June 27, 2011

The activists in Bloombergville believe the city had the money all along to meet the demands of teachers and other city workers--and that this agreement proves their point. In this statement, Bloombergville residents describe what prompted their protest.

The City Council is planning a vote on a new budget on June 30, following an apparent deal between the United Federation of Teachers and the city. Under the reported deal, the union apparently avoided threatened large-scale layoffs, but at the of accepting concessions, including suspending teacher sabbaticals for a year and permitting teachers without a permanent assignment to be used more regularly as classroom substitutes.

In mid-June, activists in New York set up Bloombergville, an encampment in downtown Manhattan to protest budget cuts and New York City's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg's assault on public-sector workers. Boombergville was aimed at providing an expression for the anger of many New Yorkers at Bloomberg's austerity agenda.

INSPIRED BY the mass occupations in Britain, Iceland, Tunisia, Egypt, Wisconsin, Greece and Spain, residents of New York City reclaimed public space in downtown Manhattan in June to declare loud and clear that there is an alternative to budget cuts.

Dubbed "Bloombergville," we have created this encampment to express our opposition to Mayor Bloomberg's devastating cuts to schools, universities, firehouses, senior centers, daycare services and more, as well as his attacks on public workers' compensation, job security, pensions and health care--even as many corporations continue to pay nothing in taxes and the state government cuts the already low taxes on millionaires and billionaires.

We have persevered through police-mandated relocations, pounding rain and baking sun in order to protest these disastrous cuts. During our time here, we have received expressions of support from Wisconsin, Spain and Greece, and donations and assistance from labor unions, workers, students, community members and other sympathizers, which have strengthened our resolve and touched our hearts.

Participants in the Bloombergville protest camp on the march against cuts

We have made new links and alliances with other individuals and organizations fighting the cuts, introduced a strong voice opposing all cuts into the public debate, and received encouragement from many people who feel that their voices are not being heard in the halls of power. These are all steps towards building a stronger movement that says "no" to all cuts, layoffs and attacks on workers' rights.

Of course, these attacks are not unique to New York City, but are taking place all across the country and the world. It therefore comes as no surprise that on June 20, residents of Boston erected their own encampment, called "MassHope," to protest attacks on workers and immigrants attached to the state budget.

The example of Walkerville in Wisconsin, Bloombergville in New York and MassHope in Boston show that these demands and tactics have a broad appeal, and are an effective way of fighting back against the cuts and attacks on workers, students, unemployed people, homeless people, youth and more.

Because we believe that it is only through highly visible, ongoing, mass public protest that these attacks can be stopped, the residents of Bloombergville call for encampments to be created in cities across the United States, following the examples of Madison, New York and Boston. Let's make this the beginning of a movement to reclaim our democracy and defend public services and workers' rights. Join us today!

No cuts, no layoffs, no compromises! Make banks, millionaires and corporations pay!