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Organizing Agenda Moving beyond the “Wall Street model of human liberty.” The ever expanding burdens thrown onto the backs of working people are not only unreasonable, oppressive and unfair, these burdens have grown too big for working people to shoulder. In response, Occupy Portland's Labor Outreach Committee has launched a Peoples’ Assembly Organizing Committee tasked with organizing, planning and facilitating the democratic development of a peoples’ budget centered on democratically addressing the primary economic interests of ordinary working people. Upcoming Events Community Assembly to Create a People's Budget Date: Saturday, May 5, 2012 Time: 1:00pm until 6:00pm Location: First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon - 1211 SW Main Street, Portland, OR 97205 Jump to this event's wiki page, edit it, discuss it or return to the events page. Purpose Occupy Portland’s Labor Solidarity Committee invites all people to join us in a Community Assembly to create a people’s budget that works for all of us. Our intention is to launch a campaign and action plan to achieve a city budget and spending proposal that addresses the primary concerns we all share, such as jobs, no cuts to services, housing, transportation, health care, education, etc. We plan to outreach to labor unions, community groups, Occupy, and the broader 99% to join us in a fightback against the planned city cuts to essential services, while putting forth a budget for the 99%. Other details Why do some observers compare the collapse of neoliberal capitalism to the collapse of the Soviet Union? “The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what’s happening.” Contact Us Main Info Page Community Assembly to Create a People’s Budget Group Homepage: http://groups.google.com/group/peoples-assembly Group Email: peoples-assembly@googlegroups.com Facebook Pages RSVP: Community Assembly to Create a People's Budget The Continuations Committee to implement a People's budget Occupy Portland Labor Solidarity Committee <facelikebutton></facelikebutton> Downloadable Flyers Whose Budget? The People's Budget! Jobs! not Layoffs! No cuts to city services! Save Our Community Centers! See Also Peoples’ Assembly Organizing Committee Occupy Portland Labor Outreach Committee more information References Links to Documents A Budget for the Rest of Us Resolution in Support of a Community Assembly to Create a “People’s Budget” (Short version.) Resolution in Support of a Community Assembly to Create a “People’s Budget” (Long version -- draft.) CA Outreach Update - Time Sensitive (Shorter, updated list.) CA outreach lists (Fuller list.) Peoples’ Assembly Organizing Committee - Combined Meeting Notes Proposal Ideas: Community Assembly for a People’s Budget This document contains DRAFT proposals that began with suggestions and ideas that emerged during inaugural meeting to plan for a Community Assembly Meeting for a People’s Budget, which took place on Thursday, January 26, 2012 in Portland, Oregon. Contact Us Group Homepage: http://groups.google.com/group/peoples-assembly Group Email: peoples-assembly -AT- googlegroups -DOT- com Info Page on PortlandGeneralAssembly.org: Community Assembly to Create a People’s Budget Attend Our Meetups! Join our discussion list -- http://groups.google.com/group/peoples-assembly Please connect with us through our mailing list to receive all time/date/location updates. Next Meetup: To be announced. Past Events / Meetings Community Assembly Organizing Meeting - Saturday February 11 2012 Community Assembly Organizing Meeting - Saturday February 4 2012 A Budget for the Rest of Us Who: Occupy Portland’s Labor Solidarity Committee What: Strategy Session When: Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. Where: Oregon Fair Trade Campaign Office Address: 310 SW 4th Ave., Suite 436, Downtown Portland In addition to our group discussion list, a number of our wiki pages use the possessive of peoples, as in indigenous peoples. It's likely, however, that the possessive of people, as in We the People, will appear more often in the discussions we have and in the documents we craft. See Also Occupy Portland Labor Outreach Committee Represent The People Make Revolution Not War Organized Power <section begin=Creating_a_People.27s_Budget /> Creating a People's Budget Participatory Budgeting Participatory Democracy in Chicago: Participatory Budgeting is Working, Important, and Going to Stay Introduction to the 49th Ward Participatory Budgeting Project from (Chicago) Alderman Joe Moore From Budget Cuts to a People's Budget? Connecting Participatory Planning and Public Budgets in New York (Vimeo) Chicago Alderman Joe Moore explains to a New York audience why "in many respects, by giving up power (to constituents) I ended up having more power, because this was the single most popular thing I had done in my 19 years as member of city council." A. Philip Randolph - Freedom Budget Freedom Budget The Freedom Budget at 45: Functional Finance and Full Employment ABSTRACT: Forty-five years ago, the A. Philip Randolph Institute issued “The Freedom Budget,” in which a program for economic transformation was proposed that included a job guarantee for everyone ready and willing to work, a guaranteed income for those unable to work or those who should not be working, and a living wage to lift the working poor out of poverty. Such policies were supported by a host of scholars, civic leaders, and institutions, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; indeed, they provided the cornerstones for King’s “Poor Peoples’ Campaign” and “economic bill of rights.” This paper proposes a “New Freedom Budget” for full employment based on the principles of functional finance. To counter a major obstacle to such a policy program, the paper includes a “primer” on three paradigms for understanding government budget deficits and the national debt: the deficit hawk, deficit dove, and functional finance perspectives. Finally, some of the benefits of the job guarantee are outlined, including the ways in which the program may serve as a vehicle for a variety of social policies. After the March on Washington, Dr. King, Randolph and Thomas worked together to promote the groundbreaking “Freedom Budget,” which proposed:  the abolition of poverty  guaranteed full employment  full production and high economic growth  adequate minimum wages  farm income parity  guaranteed incomes for all unable to work  a decent home for every American family  modern health services for all  full educational opportunity for all.  updated (and expanded) Social Security and welfare programs.  equitable tax and money policies Second New Deal Our Documents: Franklin Roosevelt's Address Announcing the Second New Deal Second Bill of Rights FDR Second Bill of Rights Speech Footage (YouTube) This is FDR's proposed second Bill of Rights that was filmed after he delivered his State of the Union Address via radio on January 11, 1944. Franklin Roosevelt -Second Bill of Rights (YouTube) Poor People's Campaign Poor People’s Campaign History of Poor People's Campaign The Poor People’s Campaign 43 years later through the lens of Occupy Wall Street (Superb analysis: The Poor People’s Campaign — 1968 [in contrast with] The “Occupy” Movement — 2011) Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Statement by Dr., Martin Luther King Jr., President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Announcing The Poor People's Campaign. Atlanta, Georgia, December 4, 1967. King Versus the Tea Party: From the Poor People's Campaign to Occupy Dr. Martin Luther King's Economics: Through Jobs, Freedom Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus The People’s Budget - Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus - Fiscal Year 2012 This document is the budget published by the Congressional Progressive Caucus for fiscal year 2012. Its Executive Summary begins with this paragraph: Budgets are more than collections of numbers; they are a statement of our values. The Congressional Progressive Caucus Budget is a reflection of the values and priorities of working families in this country. The “People’s Budget” charts a path that keeps America exceptional in the 21st century, while addressing the most pressing problems facing the nation today. Our Budget eliminates the deficit and stabilizes the debt, puts Americans back to work, and restores our economic competitiveness. The People's Budget (Basic overview of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s “People’s Budget” highlights, drawn from source material.) Additional Articles & Resources What Occupy taught the unions -- SEIU and others are embracing the movement that has succeeded as they have faded Unions and the movement -- Howard Zinn on class in America Pt4: A reinvigorated labor movement needed for a great social upheaval "90 percent of the workforce is unorganized. They're organizable. This 90 percent of the workforce are not people who are rich. They're people who need unions. They need to raise their wages. They need to be able to face their employers with some strength rather than the weakness of an individual facing a corporation. So there's a reservoir of possibility there for organizing." Making it real: Obama & his apocryphal "Now Make Me Do It" -- Obama Can Win Big With FDR Formula Class Warfare Waged by FDR Holds Lesson for Obama The Ninety-Five Theses on the Ills of Europe Capitalism Is The Crisis (Full Movie) (YouTube) How To Destroy The Occupy Movement And How To Prevent It From Failing A Constituent Power Greater Than its Parts: Occupy and Workers from the Port Shutdown to the Primaries Book review: Hessel & Morin — The Road to Hope See the sections "What are the problems?" and "What are the solutions?" for useful ideas. THE NEW COMMON SENSE (Pastebin) A Declaration of INTERDEPENDENCE, born of necessity, from and for the collective conscience of the "99%" to and for the oligarchic "1%" of the United States of America. Federated General Assembly Federated General Assembly - Introduction Federated General Assembly - Description The Federated General Assembly (FGA) project is building a new web platform that combines community organizing techniques and ideas, lessons and patterns from social networks, web standards and best practices, all together with the very real ecosystem of Occupy itself: occupations & their working groups, the values and principles, and all the coordination & communication challenges. Peoples Assemblies Network Peoples Assemblies Network Includes Peoples Assemblies News and Peoples Assemblies Groups. Real Jobs Creation Tired of the bullshit from self-styled "job creators" who can't seem to stop yammering endlessly about all the mythical "jobs" that our overly generous cuts to their taxes are supposedly "creating"? Maybe there's a more straightforward way to actual, tangible, real-wage jobs... Green industry California green jobs more recession resistant, study says Where the Iberdrola money's really going Here's an emerging trend in Portland: When the city says it's handing out tax dollars to keep "green" businesses in town, chances are the money's actually being paid to those businesses' landlords. <section end=Creating_a_People.27s_Budget /> Grammatical Confusion? “Peoples’” or “People’s”? Either way works for this group! References