Virginia Organizing Calls on Charlottesville to Divest from the Big Banks
Beginning With Wells Fargo on Friday, Residents to Close Accounts in Protest of Bailouts, Illegal Foreclosures and Corporate Money in Politics
CHARLOTTESVILLE– Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, Virginia Organizing (formerly know as Virginia Organizing Project) is kicking off a “We’ve Had Enough and We’re Taking It Back” big bank divestment campaign this Friday at 1:30pm in front of the Wells Fargo bank on the downtown mall.
Local residents will gather in front of Wells Fargo and divest (remove the money from and close their accounts) from Wells Fargo together as a group. After the action, local residents will speak out about why they have chosen to take their money back and put it into institutions like small banks and credit unions that invest in small businesses and build our community. The group will also encourage other residents to sign a divestment pledge to encourage others to do the same. The divestment action is the first of many in Virginia and will be part of a nationwide effort by the New Bottom Line.
In the coming months, “the other 99 percent,” will come together through New Bottom Line to take $1 billion of our money out of the big banks–Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. Through this action, Americans will say to the big banks: No more profiting off of millions of illegal foreclosures. No more billions of dollars in taxpayer funded bailouts. No more hoarding over a trillion dollars while our communities crumble and good jobs disappear. No more stealing our democracy with corporate money in politics.
Who:Virginia Organizing
What:“We’ve Had Enough and We’re Taking it Back” big bank divestment action
When: Friday, October 14 at 1:30pm
Where:Wells Fargo, Downtown Mall (next to Central Place), Charlottesville
Why: We will continue to Take it Back until the Big Banks:
Pay Their Fair Share:Pay their statutorily required 35 percent corporate income tax. Stop gaming the system through offshore tax shelters and loopholes. Bank of America alone has 371 tax-sheltered subsidiaries, 204 on the Cayman Islands.
Stabilize the Housing Market and Revitalizing the Economy: Reduce principal for all underwater homeowners to current market value. This would end the foreclosure crisis, reset the housing market, pump billions of dollars back into the economy and create over one million jobs a year.
Invest in American Jobs:Stop sitting on their more than one trillion in cash reserves that could be invested into small businesses, the primary vehicle for job creation in the US, as well as into additional job-generating investments.
Virginia Organizing is a statewide grassroots organization that brings people together to create a more just Virginia.
