PPEHRC Proposes "People-Peace-Planet” Budget to Congress

We're proud of our sister organization, Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), that recently went to Washington, DC on December 10 -- International Human Rights Day -- to present a "People-Peace-Planet” budget to members of Congress.

"In a press conference in the Cannon Office Building, speakers called on the Congressional Budgetary Committee to pass a budget resolution that re-directs military spending to domestic needs that serve “people, peace and the planet.” They then presented their proposed budget and supporting petitions to staffers of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Co-Chair of the Budgetary Committee." Read the full story at Social Justice Groups Demand Congress Slash Military Budget, Spend Money on People, Peace, Planet.

Image from DC Media Group

Rosemary Williams Evicted from her home

Repost from FightBackNews.org

August 2009

Peoples' occupation to resist the eviction taking place

By Steff Yorek

Minneapolis, MN - Fight Back! News is reporting from the home of Rosemary Williams on the 3100 block of Clinton Ave S. in Minneapolis, MN. Early this afternoon, Hennepin County Sheriff Deputies came to Rosemary’s home and evicted Rosemary, her daughter in law and two of her grandchildren. The deputies carried out the wishes of GMAC mortgage with calculated precision. They allowed the Williams family to collect a few personal items, then changed the locks on the home and padlocked the garage. A family locked away from their life so the GMAC can be the proud owners of another vacant home on a block with 7 other vacant homes.

This eviction is not like the others though. Rosemary Williams has been fighting this eviction from the very beginning and that struggle is continuing. Within one hour of the eviction supporters from the Minnesota Campaign for a People's Bailout, Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign, neighbors and many others from the South Minneapolis Community gathered at Rosemary’s home. The house was reopened in the name of the Williams family. It is currently being occupied by more than 50 people. Many have vowed to remain in the home for as long as it takes for Rosemary to get her home back from the bank.

Linden Gawboy from the Welfare Rights Committee and the MN Coalition for a Peoples Bailout said, "I am here to save Rosemary’s home. GMAC are criminals. You can see that the neighborhood and the community has come together because we are sick of seeing people who have worked all their lives for their homes lose them in the blink of an eye."

The Williams family has been devastated by economic crisis and the greed of GMAC Mortgage. While the banks, including GMAC got bailed out by billions in tax dollars, homeowners like Rosemary have been left at the mercy of greedy banks.

While the greedy banks and the fat cats who run them collect huge salaries, this modest home where Rosemary Williams has raised children, nurtured grandchildren has become a living example of the foreclosure crisis playing out all across the country. It is also a living example of a fight back against this crisis.

Save Rosemary Williams Home!

Support the Occupation!

Image courtesy of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign

National Conference to Abolish Poverty

You are invited to:

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)
and the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA) Announce:

Building the Unsettling Force:
A National Conference to Abolish Poverty

Friday July 17, 2009 -- Sunday, July 19, 2009
Spalding University -- Louisville, Kentucky

"There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and UNSETTLING FORCE in our complacent national life." --Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from "Why We Can't Wait," 1963

Join poor and homeless families, social workers, residents of homeless encampments, families fighting foreclosure, Katrina victims, unemployed workers, people without health care, members of the religious community, artists, representatives of the labor movement, and friends from the International Community as we come together to confront the economic crisis and to build "Another World" based in Economic Human Rights for all.

Abolish poverty in these times of increasing homelessness, hunger, and unemployment? We say "yes" and turn to the wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr., who envisioned a movement led by an organized "unsettling force" built across racial lines that would spark a "revolution of values" to reorganize our society.

As we confront the life and death struggles in our communities, the daily Katrinas of hunger, homelessness, massive downsizing, the denial of the rights to health care, heat and water, and the destruction of our families simply because we are poor, we will come together to envision, strategize and organize for “Another United States” and “Another World.”

Join us! See www.economichumanrights.org for more information.

Organized by the Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA) and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC)

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization is a member of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Discusses Poverty Following RNC on Democracy Now!

Early in the US Presidential elections, a few contenders were discussing the plight of the poor and what we must do as a country to change this. Now, a month before national elections, the talk has changed to what we must do to help the wealthy.

At the Republican National Convention in September, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign was working to bring back attention and bring forth policies on addressing poverty in this country. They discussed these ideas and tensions in Minneapolis-St Paul on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman.

See below the Democracy Now! interview with Amy Goodman and Cheri Honkala, National Coordinator, PPEHRC:



Watch the PPEHRC Poor People's March video at the RNC to learn more about the thousands who participated in delivering to the RNC a "citizens arrest for crimes against humanity."