We are demanding our right to march on their summit, to say:
No to economic sabotage of the poor! No to War! No to the eroding of our rights!
During the May 2012 G8 and NATO summits in Chicago, thousands of people will exercise their right to protest against NATO’s wars and against the G8's agenda to only serve the richest one percent of society. We need permits to ensure that all who want to raise their voices will be able to march.
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel has stonewalled repeated attempts by community organizers to meet with the city to discuss reasonable accommodations of protesters’ rights. They have finally agreed to meet with us, but we need support from the Occupy movement, the anti-war movement, and all movements for justice.
Our demands are simple:
That the City publicly commit to provide protest organizers with permits that meet the court- sanctioned standard for such protests — that we be “within sight and sound” of the summits; and That representatives of the City, including Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy, refrain from making threats against protesters. The protest movement, Occupy Wall Street (OWS), has the support of the majority of the American people. This is because people are suffering from the economic crisis brought about by Wall Street, big banks, and government policy. As the OWS movement describes it, the “99%” see extreme economic inequality, where millions are unemployed without significant help, while bankers in trouble get bailed out.
In Chicago and around the country, the Occupy movement is being met with repression: hundreds have been arrested, beaten, tear gassed, spied on, and refused their right to protest.
The Chicago Police Department and the Mayor have already acknowledged that they are coming down hard on the Occupy movement here to send a message to those who would protest against NATO and the G8.
We need a response that is loud and clear: we have the right to march against the generals and the bankers. We have the right to demand an end to war, military occupations, and attacks on working people and the poor.