All human beings must fulfill their basic, physiological needs in order to sustain a healthy and productive life. If you just look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs you will find that human beings first require the fulfillment of physiological needs and then safety needs. Physiological is pretty obvious and safety of course means the “security of body, employment, resources, health etc.
See Maslow’s Hierarchy here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Now in order to fulfill these needs that Maslow describes, what is necessary? Well in current society, the answer is a steady income, through which men can procure these needs.
A disparity between income and need leads to poverty, starvation, homelessness, ( ). Only a living wage i.e., a wage that is sufficient enough to meet the basic needs of men can alleviate poverty.
That is why OWS is calling for Occupy Midsummer (continue reading):
The regime of wholesale robbery — what the 1% call “austerity” — is already falling across Europe, and soon across the world. But the inevitable collapse of austerity is not enough. We, the 99%, demand a world beyond Wall Street. We need a system where everyone can not only survive, but flourish.
To reach this world, we are raising our voices to demand a universal living wage.
We call on all occupies, unions, community organizations, immigrants rights groups, student bodies, religious organizations, environmental groups, anti-poverty activists, and everyone to join us June 20th, 2012 for a new holiday for the 99%: A Global Festival for the Universal Living Wage.
In only eight months, Occupy Wall Street has succeeded in putting income inequality back at the center of popular and political discourse. Next, we will end it. This June 20th — Midsummer in the northern hemisphere and Mid-winter in the southern hemisphere — we will begin a campaign to ensure the 99% never again lose our homes or worry about feeding our families and communities because of the greed of the 1%. We will not stop until we win.
Midsummer is traditionally a day to celebrate abundance. Let´s celebrate our abundance of love, joy, and solidarity by proclaiming a new holiday for the 99%. Let’s eat, drink, sing, and dance on the future grave of austerity. Let´s show that a world without austerity or scarcity is not only possible, but already in the works. What better way to celebrate the passing away of the old regime of death and disorder than by joining together in festival to demand the living wage?
On the longest day of our year, the 99% will shine our brightest. We Can´t Live On Change — We Demand A Living Wage!
http://occupywallst.org/...
Now what does OWS mean by universal living wage?
According to wikipedia, a living wage is ¨the minimum hourly income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs¨ such as ¨housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and recreation.¨ We aren’t calling for a dollar amount; living wages should be tied to cost of living and account for inflation.
By universal, we mean that everyone, everywhere deserves the right to live without poverty and the entire 99% across the world must stand in solidarity to fight for our commons. The struggle must include us all, regardless of occupation or immigration status, and must be waged at every level: from individual employers to cities, states, nations, and beyond. We live in a globalized world ruled by transnational corporations. We must have a transnational demand: A living wage for every person on the planet.
http://occupymidsummer.org/...
If you would like to organize and campaign for a universal living wage please contact OWS here:
Contact: LivingWage@OccupyMidsummer.org
Twitter: @OccupyMidsummer. #OccupyMidsummer. #LivingWageNow
Facebook: facebook.com/OccupyMidsummer