More photos below Full schedule of #NoNATO actions Occupy Chicago NATO/G8 Guide NATOprotest.org | ChicagoSpring.org | OccupyChi.org | http://cang8.wordpress.com @NationalNurses @OccupyChicago @NATOINDYMEDIA  #TaxWallStreet #RobinHoodTax #NoNATO #OCHI Bail Fund for Arrested Protesters – PLEASE DONATE! National Lawyers Guild Chicago number 1-312-913-0039 Live Updates (Eastern time) 5:30pm: Nonviolent direct action training starting near Michigan Ave & Van Buren. Assembly tonight at 7 Central. TOMORROW: Healthcare Not Warfare! To Rahm’s House! At 10am, gather @ Irving Park Brown Line; At 12p, converge on Horner Park! 5:15pm: via @OccupyChicago: It’s really hot out here. We have been mobile all day. Fruit/veggies/water would be appreciated at Congress & Michigan. 5:06pm: Police gathering at Michigan & Jackson in Grant Park. Multiple helicopters overhead; riot police, horses, police buses all still around all over streets. 5pm: via @OccupyChicago: Police with billy clubs drawn and protestors clashing as police try to block the public sidewalk as we walk toward the horse [Congress & Michigan]. Dinner at 6. GA at 7. [central times] 4:45pm: Occupiers still surrounding Fed Reserve; riot police in helmets moving in. 4:30pm: Sit in in front of Board Of Traders and Federal Reserve Building. About 200 climate justice and @OccupyChicago activists in civil disobedience at Jackson and Lasalle. Head there! 4:05pm: via Twitter: One part of march headed to Jackson & LaSalle, other on Michigan under bridge by 520 N Michigan. 1 arrest on Michigan Ave bridge before march broke through. 4pm: NATO sign at Michigan and Wacker torn down! (photos below) Person who tore it down was arrested by police and then un-arrested by protesters. 3:50pm: Cops block front of march, surround protesters and push marchers around. Some people (around 50) stuck on bridge; police not letting other protesters through. Police on livestream being very aggressive — shoving, insulting protesters. Another arrest reported. 3:40pm: Police appear to be struggling to keep up with march. Tried unsuccessfully to kettle protesters. March is zig-zagging through streets. Estimated numbers over 1000, over entire city block long. 3:30pm: March now at Columbus and Randolph. 3:20pm: Unpermitted march (not affiliated with NNU rally) at Monroe & Michigan heading to the bridge at Millennium Park. Helicopter overhead; police on armored horses and bicycles trying to force march onto sidewalk. Marchers chant ¨NATO war machine – Shut it down! The whole damn system – Shut it down!¨ 2:57pm: The march has taken the street. 3 reported arrests. 2:55pm: via Twitter: Impromptu march leaving plaza heading south on Clark. 2:50pm: Arrests happening at SW corner of Daley Plaza. Rally is ending, band just finished leading crowd in song. People on stage telling crowd to head to buses. Police dispersal order in 10 minutes. 2:35pm: Chicago Police are distributing memos saying the rally must clear our by 2pm Central (3pm Eastern) and warning protesters not to block traffic or businesses and to stay on sidewalks when marching. 2pm: Tom Morello with Tim from Rise Against performing at front stage now singing union solidarity songs to excited crowd of 1000s. Corporate media pedicatbly ignoring or downplaying the rally. 1pm: Nurses and allies still gathering in Daley Plaza, sharing food and listening to music. NNU official rally getting underway in a few moments. Heavy police presence, but situation is calm and festive. Everyone in Chicago should join them! Right now: The ¨G8¨ toasts to austerity in performance. Soon: Labor leaders and other speakers to address crowd. 12:30pm: Today’s rally calls for a Robin Hood Tax (a tax of 0.5 percent on financial institutions’ transactions to pay for health care, education, etc) and is led by National Nurses United . Right now, thousands of nurses are gathering at Daley Plaza; march underway now on livestream! Headed down LaSalle. Nurses rallying at Daley Plaza Daley Plaza from the stage Unpermitted autonomous march after the rally March taking the street Protesters tore down part of the NATO banner Part of autonomous march blocks the Michigan Ave Bridge Sit in in front of Board Of Traders and Federal Reserve Building Source:  OccupyWallStreet

They bombard us with numbers, and sometimes they almost make us forget that across from the numbers, thousands of lives are hidden. OUR LIVES. Lets show them we are much more than that! 12th of May: Occupy the streets in every city of the world. May 12 is a Global Day of Action called by the indignad@s, Occupy, and allied social movements around the world. In 2011 we showed another world was possible. Our struggle continues in 2012; together we will rally against corruption, human rights violations, censorship, police brutality and corporate greed. May 12th, 2012 — everywhere. Join us. Mass demonstrations are planned in Barcelona , Valencia , and over 60 other cities across Spain. In Madrid , the movement will return to Puerta del Sol. From the 12th to 15th of May, protesters will take the square for assemblies, performances, workshops, and discussions on the the alternatives they’ve worked on for the past year. Assemblies and actions are planned to address education, migration, the housing crisis, the economy, the environment, unemployment, civil disobedience, feminism, youth, pensioners, and more. Protesters are also planning to protest at banks responsible for the Spanish and global financial crises. The Spanish government, which recently began a severe crackdown on protest movements, has said they will only allow protests for 10 hours per day. Occupiers in London will return to St. Pauls Cathedral across from the London Stock Exchange. Demonstrations are also planned in Ireland , Chile , Portugal , Brazil, Germany, Cuba, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, France, and hundreds of cities in countries across the world. In the U.S., solidarity actions are planned in Portland , St. Louis , and many other cities. Occupy Los Angeles will be hosting a 12M anti-capitalist General Assembly. In Boston , the People of Color Group of Occupy Boston will host a ceremony to preserve the last standing grove of Silver Maple trees that are slated to be cut down for “redevelopment” as luxury apartments for the 1%. Occupy Denver will be protesting and occupying the Downtown Denver Partnership, a business organization behind a law that attacks Occupy and would criminalize the survival act of sleeping by homeless people. Occupy Chicago, labor unions, community groups, anti-war and international solidarity groups and faith based activists will host a Peoples Assembly on Alternatives to War and Poverty to begin a week of actions that will culminate in protests against NATO . In Brooklyn, as part of a citywide week of action against budget cuts and austerity , Occupy Bushwick, Healthcare for the 99%, and others will fight to save Wycoff Hospital . Occupiers, unions, immigrant rights groups, students, anti-war activists, environmentalists, and others from across Texas and the country will also gather near Dallas to protest the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a massive, new international trade and investment pact currently being negotiated behind closed doors between the United States and countries throughout the Pacific Rim and pushed by Wall Street banks and other corporate interests. Resources: TakeTheSquare.net 12M on Democracia Real YA May12.net TomaLaPlaza.net SquaresDatabase.crowdmap.com GlobayMay.org Partial list of international 12M Facebook events More: International Assembly: Global May Manifesto The Road to May 12th Source:? OccupyWallStreet

Whether you analyse the causes of ecological destruction, financial injustice, human rights abuses or undemocratic elite power, a significant proportion of these tragedies can be traced to the City of London. The assertion that corporations behave as psychopaths is backed up by looking at the actions and impacts of the powerful multinational companies based In London. Atrocities directed from London firms include those of BP, who sponsor death squads in Colombia; Rio Tinto, who destroy the lives, lands and livelihoods of indigenous people in Papua’s Rainforest; Lloyds TSB, who provide the banking for the makers of illegal cluster bombs and DOW, who have washed their hands of responsibilities for a chemical disaster that is still affecting over 100,000 people; these four companies are also trying to cleanse their reputations by sponsoring the Olympics. With so many connections to government, not least through the £2 billion spent in lobbying it is not surprising that corporations are being protected with new laws removing the right to protest and increased security. Many businesses directed from the nation’s capital allow terrible human rights abuses in the pursuit of profits, especially those complicit in killing indigenous people due to their mining and petroleum activities. Half the world’s mining companies are registered in London. The pro-human rights campaigners, London Mining Network, are highlighting the London Metal Exchange; the Network has accused the Exchange of having “outstandingly bad records of poor governance, environmental destruction, illegality and complicity with human rights and workers’ rights abuses.” The Anglo-French oil company Perenco has announced its plans to invade uncontacted tribes’ territory in Peru, whilst denying there are people there this means they are denying these people have rights. Vedanta, the British company has planned a mining operation that will ethnically cleanse the Dongria Kondh tribe in India. Vedanta is owned by London based Anil Agarwal. The British company Finsbury represents PR for Vedanta. In Nigeria, the land, water and air has been devastated from pollution caused by oil companies, including the Dutch Company Shell with a headquarters just south of the Thames. Rolls Royce and the British Oil companies Petrofac and Amec are involved in the oil industry in Sudan; this generates money for the Government, which funds the genocide in Darfur. Petrofac also operates in Syria: thus also funding the atrocities there. British high-street banks Lloyds TSB, RBS, Barclays and HBOS provide banking services for these three companies. Both Lloyds and RBS were bailed out by the British taxpayers and have been accused of playing pivotal roles in the current financial situation. Despite the bailout, RBS gave huge bonuses whilst it made 11,000 people redundant. Lloyds TSB investment strategy in toxic loans has been blamed for creating the financial crisis: the taxpayer is now underwriting these toxic loans. There have also been many redundancies at Lloyds TSB. Lloyds was also accused of tax evasion, using offshore tax havens that seriously damage the British Economy. This is a common theme connected to many multinational companies and will be focused on later in this article. There are activities that kill people directed from other banks with headquarters near the Thames. Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Pimco, JP Morgan Chase, AIG and Bear Stearns are all involved in selling vital commodities, such as grain; this distorts the prices. It creates food inflation and therefore food instability: this leads to people starving who cannot afford the inflated prices. It is reported between “2005 to 2008, the worldwide price of food rose 80 percent – and has kept rising.” The austerity measures resulted from the debts caused by the banking crisis, which have been “socialised”; the IMF has admitted that this is having a severe affect on people: these measures are leading to unemployment, homelessness, poverty and starvation, especially in Greece. Wider ramifications are likely as the cuts are deepened across Europe. Despite this, there are lobbying groups fighting to keep the bankers’ bonuses and stop regulations on the financial industry, which were both attributed as causes of the banking crisis. The Association for Financial Markets in Europe is one such group; it is using the law firm Clifford Chance to argue that bankers, like top footballers, deserve astronomical pay levels. The British Banking Association is another such lobbying group; it has been arguing to reduce regulation on the industry and represented the banks over the ‘insurance mis-selling scandal.’ The murky world of derivatives and other financial investments has also been accused of having a toxic impact on the economy, and thus leading to poverty and unemployment and the debt crisis. A Frontline investigation has asserted that derivatives were central to causing the crisis and therefore the bailout, especially those who invented these financial mechanisms and the lack of meaningful regulation. Columbia University professor, Joseph Stiglitz highlights how ‘banks hate transparency in markets because the darkness is where they can make the easiest killing.’ He also suggests that the global economy is at risk in the future from crises caused by the same derivatives trading. The Liffe, London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, is one such institution, it runs solely on electronic trades in derivatives and other speculative financial instruments. Another institution in London is the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. It trades in a speculative market worth $700 trillion, somehow worth 10 times the size of the real global economy. It has recently been in the news as it decides on whether Greece is in ‘default’. Defying any sense of fairness, members of this organisation that make this decision also hold the credits, and they will be paid out if they decide that Greece has defaulted. Unlike sport, it seems in business, some players also get to be the referee. The British Government’s failure to control these forces within the economy can be explained by political donations; the Conservatives were strongly backed by investors who donated 27% of their funding. Tax avoidance costs the British Economy a reported £69.9 billion per year; in 2011-12 the Coalition Government cut £6.2 billion from public services. If it collected this tax, it could vastly improve public services, increase employment, investing in green technology, abolish tuition fees and act in the interests of the people. This would only come at the expense of the super rich at the top of multinational companies. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs said that financial firms KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte were behind almost half of all known tax evasion schemes. Healthcare providers are amongst the super-tax evaders. A report in The Guardian highlights how four firms that lobbied for the health bill will benefit from the privatization and reduction of this public service and dodge paying tax. Spire Healthcare is one such example, it made a profit of over £100 million, yet recorded a loss of half that amount. If additional people die because of the cuts in the NHS, Spire Healthcare, amongst the other firms should take a share of this responsibility. In a sick twist of the current system, they may also be getting paid to provide the inadequate treatment that leads to these deaths. In light of these examples of corporate behaviour, the assertion that some corporations act like psychopaths seems a rational conclusion. This begs the question, why is someone or somebody not doing something about it? Four potential challengers to this power are the media, the justice system, Parliament and the people; however it seems that only the people are likely to engender an alternative. The power of a few media moguls within the press suggests it is not in their interests to reveal the problems within the system, especially with serious doubts as to whether the fattest of media fat-cats is even fit to own a company: let alone one that might act ethically in the public interest. The justice system appears determined not to question these issues, which was clear in the court case between OccupyLSX verses the City of London Corporation and the notable absence of a willingness to address the issues raised by the defendants. Another potential solution should be Parliament, although with so much corporate lobbying, elite-self interest and the fact they engendered the current situation, this seems fanciful to expect a solution from them. This means that the only hope that the City of London does not continue its devastating dominance over the country and the world is the people. Awareness of the crimes needs to increase; the corporations need to know that the people consider this behaviour to be unacceptable and to know that: people come before profit. Therefore, I suggest it is a civic duty to act in whatever way you consider reasonable to resist and control the corporate power. In limited cases, this may cure the corporations and in others constrain their criminal activity. Although it was said over a hundred years ago, it seems more acute now and some people still need to realise the wisdom from this Cree quote. “Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money.” Today, it is not even money; it has now become a fiction of global finance, a concept that is even harder to swallow. Steve Rushton, London 2012 Olympic’s shameful corporate sponsors, 13/04/2012 Games Monitor, http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1609 Paul Flynn, The Labour MP for Newport West, in a Commons Debate concerning Parliamentary Lobbying, Westminster Hall, Parliament, 2 Nov 2011, available @ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111102/halltext/111102h0001.htm Revealed in Initial statement of the Corporations Working Group, as passed by the OccupyLSX General Assembly on 25th November @, http://occupylsx.org/?p=1526 Vanessa Baird, Stop the City of London laundering blood money from mining, 12 March 2012, New Internationalist, http://www.newint.org/blog/2012/03/12/city-of-london-laundering-mining-money/ Survival Background Briefing: Perenco – Oil company, http://www.survivalinternational.org/about/perenco Business Diary: Cameron avoids Vedanta row, The Independent, Friday 30 July 2010 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/business-diary-cameron-avoids-vedanta-row-2039031.html Bashiru Abdullahi, Nigeria: Shell Shuts Office As Ogonis Protest Pollution, 30 April 2012, All-Africa http://allafrica.com/stories/201204300218.html Kamal Ahmed, Ayman Asfari on Petrofac’s road to Damascus, The Telegraph, Monday 20 February 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/8096688/Ayman-Asfari-on-Petrofacs-road-to-Damascus.html Melany Grout, Institutional Investors call on Oil Companies to address their role in conflict in Syria, Conflict Risk Network, 9th August 2011, http://www.bostoncommonasset.com/press/CRN_Press_Release_Syria%20Oil_Final.pdf www.hemscott.com accessed 14/11/2006 & Petrofac Annual Report & Accounts 2005, p.74 Christopher Johnson editing by Keiron Henderson, Brewin Dolphin looks for upstream oil growth, Reuters, Mon, Jan 25 http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/fundsNews/idUKLNE60O00Y20100125?ca=rdt Jenny Rhodes, UK companies operating in the most oppressive regime in the world, http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/CommentAnalysis/CorporateWatch/GenocideinSudan.aspx Julian Borger, British investors urged to quit Sudan, The Guardian, Tuesday 19 June 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jun/19/politics.sudan Companies Warranting Scrutiny: Profiles of Companies That Possibly Meet Task Force Criteria For Targeted Divestment. Sudan Divestment Task Force 23/10/06 Joe Murphy, Political Editor, Bankers who slash jobs ‘deserve bonus’, 31 Jan 2012 The London Evening Standard, http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-24032207-rbs-must-show-restraint-with-bankers-bonuses-says-pm.do Frederick Kaufman, How Goldman Sachs Created the Food Crisis, Foreign Policy, 27th April 2011 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/27/how_goldman_sachs_created_the_food_crisis?page=0,1 Helena Smith, IMF official admits austerity is harming Greece, The Guardian, 1 February 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/feb/01/imf-austerity-harming-greeve Juliet Samuel, Banks plot to sue EU over bonuses, Wednesday 18th April 2012, City AM, http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/banks-plot-sue-eu-over-bonuses Helia Ebrahimi, Angela Knight: profile, The Telegraph online, 02 Apr 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8503433/Angela-Knight-profile.html Mark Gongloff, PBS Frontline Investigation Into Financial Crisis Suggests Another Disaster On Horizon, The Huffington Post, 04/24/2012 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-gongloff/post_3264_b_1449474.html Josephine Moulds, Q&A: Greece’s ‘credit event’ and ISDA, The Guardian, 1 March 2012 http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/mar/01/greece-credit-event-default-q-a Tony Jones, David Cameron slams anti-business ‘snobbery’, The Independent, Thursday 23 February 2012 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-slams-antibusiness-snobbery-7431785.html BBC website, Spending cuts: The £6.2bn savings at-a-glance, Monday, 24 May 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8700342.stm Mark Jenner, Tax avoidance costs UK economy £69.9 billion a year, 25 November 2011, The New Statesman, http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/tax-avoidance-justice-network Tax gap reporting team, Gilt-edged profits for profession’s ‘big four’, The Guardian, Saturday 7 February 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/07/tax-gap-avoidance-schemes/print Steve Rushton, Evidence from the Leveson Inquiry, Tuesday 28 February 2012, http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Submission-by-Steve-Rushton.pdf Steve Rushton, An Occupier’s Perspective: Is British Justice just? Or does it just serve the elites? OccupyLSX, 20th February 2012, http://occupylsx.org/?s=steve+rushton Daniel Ashman, An Occupier’s Perspective: Why Respect Authority When Authority Disrespects You? OccupyLSX, 21st February 2012, http://occupylsx.org/?s=daniel+ashman

Another awesome video from the folks at anothernyc.org , and the weekend’s scheduled events for NYC. May 10-15: A Week of Actions Against Budget Cuts and Austerity Tuesday May 15 @ 6 PM: Mass Convergence in Times Square on Global Day of Action Say no to the system that produces record profits for the 1% by impoverishing the 99% of us; say yes to a fair city and a better world! Beginning on May 10th and culminating on May 15th in a mass convergence at Times Square, NYC organizations and individuals from all across the city will join together in action around the many issues we face: from cuts in social services, to an austerity agenda that redistributes your tax revenue into private hands, to the financial institutions (that we bailed out) that continue to make record profits at our expense. As part of a global resistance, as part of the Occupy movement, as a broad movement for social, political, and economic justice, we say enough! We reject Bloomberg’s New York, and we demand another city. We reject the notion that there is no alternative, and we demand a better world. Join the week of actions, take to the streets, raise your voice, and come to Times Square on May 15th at 6 PM to stand together as a global movement and declare that another city, and another world, is possible! MORE INFO Website : www.anothernyc.org Facebook Event Page : http://www.facebook.com/events/451664224850611/ Twitter: #AnotherNYC CALENDAR OF EVENTS Thursday, May 10 – 6 PM – Kickoff assembly at Union Square: Another City, Another World Speak Out, around the issues that affect us all. For specific details visit: http://anothernyc.org/may-10 Friday, May 11 – Focus on Homes, Jobs, & Services For a city with good housing, good jobs, and good public services for all. Actions throughout the day including street protests, pickets, rallies, a pop-up occupation in Rockefeller Prark, film screening and more. For specific action details visit: anothernyc.org/may-11 Saturday, May 12- GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION – Focus on Food, Environment, Health A day for healthy food for all, a country with justice for its farmers and food workers, and an ecologically sustainable world. Actions throughout the day including a No Pipeline Bike Ride, speak out at a Brooklyn Hospital, the Brooklyn Food Conference, followed by a convergence for a workday and barbecue at 6:30 at La Plaza Cultural, Charas Puerto Rican community center’s community garden in affirmation of Charas’ historic claim to the Commons, in solidarity with those threatened with eviction from the Gil Tract occupy farm in California, and in proud recognition of the Indignados international call to occupy. For specific action details visit: anothernyc.org/may-12 Sunday, May 13 – Focus on War, Police, Prisons, and Immigration Struggles ?This Mother’s Day, NYers stand for a city where no child is stopped and frisked, a country where no mother is deported, and a world without war. Actions from 12-5pm including a Mother’s Day Peace Stroll, mothers protesting racist policing in South Bronx, a Queens march against Stop & Frisk, and a mother’s speak-out assembly. For specific action details visit: anothernyc.org/may-13 Monday, May 14 – Focus on Education & Students For a city with quality public schools, a country without student debt, a world with free education for all. Actions starting at 7am and throughout the day include pickets at Bloomberg LP, a kid’s brigade against childcare cuts, stroller marches, and more. For specific action details visit: anothernyc.org/may-14 Tuesday, May 15 – GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION – Times Square @ 6 PM Because the liberation of one requires the liberation of all. Converge at Bryant Park at 4 PM for marching tours of disaster capitalism that will converge at Times Square at 6 In solidarity with the International Day of Action Against Austerity and War. For specific action details visit: anothernyc.org/may-155/ ——————————- Occupy Wall Street in Collaboration With … 99%NY • ALIGN • Alliance for Quality Education • Brooklyn Food Coalition • Coalition for Educational Justice • Code Pink • Community Voices Heard • Good Jobs New York • Granny Peace Brigade • Healthcare for the 99% • Human Services Council • Make the Road New York • Mothers Resisting Racist Policing • New York Communities for Change • New York Students Rising • Picture the Homeless • Parents for Occupy Wall Street • PSC-CUNY • Rev Billy & the church of Earthalujah • ROC-NY • RWDSU • Strong Economy for All • Students for a Free CUNY • UNITED NY • Time’s Up • United Federation of Teachers • VOCAL-NY ————— We’ll see each other in the streets, on May 15th. Reclaim your city; join the global movement. [Information and video via anothernyc.org ]

via Occupy Bushwick for full schedule of the May 10-15 Week of Action, see here Join Healthcare for the 99% for a Day of Action Against Budget Cuts! Governor Cuomo appointed Wall Street banker Stephen Berger to fix healthcare in Brooklyn. Berger recommended merging and downsizing Wyckoff and other Brooklyn hospitals that provide necessary healthcare in low-income and medically underserved communities. Join us to speak out against hospital closings, service reductions, and budget cuts! Reclaim Healthcare for the 99%! @2:30pm Maria Hernandez Park, northside, at Starr St and Irving Ave. Subway from Manhattan/Brooklyn take L Train to Jefferson Stop. From Brooklyn Food Conference atBrooklyn Tech High School take B38 to DeKalb Ave/Knickerbocker Ave. @3pm March to Wyckoff Hospital Speak out on healthcare cuts and hospital closings in Brooklyn, and picket at Wyckoff Hospital, Stockholm St and Wyckoff Ave. Take L Train to DeKalb Stop. This action is part of the “ Another City is Possible ” Campaign which is organizing a week of action protesting budget cuts in New York City. RSVP on Facebook

via ChicagoSpring.org On May 19, Mayor 1% Emanuel will bring to Chicago military and civilian representatives of the 28-nation US-commanded and largely US-financed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and heads of state and finance ministers of the G-8 world economic powers. They meet on behalf of the 1% of the world, the rich and the powerful, the bankers and generals. Their agenda is to continue to impose austerity, or poverty, by cutting social spending for workers and the poor to maintain profitability for the rich and to launch more wars to stop the rise of the poor nations of the Third World. The people of this fine city do not want these summits. The mayor has his own agenda. In anticipation of widespread opposition to the war & poverty agenda of the NATOG8, Mayor Emanuel passed a set of first-amendment crushing ordinances, known as “Sit Down Shut Up”, to stifle the exercise of free speech and assembly during the summits. The mayor single-handedly gave himself the abililty to issue no-bid security contracts and deputize out-of-town law enforcement while imposing harsh restrictions on parades, marches and demonstrations. But we will not be silenced. We will stand up to this corrupt system and say enough! Join Occupy Chicago, Coalition Against NATO/G8 (CANG8), the Midwest Antiwar Mobilization and many more as we gather in Chicago in May! The Coalition Against NATO/G8 is a broad formation that includes labor unions, community groups, anti-war and international solidarity groups and faith based activists. From the CANG8 website: Protest the NATO/G8 Summit on Saturday, May 19th, 2012! Noon rally at Daley Plaza, then march to McCormick Place! Join in a legal, permitted, family-friendly march and rally that will end within sight and sound of the summit at McCormick Place! At the invitation of the White House, military and civilian representatives of the 28-nation US-commanded and largely US-financed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and heads of state and finance ministers of the G-8 world economic powers are meeting in Chicago, May 19-21, 2012. To that we say… No to War and Austerity! Money out of politics! Represent for the people, not the money! No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers! Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing & the Environment, Not War! Download the “Chicago Principles” For parade maps and other information, please visit: http://cang8.wordpress.com May 12-13: Peoples Summit May 14: Money for Education not War May 15: Immigration: No Human is Illegal May 16: Foreclosure: Housing is a Right: No Evictions, No Foreclosures! May 17: Environment: Planet over Profits! May 18: Austerity/NNU March for the Robin Hood Tax May 19: Health Care May 21: Democracy – Shut Down Boeing! For full schedule, see below. For more: NATOprotest.org | ChicagoSpring.org | OccupyChi.org May 12-13 People’s Summit Occupy Chicago is working with other occupations and various activist groups to develop a coalition-built People’s Summit for the weekend of May 12th and 13th, as a direct response to the NATO summit the subsequent weekend, May 19th-21st. JOIN US! For more, see here . May 14 Money for Education not War Rally and Art Celebration When and Where: 3pm at Dyett High School (555 East 51st Street) Chicago, IL Defend Dyett High School! For over a year students have been deprived of an arts program. Now CPS wants to close the school. Stop CPS from starving our schools: All student deserve Art, world language and support staff. According to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley: “If we think there’s a chance that a building is going to be a school, we’re not going to invest in that building.” RSVP on Facebook May 15 Immigration: No Human is Illegal Vigil for Immigrant Rights and Family Unity When and Where: 11am at Immigration Court Building 525 W. Van Buren We denounce the unjust and inhumane decisions that immigration judges are making towards the lives of our immigrant communities. They have failed to follow prosecutorial discretion and consequently are destroying thousands of families every single day. Denunciamos las injustas e inhumanas que los jueces de inmigración hacen en contra de nuestras familias inmigrantes. Join us for a morning vigil in front of the immigration court building. Acompáñenos a una vigilia enfrente de las cortes de inmigración. RSVP on Facebook May 16 Foreclosure: Housing is a Right: No Evictions, No Foreclosures! Action to Demand a One-year Moratorium on Foreclosures and Evictions! When and Where: 10am: Rally at Jackson and LaSalle Communities United Against Foreclosure and Eviction and Occupy Chicago demand that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart STOP all profit-oriented evictions and foreclosures from May 16, 2012 to May 16, 2013. We are moved to this action because of the intolerable losses suffered by our communities, friends, and families that we have witnessed: losses to businesses, to community life, and to family life; disruptions to the educational and social life of our children; and heightened neighborhood crime and insecurity. Because the “housing crisis” was generated by banks flagrantly violating all standards of responsible banking, this national disaster is more accurately called a “banking crisis,” and through this moratorium, we are requesting that you stand with us to protect our ravaged communities from the many predations we have suffered. This moratorium will place the human right to housing above the “right” of banks to make a profit off of empty homes. If Sheriff Dart does not grant the moratorium, the People will enforce one themselves! RSVP on Facebook May 17 Environment: Planet over Profits! Occupy Chicago’s Day of Environmental Action: Planet over Profits and War! When and Where: The Bike Mass will be gathering at Jackson and LaSalle at 2pm. The action will take place at 3pm at the Canadian Consulate (180 N. Stetson Ave) On May 17th, join Occupy Chicago’s Day of Environment action! Stand with us to fight for the Planet over Profit and War! We will GET DIRTY and DIE at the Canadian Consulate to symbolize how the dirty oil extraction of the Alberta Tar Sands is sending life on this planet to an early grave, fueling G8/NATO’s war machines and the global climate crises. The extraction of heavy and thick crude oil from the tar sands deposits in northern Alberta, Canada – the site of the largest industrial project on the planet – requires the complete destruction of boreal forest the size of England. This ecosystem is an essential storehouse of carbon, and its preservation is critical in protecting our planet from climate change, especially since annual tar sands emissions are expected to quadruple from 27 to 126 million tonnes by 2015. Visible from space, the toxic ponds along the Athabasca River seep contaminants into groundwater and the surrounding soil. This has already begun to threaten the lives of local indigenous communities. “The river used to be blue. Now it’s brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast,” said Elsie Fabian, an elder in a First Nation community along the Athabasca River. Canada is also a member nation of both the G8 and NATO. The anti-planet, for-profit, oil-driven policy of the Tar Sands reflects the larger imperial goals of these bankrupt, undemocratic and imperialistic groups that won’t stop their capitalist exploitation of the environment until our planet – and our future – is in ruins like the Althabasca river. On May 17th, let’s MAKE them stop. Planet over Profit and War! GET DIRTY! RSVP on Facebook May 18 Austerity/NNU March for the Robin Hood Tax The People’s G-8: National Nurses United March & Rally When and Where: 12 p.m. Noon at Daley Plaza We must send a message to our world leaders: No more cuts to our communities. Make Wall Street and the banks pay for global recovery. No Cuts! No Austerity! Tax on Wall Street! Join National Nurses United as we protest the global one percent and demand a tax on Wall Street. The rally will feature Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. 11 a.m. March – Starts at Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers 12 p.m. Noon Rally – Daley Plaza Promo Video May 19 Health Care YOU’LL NEVER GUESS When and Where: BIG NEWS COMING SOON Occupy Chicago Day of Action May 21 Democracy Boeing: SHUT IT DOWN When and Where: TBA Boeing has received over $12,231,152,299 from the US Department of Defense to produce war machines, which are used to terrorize civilians and communities the world over. These tools of destruction are produced using prison labor, allowing Boeing to make weaponized products for pennies on the dollar. When using non-prison labor Boeing goes out of it’s way to bust unions, even moving factories across the country to stifle worker’s rights. Boeing production facilities are continually found to be massive polluters, leading to the company being listed as one of the top 50 corporate criminals responsible for environmental destruction. In 2001, Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago in a plan that stole over $60 million and 20 years worth of free rent from Illinois taxpayers. In 2010 Boeing made over $4.5 billion, yet in the past three years they have managed to avoid paying taxes. In 2010 they received a federal tax subsidy of $1.56 billion. This cost the State of Illinois $65 million in revenue. This money could have been used to serve an additional 16,000 Medicaid clients, provide Medicare Part B coverage to 13,000 seniors, provide 36 million meals to the hungry, or create 1,625 living wage jobs for the unemployed. Instead this money was given to Boeing in the form of corporate welfare by our elected officials. Boeing is a war criminal and plays a huge role in NATO’s war machine. Occupy Chicago will SHUT IT DOWN on May 21, 2012. We’ve had enough of their war planes, pollution, prison labor, union busting, border wall building, extraordinary rendition plane chartering, drone building, non-tax-paying exploitation of the people of Chicago and the people of the world. This May Chicagoans along with concerned citizens from all over the world will tell Boeing we’ve had enough. Join us in the streets in Chicago on the last day of the NATO summit to SHUT DOWN this war machine! RSVP on Facebook

My partner has no health insurance, and they keep cutting hours at his supposedly full time job. I have health insurance because my mom would lose hers if she took me off it. I am going back to nursing school full time to get a job that was supposed to be stable and in demand, but no one is hiring anymore. We want to get married, but we keep trying and failing to get on our financial feet. I’m not sure that will ever happen. I am afraid of my sick father-in-law dying. His family would have nowhere to go but us or the streets, but how could we support his disabled mom, disabled brother, and kid sister when we can barely make ends meet in our one room studio apartment? Recently, someone told me they got a 20,000 dollar raise. I laughed because it would be too painful to cry. Most of my friends are unemployed. The most my partner and I have ever made combined was 24,000 USD. That was a great year. We are the 99%. Occupywallst.org Occupyberkeley.org

ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and Occupy Wall Street are joining forces to pump up the volume on a growing nationwide outcry for a “Financial Speculation Tax” (Fi.S.T.) on Wall Street. To commemorate its 25th anniversary, the AIDS activist group ACT UP will return to its roots and stage a massive demonstration and march on Wall Street — on Wednesday, April 25 — starting at 11 am at City Hall and ending on Wall Street. Hundreds of protestors, including supporters from Housing Works, Health GAP, National Nurses United, OWS Healthcare for the 99% Working Group, Visual AIDS, MIX NYC, Le Petit Versailles, Queerocracy, Queering OWS and other groups will converge for a daylong siege in Lower Manhattan. The groups are calling on local, state, and federal legislators to “give Wall Street the FiST,” which is needed to fill AIDS funding gaps and — once and for all — provide universal healthcare in the US. It’s time for effective healthcare to be made available to everyone — to the 99%, not just the 1%. The Fi.S.T. does not target individual investors, and would not affect regular bank transactions. Instead, it would place a small tax — a mere fraction of one percent — on speculative trading by Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds and other large financial institutions. HIV treatment saves lives — by preventing new infections and keeping those already infected from reaching end-stage AIDS. However, of all people worldwide in need of access to HIV treatment, only 44% have it. More than 8 million people do not. In the United States today, 3,840 people who qualify for federal assistance to pay for HIV treatment are on waiting lists — or in other words, are at risk of dying from AIDS. “The AIDS crisis is not over,” says veteran ACT UP New York member Ann Northrop. “But, we know it could be,” she adds. AIDS treatment — when combined with simple prevention interventions — is the key to breaking the back of the epidemic worldwide. In addition to saving lives, early HIV/AIDS treatment reduces the risk of transmission of HIV by 96%. And so, with sufficient funding for treatment and prevention, we can turn the tide on AIDS. Globally, HIV/AIDS has claimed over 30 million lives. Both ACT UP and OWS suggest the revenue from a Financial Speculation Tax would be significant — potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The revenue from this tax should be used to fund the end of the AIDS pandemic, i.e. to fill in US budget gaps in the fight against HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. It should be used to provide treatment, services and prevention to thousands of Americans and millions around the world. The groups also say the tax could help pay for universal healthcare in the US. “We are organizing this historic united front to bring our message to governments and to Wall Street financiers who are sitting on the key to ending the AIDS epidemic,” according to Eric Sawyer, a founding member of ACT UP New York. “There is no excuse. We have the knowhow to end AIDS. It is lack of funding and political will that keeps us from reaching universal access to HIV treatment worldwide.”The action will be in New York on April 25th — but the need is global. And, the time is now. AIDS is now. END AIDS NOW! ACT UP & Occupy! Tax Wall Street! End AIDS! The AIDS crisis is not over — but it could be! Tax Wall St. to End #AIDS #ACTUP #OWS #OccupyAIDS #OccupyWallSt #TaxWallSt #EndAIDS #April25 #ActUp25 #A25 actupny.com | @actupny | on.fb.me/actupny

Workers across New York City are organizing “99 Picket Lines” building up to May Day , where New Yorkers will join a broad coalition of unions, immigrant rights groups, community- and faith-based organizations, worker centers, and the Occupy Wall Street movement in a mass mobilization against the economic, social, and political injustice wrought by the one percent. KEY PICKETS (click here for more) : Restaurant Opportunities Center–Wed April 25, 6-7 PM, at Capital Grille (155 42nd Street, b/w 3rd Ave and Lexington) Workers are organizing against Darden Corporation, owner of Capital Grille, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and LongHorn Steakhouse. Employees have documented company-wide practices of wage theft, racial discrimination, overwork, and intimidation. New York Taxi Workers Alliance–Thurs April 26, 3:30 PM, March from Queens Medallion Leasing (21-03 44th Ave in Long Island City) to SLS Jet then Midtown Garage (just blocks away) Taxi drivers are marching to demand an end to rampant lease overcharges and calling for the first fare raise in over eight years to ensure that taxi workers can earn a livable income and create a Health and Wellness Fund. Teamsters Local 814–Wednesday May 2, 7 PM, at Sotheby’s Auction House (72nd and York) Sotheby’s has locked out 43 art handlers to replace them with low-wage temporary workers with no benefits. Sotheby’s is expected to sell Edvard Munch’s iconic painting “The Scream” for $80 million dollars at this auction. Most of the “99 pickets” will start from a convergence point at Bryant Park at 8am on the morning of May 1 and go to locations in midtown, including: Chase Bank, Standard and Poor’s, ABC, Wells Fargo, Blackrock, Fidelity, and Lazard. The purpose of the pickets is to draw attention to the common struggles of workers across the city. Moises Cerezo, a line cook at the Capital Grille Chrysler Center says that at his workplace “…there is racial discrimination, wage theft, an abusive environment, retaliation for organizing, and more, and that’s why we fight; but we know that many other workers have a similar struggle against their bosses, against the 1%. That is why we not only have our campaign, but we will stand in solidarity with all workers on May Day.” Mahoma Lopez, a worker at Hot and Crusty Bakery is participating because “…everywhere we look, immigrants and poorly paid people are going through these same struggles everywhere. People are being exploited all over this city, and we have a responsibility to help them organize for a better life and dignity at their jobs.” For more on the 99 picket lines, see: http://99picketlines.tumblr.com/ , http://www.facebook.com/99PicketLines , or email: 99picketlines@gmail.com . Occupy Wall Street is part of an international people powered movement fighting for economic justice in the face of neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, and a government controlled by monied interests. #OWS is the 99% organizing to end the tyranny of the 1%.?For more info http://www.occupywallst.org and http://www.nycga.net . Participating Organizations: UAW 2320 Laundry Workers Center United Taxi Workers Alliance Immigrant Worker Justice WG SEIU 1199 Restaurant Opportunities Center-NY Immigrant Worker Justice Working Group Occupy Sunset Park OWS Direct Action UAW/Pay the Writer Campaign OWS/Break up BofA Brandworkers International Writers Guild of America Community Farmworker Alliance Newspaper Guild of New York (CWA 31003) Coalition of Immokalee Workers New York Communities for Change (NYCC) Vocal-NY Taxi Workers Alliance Teamsters Local 814 (IBT) NABET-CWA Local 16 Strong Economy for All Act Up/ Healthcare for the 99% Laborers 79 OWS Immigrant Worker Justice Group Local 78 CSEA (AFSCME) OWS/Break Up BofA Domestic Workers United Street Vendors Project Musicians Local 802 DC 1707 Transit Workers Union Families for Freedom Workers United

For the month of April, the Jefferson Market Library is hosting an exhibition of poems from the Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology in the spiral staircase leading library goers from the ground floor to the main room. April is POETRY MONTH! And the Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology is open to all poems: famous poets sit next to obscure poets, experimental poems are next to traditional ones, there are many languages, and poems both for and against the the Occupy Movement. The anthology consists of 721 poems, 4 poetic introductions, 448 poets (140 women, 275 men, 34 androgynous) and poems in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Urdu, German, Japanese, Chinese and Dutch. Tomorrow, April 14th, the Jefferson Market Library has opened its doors to OWS Poetry Anthology to host a reading so all the poets and the community at large can come out and engage with each other. This is a great opportunity for the Occupy Movement to educate and converse with the West Village Community. And they have two weeks to engage with the poems on the walls and think about what is being said…. So come prepared! I’ve even invited all the poets in the Anthology to read a poem as well, so expect to be challenged and expect to be loved! Poets will get 3-5minutes to read their work, depending on the size of the crowd…. The event will be held in a similar fashion to the Poetry Assemblies: readers will add their name to a “hat” and be called at random. The event will kick off with a short “lecture” on the significance of MAY DAY and the GENERAL STRIKE, which is currently a major focus of the Occupy Movement…. if you don’t know much about it, or have questions or wanna hear about it from an expert, be sure to be there at 2pm. If you have serious ethical, moral, or safety concerns about the poems on the walls, be sure to tell a librarian! They’ll take your concerns, print and laminate them, and post them on the wall so everyone can consider what you got to say…. Also email them to me, so I can add it to the anthology stephenjboyerATgmailDOTcom Also, to mark the occasion, we will be presenting the NYPL with two copies of the anthology. One will go to central archives and the other will stay in the Jefferson Market branch And if you haven’t heard, the anthology is currently running a campaign to raise money so it can be printed and sent to occupations, special collections, and major library systems around the world. The Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology is an anthology made by and for the people…. Please spread the word: if we are going to be able to do this, we will need for this to go viral and be supported by everyone. The link for the campaign is here, at indiegogo . SUNDAY::: To commemorate its 25th anniversary, the AIDS activist group ACT UP will return to its roots and stage a massive demonstration and march on Wall Street — on Wednesday, April 25 — starting at 11 am at City Hall and ending on Wall Street. Hundreds of protestors are expected to converge for a daylong siege in Lower Manhattan. ACT UP (The AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) will be joined by Occupy Wall Street (OWS), the organization making history this year and last with its public encampments and series of protests against the global financial community. The groups are joining forces to pump up the volume on a growing nationwide outcry for a “Financial Speculation Tax” (Fi.S.T.) on Wall Street. The groups are calling on local, state, and federal legislators to “give Wall Street the FiST,” which is needed to fill AIDS funding gaps and — once and for all — provide universal healthcare in the US. It’s time for effective healthcare to be made available to everyone — to the 99%, not just the 1%. The Fi.S.T. does not target individual investors, and would not affect regular bank transactions. Instead, it would place a small tax — a mere fraction of one percent — on speculative trading by Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds and other large financial institutions. HIV treatment saves lives — by preventing new infections and keeping those already infected from reaching end-stage AIDS. However, of all people worldwide in need of access to HIV treatment, only 44% have it. More than 8 million people do not. In the United States today, 3,840 people who qualify for federal assistance to pay for HIV treatment are on waiting lists — or in other words, are at risk of dying from AIDS. “The AIDS crisis is not over,” says veteran ACT UP New York member Ann Northrop. “But, we know it could be,” she adds. AIDS treatment — when combined with simple prevention interventions — is the key to breaking the back of the epidemic worldwide. In addition to saving lives, early HIV/AIDS treatment reduces the risk of transmission of HIV by 96%. And so, with sufficient funding for treatment and prevention, we can turn the tide on AIDS. Globally, HIV/AIDS has claimed over 30 million lives. Both ACT UP and OWS suggest the revenue from a Financial Speculation Tax would be significant — potentially in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The revenue from this tax should be used to fund the end of the AIDS pandemic, i.e. to fill in US budget gaps in the fight against HIV/AIDS at home and abroad. It should be used to provide treatment, services and prevention to thousands of Americans and millions around the world. The groups also say the tax could help pay for universal healthcare in the US. “We are organizing this historic united front to bring our message to governments and to Wall Street financiers who are sitting on the key to ending the AIDS epidemic,” according to Eric Sawyer, a founding member of ACT UP New York. “There is no excuse. We have the know how to end AIDS. It is lack of funding and political will that keeps us from reaching universal access to HIV treatment worldwide.” Additional organizations are expected to join the demonstration in New York City, including Housing Works, Health GAP, National Nurses United, OWS Healthcare for the 99% Working Group, Visual AIDS, MIX NYC, Le Petit Versailles, Queerocracy, Queering OWS and others. The action will be in New York on April 25th — but the need is global. And, the time is now. AIDS is now. END AIDS NOW! ACT UP & Occupy! Tax Wall Street! End AIDS! The AIDS crisis is not over — but it could be! Tax Wall St. to End #AIDS #ACTUP #OWS #OccupyAIDS #OccupyWallSt #TaxWallSt #EndAIDS #April25 #ActUp25 #A25 Filed under: Announcements , Party time! , Poetry , Solidarity , Stephen