Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

Stories of the Day: The ranks of Europe’s working poor are increasing rapidly: a growing slice of the population is slipping through Europe’s long-vaunted social safety net, which was designed for the unemployed, not the underemployed. And a sad story from Greece: A Greek retiree shot himself dead in the busiest public square in Athens during morning rush hour Wednesday, leaving a note police said linked his suicide with the country’s acute financial woes. Hours later, more than 1,500 anti-austerity protesters gathered in the square, responding to social media calls for peaceful demonstrations accusing Greek politicians of driving people to despair with harsh cutbacks implemented to secure vital international bailouts. And two follow-ups to previously mentioned stories: the FDA deliberately erased 1 million signatures and comments on the ‘Just Label It’ campaign calling for the labeling of genetically modified foods. And Occupy Wall Street activists respond to the 99% Spring.

Other Occupies/Protests: Occupy Worcester Occupies City Hall: April 15 at 8pm until April 22 at 10am. The American Spring is here! Riding off of our Tax Day protest on April 15th, Occupy Worcester will be making a push to maintain a consistent outdoor presence on the sidewalk in front of city hall for the week leading up to our Occupy Earth Day event on April 22nd. We will be outside in front of city hall protesting the social, economic, and environmental injustices plaguing this country and the world, handing out information and literature on these issues, and starting up one on one conversations with the people on the street to get to know them and their concerns and introduce ourselves.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

Help support Camp Charlie! Protesters need healthy food, water, hand warmers, sweaters, blankets, duct tape, and you! Also musicians needed, acoustic only. Bring friends/bands/instruments…sorry, no power.  And if anyone has time over the next 8 days to come by for any amount of time and help out by sitting at the Info table to talk to people that would be great!

Last day to enter the Occupier’s Haiku Contest! Send submissions to submit@occupier.com, no more than 3 haikus per person. For rules, click here. Prizes!

For a partial listing of Working Groups looking for volunteers, please click here!

Upcoming Events:

• Sunday, April 8, at 2pm at Camp Charlie, in front of the Occupied State House, Occupy Boston will hold a mock hearing on the MBTA.  Bring/wear a suit or a reason why they should put the fares back … and a loud voice.  After, we’re planning a “Back to the Future” event where we’ll try to remember what life was when we had trains.
• Raise Taxes on the 1% Tax Day Rally and March, Tuesday, April 17, 5:30PM, Dewey Square (South Station). Occupy JP and Occupy Boston will participate, along with many other groups, in a protest against the unfairness of the current tax regime, where people such as Mitt Romney pay at rates far lower than those earning far less, and Warren Buffet’s now-famous secretary pays at a higher rate than Warren Buffet.  The Rally and March will begin at 5:30pm at Dewey Square (South Station) and the march will begin at 6pm and proceed through the city streets, pass by several notorious corporate tax dodgers, and end at the bandstand in the Commons. Things to bring:  yourself (most important), signs, noise-making stuff (pots, pans, kazoos, whatever)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Event Highlights:

Please note that many new events are being added to the website; check https://www.occupyboston.org for the latest information!

• Making Sense of the MBTA Mess, What Happened and What We Can Still Do About It: Potluck and Teach-in at Camp Charlie. 1pm-4pm on the State House steps.  1pm – 4pm, at Camp Charlie at the State House. Bring a dish to share (we’ll also have some food donated by our friends). Afterwards, we’ll have a number of teach-ins about the fight to save the T and the broader struggle for transit justice. Contact: Josh Golin (golingolin@yahoo.com)
• [Ongoing] Occupation of State House Steps for Public Transportation, April 5 – 14, 2012, Camp Charlie at the State House. On April 4, Occupy the MBTA, a working group of Occupy Boston, launched Camp Charlie, a ten-day occupation of the Massachusetts State House steps to protest fare-hikes and service cutbacks on the MBTA. Having survived the depths of the recession, the 99% now faces additional taxes in the form of escalating T fares and the loss of essential transport routes. This is a further transfer of public wealth to the banks. These are the same institutions that were bailed out by the American taxpayer after being rendered insolvent by their own, criminal recklessness. The only debt in need of servicing is their debt to us. In a country that lavishes four billion dollars in subsidies on the oil companies, the relentless assault on public transport could not make less sense – ethically, environmentally, or otherwise. Camp Charlie will be a place for public debate, conversation, and outreach – a living testament to the refusal of the people to be further abused by a clutch of corporate interests, multinational banking cartels and consolidated oil interests.

Calendar for Saturday, April 7, 2012

12:30 p.m. at Ruggles Station, there will be a rally in support of justice for Trayvon Martin. The march will go from RUGGLES to DUDLEY, ending in front of the Police Station, with a speakout near the old B2 barracks grounds. Please come and stand up against racism, racial profiling and corruption! For more information, click here.

2pm-4pm Safer Spaces Cluster Meeting, at Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02111

3pm Looking for an alternative to using money? Meet at the City Place Food Court in the Transportation Building to talk about local currency/barter networks.

3pm-4:45pm Facilitation WG meeting, at City Place Food Court in the Transportation Building

3pm-5pm Media WG Meeting, at Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02111

4:30pm-6:30pm Anti-Oppression WG Meeting, at Arlington St. Church (1st floor) 351 Arlington St. (corner of Arlington and Boylston Sts.)

5pm-8:30 pm General Assembly, at the Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston St. Tonight’s GA will feature: Presentation from the Medics Working Group and discussion hosted by Safer Spaces on our collective values and practices in the spaces we Occupy (after Announcements and through the end of General Assembly)

These are just some of the many events at Occupy Boston. Check out our Daily Calendar for more information.

For more information on Occupy Boston’s General Assembly, including passed resolutions, click here!  

And if you’re interested in learning more about Occupy Boston and how you can participate, click here! 

Contact Us: Want to subscribe to the Daily Digest? Click here to have it sent to your email inbox every morning! All Working Groups or Occupy Boston events that need placement in the Daily Digest, please email AnnaC@OccupyBoston.org. And subscribe to the Occupy Boston Media Rundown, a daily listing of Occupy-related news, by contacting JohnM@OccupyBoston.org.