Sabbath Economics and Occupy!

Above:  Occupy Austin protesters march outside Bank of America on Congress Avenue on 11/4/11; photo by Alberto Martínez /AMERICAN-STATESMAN. 
Today (11-11-11) is called “Veterans Day,” but was originally “Armistice Day.”  As activist Gary Khols writes:  “This day was made a holiday in 1918 in order to celebrate the end of World War I—up until that point one of the worst things our species had done to itself.  Because what was then known simply as the Great War was marketed as “a war to end war,”  celebrating its end was understood as celebrating the end of all wars.  A ten-year campaign was launched in 1928 that created the Kellogg-Briand Pact, legally banning all wars.  That treaty is still on the books, which is why war-making is a criminal act, and which is how Nazis came to be prosecuted for it…”
We at BCM have, like most activists, been tracking and supporting the viral growth around the country and across the world of the “Occupy” protest against an economic system geared to benefit only the richest 1 %.  The most interesting, and in our opinion strategic, aspect of this movement has been the “Move Your Money” campaign.  This tactic urges people to shift their personal assets from corporate banks to credit unions and other community development financial institutions (see http://moveyourmoneyproject.org).
According to the Credit Union National Association, as of the first week of November consumers had transferred more than $4.5 billion from big banks into more than 7,000 credit unions.  Those numbers then dramatically spiked a week ago on Nov. 5th, “Bank Transfer Day.”  It is estimated that more than a million people have now “voted” by moving their money.  We hope the corporate banks are paying as much attention as the media.  And we urge any of you reading this blog to make this small but important step, as we did years ago. 
Needless to say, we at BCM are thrilled that the very strategy we’ve been promoting for more than five years through our organizing and education has now caught on in this major movement.  So we remind you that our Sabbath Economics booklets and our six-part DVD series entitled From Mammon to Manna: Sabbath Economics and Community Investing are the perfect resources for those of you working with churches to become part of this groundswell.   These are available (at half price!) from this site. 
Let us not miss the opportunity for action that this historical moment provides!!  On this Armistice Day, may we continue to act and pray for God’s dream of a world without war and oppression.