DAWG » DAWG – http://www.wvdawg.org Direct Action Welfare Group Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:43:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Save Blair Mountain – A National Historic Site http://www.wvdawg.org/02/2012/save-blair-mountain-a-national-historic-site http://www.wvdawg.org/02/2012/save-blair-mountain-a-national-historic-site#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:43:59 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=601 [read more]]]> Saving Blair Mountain – Its not about coal or mountain top removal.  Its about saving a piece of national history.  Blair Mountain is under attack by corporations who have no regard for its historical significance.  They are only concerned with exploiting the land for profit.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed the Blair Mountain Battlefield as one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

 Blair Mountain, about 90 minutes southwest of Charleston, W.Va., was the scene of the showdown in 1921 between a miners’ army at least 7,000 strong and a 3,000-man defensive force headed by Logan County Sheriff Don Chafin and other law officers, many of whom were on the coal companies’ payrolls. The defensive force, bolstered by private planes that dropped homemade bombs on the miners, dug trenches, blocked roads, felled trees and mounted machine guns along the 15-mile ridgeline. The miners used natural pathways to mount the ridge and breach Chafin’s line. The confrontation was the largest armed labor conflict in the nation’s history, with miners seeking the right not only to unionize but also to exercise civil liberties such as freedom of speech and assembly.

Blair Mountain played a major role not just in West Virginia history but in labor history in the United States. The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the largest civil uprising in US history and the largest armed insurrection since the American Civil War.  It is a vital piece of history and should not be destroyed.

To find out more about the historic Battle of Blair Mountain and the current Battle to Save Blair Mountain visit some of the following sites:

Blair Mountain Community Center and Museum

Battle of Blair Mountain

Preservation Alliance of West Virginia

Friends of Blair Mountain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoTd47Ip69Q

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/02/2012/save-blair-mountain-a-national-historic-site/feed 0 Willie Baptist: The 4 C’s of Leadership http://www.wvdawg.org/01/2012/willie-baptist-the-4-cs-of-leadership http://www.wvdawg.org/01/2012/willie-baptist-the-4-cs-of-leadership#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:57:27 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=596 [read more]]]> “If you have the solution to my problem. Then you are my leader.”

Willie Baptist has been organizing the homeless and the poor for over 40 years. He was active in the Nation Union of the Homeless, Kensington Welfare Rights Union,and Poverty Scholars. He is co-author of Pedagogy of the Poor.

The day before Occupy Wall Street DAWG sat down with Willie at Union Theological Seminary’s Poverty Initiative to talk about his life and what makes a good leader.

Click here to view the video.

Study Guide coming soon!

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/01/2012/willie-baptist-the-4-cs-of-leadership/feed 0 Occupy Huntington Eviction http://www.wvdawg.org/12/2011/occupy-huntington-eviction http://www.wvdawg.org/12/2011/occupy-huntington-eviction#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:08:59 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=586 [read more]]]> On November 30 the city of Huntington served an eviction notice on Occupy Huntington to be executed the following day at 4pm.   The decision was made by the occupiers to dismantle the camp to save the supplies and tents for reoccupation. At 4am the police showed up to dismantle the remaining structures.

Click here to watch the video

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/12/2011/occupy-huntington-eviction/feed 0 Occupy Huntington Day 17 http://www.wvdawg.org/11/2011/occupy-huntington-day-17 http://www.wvdawg.org/11/2011/occupy-huntington-day-17#comments Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:34:32 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=583 On Day 17 Occupy Huntington marched to Marshall University for a student walk out.

Click here to watch the video.

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/11/2011/occupy-huntington-day-17/feed 0 A Call to African Americans to Join the Occupy Movement http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/a-call-to-african-americans-to-join-the-occupy-movement http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/a-call-to-african-americans-to-join-the-occupy-movement#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 00:14:33 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=578 DAWG member Carlos Fields has been with Occupy Huntington since day one.  Noticing the general lack of involvement of the black community, Carlos decided to issue this call.

Click HERE to watch the video.

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/a-call-to-african-americans-to-join-the-occupy-movement/feed 0 Occupy Wall Street FAQ http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/faq-occupy-wall-street http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/faq-occupy-wall-street#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:43:26 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=575 [read more]]]> Here’s a little FAQ from our friends over at the AFL-CIO

What is Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is a series of demonstrations that began on Sept. 17 in Zuccotti Park in New York City. It calls itself a “leaderless resistance movement” with a broad range of participants, mainly protesting economic inequality, Wall Street greed and the influence of corporate money on government. Occupy movement demonstrations have spread across the country, in big cities and small towns.

The protest was originally called for by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. Some compare it to the Arab Spring movement.

How Is the Labor Movement Involved?

Because issues raised by Occupy Wall Street match the labor movement’s priority that Wall Street and the wealthy should pay their fair share to create good jobs, many unions, state federations and labor councils, as well as the AFL-CIO, have issued statements of support. Many labor organizations and their members are participating in Occupy demonstrations as part of the AFL-CIO’s America Wants to Work campaign for good jobs. Some local unions are offering space and in-kind assistance for local Occupy actions, but the labor movement is not an organizer and does not have any formal role in the events.

Find a list of union organizations supporting Occupy Wall Street at www.occupywallst-unions.org/ .

How Does Occupy Wall Street Work?

In New York and other locations that follow the same model, decisions are made collectively by a general assembly—open to all—that meets twice a day. Because sound systems are limited, information is relayed by a “Human Megaphone”—the crowd repeats what is said by each speaker so all in the group can hear. “Yes” votes are signaled by people holding up their hands and wiggling their fingers. “No” votes are cast by people crossing their arms across their chests.

Necessary work is conducted by volunteer work groups. Occupy Wall Street in New York has a kitchen, a media station, a sanitation operation and medical, legal and security stations, for example.

How Can I Get Involved?

Show up. Occupy events are open to all, and the bigger the crowds the more we make our voices heard demanding economic justice. If your organization wishes to lend support, issue a statement and speak with a moderator or spokesperson at an Occupy location and ask what is needed there.

Remember, these are not “our” events. We don’t try to impose our agenda or ideas on them. But since the Occupy movement began, thousands of union members have taken part.

You can find a good list of local Occupy locations at DailyKos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/04/1022722/-Occupy-Wall-Street:-List-and-map-of-over-200-US-solidarity-events-and-Facebook%C2%A0pages?detail=hide).

How Can I Learn More?

While the mainstream media are now covering the Occupy demonstrations, probably the best information sources are websites and social media. Here are some places to start.

The unofficial website for the New York occupation is at http://occupywallst.org/. The site carries a live webstream. See a photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/occupywallstreet .

On Facebook, check out http://www.facebook.com/OccupyTogether and http://www.facebook.com/OccupyWallSt .

On Twitter, follow #OccupyTogether, #OccupyWallStreet and #OWS .

Be sure to check for websites, Facebook pages and Twitter feeds from your local Occupy sites.

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/faq-occupy-wall-street/feed 0 Occupy Charleston Day 1 http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupy-charleston-day-1 http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupy-charleston-day-1#comments Sun, 16 Oct 2011 22:01:23 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=569 [read more]]]> DAWG members are attending Occupy Charleston.  Here is video from Day 1. It includes Si Kahn who stopped by to talk with the crowd despite his laryngitis.

Click HERE to view the video

200+ marched from near the capitol to Haddad River Front Park stopping along the way at Chase Bank and the Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse. 20 people stayed the night at the Occupy site – Haddad Riverfront Park. The City of Charleston has given permission to occupy Haddad for 1 week and then they will move to Davis Park On Capitol Street in downtown Charleston.

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupy-charleston-day-1/feed 0 One Class One Cause! http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/one-class-one-cause http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/one-class-one-cause#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 02:49:02 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=565 [read more]]]> WORKING PEOPLE –- wake up! 

The world has changed and these corporations don’t need us anymore!

If we are not needed, why feed us?  Why house us?  Why educate us? Why provide medical support for us?

Because the world has changed and continues to throw millions of laborers out into the streets each day, we MUST envision what kind of world we have to have. We will design the change, or they will.

We march to Washington, D.C., June 30th, 2012.  get involved and find your place as we amass millions toward the fight to eliminate poverty.

Reach us at: endpoverty2012@gmail.com or call us at: (313) 964-0618.

One Class One Cause

 

 

 

 

 

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/one-class-one-cause/feed 0 Occupy Huntington, WV Day 1 http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupyhuntingtonday1 http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupyhuntingtonday1#comments Sun, 09 Oct 2011 01:57:58 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=562 DAWG members are attending  Occupy Huntington.  Here is a video produced by DAWG from the first day of the occupation.

Click HERE to watch

 

 

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/occupyhuntingtonday1/feed 0 Occupy Wall Street, Occupy West Virginia, Occupy the World http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/owsowvow http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/owsowvow#comments Fri, 07 Oct 2011 01:01:52 +0000 DAWG Editor http://www.wvdawg.org/?p=559 [read more]]]> The Occupy Movement which started on Wall Street On September 17, 2011 has grown to a national movement.  On October 6, 2011, WV joined in the movement with Occupy Huntington.  On October 15, 2011 the movement goes global .

DAWG will be participating in the Occupies taking place throughout the state.  We hope to see you there or at one near you.  If you can’t attend and occupy you can have your voice heard and join the movement by visiting We are the 99% and posting your picture and statement.

Make sure to check out Facebook.  All the occupies are on Facebook.  Also, Check out Meet Up and Twitter #occupywallstreet #ows #occupywv #occupytogether #occupyglobally

 

 

]]> http://www.wvdawg.org/10/2011/owsowvow/feed 0