National call for action on Capitol Hill draws occupiers from across U.S.
Story Transcript
VOICEOVER: On Tuesday January 17th several hundred Occupy participants from all over the country gathered on the lawn in front of Congress where they held a rally and several general assemblies. Participant Joe gray is a member of occupy the vote dc, a group advocating for voting rights as well as congressional legislative and budgetary autonomy for DC.
JOE GRAY, OCCUPY THE VOTE DC: Generally I just want to see a government that represents it’s people and is not represented by money right now what’s going on is that everyone that votes their vote doesn’t really count that much it’s just money speaking from the top, over 85 percent of the time a candidate has more money they win and that’s not how things should be run people should be running on ideas not how much money they can raise.
VOICEOVER: One participant named Abraham came representing Occupy Mexico, attesting to what he says is a growing international revolution.
ABRAHAM, OCCUPY MEXICO: This problem is a global problem because this revolution is a global revolution, here we are in the center of the empire in the capitol of the system the capitalist system so I have thousands of brothers in this country thousands of immigrants and workers and children and mothers and families we are citizens of the world.
OCCUPIER: This is the occupy movement and we’re here to stop corporate personhood and greed and corruption we’re here for a better tomorrow and a better today this is our world and our children’s world.
VOICEOVER: National nurses united was also present at the mobilization where they held a teach in on their proposed financial transaction tax.
RAJINI RAJ, REGISTERED NURSE, NATIONAL NURSES UNITED: We support a national financial transaction tax that we’d like to impose on Wall Street, it’s a .05 tax that could generate anywhere up to 350 billion dollars a year that could go back into healthcare for housing and jobs and education and it’s basically 50 cents on every 100 dollars that’s traded on Wall Street.
VOICEOVER: Sean Maupin first got involved with the Occupy Movement in his home state of Kansas. He has since traveled to Occupation sites all over the country, and says that a number of events are already being planned for 2012.
SEAN MAUPIN, OCCUPTRAVEL: January 20th is Occupy the Court Rooms it’s where you got o local courts and sit and occupy it’s where you protest the 5,300 occupiers nationwide who have been arrested may 1st is strike day where we strike and don’t go to work may 8th is G8 in Chicago, the last week of August is the RNC Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, the DNC is September 3rd through September 6th.
VOICEOVER: Some demonstrators entered the Congressional offices in an attempt to reach legislatures from their home districts, several people were arrested throughout the day and in the evening some protestors had planned a march from the Supreme Court to the White House.