Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small.

A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.

Laozi

The 99% movement is new: at the end of June, 2019, there was nothing. But we have been quite busy in the 6 months since then. I thought it was worth looking back over some of our achievements so far.

Here are some of the highlights.

99% Website launched

The first publicly visible sign that the 99% Organisation existed was on 1/7/2019 when the website launched. It contained a section on the facts behind the book, a description of the book itself, and guidance on getting involved for ordinary members, for journalists, and for politicians.

It now has an active blog with 60 posts so far, and over 8,000 visitors.

99% Organisation founded

The 99% Organisation was set up as a legal entity on 1/8/2019. The central coordinating committee began meeting, and preparations were made to set up local groups.

99% Book published

The book, 99%: mass impoverishment and how we can end it, was published on 8/8/2019 by Head of Zeus. It is on sale both in paper and e-book form online and in most bookshops.

99% Launch at IPPR

The formal launch of the book was held on 3/9/2019 at the London offices of the Institute for Public policy research, a leading policy think tank which – among other things – set up the Commission on Economic Justice.

~ 1,000 readers

By 1/11/2019, the book had over 1,000 readers.

99% chosen as one of 2019’s Best Books, by the FT

And on 22/11/2019, Martin Wolf, the Chief Economics Correspondent of the Financial Times chose 99% as one of his best books of 2019. He summarised the book extremely well in just a few lines:

99% Organisation passed 100 members

On 1/12/2019, the 99% Organisation passed 100 members signed up on the website. We are an extremely diverse group with a very wide range of expertise ranging from military officers to teachers; from vets to bankers; from psychologists to company chairmen; and from local councillors to vice presidents of the European Central Bank. The current membership growth rate, which of course is unsustainably high, is 15% per month.

Two local 99% groups active in the UK

And finally we have two local groups already active in the UK both of which have held several members meetings and organised a number of public meetings such as the Big Green Conversation in Hereford and the speech to the Gladstone club in London.

From a standing start, this is extremely positive news. Thank you all for your hard work. I hope you have a good break over Christmas and return refreshed for even more activity in the New Year!