Thursday, May 13, 2010

FINANCIAL COLLAPSE 2.0 TEACH-IN

I had the pleasure of attending this wonderful teach-in on Tuesday and I videotaped the live feed of Dr. Simon Johnson from the other Washington, followed by questions from the great audience in Bellingham. I also had the repeat pleasure of seeing and hearing from Kristie Laguzza-Boosman as she spoke about big banks and the confluence of issues we face as it relates back to big banks, and what we can do.

thanks so much to Dianne!!! and all organizations who helped and everyone who keeps suiting up and showing up.
and thanks First Congregational Church for your gracious hospitality.

here is the video playlist of the introduction and Dr. Simon Johnson's presentation, followed by a Q&A:


and Kristi Laguzza-Boosman here:



Organizations and co sponsors:
A New Way Forward

Americans for Financial Reform

MoveOn.org

Job with Justice

Whatcom Peace and Justice

Whatcom Human Rights Task Force

Veterans for Peace

Sign petitions here:
Public Campaign

Move to Amend ...work with great folks like David Cobb to end corporate personhood

FREE SPEECH TV

and, of course, this brings me back to my question that almost caused my republican mother to hang up on me
"how's the cancerous phase of unregulated, croney, casino capitalism working for you???"

I want an economy that works for us humans, not the other way around.

1 comment:

CLaw said...

Many of you were at the recent Financial Collapse 2.0 Teach-In at First Congregational Church where Kriste Laquzza-Boosman spoke of divesting from U.S. big banks and investing in the safe Canadian banking system. I present to you some of the ethical reasons to ponder before crossing the border.
Fortuna Silver Mines is the Canadian mining company based in (Suite #840, 355 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 2G8. http://www.fortunasilver.com. T: 604.484.4085. F: 604.484.4029) that has a mine in San Jose del Progreso, Ocotlan, Oaxaca where they have and are currently repressing the people of the community with over 2500 different police (Federal, AFI-Federal Agency of Investigation (FBI-like), Judicial) and other forces. Fortuna Silver Mines had asked the federal and state governments to find a solution to the "problem" of community opposition. The "solution" from the Oaxacan government of Ulises Ruiz and the Federal Government of Felipe Calderon is repression against the people of San Jose del Progreso. Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. is able to develop these areas due to the US $20 million senior secured revolving credit facility with The Bank of Nova Scotia.

Royal Bank Canada was a major sponsor of the recently concluded 2010 Olympics on land was never legally ceded to colonial British Columbia. This hasn't stopped the government from assuming full ownership of the land and its resources for the benefit of its corporate masters and to the detriment of aboriginal peoples, workers and the poor of the province. The 2010 Winter Olympics increased the homelessness crisis in Vancouver, especially the Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest urban area. Since the Olympics bid, homelessness in Vancouver has nearly tripled while condominium development in the Downtown Eastside is outpacing social housing by a rate of 3:1.

"Royal Bank Canada is one of the planet's greenest companies" according to one of its own brochures. Corporate Canada saw fit to include RBC as one of the top 50 in a competition dubbed Canada's Greenest Employers, which purports to recognize organizations that have created "a culture of environmental awareness." Yet RBC is now the major financier of Alberta's tar sands, one of the largest industrial projects in human history and perhaps the most destructive. The tar sands, now the cause of the second fastest rate of deforestation on the planet, are slated to expand several times its current size.

I admit these are but a few “bad apples” in the Canadian system. I only hope that before you invest, you take a look at the entire picture, not only, financial security but ethical integrity as well.