Occupy Charlottesville protestors yesterday picketed outside the Verizon store on Long St. in solidarity with anti-corporate protests occurring in 70 cities around the nation.
Protesters said they organized the event in response to a call from the national Occupy movement to "shut down the corporations."
The Charlottesville protest specifically targeted Verizon and the American Legislative Exchange Council, an organization which the protesters claim ghostwrites laws at the state level to benefit corporations.
"This event is all about blowing the whistle on these giant corporations who funnel millions into our political process," Occupy Charlottesville spokesperson Erin Rose said. "Verizon is one of those [companies], and as a result has not only paid no federal taxes the past three years, they actually got a billion dollars in rebates on top of it."
Verizon has a tax rate of about -2.9 percent after rebates and subsidies, according to a Feb. 25 Occupy Charlottesville press release.
"[Verizon has] cut more than 20,000 jobs nationally and [has] demanded $1 billion in benefit concessions from workers," Rose said. "Let's get real - we no longer have a democracy, it's a corporatocracy."
-compiled by Donald Sensabaugh
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