Lisa Fithian–the radical organizer whose role in Occupy was first exposed at Big Government–has apparently confirmed that ACORN-linked organizations are leading the Occupy movement’s next major protest action against banks nationwide.
Fox News reported earlier today that remnants of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), the radical community organizing group that collapsed after its corruption was exposed by Big Government, are playing a “behind the scenes” role in organizing the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
The Fox News investigation followed Matthew Vadum’s report two weeks ago at Big Government that ACORN was paying people to attend the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York through the Working Families Party, an ACORN front group.
Now, Big Government has learned that in an email (below) sent by Fithian to Occupy organizers and supporters on October 22, 2011, she reported that the “New Bottom Line”–an effort to move as much money out of major banks as possible on November 5th–is being led by several ACORN-linked organizations: “National People’s Action, National Pico Network, and Alliance for Just and Sustainable Economy and other key state groups like ACCE in CA, NYCC in NY, or MORE in St. Louis.”
ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), NYCC (New York Communities for Change), and MORE (Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment), are apparently nothing more than reconstituted ACORN branches.
National People’s Action, PICO National Network, and Alliance for a Just Society are all closely linked to ACORN. At the time of ACORN’s collapse, National People’s Action in particular vowed publicly to pick up where ACORN left off: “Organizations can come and go, but what’s important is that people who want to come together should have the opportunity to…identify their interests and work on them together.” These groups have also collaborated on similar ACORN-style campaigns against banks in the recent past.
Former ACORN chief executive and organizer Bertha Lewis is also involved in the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Her new organization, The Black Institute, is calling its protests “Occupy Black America” and “Occupy The Hood.”
Meanwhile, Fithian is at the core of Occupy itself, urging activists to join the New Bottom Line, whose webpage reveals a variety of ACORN-style demonstrations and “direct actions” across the country.
The chosen date for the financial protest, Nov. 5, is known in the British Commonwealth as Guy Fawkes Day, named to commemorate the failure of the man who had attempted to blow up Parliament and thereby assassinate King James I four hundred years ago.
Guy Fawkes has become a symbol of the Occupy demonstrations and the Anonymous hacker collective–hence the near-ubiquitous Guy Fawkes (“V for Vendetta“) masks at protests.
The involvement of ACORN’s successors in the Occupy movement is yet another sign of the true, radical nature of the demonstrations.
Given President Barack Obama’s past links to ACORN, the fact that ACORN is playing so large a role in continuing Occupy protests raises questions about whether Occupy enjoys a level of political protection far higher than the local politicians who recently pressured the owners of Zuccotti Park not to clear out the demonstrators.
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