With last night’s surprise NYPD clearing of Liberty Plaza, the epicenter of the Occupy movement, this Thursday’s already-planned International Day of Action to mark the two-month anniversary of the Occupation of Zuccotti Park will grow far larger and more resonant than it would have been otherwise. 

In New York City:

Starting early, at 7 am, demonstrators will attempt to “Shut Down Wall Street” by telling stories of people on the frontlines of economic injustice. The idea is to peacefully but firmly “exchange stories rather than stocks” and, at the very least, change the covnersation for the day.

At 3 pm, activists will gather at sixteen central subway hubs and take their own stories to the trains, using the “people’s mic.” This is not an effort to disrupt or delay the subways, rather an attempt to better explain the movement to busy people getting to and from their jobs. Find a subway station in one of the four boroughs near you and explain why you support Occupy.

In the evening, at 5 pm, tens of thousands of people are expected to gather at Foley Square, across from City Hall, in a permitted rally in solidarity with workers demanding jobs to rebuild this country’s infrastructure and economy. A gospel choir and a marching band will also perform; a nighttime march to the Brooklyn Bridge (sans permit) will commence after the rally.

At the same time, Occupy Colleges will stage campus solidarity rallies coast to coast. There are currently twenty-seven schools signed up with many more likely to come. If you don’t see your school represented, find a friend and organize something yourself. In New York City, the Student Assembly has called a student strike for the day and actions are planned throughout in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, including at New York University, The New School, Columbia University and most CUNY campuses.

Meanwhile, Occupy supporters around the globe will stage a series of coordinated actions.

In Spain, a general strike of university students has been called in Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, Palma, Sevilla, Santiago de Compostela, Murcia, Madrid, Valencia, Castello, Alicante and Zaragoza.

In Germany, student strikes, flash mobs, rallies and other actions are expected in dozens of cities across the country. 

In Belgium, activists are mobilizing for sit-ins at universities and schools to discuss the ongoing protests around the world and, specifically, how they can resist the increasing commercialization of education in their country.

In Greece, thousands of students and workers will take part in an annual November 17 march marking the anti-junta student uprising in 1973, threatening Lucas Papademos’s political honeymoon as Greece’s new prime minister. Shops will shut down and traffic will to come to a halt as the march wends its way to the US embassy—which is blamed for supporting the junta forty years ago.

Please use the comments field below to let me know about other November 17 Occupy actions.

When filmmaker and activist Annie Leonard set out in 2007 to share what she’d learned about the way we make, use and discard “stuff,” she thought 50,000 hits would be a great audience for her “twenty-minute cartoon about trash.” Today, with over 15 million views and counting, “The Story of Stuff” is one of the most watched environmental videos of all-time.

Earlier this year, Leonard came out with “The Story of Citizens United,” the best short history of the growth of corporate power I’ve ever read, heard or seen.

Now, Leonard is back with “The Story of Broke,” a new eight-minute animated movie that directly challenges those who argue that America is penniless and incapable of paying its bills, let alone making investments in a more sustainable and fair economy. Released seemingly in perfect harmony with the growth of the Occupy movement, this film explains why the economic crisis we find ourselves in is the result of choices made and how we, the public, can force different decisions.

“It turns out this whole ‘broke’ story hides a much bigger story—a story of some really dumb choices being made for us, but that actually work against us,” said Leonard. “The good news is that these are choices, and we can make different ones.”

The video ably details numerous examples of these “dumb choices”: tax breaks for oil companies reaping record profits; public roads that only go to one place—a new Walmart; mining permits that cost the same today as in 1872; and public loans and insurance for corporations doing risky things, like building nuclear reactors. The alternative, as the video points out, is for public funds to be used as tools to help companies that are supporting the public good rather than becoming a slush fund for powerful interests.

Watch and share the video and check out a raft of valuable activist resources at the “Story of Broke” website.  

Watch celebrated actor and anti–Keystone Pipeline activist David Strathairn explain why he's coming to Washington, DC, on November 6 to join a symbolically powerful encircling of the White House, and why he thinks we should all join him.

Get more information and sign up for the November 6 action; dig into research about the Tar Sands; join the Tar Sands Action Facebook page for updates; organize an event in your community; and donate directly to the cause of stopping this devastating ecological peril.

Heed the call. Stop the pipeline!

More than six weeks into the occupation of Zuccotti Park by a ragtag band of a few hundred anti-corporate activists, Occupy Wall Street has quickly grown into an international movement and potent symbol of popular outrage over the widening gaps between rich and poor and the way that government has been hijacked to transfer wealth upwards to the one percent.

The movement's message has also gone surprisingly mainstream, as my colleague Katha Pollitt detailed in her latest Nation column explaining the OWS's appeal and why unlikely suspects like Deepak Chopra and Suze Orman have jumped on the Occupy Wall Street wagon.

After the first week of protests, I wrote a brief guide featuring some tips on how to help the then-burgeoning movement. Now, I've updated that primer with new suggestions and specific tips for supporting some of the many regional Occupy actions that have recently been established.

How to Support Occupy Wall Street

1. Go to Liberty Plaza to join those that Occupy Wall Street if you can. This is the epicenter of the movement and the inspiration for what's happening across the country. Carpools are being arranged va this Facebook group.

2. Send non-perishable food, books, magazines, coffee, tea bags, aspirin, blankets and socks to the UPS Store, c/o Occupy Wall Street, 118A Fulton St, #205, NY, NY 10038.

3. Have pizza delivered to the protestors at Liberty Plaza. Call Majestic Pizza Corp at 212-349-4046 and have your credit card ready.

4. Tell the nation's mayors to respect the people's right to free assembly. The eviction of the Liberty Square occupation was averted by massive public protest from those in the square and beyond. When you learn that an occupation is threatened, please use this list, courtesy of activist Cryn Johannsen, to find the relevant mayor’s phone number and ask him or her to let the protestors protest.

5. Circulate word of Occupy College's national series of Teach-ins on November 2nd and 3rd. More than 100 schools have signed on to date.

6. Donate to Occupy Wall Street through its website.

7. Get informed and let your friends and family know what's happening on Wall Street, what the movement is about, and why you care.

8. Read and circulate Nathan Schneider's Occupy Wall Street FAQ.

9. Support Occupy Boston. If you're in the New England area, OB offers a wide range of volunteer opportunities, including performing, first-aid, cooking, entertaining and child-care. 

10. Defend Occupy Oakland. Currently facing significant police harassment, OO's encampment outside City Hall was raided by police just before 5:00am this morning, who lobbed flash grenades and reportedly fired tear gas. Initial reports say the police tore apart the protest camp and arrested at least 70 people. Call Oakland Mayor Jean Quan immediately at 510-238-3141 and implore her to stop arresting people.

11. Defend Occupy Denver, which was also forcibly rousted from its encampment with hundreds of protestors arrested. Sign your name to this petition to Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper politely demanding that he reopen Lincoln Park for the demonstration, and stop arresting non-violent protesters.

12. Print, post and forward these fliers.

13. Attend or organize a regional event.

14. Like and share this Facebook page.

15. Follow and RT @occupywallstnyc and @occupycolleges.

Please use the comments field below to let me know what I've missed, especially on the regional level.