Third Annual St. Patrick’s Peace Parade, Sunday, March 17
Parade participants will assemble at: 2:00 PM
D Street off of West Broadway (Look for Blimp and Flags)
Parade will begin at 3:00 PM, one mile behind 1st parade

SOUTH BOSTON – For the third year in a row the 200 member Smedley Butler Brigade, Chapter 9 of Veterans For Peace will lead the St. Patrick’s Peace Parade through the streets of South Boston on Sunday, March 17, one mile behind the 1st parade. Once again Veterans For Peace are organizing a parade that is welcoming and inclusive on the streets of South Boston. This is in direct conflict with the policies of the organizers of the first parade that exclude veterans who have dutifully served their country, many in war, but who now work for peace and members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender (LGBT community).

Veterans For Peace were denied to walk in the 1st parade in 2011 because the organizers of the first parade “did not want to have the word peace associated with the word veteran”. Being aware of the longtime exclusionary and discriminatory practices of the organizers of the 1st parade towards the LGBT community the veterans decided to have their own welcoming and inclusive parade. The first group they reached out to was the LGBT community saying to them, “you were denied to walk in their parade eighteen years ago, how would you like to walk in our parade”. The LGBT group Join the Impact immediately accepted the offer.

In 2011 with only three to four weeks to organize the Peace Parade they had one band, a duck boat and 500 participants. In 2012 there were seven divisions, two bands, a duck boat, two trollies, one float, bag-pipers, a drumming group and 2,000 participants. In 2013, there are eight divisions (Veterans, Peace, Religious, LGBT, Climate Justice, Political, Labor-Jobs and Economic and Social Justice), six bands, Bread and Puppet Theatre from Vermont, a duck boat, two trollies, one float and the expectations of many many more participants. The peace, environment, LGBT groups and organizations are heavily promoting the parade this year. “I believe the Saint Patrick’s Peace Parade could be huge this year”, said Pat Scanlon the coordinator of Veterans For Peace and organizer of the Peace Parade. “Groups such as MoveOn.org, the Green Party, Sierra Club, 350.org, the LGBT community, peace groups and churches are mobilizing to join the parade. Musical groups from as far away as Rhode Island and New York are joining our parade, this is exciting”

“There is one big difference from previous years” added Scanlon. “For the past two years the Boston DPW had crews breaking down the barriers and cleaning the streets with street sweepers right behind the 1st parade. What did that signal to parade watchers; the party is over, go home. This year the DPW crews and the street sweepers will be behind our parade”. Lawyers from the ACLUM and LeClair Ryan negotiated with the city to guarantee fair treatment for the Peace Parade. This means that potentially tens of thousands more people will see and enjoy the Saint Patricks’ Peace Parade. The party is not over until the street sweepers sweep, please stay, enjoy and celebrate.

The website of the Smedley D. Butler Brigade of Veterans For Peace is www.SmedleyVFP.org

Contact: Pat Scanlon, Office: 978-475-1776, Cell: 978-590-4248, email PatScanlonMusic@yahoo.com

by Vern

Innovative and Thoughtful Approaches to Balancing Money, Society and the Environment

Winchester, MA (March 1, 2013) – Against the backdrop of mounting risks to the environment, economy and society, a group of experts in socially responsible investing and three thought leaders on issues relating to a sustainable economy, environment and society will share their knowledge and ideas at a “Community Reinvestment Day 2013″ program in Winchester on Saturday, March 9th, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. It will take place in Metcalf Hall at the Winchester Unitarian Church, 478 Main Street, and is open to the general public, without charge.

A panel discussion on socially responsible investing will be moderated by Catherine Valega, CFP®, CAIA, of Green Bridge Wealth Management, LLC. The panelists will be: Margaret Arndt, Holistic Financial Consultant, of Sage Consulting, Inc., Dorothy Emerson, Co-founder of Rainbow Solutions, Inc., Eric Packer, an investment advisor with Progressive Asset Management Group, and Tim Smith, SVP and Director of Environmental, Social and Governance Shareholder Engagement at Walden Asset Management.

Three thought-provoking presentations will conclude the formal program. David Snieckus has researched money, banking and foreclosures and facilitated the formation of the Massachusetts Public Banking Advocates. He will address the relationship between “Food and Money.” Robert O. Leaver, a member of a group that believes we have to change the context of Western civilization in order to save Western civilization, will discuss the banking and monetary systems. And John G. Root, Jr., who is active in the movement for public banking, will speak on “Mutual Credit and Sociocracy.”

The program will include an exhibition area where organizations, individuals and companies will provide information about their activities and services relating to environmental, social and economic issues and socially responsible investing. During the final hour of the program attendees and participants are invited to mingle informally and discuss the issues presented over a light lunch of homemade soup.

This event is being co-sponsored by Occupy Winchester (www.occupywinchesterma.org) and Sustainable Winchester (http://www.sustainablewinchester.org).

by Carolyn and OB Strike Debt

Here is a great chance to understand and strategize about current debt resistance struggles in a historical context:

OB Strike Debt is hosting George Caffentzis, a New York Strike Debt speaker, on the Boston leg of his New England speaking tour.

He’ll be giving a talk titled “The Making of a Debt Resisters’ Movement from Shay’s Rebellion to the Rolling Jubilee,” followed by discussion.

Tuesday Feb. 26 at Community Church of Boston
565 Boylston St (2nd floor)
Boston, MA (in Copley Square)

Food and social time: 6:30 p.m.
Talk starts at about 7 p.m.

George Caffentzis is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern Maine (Portland). He is a member of Strike Debt. He has written books on the philosophy of money as well as many essays on social, political and economic issues. His most recent book, “In Letters of Blood and Fire: Work, Machines, and the Crisis of Capitalism,” will be published by CommonNotions and PM Press.

We welcome everyone to what should be a very interesting and relevant evening.

FYI, George Caffentzis will also be on “Radio with a View” WMBR (88.1FM) Sunday 2/24 at 11:25 a.m.

Occupy Boston’s Strike Debt working group was inspired by the #StrikeDebt group in NYC; we seek to draw attention to issues surrounding debt and indebtedness.

You can view our working group material at http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Strike_Debt and sign up for our mailing list at https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/strikedebt. We’d love to have you involved!

by Patty

Hi All,

I am very pleased to let you know about an exciting event that is happening on Saturday, March 9, 2013, in Winchester MA. We are having a “Community Reinvestment Day – A Discussion of Innovative and Thoughtful Approaches Toward Balancing Money, Society and the Environment.” We are fortunate to be joined by both an impressive group of experts for a 90-minute panel discussion on socially responsible investing, and three courageous advocates for a public bank in MA who will give a very thought provoking hour-long presentation. There will also be exhibits from organizations like the Sustainable Business Network of MA, Rainbow Solutions, and many others. We will be offering everyone a light lunch of homemade soup and conversation, as well.

This event, inspired in part by CRY 2013 (Community Reinvestment Year 2013), located at http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/CRY_2013, is being co-sponsored by Occupy Winchester and Sustainable Winchester and is taking place in Metcalf Hall at the Winchester Unitarian Society. We hope to have a good turnout from all over the Boston area as well as from Winchester. We really hope that you will be able to join us!

Here is a one-page flyer, with more details and the location of the event. Please feel free to circulate this to anyone you think might be interested.

NLG Mass Defense Fundraiser – RESCHEDULED!!! March 15, 2013, 6:00 pm

Announcement: Dear NLG Friends,
yes, the anticipated snow storm has scared us, and we have rescheduled our fundraiser for the NLG Mass Defense Fund. The event will happen in March.

Friday, March 15, 2013
6:00 – 9:00+ pm
Jillian’s, 145 Ipswich St., Boston

We would like to thank the event’s sponsors. Your support of the NLG Mass Defense Committee is greatly appreciated. We couldn’t do it without you! Thank you!

If you are interested in sponsoring, please let us know at 617-227-7335 or nlgmass-director@igc.org.

Hope to see you all there.
Urszula