ACTION ALERT: Protest ALEC – APRIL 29th, 2011 - See You In Cincinnati website (crosspost from GD)

[highplainsdem]

http://seeyouincincinnati.com /

Please see the long compilation topic with hundreds of links to more information if you don't understand why it's so important to make people aware of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the harm that it's doing across the country.

ALEC's Spring Task Force Summit is in Cincinnati, April 28-29. This website is asking those who can help join the protest to be there on the 29th.

From the website:

They meet in secret. They write our laws. And they want us silent.

On March 15th, University of Wisconsin Professor Bill Cronon posted a study guide on his blog on the history and actions of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). He asked: What is behind the “sudden and impressively well-organized” wave of right-wing legislation targeting workers, students, women, immigrants, and the environment in state legislatures? He found that all roads led to ALEC.

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In Arizona, the text for anti-immigrant SB 1070 came from ALEC model legislation. In the Midwest, the attack on public servants had the same source. In Wisconsin and Ohio, ALEC is promoting voter ID laws that will disproportionately disenfranchise students. And finally, in Indiana, ALEC provided the text for a state resolution calling for an end to much federal environmental regulation. In 2009 alone, ALEC was behind over 800 laws written for state governments. Scratch the surface of right-wing state legislation, and you’ll most likely find ALEC underneath.

What Are We Doing?

A diverse group of Ohio activists has organized a day of resistance. On April 29th, ALEC will hold their spring task force meeting in downtown Cincinnati. This is when and where they will cook up the next offensive on the American public. At noon, we will hold a mass protest action in a public space (Fountain Square) one block from ALEC’s meeting place. We are also organizing housing for visitors traveling to Cincinnati, and we are securing spaces for organizations to hold their own teach-ins and actions.

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Resistance means feet on the ground and people in the street. We need to see you in Cincinnati. We are communicating to a breadth of organizations and individuals negatively impacted by ALEC’s agenda that the time to fight back and propose our own solutions has come.

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Organizers of the protest include the Cincinnati Coffee Party, Defend Ohio Campaign, Defend Ohio UC, and the Miami University Graduate Employees Organization.

I've posted recently about activists Bob Fitrakis and Cliff Schecter calling for demonstrations during this ALEC conference:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x813107

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x832122


My thanks to Hector Solon of DU and Daily Kos for posting about this in the compilation topic. I wanted to post a separate topic to give this more attention.