(jpperry@berkeley.edu)
[http://redroom.com/member/jane-p-perry/media/audio/occupyourhomes-oakland-12611]
5.26 min audio of voices from the Causa Justa::Just Cause and Occcupy the Hood rally and march to support home owner, tenant and foreclosure rights.
I ride my bike down to a rally in West Oakland and hear the Ramirez family story. Margarita Ramirez says her family fell behind on their mortgage payments after her husband was laid off. B of A denied her family’s request for a loan modification under the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, then sold her home to Fannie Mae, an error B of A admits to.
They now pay rent to live in the same home they had a mortgage for. Causa Justa::Just Cause, a tenants and now foreclosure rights resource organization and Occupy the Hood demand that banks work with Oakland families to put them back in their homes. We march to a home that has been empty for two years and Causa Justa::Just Cause sets up a satellite resource and support clinic to meet neighborhood need.
On December 12 there will be a coordinated West Coast Port blockade to shut down commerce for one day. Occupy San Diego, LA, Oakland, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle, Anchorage and as of today, Houston will participate in solidarity with Longshoremen in Longview, Washington already on strike against grain subsidiary EGT. Landlocked Denver will occupy Goldman Sachs in support. Goldman Sachs has 51% ownership of SSA terminals on the Pacific Coast, and has impeded trucker unionizing efforts while at the same time designating truckers as independent contractors that get paid by the load and receive no benefits.
The West Coast Port Shutdown has the Port of Oakland so rattled, they have run a full page ad in the New York Times for several days. Watch http://westcoastportshutdown.org/ for updates, and check out the 29 and counting participating occupations.
“We can be smart enough to finance each other out of homelessness and buy every Government of the world out, cause they are not the “government” , they are only the administration of your money.” —Juan Alcala/Occupy LA
Empty for two years West Oakland home turned into tenant and foreclosure rights clinic
by Jane P. Perry Friday Dec 9th, 2011 10:16 AM
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