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    Friday & Saturday at Camp Charlie (and Other Exciting Places)

    April 12th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on Friday & Saturday at Camp Charlie (and Other Exciting Places)

    Come celebrate the last two days of Camp Charlie with education, activism, and fun!

    FRIDAY APRIL 13 — TEACH-INS AND SLUMBER PARTY!

    From Occupy to Revolution:   The Importance of Keeping a Radical Perspective
    10:30 am at Camp Charlie
    Radical scholar, Marxist intellectual, and long-time social justice activist, Professor Barbara Foley (Rutgers-Newark) will be giving a short lecture and facilitating a discussion, under the working title : “From Occupy to Revolution: the importance of keeping a radical perspective” at Camp Charlie, between 10:30 and 11 am this Friday, April 13th at Camp Charlie.

    Ride the Rails
    4:00 PM at Camp Charlie
    Come Ride the Rails with us to spread the word to Boston’s subway riders about Camp Charlie, the Occupy MBTA campaign, and the broader Occupy Boston community. We’ll be meeting at Camp Charlie at 4:00 PM for a brief training, after which we’ll be setting out in teams to connect with Boston’s rush-hour commuters and recruit them for the movement through speaking, leafleting, and distributing copies of the Boston Occupier. Let’s seize the unique opportunity to engage thousands of T commuters about the issues that could immediately impact them — the cuts, hikes, and layoffs — as well as the deeper issues that they raise for us all. See you there!

    Race and Class Inequality:  Fighting for a People’s T
    6:15 pm at Camp Charlie
    The recent fare hikes and proposed service cuts are only the most recent effort to divide public transit across race and class lines.   Join us for a crash course on the history of the T — how urban planning choices changed its shape and layout, and how those choices affect the demographics it serves.

    “But What Can I do About it?”    Looking Up, Looking Forward
    7 pm at Camp Charlie
    The T is $5.5 billion in debt.   The legislature is fighting over $51 million in funding for the entire state.   What can you do about it?  You can decide to act.   A teach-in on how to think about action in the face of overwhelming odds, how to get yourself organized and start thinking at the granular level — person by person – about what you can do to make a differenceSigns for Santorum @ OB Queer DA Meeting
    8:30 pm at Camp Charlie
    Join Occupy Boston Queer Trans DA for a sign-making in preparation for this Sunday’s Mass Tea Party’s Patriot’s Day Rally.    Help us greet Santorum and Scott Lively in style!Occupy Slumber Party!


    10 pm onward at Camp Charlie
    Bring a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad, and help celebrate the last night at Camp Charlie!

    SATURDAY — MARCH AND PARTY AT E5

    Closing March and Rally:   Uniting the 99 percent!
    12:15 pm at Converse Hall, 88 Tremont Street
    Meet at Camp Charlie at 11:30
    To celebrate the final day of the occupation, Occupy MBTA will join hundreds of members of SEIU Local 615 and community allies to honor the centennial of the famous Bread and Roses Lawrence Textile Strike. Join us as we take our message to the streets. We are ready to stand for the 99%!

    Benefit for E5 at Spontaneous Celebrations!
    8 pm at Spontaneous
    45 Danforth Street, Jamaica Plain
    Dance Prequel to E5’s Dance-a-thon with rockin’ DJs, cool art and great food.   Latin Meets Rock N Roll, Boogaloo, chicha, salsa, latin garage, plena, and biguine music, kuduro, kwaito, hipco, soca, baile, cumbia, Spanish dancehall, reggae, reggaetón, ska, merengue, salsa kid, blend of Soul/House/Latin/Hip Hop/Afro-Beat, soul/funk/afrobeat/hip-hop, electrópica, cumbia digital, latin house, moombahton…
    There is a $20 – $5 (sliding scale) admission (which covers the registration cost of the Dance-a-thon in Sept.) Join us and move your body for the movement!

    Occupy MBTA Testifies at the State House

    April 9th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements 6 comments

    Today, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Transportation held a hearing on House Bill 4011, which, among other things, would authorize a one-time transfer from the Motor Vehicle Inspection Fund to the MBTA.  The following testimony was submitted on behalf of Occupy MBTA, whose members have been occupying the State House steps since April 4, 2012 to protest the austerity measures in the MBTA’s FY 2013 budget and to demand a comprehensive statewide plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%.  Occupier Katie Gradowski presented a shorter oral version of this testimony at the hearing.  For a .pdf version, click here.

    Re: H 4011 – Governor Patrick’s Mini Reform Bill

    The Joint Committee on Transportation should support the transfer of $51 million from the Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund to MassDOT, but it must do more than that for the people of Massachusetts.

    The 2013 budget approved by MassDOT kills jobs, makes dozens of service cuts, nearly doubles the fare for seniors, and raises fares as much as 150% for riders with disabilities. Worse, the Governor and the Secretary of Transportation have already publicly declared that this is a one-year solution, and that we will be right back where we are next year, with more hikes, cuts, and layoffs.  This is not acceptable governing.  We demand better from our public officials. Continue reading “Occupy MBTA Testifies at the State House” »

    Today: Join Occupy MBTA at the Joint Committee on Transportation Hearing

    April 8th, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Today: Join Occupy MBTA at the Joint Committee on Transportation Hearing

    Today, April 9, 2012 at 10:00 AM in hearing room B1, the Joint Committee on Transportation will meet for the first time since the MassDOT board approved massive fare increases for next year and since Occupy MBTA launched its occupation on the steps of the State House.

    Occupy MBTA will be testifying, and we need a big presence at the hearing to ensure our voices are heard. Please join us! We’ll be meeting at Camp Charlie at 9:30 AM (steps in front of State House on Beacon Street) before heading to the hearing.

    April 4th: Occupy Boston & Occupy MBTA Host People’s Assembly at State House

    April 4th, 2012 · · Events, Press Releases Comments Off on April 4th: Occupy Boston & Occupy MBTA Host People’s Assembly at State House

    On April 4th at 3:00 PM, Occupy Boston, Occupy MBTA, and other advocates for public transportation, environmental justice, and labor will converge on the State House for a People’s Assembly to demand “No Hikes! No Cuts! No Layoffs!” The Day of Action will include a People’s Hearing inside the State House at 3:00 PM, a rally outside at 5:00 PM, and at 8:00 PM a remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the 44th anniversary of his assassination.

    “A good public transportation system works to reduce the effects of economic inequality by providing affordable access to work, school, and medical care,” said Ariel Oshinsky, an organizer for Occupy Boston.  “But the MBTA is attempting to do the opposite by balancing its books on the backs of those who can afford it the least. In the MBTA’s current proposal, four of the five biggest fare increases will fall on seniors and riders with disabilities, and communities that are already marginalized will be further isolated by the fare hikes and service cuts.”

    Occupy MBTA’s People’s Assembly will be a direct response to the 31 public hearings hosted by the MBTA on its proposals to slash service and raise fairs. The MBTA claims to incorporated feedback from those hearings into its most recent proposal, but the evidence suggests otherwise. For example, MBTA officials claim there is public support for raising fares, but only 2.5% of public meeting comments supported fare hikes.  In addition, MBTA officials have refused to explore many of the solutions that would have allowed the agency to balance its books without fare hikes or service cuts — including, but not limited to, canceling its interest rate swaps with Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bancorp (UBS), and JPMorgan Chase.

    “The MBTA’s austerity measures should be aimed at Wall Street banks, not the T-riding 99%,” said Tyson Hawk of Occupy Boston.  “We’re coming to the State House to make sure our voices are heard – to present our own solutions and to exercise a “people’s veto” over the MBTA’s disastrous plan.”

    With public transit under attack across the nation, the Occupy Boston General Assembly passed a Call to Action on March 3, 2012, which called on “occupations, general assemblies and people’s movements across the country and around the globe to mobilize on April 4th, 2012 to demand public transportation for the 99%.”  Events are planned on April 4th in more than twenty-five cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Portland, Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle. The Amalgamated Transit Union, the largest labor organization representing transit workers in the US and Canada, has pledged its support for the April 4th National Day of Action for Public Transportation.

    “People across the country are participating in this Day of Action because our priorities are not reflected in the politicians’ budgets,” said Noah McKenna of Occupy JP. “We say ‘no’ to endless wars of choice and propping up Wall Street against the weight of its own fraud.  And ‘yes’ to comprehensive, affordable and sustainable transportation plans that work for the 99%.”

    At 8:00 PM on the steps of the State House, Occupy Boston’s People of Color Working Group will lead a vigil for Dr. King.  April 4this the anniversary of Dr. King’s historic 1967 speech linking poverty and war and then his assassination exactly one year later.  Dr. King was a staunch advocate of public transportation, who stood for prioritizing social needs ahead of corporate profit margins and militarism and once wrote:

    Urban transit systems in most American cities, for example, have become a genuine civil rights issue—and a valid one—because the layout of rapid-transit systems determines the accessibility of jobs to the Black community. If transportation systems in American cities could be laid out so as to provide an opportunity for poor people to get to meaningful employment, then they could begin to move into the mainstream of American life.

    Occupy Boston will be observing this day and remembering a great visionary by continuing Dr. King’s fight against economic inequality.

    National Day of Action for Public Transportation
    People’s Assembly – State House

    3pm: People’s Hearing
    5pm: Rally to Save the T
    8pm: MLK Remembrance

    For more information, visit http://occupymbta.org/a4/

    Twitter hashtag: #A4bos

    Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 Joins April 4 Public Transit Day of Action

    March 31st, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 Joins April 4 Public Transit Day of Action

    Declaring “Urban Transit is a Civil Rights Issue,” the Boston Carmen’s Union, Local 589, which represents over 6,000 MBTA workers, has called on “transit workers [to] join together with the occupy movement and transit passengers across the country to honor Dr. King’s legacy” on April 4 for the National Day of Action for Public Transportation. On its website, the Boston Carmen’s Union wrote:

    Urban Transit Is A Civil Rights Issue

    On the anniversary of Dr. King’s death, April 4, transit workers join together with the occupy movement and transit passengers across the country to honor Dr. King’s legacy. Dr. King declared “transit systems in most American cities…have become a genuine civil rights issue…If transportation systems in American cities could be laid out so as to provide an opportunity for poor people to get to meaningful employment, then they could begin to move into the mainstream of American life.” His words ring true today as Boston and our country faces a public transportation crisis.

    April 4th, 2012 marks a National Day of Action in Boston and throughout the country to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, on April 4, 1967, delivered his famous speech, “Beyond Vietnam: Breaking the Silence,” in which he explained the link between war and poverty. On that same date, exactly one year later, Dr. King’s voice was silenced by an assassin’s bullet. Dr. King played a key role in Montgomery bus boycott for racial equality and throughout his life fought for the rights of those in the 99% impacted by cuts to public transportation: low-income Americans, communities of color, students, workers, and seniors.

    We ask: “Where Is Mass Transit Today?” In 2011 Americans took 10.4 billion trips on mass transit, the most in decades, but public transportation is still under attack…

    • 85% of transit systems have cut service or raised fares since the recession having a devastating impact on those who rely on mass transit — the 99%.
    • Thousands of transit workers have lost their jobs.
    • Transit systems are deteriorating: older vehicles, deferred maintenance, longer wait times for overcrowded buses and trains.
    • Wall Street is profiting off of the debt that transit systems face. The NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had to pay over $1.1 billion in interest payments in 2011.
    • Instead of cutting fares, MTA is cutting checks to Wall Street bankers – the 1%.
    • Service is being outsourced to foreign national companies looking to make a killing while compromising the safety and service for passengers and workers.

    Meanwhile…

    • The Pentagon spends $300 million per day on the Afghan War. That’s our tax dollars that could be spent on public transportation and other critical investments for our communities.
    • Politicians won’t commit to fund mass transit adequately and blame the economic crisis. Instead they raise fares and cut routes, but service does not improve.
    • The bankers and brokers – the 1% – control the money for public transportation and threaten the transit systems that took a century to build. The greed and corruption must stop.

    Take Action Now! Join us on April 4th, 2012 for hearing inside the State House at 3pm followed by a rally outside at 5pm.

    April 4 at the State House
    Hearing: 3-5pm
    Rally & Speak Out: 5pm until we’re done

    Join us as part of the National Day of Action on Transportation to demand:

    • No service cuts
    • No fare hikes
    • No layoffs
    • No privatization of our treasured public transit system.
    • A comprehensive state-wide plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%.

    For more information on #A4 or to get involved in Occupy MBTA, please visit http://occupymbta.org/.

     

    Contact us

    Occupy Boston Media <Media@occupyboston.org> • <Info@occupyboston.org> • @Occupy_Boston