What Occupy Boston is up to this weekend!

Many people have asked, “what are our next steps?” and “what are you doing, now that there’s no camp?” The answer is: a lot! Here’s a round-up of this weekend’s actions, trainings, and events, courtesy of the outreach working group. For more details — including locations and descriptions — please read to the bottom of this entire post. Thanks!

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16

8:15 am — Courtroom Solidarity and Press Conference

12 pm — Home for the Holidays: City Life Press Conference and Tenant Speak-out

5-7 pm — Rally to Support Liberté Locke, Starbucks Union Organizer

6-8:30 pm — Occupy Boston Community Forum: Addressing Space and Housing Issues

6-9 pm — Ocupemos el Barrio Meeting

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17

10-5 pm — Non-violent Direct Action Training @ Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth Street,  Jamaica Plain

12-6 pm — #D17 Actions: 12pm “Pro-Corporate” Rally, ~2pm Picnic, ~4pm Occupy Boston Tea Party (all meet at the Parkman Bandstand on the Commons)

2 pm — Occupy Boston Community Forum: Thinking about Next Steps @ Encuentro Cinco, 33 Harrison, Boston (Chinatown T stop) NB: This is notat St. Paul’s.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18

11:30 am – 2:30 pm — Roadmap Planning Meeting @ Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, Chinatown

12-5 pm — Direct Action Strategy and Action Planning @Community Church, 565 Boylston Street, Boston

1:30-4 pm — Occupy Boston Action Summit @ Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, Chinatown

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19

12 pm — Occupy our Homes: Rally and March against HUD eviction requirements

FULL DETAILS:

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16

Courtroom Solidarity and Press Conference
8:15 am – 12 pm at Boston Municipal Court Department, Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, 24 New Chardon Street Boston, MA 02114

This Friday at 9 am, a group of Occupiers who were arrested on October 11 and chose to plea not guilty will have a pretrial conference at the Boston Municipal Court. Let’s be there to support them in a show of solidarity!

There will also be a press conference at 8:15 am in front of the courthouse.

Home for the Holidays: City Life Press Conference and Tenant Speak-out
12 – 2 p.m. at 40 Fowler Street in Dorchester

The press conference will introduce the St. Simon family who will move into 40 Fowler, as well as testimonials from members who have successfully gotten their homes back about foreclosure. As part of the event, City Life will be decorating their annual justice tree, and has invited members from Occupy Boston hang tiny tents and speak about next steps and plans for the future. Join us as we honor these families, celebrate the power of collective organizing, and outline next steps in our ongoing work with City Life.

Rally to Support Liberté Locke, Starbucks Union Organizer
5 – 7 p.m. at Starbucks Coffee, 1 Financial Center, Boston MA

For over 4 years, Liberté Locke has been a stalwart organizer in the Starbucks Workers’ Union. A tireless and compassionate advocate for her fellow workers, Liberté helped spearhead the recent successful effort to win premium pay on the Martin Luther King Day holiday for all low-paid Starbucks baristas in the US. Now she is being targeted by her employer for helping to organize her fellow workers. Let’s show Starbucks Inc our courageous sister has friends in Boston!

Occupy Boston Community Forum: Addressing Space and Housing Issues
6 – 8:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Cathedral (on the Boston Common)

An emergency meeting for occupiers and working groups to address immediate post-eviction issues, including future locations for GA space, long-term arrangements for our houseless occupiers, working group reassessment, and other issues of immediate importance (NOTE: This is not a planning meeting or a decision-making body, but it will be a logistical meeting. If you have been working on space or houseless issues, please come with concrete proposals in hand)

Ocupemos el Barrio
6 – 9 p.m. at Maverick Landing Community Center, 31 Liverpool Street, East Boston

Llamado a Organizaciones y activistas individuales a participar de la reunion organizativa de Ocupemos el Barrio (East Boston, JP, Chelsea, Revere, Lynn, Somerville). La reunion se efectuara en Maverick Landing Community Center 31 Liverpool Street, East Boston (cerca de la estacion de Maverick, Linea azul), la misma esta programada para el Viernes 16 de Dec a las 6:00 pm.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17

Non-violent Direct Action Training
10 – 5 p.m. at Community Church, 565 Boylston Street

Join us for a full-day training on Non-Violent Direct Action, covering history, street tactics, planning, strategy, legal, and affinity groups, to be followed by a screening of “This is What Democracy Looks Like” on the mass demonstrations and coordinated direct actions in Seattle 1999 that launched the US anti-globalization movement. Inspired by the Occupy movement these trainings are part of a community capacity building effort in the Boston area, the trainings will be facilitated by members of the New England Trainers Network, Alliance of Community Trainers and the Health Justice Working Group of Occupy Boston. To sign up, please email the trainers directly.

Email: bostonactiontrainings@riseup.net
Phone: (617) 971-8753
Web: www.tinyurl.com/NVDAtraining

Occupy Boston Community Forum: Thinking about Next Steps
2 – 4 p.m. at Encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor)

An open conversation with the prompt “Why are we here? Where do we want to go?” This is not a planning meeting or a decision-making body. This is a space to share thoughts, generate ideas and ask questions about where we are as a community and as a movement, and where we’d like to go next. All are welcome!

#D17 Actions:

Ironic “Pro-Corporate” March
12 – 2 p.m. leaving from the Parkman Bandstand (Boston Common)

Mayor Menino has said that he’d “hate our city to ever be associated with anti-corporate protests.” In an effort to be accommodating, we’re calling for an (ironic) “Pro-Corporate” March that should be right up his alley.

Come on out in your finest 1%er costume and bring signage to match!!!

WE ARE THE 1% — PROFITS OVER PEOPLE — CORPORATIONS ARE PEOPLE — MORE YACHTS

You get the idea.

Picnic
2 – 4 p.m. at the Commons

We’ll relax, eat, and socialize between actions. If you can, bring enough food to share!

Occupy Boston Tea Party
~4 – 5 p.m. leaving the Commons

The Boston Tea Party wasn’t just a direct action against the British government; it was also directed against the abuses of the monopolistic East India Company. Sound familiar?

Join us as we make this historical connection explicit by re-enacting the Boston Tea Party, Occupy-style. Please bring small signs to label crates full of things that YOU would like to dump into the water. Also: as much fake money as you can manage.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18

Roadmap Planning Meeting
11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at Encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor)

This meeting is to start the “strategic planning” process. The first step that we’re embarking upon is the “SWOT Analysis” (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) which has been used by social-change organizations for decades to figure out “what the organization is” and what its opportunities are. Management gurus have found that if an organization can agree on who they are, that it’s easier to figure out where to go, and how to get there. This meeting is one in a series of “strategic planning” meetings that will help us explore who we are as a group.

Direct Action Strategy and Action Planning.
12 – 4 p.m. at Spontaneous Celebrations 45 Danforth Street Jamaica Plain, MA

Digging a little deeper into actions and strategy. Inspired by the Occupy movement these trainings are part of a community capacity building effort in the Boston area, the trainings will be facilitated by members of the New England Trainers Network, Alliance of Community Trainers and the Health Justice Working Group of Occupy Boston. The aim is to build the skill sets and confidence of community groups and activists in doing NVDA. To sign up, please get in touch with the trainers directly.

Email: bostonactiontrainings@riseup.net
Phone: (617) 971-8753
Web: www.tinyurl.com/NVDAtraining

Occupy Boston Action Summit
1:30 – 4 p.m. at Encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor)

Join members from Direct Action, Media, Outreach, Street, and others to discuss vision and strategy for the next two months. The purpose of this event is twofold: 1) discuss strategy and tactics around actions, and 2) build the Occupy Boston actions community. The first half of the summit will be a conversation around high-level strategy and goals, and the second half will focus on reflecting on past actions (including presentations on our most innovative actions so far), brainstorming new ones, and creating checklists and procedures for properly publicizing and executing actions, with an emphasis on coordination across working groups. For questions, email street@occupyboston.org.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 19

Occupy our Homes: Rally and March against HUD eviction requirements
12 – 4 p.m. at 10 Causeway St., Boston MA

Occupy Boston will join City Life / Vida Urbana for a rally 10 Causeway St., to oppose HUD requirements that commercial banks evict foreclosure victims who have FHA-insured mortgagers before the property is transferred to HUD. When FHA has insured a bank loan, the lender will get fully reimbursed even if the loan is twice the real value of the home. In response, HUD assumes control of the property. However HUD has been demanding “vacant conveyance”. This policy forces the foreclosing lender to evict in order to get their insurance, even when they could otherwise afford to stay in the property. Please join us on Monday to show support for this important issue.