Bailout plans spark nationwide protests

Detroit WW photo: Alan Pollock

In the week since Bush announced plans to use $700 billion in public funds to rescue Wall Street banks, nearly 200 demonstrations have been organized throughout the U.S. to oppose the bailout and express the righteous anger of workers and poor. Many were organized by grassroots groups taking advantage of the Internet to get the word out.

In addition, tens of thousands of protest e-mail messages have been sent to Congress members, many demanding that any taxpayer funds go instead to assist homeowners facing foreclosures or to provide assistance to the millions unemployed. Opinion polls reported opposition to the bailout running at more than 85 percent.

Detroit WW photo: Alan Pollock

Some protests involved anti-war activists who characterized the current economic crisis as a war against the workers at home and linked it to the $2 trillion already spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and threats of new war against Iran.

The mood was angry and militant in Baltimore, Md., where more than 200 people came out on a day’s notice for a rally at the Federal Reserve Bank organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.

Larry Holmes, NYC. WW photo: G. Dunkel

As congressional leaders negotiated with the Bush administration in Washington, D.C., 150 homeless advocates and community activists protested the city’s effort to shut down the Franklin School homeless shelter—the kind of program that will get the ax if the bailout goes through. Speakers made the connection between the city’s plan to close a facility that now houses people who lost homes through mortgage foreclosures, and the twisted priorities of a system that volunteers taxpayers’ money to Wall Street millionaires.

Chanting “Main Street first” and carrying signs and colorful umbrellas, a few hundred protesters also marched in front of the White House in the rain to demand the rejection of Treasury Secretary Paulson’s Wall Street bailout plan.

Joyce Chediac WW photo: G. Dunkel

About 20 people gathered on a busy intersection in Tucson, Ariz., holding signs demanding “Foreclose the war—not our homes!” and “No to endless war and banker bailouts!” The protesters were met with enthusiastic responses of raised fists, victory signs and horn honks of approval. Drivers rolled down their windows to take leaflets. The linking of the war drive with the attacks on workers seemed to resonate with everyone.

NAU Peace and Justice in Flagstaff, Ariz., held a march and rally of about 110 people to address the imminent war with Iran and to express opposition to the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tucson, Ariz. Photo : Paul Teitelbaum

Outside the federal building in Philadelphia, several youth from Students for a Democratic Society and Fight Imperialism, Stand Together joined other anti-war and union activists to voice opposition to the bailout and the war spending. FIST members Tyneisha Bowens and Miya X led chants and talked about what the bailout will cost in terms of program cuts, jobs lost and the heavy impact on women and people of color. SDS members Alex Grosskurgh and Jeff Rousset called on the government to bail out youth unable to pay off student loans.

Raleigh, N.C. WW photo: Peter Gilbert

Protest signs included cardboard $700,000,000,000 checks depicting the money Bush wants workers to give over to rich bankers. Among those who stopped to sign a petition to stop the bankers’ bailout were a woman who faced foreclosure on her home of 17 years and a homeless Vietnam veteran. Several bus drivers honked their horns in support and opened their doors to get fliers. Two busloads of teenagers passing by all gave the fist and thumbs-up signs to the demonstration.

Flagstaff, Ariz. Photo : NAU Peace and Justice

In Detroit, City Council President Monica Conyers and Councilmember JoAnn Watson held a joint press conference under the theme, “No bailout for banks and CEOs without bailout assistance for homeowners.” Earlier in the week, the Detroit City Council passed a resolution demanding Congress bail out victims of the housing and mortgage crisis by enacting a two-year moratorium on home foreclosures.

In Seattle, several dozen people protested at the federal building while others gathered at the headquarters of Washington Mutual, the savings and loan seized late last week by the government and sold off to JP Morgan Chase.