By James Thompson

Occupy Houston rally on 11/17/11

HOUSTON – Today, November 17, 2011, Occupy Houston had a massive rally of more than 400 people that marched to a downtown bridge. Along the way was a planned act of civil disobedience in which about 12 people were arrested for obstructing an intersection at Commerce and Travis. Three of the Occupy Houston protesters were union members to include Zeph Capo, Houston Federation of Teachers, Local 2415, Beverly Ortiz, SEIU, Local 1, and Marisol Rodriguez, HOPE, Local 123.

The crowd was large, loud and spirited. It consisted of many organizations to include: Good Jobs-Great Houston, SEIU, Houston Peace and Justice Center, Houston Peace Council, UAW, IBEW, Seafarer’s Union, Harris County AFL-CIO, Houston Interfaith Worker Justice Center, Houston Peace Action and many others.

Participants were quite diverse and included men and women from all racial and ethnic groups. People of faith as well as non-believers were present and worked in a concerted effort to achieve mutual goals.

People were loud in their demands for good jobs, support for public education, police and fire personnel. Demands also focused on fixing our deteriorating infrastructure to include schools and deteriorating bridges across the country.

Occupy Houston supporters on 11/17/11

There was a great deal of support for the American Jobs Act expressed in the lively crowd.

Speakers declared that Occupy Houston is here to stay until the people’s demands are met.

The action in Houston was linked to actions around the country to express solidarity with the two month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The rally and march were peaceful and orderly and everyone showed the utmost respect for each other including the police.

Many people around the country have commented that this is only the beginning of a mighty movement which has the potential to change things for the better for working people in this country and around the world.

PHill1917@comcast.net