Hat tip to jpinpb for sending this in, from Salon.com:
Occupy Wall Street is promising a “big day of action” on Dec. 6th that will focus on the foreclosure crisis and protest “fraudulent lending practices,” “corrupt securitization,” and illegal evictions by banks.
The day will mark the beginning of an Occupy Our Homes campaign that organizers hope will energize the movement as it moves indoors as well as bring the injustices of the economic crisis into sharp relief.
Many of the details aren’t yet public, but protesters in 20 cities are expected to take part in the day of action next Tuesday. We’ve already seen eviction defenses at foreclosed properties around the country as well as takeovers of vacant properties for homeless families. Occupy Our Homes organizer Abby Clark tells me protesters are planning to “mic-check” (i.e., disrupt) foreclosure auctions as well as launch some new home occupations.
“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,” said Max Berger, one of the Occupy Our Homes organizers and a member of Occupy Wall Street’s movement-building working group.
I question the “taking action on behalf of people who were harmed” part, but if this spreads, maybe it’ll light a fire under banks with foreclosed properties to stop sitting on them and sell them before they get “taken over” and getting the occupiers/protestors/squatters out becomes messier than letting the homes rot.
Problem is which house they occupy. In Texas, they might run into the castle law if they get it wrong.
More on it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/02/occupy-yall-street-ows-mo_n_1125645.html
Some more info: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/02/9166035-foreclosed-homes-empty-lots-are-next-occupy-targets
Translation: Squatters are going to become far more commonplace – backed up by activist lawyers who can keep the authorities at bay for significant periods of time.