Training for the 99 Percent This Weekend

How did we get into this economic mess that started in 2008? Why did Wall Street melt down? What can we do to create more fairness for the 99 percent?

Moveon.org volunteers are hosting two events this weekend in and near Livingston County as part of the group's 99% Spring Training program taking place across the nation. Many groups are collatorating on the 99% Spring Training, and moveon.org is coordinating the registration process, so the events vary.

One will be Saturday, April 14, in Fowlerville, at 2 p.m. at a private home at Nicholson and Sargent Road.

According to the email from moveon.org urging sign-ups for the event:

"Our movement will be holding huge rallies in every major city on Tax Day to call out the 1% who refuse to pay their fair share. We'll be gathering massive crowds to confront CEOs and top executives at annual shareholder meetings of Wall Street banks, dirty energy polluters, and corporations that refuse to treat workers fairly. And we'll be doing everything we can to call out the corrupting influence of corporate money on our elections.

"At the training in Fowlerville, you'll get prepared to take part in these bold actions and to build connections with other progressives who want to see a 99% Spring in America.

"We'll practice telling the story of what happened to our economy and what a different future could look like, we'll learn the history of nonviolent direct action, and we'll train and plan to take direct action ourselves—in the footsteps of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.—to win change.

"By the end of the training we'll be ready to join the legacy of people using direct action to transform the political landscape in this country."

An event on Sunday, April 15, will educate the public about the causes of the recession that we are climbing out of. It will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the South Lyon Library, 27005 S Milford Rd., South Lyon.

People will have a chance to talk about how they have been impacted by the economic melt down and receive training in problem solving.

This is a great way to learn how to raise the issue of tax and economic fairness in an effective way so that it becomes part of the debate for the 2012 election.