On Saturday, while Colorado democrats hold their 79th annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner fundraiser inside the Sheraton Denver Downtown hotel, just outside Occupy Denver will be holding a "no confidence" rally to protest the current state of government.
Participants in the "no confidence" rally will be invited to cast a vote of "no confidence" as a symbolic act of protest. The occupiers will also be hosting a dinner courtesy of their famed Thunderdome kitchen. Reacting against the ticket prices of the Colorado Democratic Party dinner which range from $125 for an individual ticket all the way to $2,500 for a table, Occupy Denver said this about their own dinner plans, "Unlike the 1% dinner taking place inside, The Thunderdome will be serving free food to everyone."
Occupy Denver made this statement on their website when announcing the protest:
In the wake of brutal repression of Occupies across america, the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act, the militarization of the US police force and the growing rich and poor gap it has become obvious that the government is ready to go to war with its own people. Obama, the Democrats and their “get out the vote” organizations are use the language of the Occupy movement for their own ends while ignoring the brutality that Occupiers have endured by the state that claims to protect them. Our government cheered on protestors in Egypt, Libya, Syria, and across Eastern Europe. When those same protests erupted in the US they slandered us in the mainstream media, threw provocateurs into our midst to disrupt our activities and attacked us brutally, repeatedly. What we are seeing in the US is a modern reincarnation of the same social movements that got us the 8 hour work day, minimum wage, and civil rights, and our government is engaging in business as usual. We will not stand for the phony populism on display in Washington DC. We are not fighting for a few token gestures so we can all go home and feel good, we are engaging in a ruthless criticism of everything. Today less than 1% controls the wealth and thus the politics in this country, much of it facilitated by dinners like these.
This $10,000 fundraiser is held in a time where more people have signed up for food stamps then ever and homelessness has been nearly criminalized in Denver. In front of Civic Center Park, many of our houseless brothers hold down the Occupation 24-7. The state has taken our tents, our structures and our sleeping bags yet our comrades on The Row have built an enduring community there. Many folks are awoken every night with police throwing their things around and generally harassing them, this is what it has come to on the streets of Denver. Many people ask why our homeless brothers and sisters don't go to shelters? Did you know that there isn't enough beds in Denver to sleep 50% of the homeless population? Democracy is ugly and our government's treatment of the least priviledged among us is despicable.
Occupy Denver plans to meet at Civic Center Park at 4 p.m. and then march down to the Sheraton hotel from the park. Visit OccupyDenver.org for more details on the rally.
The 79th annual Jefferson Jackson Dinner events begin at 5:30 p.m. with registration and a silent auction, 6 p.m. VIP reception and 7 p.m. dinner. For more information on the dinner, visit the Democratic Part of Denver website.
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