From www.umc.org
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things
More than 10,000 demonstrators gathered that day to express their dissatisfaction with corporate power and stark income inequality in the United States. The handmade signs are powerful personal expressions of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to change the world.
We are witnessing no less than a “Revolution of Values:” Income equality, paying your fair share, reclaiming public space, open exercise of democracy, regulating corporate greed, restricting corporate takeover of the political system, advocacy for the homeless and the unemployed, forgiveness of debts, open media, health care for all, an opportunity for all to participate in change where they are. Before the Occupy Movement, there was little discussion of the outsized power of financial institutions and the diminishing fortunes of the middle class.
It is a “movement” — not a list of demands — with a call for deep change, which combines the local and the global and names the source of the crisis, caused in large part by Wall Street greed, perverse financial incentives and a corporate takeover of the political system and media.
We have created a big tent: The 99 percent are people of all ages, races, occupations, political affiliations and religious beliefs. We are learning to work together with respect to address the critical challenges of our time.
In 2010, more Americans lived below the poverty line than at any time since 1959, when the U.S. Census Bureau began collecting this data. One-third of all children in California live in poverty.
Full article at http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=5847613&ct=11537913¬oc=1