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    • May Day 2023 – Boston Common

    April 20th, 2023 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on May Day 2023 – Boston Common

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

    Contact: Patrick Wilson – Boston May Day Coalition, Activate Media (617)506-9298 activatemedia01@gmail.com

    May Day 2023 – Come to the Boston Common, Parkman Bandstand!

    Boston, Massachusetts – Monday, May 1, 2023, at 5:00 PM

    May Day 2023 – Boston Common | Facebook

    On May 1st people, organizations, and unions around the world will celebrate International Workers’ Day, May Day, a day to commemorate our common struggles and to demand a better future for all.

    On May Day in Boston, we will mobilize for a better future! A better future not only for ourselves, but for our children, and our children’s children. We will turn out for our rights as working people to live lives with purpose, free of fear from economic exploitation, and social oppression. We seek to break down the barriers that separate us. We call on all folks to join us. We must stand up for our rights, for our communities, and for a better future.

    We live in a country where health care is rationed and denied to millions, where education is rationed and denied to millions, where affordable housing is a joke and homelessness is rampant and in evidence everywhere. Union busting is the norm throughout the country and labor rights are trampled on daily. Equal justice under the law does not exist for those from oppressed nationalities or working people generally. Those who are wealthy get the best justice money can buy, while LGBT folks are being demonized and denied their rights under the Constitution. Millions here seek immediate legal permanent residence to be able to work and live freely without fear of police repression. Reproductive rights are being decimated for millions and the world faces a climate catastrophe! Enough is enough! Time to unite!

    In downtown Boston, an International Workers’ Day celebration will be held at Parkman Bandstand on Boston Common on Monday, May 1st, 2023 at 5PM EDT. The event will feature speeches, music, food, a march, and of course fun. All are welcome to attend.We also stand in solidarity with our compañeras and compañeros in East Boston and Chelsea commemorating International Workers’ Day. For more information about that  event, please visit their page: https://fb.me/e/2KdideEBD

    Co-Sponsors for May Day 2023 – Boston Common include:

    Boston May Day Coalition, Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts,
    Cambridge City Growers, New Democracy Coalition,
    United American Indians of New England, Refuse Fascism,
    Boston Education Justice Alliance, Jewish Voice for Peace,
    Revolutionary Blackout Network, Black Lives Matter Rhode Island,
    Massachusetts Nurses Association, Massachusetts Peace Action
    Workers World Party – Boston, North American Indian Center of Boston,
    Community Church of Boston, Encuentro 5, July 26 Coalition,
    FMLN – Massachusetts, Tecschange,
    African People’s Socialist Party, Anarchist Black Cross – Boston,
    Community Advocates for Justice and Equality, COS New England,
    DSA Socialist Feminism Working Group, Little Liberty,
    Progressive Labor Party, Natick Black Lives Matter,
    Independent Socialist Group, Red Strike Project,
    International Marxist Tendency, Inspiring Today’s Youth,
    Communities Responding to Extreme Weather, Boston South Asian Coalition,
    Julian Assange Defense – Boston, Boston Teachers Union,
    MassCOSH, Palestinian Youth Movement,
    Extinction Rebellion Boston, ActivateMedia.org,
    Battle First Aid Responder Services, Burhan Rebels.

    On May Day we have an opportunity to celebrate many examples of resistance to the employers’ offensive, and government attacks on our rights and interests.

    Around the world, Labor Day is celebrated on May 1st because internationally people remember the historic general strike which began on May 1, 1886. On that day in the US, 350,000 workers staged a nationwide work stoppage to demand the adoption of a standard eight-hour workday. The strike spread worldwide. Following the strike, four of the anarchist strike leaders were framed up and hanged for their role in the uprising and subsequently became known as Chicago’s Haymarket martyrs.

    On May Day, we will gather to recognize and celebrate the true international holiday of the working people, who have struggled, fought, and died in the ongoing class war. Unless we can stop them, the corporate elites are on course to destroy the very earth we stand on. History has demonstrated that we must all work together to build a unified workers’ movement that is intersectional and international in scope.  A movement that actively seeks to empower workers, unite with the oppressed in struggle, and defeat injustice in all forms, for as Dr. King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

    For more information, please visit: May Day 2023 – Boston Common | Facebook

    18th Annual #FirstNight Against the Wars

    December 30th, 2022 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on 18th Annual #FirstNight Against the Wars
    • Time: 12-5 PM, Saturday January 31st
    • Place: Copley Square, directly across the street from Community Church of Boston.
    • What: Rally, Demonstration, March, Food and Entertainment.
    • Everyone Welcome!
    • Bring: Free Food, Banners, Literature, Fliers, Stickers, Buttons

    The 18th Annual First Night Against the Wars is upon us! An all-day event that boasts multiple music concerts, puppets, an ice skating show, and two fireworks displays one at 7PM and another at 12:30 AM. Activist Groups for the past 18 years have gathered around multiple issues and many times march from Copley to Boston Common at the end of the parade.

    Groups are setting up at Copley Plaza at 11:30 AM and things get going at 12 noon. There is an Assange Defense Rally at 2 PM, and activist marching band BaBam will perform as well. Jill Stein and XR Solidarity will be marching from Copley Plaza to Boston Common at the end of the parade at 5 PM.

    Groups participating or sponsoring the event include:

    Message from the Event Page:Living today in a country perpetually at war, it is only fitting that this December 31 will mark the 18th annual celebration of First Night Against the Wars.Every year folks seeking an end to our permanent war culture gather in Copley Square to bring free food, banners, literature, fliers, stickers, buttons, and the antiwar holiday spirit to many thousands of First Night revelers who may long for peace.Your participation would contribute greatly to that spirit. Bring what you wish and join in the spectacle. So often the holiday festivities fail to celebrate the resistance coming from working people and the oppressed to the wars against women, oppressed nationalities, LGBT folks, the climate, the poor, and other countries.We will be setting up near the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets. Look for our signs and banners. Please join us.Note: We may be in a slightly different location this year. They are moving the performance stage to the Old Library Entrance. We might have to set up directly across the street from the Community Church of Boston at 565 Boylston Street.For info: 857-272-6743

    *Note: While ‘First Night Against The Wars’ is not directly affiliated with ‘First Night Boston’, it has participated alongside for many years. First Night Against The Wars does not support Amazon as the corporate sponsor of ‘First Night Boston’. Amazon is involved in poor labor practices and union-busting activities. When Workers Rights Are Under Attack, What Do We Do? 

    XRBOSTON/Car Free Boston World Car Free Day Rebel Ride Friday September 23rd Copley 5PM

    September 23rd, 2022 · · Events Comments Off on XRBOSTON/Car Free Boston World Car Free Day Rebel Ride Friday September 23rd Copley 5PM

    Extinction Rebellion and Car Free Boston have teamed up to hold an action Friday afternoon after-work at 5PM ET to celebrate World Car Free Day. They will be joining 50 countries and over 1,000 cities in imagining what a future without cars could be like.  “We need transformative change in mobility to safe, clean, quiet transportation that doesn’t destroy our biosphere.”*

    “The event will start in Copley Square and travel around 10 miles total and will finish in Dewey Square. We will meander at a slow pace (< 10 mph). Bring lights, music, costumes, flags and positive vibes. We will be taking a lane on open streets, with safety in numbers. If you have experience corking (marshaling) let us know.”*

    “Extinction Rebellion is a strictly non-violent movement, whose overall ambition is an international rebellion that helps humanity to turn quickly onto a course that is compatible with life on earth, and to build resilient communities in the face of ecological and societal crisis. We operate under the principles of Holacracy with a decentralized structure.”**

    * Event Page on Facebook

    ** Extinction Rebellion Website

    In Discussing Putin

    May 23rd, 2022 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on In Discussing Putin

    By: Deborah Sirotkin Butler

    In discussing Putin, I make clear that I agree with former General Smedley Butler who wrote the book War is a Racket. Too often our own country used its armies in support of plutocrats. That being said, what the Nazis did when ruled by Hitler and the fascist Nazi ideology was fundamentally genocidal – which is also true as to treatment of Native Americans on the North and South American continents.
    As Putin’s War shows, there is enough of the dark desire for power and supremacy in the human heart that “never again” will take vigilance and determination.
    Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and raining of bombs and shells on civilians, hospitals, schools and apartment buildings proves that point, as do the mass abductions of women and children reported.
    What then? By prayer, fasting, transfer of war materials, and possibly boots on the ground this COULD be a time to draw the line. To say barbarism and genocide and treating others as sub human stops here.
    Putin, by his massive miscalculations and hubris has made the declaration of “this stops here.” …something being considered by many. His jealous hatred of what Ukraine, in its metanoeo was becoming, is so evident.
    Another more trained than I wrote:
    “To win at war, the military leader Sun Yat-sen said there were three things you must own: knowledge of the region, the people, and the situation on the ground.
    Putin has failed magnificently at all three, thinking NATO and the USA would be weak, that Ukrainians would flee in the face of the Russian army, or welcome them in as brothers upon entry.”
    YES. Putin misjudged the region, the people, and the responses from neighbors and in fact entire national populations. Putin is seen as a Hitlereque villain by what appear to be billions of people. So much so that even what is good from Russian culture such as its great musicians may be shunned as reeking of Putin!
    Will Putin multiply this odious result by being the second country to use nuclear weapons? Let us not forget that to our shame, the USA did this first.
    The way to honor for Putin is not through more war crimes. The true way to honor is heroic metanoeo – some might call this heroic repentance, and rather than behaving like a cornered rat, to be the one to heroically step back from the brink.
    As for the allegation of “Nazis”, sadly every country has Nazis. The USA has them, Russia has them, everywhere. These are the people who see other human beings as chattels, inferior, and subhuman. To me, currently, Putin’s behavior towards Ukraine and other Eastern Europeans is that of a Nazi.
    Really, the best thing I can do now us to call Putin to repentance to save his soul and the lives of many people and just hope that somehow he hears my words.
    Maybe #DmitriMedvedev will tell him. Chubais left and will not.

    Protest Monday December 27th 2021 FREE ANTUAN! Court Support in Fall River

    December 24th, 2021 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Protest Monday December 27th 2021 FREE ANTUAN! Court Support in Fall River

    Press Release

    Protest Monday December 27th 2021 FREE ANTUAN! Court Support in Fall River

    Monday December 27th 2021 @ 9AM – Fall River District Court: 186 S Main St, Fall River, MA

    Come and Support Antuan Castro del Rio at his hearing to have all charges dismissed on Monday in Fall River. He was arrested on several charges at a protest on October 18th in Fall River after objecting to another protestors arrest. He and a group of activists were counterprotesting a Blue Lives Matter, pro-Trump rally held outside city police headquarters at 685 Pleasant Street in Fall River, MA.
    His statement from the facebook event page follows, here is a link to it https://fb.me/e/1aHLNQ2D4 . Mr Castro del Rio can be reached by media for comment at Joancaderibe@hotmail.com

    from Antuan

    Antuan’s statement from facebook Event page – ” The prosecution of Antuan Castro del Rio is a clear example of a Black Lives Matter activist being targeted and jailed by local law enforcement for the crime of protesting. On October 18, 2020, a young Latino activist, Antuan Castro del Rio, was protesting police violence and racism in front of the Fall River police station with a group of Black Lives Matter protesters. The action was a counter protest to supporters of Donald Trump who want arbitrary racist repression directed against Black folks to continue. As usual, the police on the scene saw it as their duty to serve as supporters of the ultra-rightist movement and to victimize supporters of racial justice. An officer on the scene reported that he was “directed to monitor the crowd of BLM/Anti-Police protesters.” And as one might expect, BLM protester Matthew Scott was arrested for doing absolutely nothing! Then Antuan was arrested while objecting to Matthew’s arrest. Antuan was then thrown up against a police car while holding his megaphone and cuffed by police. He was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and vandalizing a police car! His real “crime” was defending free speech and opposing the growth of a fascist movement in this country… The only assaults occurring at the scene that day were carried out by the Fall River police. After his arrest, Antuan was also cited for driving on a suspended license– a totally bogus false charge! What is playing out in Fall River is a familiar pattern. Police coddling fascists and ultra-rightists while jailing supporters of working people and the oppressed. These developments have been playing out in Massachusetts and in states across the country. This case is unfolding in the context of a deep social crisis. The death toll in the US from the coronavirus has far surpassed the total number of US deaths from World War I, World War II, the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined. The depth of this crisis was underscored when fascist lackeys of Trump and Wall Street took over the Capitol in an effort to steal and overturn the election. Fascists have been getting a wider hearing in recent years, have been acting more boldly, and enjoy a high degree of impunity. The ultra-rightist movement seeks to counter the gains of the antiracist movement, vaccination movement, unions, and mobilizations defending women, LGBT folks, migrants, etc. They seek over time to smash the unions, steal elections, and eliminate the right of working people and the oppressed to organize independently. Antuan’s case was yet another prelude to the attempted putsch carried out by the fascist mob at the Capitol on January 6. At the Capitol, a phalanx of police officers defended the building, but were under orders to hold back on the riot response. Imagine if supporters of racial justice, working people, and the oppressed had stormed the Capitol on January 6? The top brass of the security apparatus would have insured that they would have never gotten inside. So little attention has been given to fascist elements occupying leadership responsibilities in the security apparatus! From experiences unfolding, many folks are coming to understand that the police are often fascists in uniform and cannot be relied upon to defend our rights. The case of Antuan Castro del Rio is another example of the police trying to frame up an innocent Latino man for a victimless crime while exercising his free speech rights. It demonstrates yet again the impunity enjoyed by police and ultra-rightists. Let’s unite in solidarity! “

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