Virginia Peoples' Assembly - Jan. 9th March [Archive]

Dean

29th January 2010, 17:56

http://www.vapeoplesassembly.org/

If you are in the area, please join us for the march. Email or PM me if you need more information or transportation.

-Dean
The result:

On January 9th, me and about a hundred other members of the anti-war, black and labor groups / communities came together in a small church in Richmond, VA. After passionate speeches by a number of speakers in the group, we split off into several groups, depending on our interests: among those were the aforementioned groups, as well as for Women and prisons rights. We each decided on a list of demands, heavily influenced by the same list drawn up in the same fashion last year, to be brought to the Virginia General Assembly.

Then we headed out to the streets, representing the causes of "Jobs, Peace and Justice" specifically. We marched through the financial district, decrying various corporate entities and their attacks on the working class. The bitter cold had subsided for the day in the form of surprisingly calm winds, and of the few bystanders who braved the cold that Saturday, I personally saw at least 5 of them join in the march. The police had given us no trouble, aside from some bureaucratic issues with the route earlier on.

Later on, on the first day of the Virginia General Assembly, about five of us converged on the senate building to hold our banner (which then governor-elect McDonnell saw as he walked with about four other delegates down 9th St) and to bring our list of demands - printed on bright yellow, 11x17 sheets - to each of the senators and delegates.

Since then, we have held our banner (demanding "Jobs, Peace Justice" and to "Make the corporations pay their fair share") at the inauguration, and elected representatives of the groups will be having continuations meetings on a monthly basis, until we can bring our demands to the General Assembly again next year.