Press Releases
CA Nurses Call for Long-Term Sites for Occupy Oakland and Occupy SF
Nurses Call for Peaceful Protests, and End to Arrests, Confrontations
Latest Income Data Reminder of Message of the Occupy Protests
October 26, 2011In the aftermath of Oakland’s raid of the peaceful Occupy Oakland encampment Tuesday and a similar crackdown expected in San Francisco, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today called for Oakland and San Francisco officials to work with the occupy movement for permanent sites for an ongoing peaceful protest and an end to arrests and confrontations.
CNA also noted the release of a Congressional Budget Office report Tuesday on income disparity as reminder of the original “we are the 99 percent” message of the occupy movement.
The CBO report documented that over the past three decades the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans saw a massive 275 percent increase in real after-tax income, compared to just an 18 percent increase for the poorest fifth of the population.
That data also is a reminder of why CNA and NNU have called for a tax on Wall Street financial transactions to help raise sufficient revenue to help address the economic crisis and provide funding for jobs, healthcare for all, quality public education, and other social needs. Nurses will be participating in major actions for a Financial Transaction Tax next week at the G-20 summit in France, as well as in protests in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
“Oakland and San Francisco city officials should learn from the peaceful response of the city of Los Angeles that it is possible to protect the right of free speech and assembly without arrests and confrontation with the occupy protest movement,” said CNA Treasurer Martha Kuhl, RN, an Oakland resident who has joined the occupy protests and encouraged other labor support.
One way to accomplish that is with permanent encampments, as has been shown to be successful in Los Angeles with the more enlightened administrative response by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council to OccupyLA.
“The purpose of this movement, as evidenced in the concerns voiced by the tens of thousands of people participating in more than 1,000 occupy actions around the U.S. is to highlight the disparities in the U.S. and the economic dislocation and suffering caused by the excesses and reckless behavior of Wall Street,” said Kuhl.
“Cities, especially those whose residents have borne the brunt of the economic crisis, should support the goals of the movement, and not waste vital local resources on unnecessary confrontation and arrests.”
Additionally, Kuhl encourage the occupy movement, which has been almost unanimously peaceful in its actions, “to avoid confrontation that detracts from the goals of the protests and only assists those who would undermine the occupy movement.”
http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/entry/california-nurses-call-for-long-term-sites-for-occupy-oakland-and-occupy-sf/
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