National Occupy Movement Taking On Foreclosed Homes

Local Teach-In in Prep for National Action on December 6^th

By David Lagstein, San Diego ACCE

Note: ACCE is organizing a “Know Your Rights” teach-in on Saturday, December 3 at 11am at the San Diego Civic Center Plaza, which will include a discussion of our local participation in the national day of action.

Four years ago Wall Street bankers crashed our economy after reckless gambling with our homes and our livelihoods. Then they looted our Treasury for bailouts and bonuses while their 1% allies used the economic chaos as an excuse to rob us of the investments we’ve made in helping every Californian achieve the American Dream. But since September 17, the simmering anger at Wall Street has found a powerful expression through the Occupy movement, massive campus mobilizations and increasing numbers of homeowners standing up to wrongful bank evictions by organizing community-led “home defenses.”

This month, the Occupy Wall Street movement is joining with brave homeowners (underwater and foreclosure victims alike), renters fighting foreclosure-related evictions, and other community members personally affected by Wall Street’s greed around the country to say, “Enough is enough – we’re not going to let them take our homes.”  On December 6^th hundreds of homeowners and renters facing foreclosure are announcing that they are not leaving when the sheriff comes.  Some are even taking the bold step of moving back in to the homes from which they have been evicted. Collectively, the 99% are taking a stand against Wall Street and their 1% allies a step further by demanding negotiations instead of fraudulent foreclosures and justice instead of avarice.

Here in California, one of the path-breakers in taking this type of action is Rose Gudiel, a member of the Alliance of Californians of Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the ReFund California campaign. In October, she successfully defended her home and family from a foreclosure eviction by taking decisive action. She was arrested for protesting outside of a Fannie Mae office in Pasadena.  After her arrest, Fannie Mae agreed to halt her eviction and then met with her to negotiate a modification of her loan.  Other home defenses have sprouted in places such as Atlanta, Cleveland, Minneapolis and San Francisco.

Twenty Five percent of homeowners in America are underwater and by the end of 2012 nearly 13 million homes will be in some stage of the foreclosure process. There is no shortage of families being pushed to the brink and the December 6^th Occupy Our Homes Day of Action represents the launch of an effort to support families that are ready to stand up to Wall Street.  Everyone has a right to decent, affordable housing.  The website, occupyourhomes.org was launched to help the 99% fight for this right. It features an online action toolkit and a “Pledge in Defense of Homes and Neighborhoods” that anyone around the country can sign as a signal of their willingness to take action in defense of their own home or their willingness to stand in solidarity with others taking that bold step. The goal is to get 50,000 people to take the pledge in the coming weeks.

Rose Gudiel and others that have stood up to their banks know that eviction defenses and home occupations should not be taken on lightly.  That’s why the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) has put together a teach-in called “Know Your Rights: How to Defend Your Home from Illegal Bank Actions” to help would be home defenders. The teach-in will be this Saturday, December 3 at 11am at Civic Center Plaza.  Sign up by clicking here.

On the day before Thanksgiving, appropriately, Occupy Wall Street in New York announced that they were supporting December 6^th as a national day of action and encouraging people across the country to defend their homes against illegal bank actions. Throughout California and across the country people are organizing a variety of actions and many will publicly announce that they are refusing to leave when faced with an unfair eviction.

As OWS member Max Berger told Salon, “This is a shift from protesting Wall Street fraud to taking action on behalf of people who were harmed by it. It brings the movement into the neighborhoods and gives people a sense of what’s really at stake.”

Are you ready to be the next Rose Gudiel? Are you ready to stand by a neighbor or friend that is resisting a wrongful foreclosure?  Come to the teach-in on Saturday at 11am and then take the pledge at occupyourhomes.org.

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