By Joshua Holland
October 20, 2011
If you've wondered what Occupy Wall Street was all about, these powerful messages should help clarify what's driving the movement.
The movement is now using a variety of strategies to take its message directly to the "1 percent” – to make sure they can't ignore the protests from the comfort of their sheltered enclaves. A new effort, Occupy the Boardroom, offers those whose economic security has been crushed by the recession a chance to send messages directly to a banking executive of their choice.
Ordinary people can post their letters to OccupyTheBoardroom.org, and activists promise to do whatever it takes to deliver them to the intended recipients. “Life gets awfully lonely for those at the top,” reads a tagline on the site. “What can we do to let them know someone's thinking of them? Maybe they need some new friends!”
The project is making Big Finance nervous. A memo drafted by Fay Feeney, a corporate board consultant, and leaked to occupiers in Washington, warns that “the anger, frustration and collective voice is too large to ignore... [Occupy the Boardroom]...” Feeney goes on to urge "board members and corporate counsels [to] prepare themselves for a bumpy ride.”
The project is the brainchild of a coalition of groups loosely aligned with the Occupy movement...
Austin Guest, online organizer for ALIGN, a community group, and another organizer behind the project, told AlterNet that Occupy the Boardroom is getting a big response. “Yesterday, we sent hundreds of emails to 121 top bank CEOs, executives and board members, and we know for sure that many, including Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have opened the emails,” he said. “We’re going to email them a set number, 99, every day as the campaign goes on.”
He added: “We’ve already collected 6,000 stories from 147 different countries, and hundreds coming by the hour, so we will be delivering these emails at bank headquarters and other locations in person throughout the country. We’re gonna have some fun with the delivery process, so stay tuned.”
For the full article visit: AlterNet