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Friend,
July has been a month of resistance, of strategy and of victories! We came together with sister organizations for the "People's Convention", organized by the Center for Popular Democracy. Our members had fun but most importantly, we were able to build power with leaders from all across the country. We are back and ready for what August will bring. For now, let me share with you what has happened during this past month in our campaigns:
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico 🇵🇷
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History was made on Puerto Rico in the month of July. The people on the island protested for 15 consecutive days for Governor Rosselló to resign and 1.6 million people turned out in protest. He announced that he would resign on August 2nd at 5pm. However, the protests are continuing on the island because the next person in line to take over as governor is just as corrupt as Rossello and is currently under investigation by the FBI. Here in New York City, solidarity protests were also happening with the local diaspora supporting the Island. For the next several weeks we will be targeting several different hedge fund companies that profit from the island’s pain, and we will continue these protests up until the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria on September 20th.
Labor
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On July 9th, NYCC members joined with Mijente, JFREJ and other organizations to pressure Palantir Technologies outside of the Palantir NYC office to end its contract with ICE. Palantir, as recent articles have demonstrated, has been directly providing data support for ICE in the tracking down of immigrants.
On July 11th, NYCC members along with over 600 people stormed the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit at the Javits Center, demanding Amazon cut all ties with ICE and and helping the deportation of immigrants in our country and to stop treating workers like robots in Amazon's warehouses. Inside the Summit, people disrupted Amazon CTO Werner Vogels during his keynote speech multiple times, making the same demands.
On July 15th, on Amazon Prime Day, NYCC members and allies delivered 275,000 petitions directly to Jeff Bezos's new $80 million penthouse with our demands. NYCC members, Amazon workers, and immigrant communities delivered foil blankets, bottles with yellow water, and more to symbolize the struggles of both immigrants and workers under Amazon. The march then went to Amazon's corporate office on 34th street. This was part of a national day of action on Prime Day with cities across the country pressuring Amazon to stop its practices.
Climate: Stopping the Williams fracked gas pipeline Zombie
In May, the Cuomo Administration denied the key permit for the Williams fracked gas pipeline. It was a huge win for our coalition. However, like a zombie in a Michael Jackson video, Williams is trying to come back from the dead by re-applying for the permit for the pipeline. So… we co-organized two protests to pressure the Governor to stop this zombie for good. We also helped gather 25,000 comments in a couple weeks from the public in the regulatory process on the permit. This Wednesday at noon, the coalition will be rallying outside Governor Cuomo’s office to show a strong force against the pipeline.
Public Banking
On July 15th, NYCC hosted a community meeting on behalf of the Public Bank NYC coalition where over 30 organizers and activists attended and together envisioned a world in which public money is managed and controlled by us and for us. NYCC members in particular spoke about their experience being evicted and the ways in which private banks rely on a business model of displacement and encourage landlords to evict tenants. The coalition, of which we are a steering member, has been on a road tour to every borough to raise awareness about public banking to different local community groups and expand the coalition. The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn are over, and next up are Manhattan and Staten Island. Email Jamie at [email protected] if you’re interested in joining these next two!
Together, we can build a movement. Help low-income and middle-income communities in New York stay strong. Become an NYCC sustainer.
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New York Communities for Change (NYCC) is a coalition of working families in low and moderate income communities fighting for social and economic justice throughout the New York State. We are people fighting to make a difference. For more information please visit us at www.nycommunities.orgor email us at [email protected]
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