The Next Social Movement: Get Ready For The 99% Spring

Making The Case For Occupy Wall Street Charles Biderman Contributor
Our ears pricked up last week when Bob King, the president of the United Auto Workers, talked about a “new movement for social justice” that was in the works. Now we know what it is: The 99% Spring.
The UAW is among a slew of unions, political organizations and other activist groups behind the movement, which launched its Web site, The99Spring.com, this week.

Given the firepower behind it, The 99% Spring looks like it has the potential to rival Occupy Wall Street, although it’s more organized in this early stage than that grassroots protest. (We found this photo on the UAW’s Facebook page.)

The site refers directly to the protests that tied up Madison, Wis., last year over Gov. Scott Walker’s push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees, a subject we’ve covered extensively at Changing Gears.

Declares the site, “In the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers and inspired by today’s brave heroes in Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin, we will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.”

From April 9-15, the site says, its supporters will gather across the country — “100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country.”

The site says there will be training programs to a) tell the story of the economy b) learn the history of non-violent direct action and c) launch campaigns to win change.

There’s nothing more specific about where or how these campaigns will take place, but the site adds,

“This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.”