Happy new year, Uncutters! 2011 was the year we stood up and fought back. And with your help, 2012 can be the year we win.
After heavy involvement in the Occupy Wall Street movement, We're re-booting US Uncut this month, and putting out a call to action against corporate tax dodgers on the week of January 23rd, two weeks from now.
Our target? Corporations that paid their lobbyists more than they paid in federal taxes. There's 29 to choose from, courtesy of this list from Citizens for Tax Justice. Some of the most egregious offenders are already on our targets list, like Verizon, FedEx and GE.
And there's more good news-- a bevy of community organizations and coalitions in over a dozen major US cities will also be fighting corporate tax dodgers this Winter and Spring with creative direct actions! These are talented, passionate activists, consisting of every facet of the 99%-- organized labor, unemployed and underemployed workers, interfaith groups and clergy, the uninsured, and others.
Team up with these folks for reinforcements if you live in their cities, and visit their websites if you'd like to see past results of their actions in protest of corporate greed, congressional corruption, rallying for jobs, not cuts. Several of these coalitions have already expressed interest in working with Uncutters in their cities in taking the fight to the doors of corporate tax dodgers.
Stand Up! Chicago
-Chicago, IL
Fight For Philly
-Philadelphia, PA
One Miami Now
-Miami, FL
Good Jobs LA
-Los Angeles, CA
United NY
-New York, NY
Working Washington
-Seattle, WA
Good Jobs=Great Houston
-Houston, TX
Wisconsin Jobs Now
-Madison/Milwaukee, WI
We Are Oregon
-Portland, OR
Mass Uniting
-Boston, MA
Our DC
-Washington, DC
We Are Ohio
-Columbus, OH
Good Jobs Better Baltimore
-Baltimore, MD
And of course, you can connect with your local #Occupy groups through the Occupy Together network for more reinforcements. For help and input on ideas for creative actions, hit up our friends at the Backbone Campaign in Seattle/Vashon Island!
(If you'd like some help connecting your Uncut groups with any of these organizations, send an email to usuncut@gmail.com for details)
It's going to be a great year for the movement-- US Uncut is even being featured in a documentary called We're Not Broke, premiering at the Sundance film festival later this month!
France Uncut is helping us bring in the new year with their day of action on January 14, fresh off of their amazing showing at the G20.
And UK Uncut, our original inspiration, continues to influence the public dialogue against David Cameron's austerity programs with their anti-tax dodger actions.
Let's make 2012 even more memorable than last year, and do it across the globe!
See you in the streets,
CG
Some 25 major U.S. corporations are paying their CEO's more money then they give to Uncle Sam. That is according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies that is making the rounds in the news cycle today.
According to the study, while the economy lingers, corporate outlays for CEO compensation have rebounded to nearly pre-recessionary levels. Furthermore, the ratio between the average worker salary and CEO has risen from 263-1 in 2009 to 325-1 just last year.
When will the corporations and the corporate-politicians get it? American people are waking up and we're beginning to notice. It's only a matter of time before this all spills over into the streets. You can make that happen!
Read more about the report here: Executive Excess 2011: The Massive CEO Rewards for Tax Dodging
Check out a cool infographic and sign the petition for the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act here: StopCorporatetaxCheats.com
Post up an action here: http://www.usuncut.org/actions
Had enough of all these politicians talking about all these cuts? Yeah, us
too.
Time to bring the street-heat to the Town Hall and show all the politicians
that we've had just about enough of the false alternative between cutting
more or cutting less.
Click here to find a list of local Town Halls coming up soon (call the phone
# if no event is listed yet).
Cutting Social Security? Cutting Medicare? Cutting Teachers? Cutting
Firefighters? Cutting US? That's how you're going to fix our problems and
get our country back on track? That don't make no sense, Jack.
How about JOBS? If these political jackasses (yeah, I said it) had been
talking about jobs for the last 3 months instead of messing around with some
debt-ceiling circus, maybe we'd putting Americans back to work instead of
seeing more and more of our neighbors get fired.
Click here for some great "NO CUTS" and "UNCUT US" US Uncut signs with our logo
on it.
If we could make all these crooked corporations pay their fair share, just like the rest
of us, then we could fund a jobs program. We ain't gonna cut our way out of
this problem (trickle-down economics is busted), and we ain't
gonna let these political hacks cut what's left of the social safety net and
hack away at our communities anymore.
Time to get political in order to turn our attention and anger at those
making all these messed up decisions - the politicians. So, show up at a
local Town Hall and give 'em Hell ya'll (or "just tell them the truth" - either way, it's cool)."
Click here for a Town Hall action kit that an Uncutter made up and posted on
the new forums.
Brothers and Sisters, it's time to rise up and raise your voice to tell
those politicians that we're over their BS. If the spirit so moves you,
stand up to cause a ruckus, cause a bit of a disruption, and shout at the
top of your lungs so these Representatives and Senators can hear you:
"JOBS not CUTS" (maybe get the whole room chanting along with you).
Remember, when they say "cut back", we say "FIGHT BACK!" Time to Fight Back
at the Town Halls. See you there Uncutters!
In Solidarity,
The US Uncut Team
P.S. Need ideas? The US Uncut Town Hall action
kit(developed by one
of our own) has some great ideas in it, and feel free to
get creative when you get your direct action on - wittiness is always a
winner in our book. Also, post ideas in the
forum on how to sneak
signs into the Town
Halls.
Bring the #ruckus!
The revolution will be tweeted, liked, & shared. We the People Win. #epic
www.usuncut.org @usuncut #usuncut
US Uncut
