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9/11/08 
No school, no work, no shopping, no life as usual....Not for today. Not this week. Not until we've won! "Sooner or later all freedom loving Americans will realize that the only way to stop those who would bleed our nation dry, dismantle our
constitution, and dissolve our national sovereignty is ato templatesay I will not
work pagefor you, buy from you, fight for you, or die for you, until the
criminals are gone from the halls of our government."
| | ||
| General Strike USA on Sept. 11, 2008 | ||
A general strike is called for September 11, 2008, the anniversary of the 9/11/2001 attacks on New York City and Arlington, Virginia.
General strikes shut down the normal operations of a city, state, or nation for a period of time. These strikes aim to force action on a single issue or broader set of concerns. The 9/11/08 General Strike has a central location - http://www.votestrike.com - on the Internet, which is linked to and reproduced on a variety of other internet sites. The site states the rationale for the effort:
The General Strike is a national call to action, from citizens Useto other citizens.
It is not about a single issue. It is not an anti-war protest, a civil rights protest, an election fraud protest. It is not about torture, surveillance, corporate media, or the environment. This strike is about all these issues and more.
We all have different concerns, but we all have the same concern: we are being lied to and this templategovernment whendoes younot wantrepresent us. Join millions of Americans in demanding truth, justice, and accountability.
This is our country.
And our world.
And our world.
A National Call to useAction: photosThursday, September 11th, 2008
No school. No work. Buy nothing. Hit the streets!
No school. No work. Buy nothing. Hit the streets!
The strike targets key issues facing the American public, issues that have not been addressed in any meaningful way by any branch of government. Unions, corporations, & the major parties have failed to deal with pressing matters of war & peace, income inequality, crime & punishment & the meaning of citizenship itself, it has fallen to the American people to set things right! Public protest is an important part of democracy, just like a free press, a judiciary, and textcongress. Our causes are many but it's time to tellmake yourour voices as one.
Citizen discontent & other concerns of the strike include massive violations of civil rights. The strike campaign argues that under our system of checks & balances when the judiciary & Congress fail in their duty it is then up to the American people to defend the Constitution, Bill of Rights & our way story.of life.
Call to Clickaction: EasyEditN,o work, No school thenon highlightSeptember this11, text2008. It also includes “no shopping;” a suspension of all purchasing during the strike. 75% of our economy is consumer spending, when Bush says to shop, we must STOP!
The general strike calls for participants to “Hit the Streets.” But why spend our time protesting in DC to be ignored? Unless we get in the streets outside our rep.s personal residences- who is going to care?
We need to mobilize locally- & demand national action. Few of us could go to Washington, DC- but many of us- can go to our city halls or state legislatures- or local Congressional offices.
Tell the government that we're fed up with war, torture, corruption, & special interest funding our elections & our media.
Strikes have brought civil rights in the U.S. & around the world. Help make our voices louder than the mainstream media & corporate dollars.
"It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error".
U.S. Supreme Court, in American Communication Association v. Douds, 339 U.S. 382, 442
In order to get involved, here are the five best steps to take now:
1) Sign up with your cursoremail address HERE in order to get updates,
1) Sign up with your cursoremail address HERE in order to get updates,
2) Mark the day on your calendar and typeplan overto be at a protest in your community,
3) Send this URL to all your friends, post it withto forums, put it on your ownpersonal pages, http://www.votestrike.com
4) Be a volunteer activist, ask us how.
5) Take the lead and help organize a protest on 9/11.
Shut 'Em Down!
| There is no reason to wait 'till Sept. 11th to strike & every reason to strike now! When Bush says to shop, WE MUST STOP! Congress has borrowed trillions of dollars on top of our outrageous debt to hand out tax rebates to folks that don't even pay taxes. Why? To save the New World Order. This is our time to STRIKE BACK! I've been told that people won't take a day off during an economic downturn BUT that is when you strike. When the BEAST is weak. Now is the time, the only time that a few days of empty Wal Marts & theatres will send the economy reeling & give this strike the bite that it needs to succeed. Bring them to their knees. STRIKE today, strike everyday. Buy nothing you don't absolutely need. The Founding Fathers protested the words:Stamp Tax, poured tea into the harbor, etc.  Sept. 11th 2008 |
When planning a protest,
Select Your Target
Sites for a protest must be on public property unless you have written permission to hold your event from the property owner. You can writebe asarrested muchon asany private property. Potential protest sites include:
Protest outside local media. Local media will gladly cover your protest if you want!target them.
- Outside State, County, City, Town, or Federal buildings
- State and County election commission offices
- Town Halls, City Halls, State Capitols
- National Media offices and studios (only on nearby public owned and maintained sidewalks, parks, and open spaces)
ThisIf sampleyou photohave isa easyguest speaker, a PA system, or plan to plug something in get a permit.Schedule Your Protest
Select a date and time when most people in the area can attend:
- If picketing offices, the hour employees arrive and depart provides high visibility for your target audience: weekday mornings, lunch hour, quitin' time.
Give yourself enough lead time before the event to sufficiently publicize and prepare your event.
Once, announced, don't change the place, date, or time.Plan Your Protest
Good planning makes a big difference. A Logistics Coordinator can really help. Here's a partial protest planning checklist:
- Arrange for a permit (if needed) immediately. Many jurisdictions require a two-week notice or longer
- Invite speakers early (local/national politicians, radio and television personalities, political activists, celebraties, and writers). If possible, arrange to meet your event speakers personally beforehand.
- Rent or find someone to volunteer the use of a PA system (make sure you have access to replaceelectricity on site)
- Notify the police and fire departments nearest your site the week prior to your event
- Plan for set up, tear down, and clean up
Put together a Press Kit for the day of the event. Include:
- A protest press release detailing the facts of the protest and describing the protest's purpose and goals
- A list of guest speakers with oneshort biographies of each
- A list of online links providing background information on election reform, research and evidence of election irregularities, the dangers of digital voting systems, etc.
- A list of upcoming local and national events. Don't forget any follow-on meetups or events you have planned.
- Any protest contact information for follow-up and interviews
- Plan for press interviews during and immediately after your own:protest. Designate who will be interviewed Clickand what message will be delivered. During the EasyEditprotest, button,seek highlightout the placeholderpress imageand atdon't let them get away without an interview. Remember to "stay on message" when talking to leftthe press.
- Plan a post-protest "What's Next" meeting.
Publicize Your Protest
Communicating your protest is vital. Define who can get to your event. Research how to get to them. A Communications Coordinator comes in handy for managing your event communications. Here is a partial checklist:
- Email people and hitorganizations "delete."you know or who know you. Ask Thenthem clickto spread the "image"word.
- Compose and release a press release to all local media announcing your protest.
- Post electronic protest announcements and requests for volunteers on community message boards, blogs, and usergroup forums
- Make, print and distribute flyers announcing your protest (download our flyer template and modify it to suit your event). Put flyers only in permitted locations. buttonSeek business's permission to post any flyers in or on their premises.
- Call in to local radio and television talk shows.
- Contact local political and activist organizations
- Notify union halls, civic organizations, and college campus student groups and organizations
Post-Protest Planning
Don't leave your protesters hanging. Announce at your protest things people can do after the event . Announce and hold a post-protest "What's Next" meeting. Communicate other activities happening elsewhere and the need for continued action and involvement. Remind everyone to spread the word about the state of our country and the toolbarurgent need for effective reform.
| PERMITS |
Citizen protests seeking a redress of grievances from their government are constitutionally guaranteed provided any assembly is peaceful and law-abiding. Permits are not required.
However, public rallies involving PA systems, invited guest speakers, use of electic power, and the need to prepare a public space do require a permit. Without a permit, property can be confiscated and people arrested. So, if you plan music, speakers, and supporting equipment, get a permit. Remember, many jurisdictions require a two-week lead time or more for the "browse"issuance buttonof public site use or street march permits.
Foot Traffic
Do NOT walk in the imagestreet unless you wanthave a permit to insertdo fromso. yourIf gathering computer.on the It'ssidewalks thatplease be sure to keep an aisle open for through foot traffic and under no circumstances step in to the street unless permitted to do so by police officers. We don't want any arrests easy.or property destruction and there are no contingencies for acts of civil disobedience at these events.
TheSigns
Metal textpoles, canwooden sticks and plastic pipes that are more than 1/2" in diameter are not permitted on the Statehouse grounds even as simple sign supports. If you bring signs or banners they must either be hand-held wrappedor aroundsupported youron image,cardboard tubes or on PVC frames made from piping less than 1/2 inch in diameter. State Troopers will approach you canand order you to discard any metal pipes or wooden stakes. This is a rule they are very diligent about enforcing. Please comply with this rule so as to avoid any unnecessary interaction with law enforcement officials.
Disruption
If you see some one disrupting the protest and violence breaks out, notify a police officer immediately. Do not hope it goes away or try to ignore the disturbance. Aside from the obvious safety concerns, we want the press to report the message of the protesters, not dismiss or mischaracterize the event due to inappropriate and illegal behavior. If police respond inappropriately to a situation, take photos but back off and give them their terain. Do not resist or argue or complain to the police in the moment. Move away and document the incident froma safe distance
Language
If there are no guest speakers are at your state capitol protest, lead chants and songs. If you have a bull horn, ask the textprotesters to come forward and speak starttheir belowpiece to the photo.assembled Youcrowd. Monitor the language though. It is illegal to incite to riot or other illegal activities. Profanity can also moveend the protest if broadcast over an amplified device.
| PETITIONS |
Consider composing a local or state petition calling for effective reform. Address the photopetition to your State Representatives and State Senators.
Before distributing the rightPetition to State Representatives, provide a sidecopy of the page.petition Seedocument yourto choicesthe forSecretary of State. Seek out any State Representatives you think may photobe supportive of the petition and textask placementthem byto clickinaccompany onyou in delivering it to other House and Senate members. If you have a sympathetic federal elected representative, ask them to endorse the petition before delivering it. Be sure you have a designated person to hand carry the signed document before collecting signatures.
| THE PRESS |
Remember, the photolocal press will likely want to cover your protest. Conversely, don't waste a lot of time running after national media. I have reports of national producers being threatened with termination if they cover the general strike stories.
Well ahead of your protest, visit your mouselocal newspaper and thenask to clickingspeak "image"to onthe local or state news desk editor. Also, try to personally visit the toolbar.local television stations and ask to speak to a reporter or news producer. If you have a progressive talk radio station, do likewise (This is why a Communications Coordinator would come in handy).
You
For canthose alsoof you planning a media blitz for any protest or activity, be advised:
- Do not send attachments. Most media outlets will refuse emails with any attachments
- Place all text in the body of the email, not exceeding 500 words. Many media outlets refuse emails in excess of 500 words.
- Do not send repeated emails with highly repetitious text or the same subject line. Most news outlets filter email for repetitious content or similar Subject Line text. If you plan an email blitz of local media, change the sizecontent of yourmultiple emails going to one photoaddress by clickingat least 40%. Otherwise, you are likely to just fill up a spam reject folders.
- When emailing newspapers, be cognizant of deadlines. Sunday features deadlines (Living Section, Sunday magazine, etc.) usually occur on Thursday.
- Email to a few email addresses (usually less than 50) at a time to avoid trouble with your ISP
| FLYERS, POSTERS AND SIGNS |
"Make a Sign and Show Up" worked for us and will work for you in your pre-protest promotion.Include URL, date, time, place & reason for action/reform. Down load maps from Mapquest to insert in flyers. Give easy to follow directions to your protest.
There are powerful forces in the U.S., as elsewhere, that will labor to secure their wealth & power, whatever the human cost. They will succeed, if they are not opposed by an informed & committed public. Political rights do not originate in the halls of Congress; they are rather forced upon them from without.
You don't win your rights because somebody writes it down in a law, & you don't lose your rights because somebody writes it oncedown in a law. You win your rights by struggle & you maintain your rights by struggle.
Strikes in the past have brought about monumental changes in society & the government. Such as: the 8 hour work day, child-labor laws, woman's right to vote & civil rights legislation.
*On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day demonstrations, 40,000 went out on strike.
*The Children's Crusade 1903–1911 
At first, the suffragists were politely ignored. But on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. The suffragists' signs became more pointed. They taunted Wilson, accusing him of being a hypocrite. How could he send American men to die in a war for democracy when he denied voting rights to women at home? The suffragists became an embarrassment to President Wilson. It was decided the "Editpicketing in Image"front toolbox.of Whenthe White House must stop. 
By the time Alice Paul was sent to prison, the fight for women's suffrage had been going on for almost 70 years. It had started in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, at a small Women's Rights Convention. These early feminists wanted the same opportunities as men. They wanted the chance to attend college, to become doctors and lawyers, and to own their own land. If they could win the right to vote, they could use their votes to open the doors of the world to women.
In the early twentieth century, child labor was a pervasive phenomenon. Studies estimate that between one-fifth and one-sixth of all children were employed on a full-time basis. Instead of attending school, children worked as much as sixty hours per week in unsafe factories and coalmines.
When a strike began in the textile mills of Kensington in Philadelphia, Mother Jones vowed to expose the crimes of child labor. The Textile Workers Union had demanded that the work-week decrease from sixty to fifty-five hours, and that women and children be prohibited from working night hours. Mother Jones convinced the leaders of the strike to prioritize the issues related to highlightchild it,labor, then bydevoted all of her energy into publicizing this campaign. clickingShe organized a children's march from Philadelphia to New York. Mother Jones made frequent stops to give speeches and to show the public the effects of exploitation–many of the children marching were permanently maimed, which provided real proof of the dangers of their employment. Mother Jones gained much publicity for the plight of child laborers, and the march was an important first step towards child labor laws in the United States.
*Throughout the winter of 1917, Alice Paul and her followers in the National Women's Party picketed the White House. They stood silently at the "plus"gates, holding signs that said "Mr. president, how long must women wait for liberty?" The picketers were suffragists. They wanted President Woodrow Wilson to support a Constitutional amendment giving all American women suffrage, or "minus"the signright to vote.
At first, the suffragists were politely ignored. But on April 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. The suffragists' signs became more pointed. They taunted Wilson, accusing him of being a hypocrite. How could he send American men to die in a war for democracy when he denied voting rights to women at home? The suffragists became an embarrassment to President Wilson. It was decided the "Editpicketing in Image"front toolbox.of Whenthe White House must stop. Soon, the police began arresting the suffragists on charges of obstructing traffic. At first, the charges were dropped. Next, the women were sentenced to jail terms of just a few days. But the suffragists kept picketing, and their prison sentences grew. Finally, in an effort to break the spirit of the picketers, the police arrested Alice Paul. She was tried and sentenced to 7 months in prison.
Paul was placed in solitary confinement. There she began a hunger strike-one which others would join.
Paul refused to end the hunger strike--or her fight for the you'revote.
By the time Alice Paul was sent to prison, the fight for women's suffrage had been going on for almost 70 years. It had started in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, at a small Women's Rights Convention. These early feminists wanted the same opportunities as men. They wanted the chance to attend college, to become doctors and lawyers, and to own their own land. If they could win the right to vote, they could use their votes to open the doors of the world to women. For the next 50 years, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led the women's rights movement. Thanks to their efforts, the women's suffrage amendment was presented to Congress for the first time in 1878. But Congressmen refused to allow a vote on the issue. The amendment was reintroduced every year for forty years. During that time, it was never voted upon.
By the time Alice Paul and the National Women's Party began their suffrage campaign, the old leaders of the women's movement were gone. But support for the suffrage amendment had grown. Women were already voting in twelve western states. And in 1916, Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first women elected to Congress. Yet Congress was no closer to passing the suffrage amendment than before. 
Finally, on January 9, 1918, Wilson announced his support for suffrage. The next day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the Susan. B. Anthony Amendment, which would give suffrage to all done,women savecitizens. yourOn June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the Amendment by one vote. And a little more than a year later, on page.August 26, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. That made it officially the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
Giant suffrage parades were held in New York and Washington. Thousands of suffragists in long white dresses marched. There were floats, women on horseback, and banners flying. A number of men joined in. But the parades did not change the minds of President Wilson or Congress. So the picketing began at the White House.
After 5 weeks in prison, Alice Paul was set free. The attempts to stop the picketers had backfired. Newspapers carried stories about the jail terms and forced feedings of the suffragists. The stories angered many Americans and created more support than ever for the suffrage amendment.
Finally, on January 9, 1918, Wilson announced his support for suffrage. The next day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the Susan. B. Anthony Amendment, which would give suffrage to all done,women savecitizens. yourOn June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the Amendment by one vote. And a little more than a year later, on page.August 26, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment. That made it officially the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. 