Keep the Heat on Wall Street and Congress

In the months leading up to the Senate vote on financial reforms, grassroots mobilizations on the part of community, labor and faith-based groups injected much-needed energy into the debate. Now, while we wait for lawmakers in the House and Senate to reconcile their versions of reform, let's assess, and also celebrate, the role these mobilizations played in getting reforms this far along, against powerful lobbying on the part of Wall Street and tepid leadership in Congress. Let us also assess where we go from here, and especially, how we build upon the momentum from grassroots action to push the envelope toward transforming our economy.

In early September 2009 National People's Action (NPA) saw an opportunity to ratchet up the tension levels in the campaign for financial reform. The plan: take the fight directly to the Big Banks. Force policy-makers and officials to choose sides. In the process, provide a focal point for grassroots anger and frustration over the no-strings-attached bailouts and quick recovery for Wall Street and ongoing recession for the rest of us. The moment: the American Bankers Association Convention being held in Chicago October 25-27. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) quickly signed on, and many others followed. While NPA made the call and provided broad shared principles, by the time of the Showdown, a wide array of groups felt ownership over an action that cut across many sectors: community, labor and more.

After Chicago, an ever-widening circle of leaders organized actions around the country, in the Midwest, on the West Coast and in the South. In late April the American Federation of Labor threw its weight behind a Showdown on Wall Street that took the fight directly to the robber barons' front door. Over 10,000 took to the streets that day. Less than a week before the Senate vote, this loose alliance turned up the heat with a Showdown that targeted Wall Street's lobbyists, taking the fight to K Street in Washington, DC.

While the Showdowns were led by organizers from community, labor and faith-based groups who brought pressure to bear from the outside, the organizers also worked very effectively with financial reform advocates who implemented an 'inside-the-beltway' strategy. Intentionally or not, these two strategies seemed to work in complementary fashion. The direct actions put the heat on both political parties, and criticized the Administration, as needed, without turning their grievances into 'anti-government' diatribes while the 'inside-the-beltway' tactics helped line up support from reform-friendly officials and lawmakers, as well as liberal and progressive allies who were less comfortable participating in direct action.

One of the more remarkable elements of these mobilizations is the way in which the leaders recognized and took advantage of a 'teachable moment' around housing, banking and financial reform issues -- about how Wall Street crashed our economy and why we must demand and end to business as usual. They rightly identified this as a major issue for our times, and they connected financial reform to the issues people care about: their homes, their neighborhoods, their jobs, their children's schools, the nation's long term security, environmental concerns and much more.

There were a few nay-sayers who warned against making a major push around something so seemingly remote and complex as financial reform. They said it was too complicated, we can't explain it, we are not experts, our members won't care about it, we might come across as right-wing populists if we go out into the streets and protest; we may lose credibility with friendly lawmakers, etc. There were risks involved. But the risks payed off. These mobilizations have set the stage for broad-based grassroots leadership in defining a new kind of economy. Given the chance, people not only understand what is wrong with business as usual, they also can think together about how to change business as usual. 

With each Showdown, the set of groups involved expanded. The experience of working together on something that was larger than any one group's core issues could provide the impetus for ongoing collaboration that keeps the pressure on, and that takes leadership in defining a 'people- and
community-first' economy. These efforts can tie together a wide range of issues: affordable housing, community banking, a serious jobs creation effort to alleviate current losses, long-term investments in green jobs and technologies, economic security for retirees, getting the investments that are sorely needed for schools, health care, public safety and other vital services. Fairly quickly, the alliance needs to get clear about the overarching goals, along with actions and targets that make sense in the 'post-legislative campaign' setting. 

The last time that an out-of-control financial sector wrecked our economy --- just before the Great Depression --- it took over seven years for the Roosevelt Admin and Congress to enact a regulatory framework that tied the financial sector to the needs of the real economy. If it takes seven years, and we are two years into the current crisis, then we need to make very smart and strategic use of the remaining five years. Which means, we cannot allow Congress to move on to other issues as if the job of recovery were done. We can keep the heat on through demands for job creation, support for state and local governments, organizing to create state banks that support community banks, etc. Let's keep pushing these issues into the forefront.

--- Sandra Hinson