Cross-posted from Bold Faith Type
Before there was an #occupy movement, there were community organizing groups focused on the same issues of economic justice and corporate abuses.
Last May, activists with New Bottom Line dressed in Robin Hood outfits and "stormed the castle" of the JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s annual shareholder meeting to confront bank executives about their predatory lending and foreclosure practices.
Yesterday, National People's Action (an NBL organizational member) repeated this tactic at the Mortgage Bankster's Conference in Chicago.
Watch:
The activists describe the problem they're trying to address:
One of the MBA claim's to fame is defeating Judicial Loan Modifications - a piece of legislation that Congress was attempting to pass in order to help millions of homeowners who had fallen victim to the housing crisis. Under the current law, if you only have one home you can't declare bankruptcy and have a judge renegotiate your debts. But if you own two homes, or a boat, you can. This is unfair and biased against working and middle class families that don't have boats, airplanes and homes in the Hamptons. Chicago has been hardest hit by foreclosures, mostly due to the MBA blocking this legislation.
While a team of activists challenged bank executives at the conference, 600 more rallied outside the hotel and 40 more paddled up the Chicago river in Robin Hood costumes to draw attention to the action.
The actions were part of a larger 7,500 person protest to "Take Back Chicago" happening this week. Occuring concurrently with the #occupychicago movement, the two events have developed a cooperative relationship with #occupy participants joining many of the TBC actions.
To me, this represents one of the possible solutions to the much-discussed limitations of an #occupy movement without highly specific demands. Though weakened, progressives do still have some organized institutional capacity in the form of community organizing groups and local labor unions like those involved here with New Bottom Line and Take Back Chicago.
The problem these groups often face isn't a lack of specific demands or creative action, it's simply that they're too often ignored or dismissed in national media and politics. As Beltway leaders decided that unemployment, foreclosures and financial irresponsibility were less important than deficit fear-mongering over the last year, these groups have found little appetite for their stories or political demands.
But by literally occupying public consciousness until it couldn't be ignored any longer, the #occupy movement has brought these problems back to the forefront and opened up space for other groups around the country to re-assert themselves. If the occupations can continue to channel people, support and attention to these smaller but more specific groups, I would count that as a major success--even if the large movements never solidify around a single plan of their own.