Labor unions and liberal activist groups plan to throw their weight behind the "Occupy Wall Street" protest in New York City that has now lasted 13 straight days, according to Crain's New York.
A diverse coalition of people have pledged to occupy Wall Street until something is done about corporate greed and the financial system's undemocratic influence on the U.S. government.
The protesters have been camped out in New York’s old Liberty Plaza, now called Zuccotti Park, since September 17.
Among unions, the United Federation of Teachers, 32BJ SEIU, 1199 SEIU, Workers United and Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 have said they will participate in the protest next Wednesday.
The Working Families Party, MoveOn.org, Make the Road New York, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality Education, Community Voices Heard, United New York and Strong Economy For All also plan to support the demonstration.
"It's a responsibility for the progressive organizations in town to show their support and connect Occupy Wall Street to some of the struggles that are real in the city today," Jon Kest, executive director of New York Communities for Change told Crain's New York. "They're speaking about issues we're trying to speak about."
I admit, I didn't have much hope for the movement in the first week, it seemed laughably disorganized. But then the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times did the movement a huge favor by dismissing the protests with some sloppy "dirty effing hippies" journalism, and that got them noticed by the internet. That, in turn, got them noticed by liberal activist groups and labor unions as the protests move into week number three.
Meanwhile, similar, smaller Occupy protests are showing up across the country, even here in Kentucky.
The situation started out ugly, but it's picking up momentum as well as supporters. Most of all, it's picking up organized supporters with intelligent demands and the ability to leverage the press. We'll see how far this goes.
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