Occupy Wall Street – and Organizing Against Foreclosures

I thought I arrived six month late for Occupy Wall Street. And I probably did in some ways. I know I’ll be teaching about those hopeful days in September and October 2011 for a good long while. But I was hoping that things would still be moving along when I hit town this spring. And indeed they are. Its impossible to really get a sense of the massive mobilizations still underway across this city. There are more than ten meetings and usually at least two or three demonstrations every day. Wall Street is occupied once again, after a month of occupation at Union Square. There are arrests of those trying to lie down and sleep at midnight every single night. One message I read explained – come and see the street theatre – performances every evening at midnight. 

But we’ve been most able to hook in with the Occupy Foreclosures. Folks we know from ‘back in the day’ are involved in this. These protests are incredible and it’s a movement that will likely reach beyond the street protests and occupations. According to Organizing for Occupation (O4O):
“Every week, foreclosed homes are sold at auctions throughout the five boroughs of New York City.  Many of the families who live in these homes were victims of predatory loans and deceptive banking practices, but now face imminent evictions from some of the biggest culprits of financial fraud in the banking and mortgage industry. Others will have their house bought out by speculators, who are looking to flip properties, or gentrify new neighborhoods.” So… folks go to the courtroom where these auctions are held, fill the courtroom and sing songs and make it impossible to auction off the homes. Often, the auction is cancelled for the day and the disrupters are arrested. This is happening across the US, but all this last week in New York. Now, I must admit I haven’t yet made it into the courtroom, mostly because there are many others more prompt than I, and because we usually have Sidney with us – but on Thursday we watched as people joined in. I stood outside with a giant banner that read, “Banks, Stop Stealing Our Homes.” Person after person approached me with something supportive to say. From the old woman who blessed us for fighting for what’s right, to the high school kids who were sad that they had to miss the protest and go to class, to the man whose home had been foreclosed on – all of them easily understood that this madness must stop.