FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2012
Contact:
Occupy SF Press Team, (415) 937-7759, press@occupywallstwest.org
Occupy San Francisco Announces 2012 Kick-Off: A Planned San Francisco Financial District Occupation
Wednesday, Jan. 18, 10 AM press conference will highlight 99% demands and plans for a day-long direct action protest this Friday called “Occupy Wall Street West”
WHEN: 10-10:30am, Wednesday, January 18
WHERE: 555 California Street, corner of California and Kearny, outside the corporate offices of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
VISUALS: Giant squid illustrating Goldman Sachs as “vampire squid,” large banners.
WHAT: Activists with Occupy Wall Street West will hold a press conference on Wednesday, January 18 to announce their plans to welcome in the new year with daylong protests and direct actions this Friday to disrupt business as usual for banks and corporations complicit in foreclosures, economic injustice, war profiteering and labor rights violations. With dozens of affinity groups and over 55 organizations targeting specific banks and companies, this is predicted to be the largest street protest of the Financial District since anti-war protests in 2003. The press conference will feature speakers addressing multiple constituencies of the 99% such as students, Iraq veterans, anti-war, anti-corporate personhood and environmental activists, queer and interfaith organizers, workers, home-owners and tenants. Featured speakers include R. Warren Langley, President (ret), Pacific Stock Exchange; and Vivian Richardson, a San Francisco homeowner who faced bank foreclosure (see bios below).
Occupy Wall Street West actions will target Wall St. banks and corporations complicit in attacking Bay Area communities, homes, education environment, livelihood, and democracy. The activists demand that banks stop predatory evictions and foreclosures and an end to corporate personhood; and they aim to continue building and mobilizing a strategic mass movement asserting the people power of the 99% for economic justice and a better world.
The January 20 Occupy Wall St West actions are the culmination of actions in which hundreds of protestors successfully shut down bank branches in the Excelsior, Mission, and Bernal neighborhoods. As part of the national January 20 “Occupy the Courts” day of action protests will include a demonstration against corporate personhood at the 9th District Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Timed to coincide with the opening of the stock market, Friday’s actions will start at 6am and will finish with a march starting with speakers and a flashmob at Bradley Manning (Justin Herman) Plaza and traveling to 555 California St. for a lively street party.
ADDITIONAL PRESS INFO:
For interview requests and hot action story tips:
Call: (415) 937-7759
Email: press@occupywallstwest.org
For featured news roll, videostreams, and twitter feeds:
See www.occupywallstwest.org and www.occupysf.org
Subscribe to press list to obtain photos and video of the actions: www.occupywallstwest.org/press
Actions are identified on the action map (www.occupywallstwest.org/map) and action list (www.occupywallstwest.org/actions)
Warren Langley served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Pacific Exchange in San Francisco. Prior to that, he was a Principal and Chief Operating Officer of Hull Trading in Chicago and is a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Vivian Richardson, a San Francisco homeowner faced bank foreclosure of her home with a December 31, 2011 eviction date. After public protest of the bank with neighbors, a community group and Occupy SF last November, her loan was modified and her home saved.
Occupy SF Housing is a coalition which includes OccupySF, SF Tenants Union, Housing Rights Committee of SF, Causa Justa: Just Cause, Eviction Defense Collaborative, ACCE, Homes Not Jails, Occupy Bernal, and other community groups and individuals. The coalition came together to stop banks from evicting tenants and homeowners through foreclosures or through their partnerships with real estate speculators.
Occupy SF strives to address and confront the injustices in our society by giving voice to the 99% through direct actions. OSF is simultaneously creating a new culture based on direct democracy, diversity, sustainable communities, and respect for all peoples and the environment.
Over 50 additional organizations are participating in the Occupy Wall Street West Day of Action including: 28th Amendment Group, Ack-Act Theater, ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and Racism Coalition), Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), Asian Law Caucus, Bail Out the People Movement, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice, California Nurses Association, Causa Justa: Just Cause, Coalition on Homelessness, Chinese Progressive Association, CODEPINK Women for Peace, Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Dancing Without Borders, Eviction Defense Collaborative, Filipino Community Center, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Homonomixxx, Housing Rights Committee, International Action Center, Jobs with Justice, La Raza Centro Legal—Day Laborer Program and Women’s Collective, Move to Amend, Move to Amend, Olympia, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, NationofChange, Occupy Bernal, Occupy Berkeley, Occupy MJC (Modesto Junior College), Occupy Oakland, Occupy SF General Assembly and Action Council, Occupy SF Housing Coalition, Occupy SFSU, People Organized to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, People Organized to Win Employment Rights, Pride at Work, Pride at Work/HAVOQ (Horizontal Alliance of Very Organized Queers), Progressive Workers Alliance, QUEEN, Rainforest Action Network, San Francisco for Democracy, San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Tenants Union, SF 99% Coalition, SF Gray Panthers, SF Interfaith Allies of Occupy, SF-NOW, Workers World Party, Young Workers United.
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