arrested, and I certainly did not begin to plan the event with the idea of being arrested. Having recently returned from the 2010 SOAW rally in Columbus, GA, where the Muskogee County Police made arbitrary and unjustifiable arrests (and here and here), I did realize this was a possibility.