Upcoming Legislation, Conference, and Accomplishments in Review

While the Occupy Wall St. movement represents a new expression of outrage at injustices which have been around for a long time, it also represents a  movement with a name addressing one of the major perpetrators of a destructive ideology.  A number of actions are coming up, and have been accomplished, which mostly reflect activity by activists who have been engaged in promoting justice before the Occupy Wall St. movement was articulated.  Take  a look, let me know what you think, and if you understand what we´re all about, I hope we´ll continue to be in touch.  If you don´t sympathize, I wish you well anyway, and invoke Gandhi, Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa, and other spiritual leaders for your spiritual reflection.    Dear NCBA members and friends, Today, I'm writing to ask your support for legislation that will provide resources to spur the expansion and formation of cooperatives in both urban and rural areas. Representatives Chaka Fattah (D-PA) and three co-sponsors have introduced legislation in the US House of Representatives that has the potential to spur economic development and job creation through cooperative development. The National Cooperative Development Act would establish a National Cooperative Development Center to provide capital, training and other resources to foster cooperative development. Addressing  economic development though cooperative development will advance the economic stability of local areas; increase the circulation of capital locally; and develop, attract and anchor new productive capital in urban and rural underserved communities. We need your support! We want more co-sponsors! Please ask your Representative to demonstrate their commitment to strengthening communities and creating jobs by becoming a co-sponsor of this bill. In your letter, tell your Representative about your co-op, make it personal to you and their district. Use the talking points available at www.campaign.coop/node/24 to highlight the impact co-ops can have in their district. Tell them how the National Cooperative Development Act would help their district. Sincerely, Paul Hazen                                         ANNOUNCING THE LEFT FORUM 2012 OPENING PLENARY! Friday, March 16th 6:30 pm Pace University's Schimmel Theater 1 Pace Plaza, New York, New York Rose Ann DeMoro is executive director of the National Nurses United, the nation's largest union of nurses. DeMoro is also executive director of the California Nurses Association, which is well known for igniting the campaign that upended one of the world's most famous celebrity politicians, Arnold Schwarzenegger, dropping his public approval from 70% to 35% in the polls.  Marina Sitrin has been active in occupy movements worldwide. She is the editor of Voices of Popular Power in Argentina and author of Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina (forthcoming). She is a lawyer and postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Globalization and Social Change at the City University of New York.  ...... leftforum.org  1) Thank President Obama and Lisa Jackson for protecting us from toxic coal pollution.

Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to President Obama and Administrator Jackson. "Thank you for updating the Clean Air Act to protect Americans from unlimited toxic air pollution from dangerous, outdated power plants. Please stand up to industry pressure, and implement this rule without delay." Automatically add your name: Learn more about this campaign

Dear Mark,

Contrary to what you might be hearing from dirty coal companies today, the sky is not falling. In fact, it's about to get a whole lot cleaner.

The EPA just announced that it has finalized The Mercury Rule, one of the most important updates to the Clean Air Act in the Act's 40 year history.

This rule has been in the making for more than two decades, and will finally close one of the biggest loopholes that allow coal-burning power plants — especially decades old plants that were grandfathered in under the Clean Air Act without modern pollution controls — to pump unlimited quantities of Mercury and other toxic pollution into our air, and pass the cost of their pollution to us.

It's a cost that millions of Americans, especially children and the elderly, pay in higher healthcare bills and shorter lives. In fact, the current lack of limits is the reason that one in ten women has mercury levels in her body that are high enough to present a danger during pregnancy.

CREDO Members played a huge role in pushing back on coal industry pressure, and making this happen. Together, we submitted more public comments to the EPA on this rule than any other environmental group — over 160,000.

Thanks for your activism. Today you helped deliver a huge win for all of us.

Elijah Zarlin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

2) Dear Stop Shopping Faithful,

We are wrapping up and incredibly busy and productive year. I’ve been doing a quantitative analysis of our work and I have some numbers for you:

• Choir performances: 63
• Live Sermons by Reverend Billy: 147
• Essays by Reverend Billy: 93
• Books published by Rev & Savitri: 1
• Baptisms: 9
• Podcasts: 36
• Radio interviews: 101
• New songs: 11....

Thank you for your enduring support and encouragement, Savitri D.
This has been a message from the Rev Billy Bulletin. Click Here To unsubscribe from this list. Visit us online at http://www.revbilly.com

3) Dear Mark,

With gratitude, the 6th Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy held the best conference we’ve had to date.  With over 200 participants, we far exceeded our previous attendance record, offered bilingual interpretation and childcare for the first time, and drew from a greater number of cooperatives and organizations than ever before. You can read all of our media coverage and a conference summary here.

Most importantly, we engaged folks on a national level who see themselves as part of a movement to transform the economy: an economy of democracy and cooperation.

Collaboration and movement-building has brought us to the place we are today. The Occupy Wall St movement has allowed us to engage hundreds, even thousands of people about workplace democracy - people who are eager to learn about the democratic alternatives that exist to the mainstream corporate hierarchy.


 Sincerely,
The Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy

4) Mark, what a year!

From Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., on the football field and the factory floor, this year we've seen an unprecedented assault on working families from big corporations and their friends in elected office. But the anti-worker crowd didn't anticipate that their attacks would backfire and ignite a political awakening for the 99%.

When it comes to the best moments for workers in 2011, one definite highlight is the role you played in helping workers organize at IKEA's only U.S. factory. The phone calls and 23,000 letters from activists like you made a huge difference in convincing IKEA to sit down at the table and helped workers move forward with a successful election. And just this week, they ratified their first contract, which will finally secure them much needed protections on the job. 

– Kim and the entire American Rights at Work team: Alicia, Beth, Bryan, Erin, Hilary, Liz, Michael, Nico, Nikki, Ori, Reese, Ryan, Susan, and Zoe.

5) Dear Mark, Phew, talk about a fast-paced year! Together, we persuaded the President to loosen the restrictions on travel to Cuba and to defend Cuban family travel from rollback. We held up the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until the Colombian government promised to protect human and labor rights and now we’re getting Congress to hold them to their word. We partnered with Mexican and U.S. human rights groups to get tens of thousands of people involved in a bi-national campaign to stop the bloodshed in Mexico. And we’re just getting started!

With deepest gratitude,


Lisa Haugaard
Executive Director
Latin America Working Group