January 5, 2012

San Diego activists plan bus trip to DC to lobby Congress

Occupy San Diego activists are going to occupy a Greyhound Bus all the way to Washington D.C. to join with other activists from across the country for a series of actions in front of the Capitol building coordinated to coincide with the opening day of the 2012 congressional session.

There are “at least a dozen” Occupy San Diego protesters making the trip by bus, possibly as many as two carloads that will follow the Greyhound and another six who are flying to the nation’s capital for the direct actions in DC on January 17, said Mike Garcia, a mortgage broker-turned-substance abuse counselor who will be making the pilgrimage by bus.

“Our country is broken,” he said. “We’re realistic. We don’t think traveling to D.C. in and of itself will fix it, but we are going to call attention to it through the oldest form of attention-getting there is, by protesting and making our voices heard.”

The group has a website, Road2Congress.com, for information about the trip. The action is being organized by Occupy Congress, one of the several Occupy groups in Washington D.C.

Occupy San Diego activists plan to meet with other protesters on the Mall on the morning of the 17th and march from there to the capitol for 9 a.m., when the House of Representatives will meet for the first time of the year.

Members of the Occupy movement will be lobbying Congress this session for various forms of political reform, such as: a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which reaffirmed that corporations have similar free speech rights as citizens, to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, which would prevent investment banks from also acting as lending banks, and for a transaction fee on Wall Street banks.

Garcia said he is confident that Congress will work towards some of these reforms during the next legislative session in part because of the effect the Occupy movement has already had on national politics.

“After only three months, we’ve already changed the discourse of the conversation,” he said. “From the smallest race to the President of the United States, everyone is constantly referencing the 99 percent.”

The destination in D.C. isn’t the only place the San Diego occu-hoppers (the term used in the movement for traveling occupiers) hope to make a difference. Garcia said they plan on turning the entire trip into a mobile direct action. Other activists will be joining them on the bus along the way, such as some from Phoenix and others locales east of Southern California.

Together they plan to make sure those who come in contact with the Greyhound know why they are traveling.

“There may be some surprise mic checks and flash mobs,” Garcia said. “We’re going to do some different things to call attention to the issues.”

He said they hope to livestream, or at the very least document, the entire trip.

“We hope we find some people who are in opposition to us so we can have a conversation with them,” Garcia said. “Whether you are left, right or center there is an overwhelming feeling in our country that the government no longer represents the common person.”

The group will leave San Diego on January 13 for the bus trip that will take almost 70 hours to reach Washington D.C. This reporter, who needs to eventually get back east one way or another, will likely be joining the occu-hoppers on their trip.

— Bob Plain