Protesters to Target Banks on 'Move Your Money Day'

What began as a protest against economic inequality outside Bank of America last month will this weekend spread to Palo Alto branches of Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

The Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, which organized an Occupy solidarity protest in October, is promoting its ‘Big Bad Bank Tour of Shame,’ a protest march and walking tour in support of Occupy Wall Street and Move Your Money Day.

‘Move Your Money Day’ is part of a campaign aiming to “empower individuals and institutions to divest from the nation's largest Wall Street banks and move to local financial institutions,” according to the Move Your Money website.

Palo Alto resident Scott Badenoch during the Occupy demonstration last month.

PPJC Executive Director Paul George said the action is part of a larger effort to raise awareness about the urgent economic problems facing this country—namely the power that moneyed elite have over the democratic political process.

“This struggle is not just about the economy,” he said. “It’s about the very nature of democracy.”

George said that American politics have become corrupted, and that nonviolent civil disobedience is one important alternative to the voting booth.

“This is one of the options that we have in a Democratic society,” he said. “That’s why in the first amendment of the Constitution we have the right to peaceably assemble and petition our elected officials to air our grievances.”

George added that the problem is too urgent to wait until November 2012 regardless.

“We can’t wait until the next election cycle. There are millions of people suffering right now,” he said.

The choice of November 5 as a day of action coincides with Guy Fawkes Day, a British day commemorating the attempt by Guy Fawkes, an English Catholic, to assassinate Protestant King James and replace him with Princess Elizabeth, a plot that provided the subtext for the graphic novel-turned-film V for Vendetta.

It has been commonplace among Occupy demonstrations to see protesters masking their faces with Guy Fawkes masks.