The OB Media Rundown for 2/2/12

Occupy Boston: Coming soon, to a television station near you

With a talk show aimed at making social change, and plans to air short films “on everyday action that people can take to challenge the 1 percent,” Occupy Boston members are taking to the airwaves.

“We want people to see what we are doing and become inspired,” said Occupy Boston TV member Bill Lewis at Brookline Access Television’s headquarters, where the group produces Occupy Boston Live.

http://tinyurl.com/7yka99k

Protestors renew calls for banks to re-write loans

Decked out in snorkels, fins, and scuba gear, more than 150 activists took to the streets of Boston’s financial district on Monday to call attention to “underwater” mortgages which they say are the root cause of the nation’s ongoing foreclosure crisis.

The demonstration – a joint effort made by members of City Life/Vida Urbana, MassUniting, and elements of the Occupy Boston and Wall Street movements – was met with curious looks from bank employees standing in the lobbies of Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Fannie Mae. But organizers did catch the ear of City Councillor-At-Large Felix Arroyo, who last week announced a proposed ordinance that would require the city only conduct business with banks working to reinvest in Boston.

Filed last Wednesday, the Invest in Boston ordinance would ask city financial officers to review the banks in which the city stores its revenue – accounts that together total more than $1 billion. Arroyo says that the city should only do business with banks that are financially responsible at the local level.

http://tinyurl.com/7bn374l

Don’t Cut the T

Here’s a story you might have heard about the MBTA: it’s billions of dollars in debt. Boston has the lowest transit fares of any major city in the country, but the system is facing a $161 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2013, and it’s time for the riders to pay their fair share. To that end, the T released a proposal in early January containing two possible scenarios for fare increases and service cuts, to take effect in July of this year.

Here’s another story. The T is a lifeline for millions of people in the 175 cities it serves. Those most dependent on it are students, senior citizens, disabled people, and lower-income workers. Even those who don’t ride it reap the benefits, as public transportation keeps cars off the road, lowers pollution, and attracts tourists and shoppers who contribute to the city’s economy. The T employs over 6,000 unionized workers and enables thousands more to reach their jobs. The Ride transports elderly and disabled people to doctors’ appointments and allows them to live full lives rather than being confined to their homes. Harvard students use the T to get to extracurricular activities, job interviews, and the cultural events that make Boston an attractive place to go to school.

http://tinyurl.com/8yjkvsy

After Long Delay, Harvard Grad Council Finally Denounces Violence Against UC Occupiers

The act, passed by a majority of 29 to 9, resolved two months of discussion on whether the GSC’s constitution allowed the council to vote on such a measure.

Several representatives said they felt nervous about casting a vote on the contentious issue.

http://tinyurl.com/879vu7g

Divestment: City Takes Steps to Move Its Money – $300 Million – to a Local Bank

In what could well be one of the more significant consequences of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Berkeley may become one of the first cities in the country to pull its assets out of a major bank – in this case, Wells Fargo – as response to its role in the financial meltdown.

The city council unanimously decided to review the feasibility of transferring its $300 million or so in assets from the bank to either a local bank or a credit union, and whether an institution of that size would be able to handle the banking transactions required of a medium-sized city.

http://tinyurl.com/75f9wtb

Credit unions continuing to see increase in new customers, inspired by Occupy to leave big banks

In light of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a record number of bank customers are transferring their deposits from big banks to credit unions.

It’s unclear exactly how many of these people are making the switch in step with the movement, but according to the National Credit Union Administration, credit unions in the state of Washington have seen a dramatic increase in deposits in contrast with those of last year.
“We’re seeing growth that’s still running between 140 and 150 percent of what we

saw this time last year,” said Boeing Employees’ Credit Union (BECU) spokesman Todd Pietzsch.

http://tinyurl.com/6p8roku

Occupy the National Prayer Breakfast

What does it mean to be a Christian when organizations such as The Family create a Jesus that does not hear the prayers of the poor? An organization that prays to the powerful in place of God? That participates in the global crucifixion of the poor by turning Jesus’ cross into a social ladder for politicians to climb upwards, past the broken body of Christ? To cultivate relationships with dictators?

To cultivate the most powerful for political influence, to create an elite society for the elite, is that listening to the prayers of the people?

http://tinyurl.com/6s7wh99

Occupy option at National Prayer Breakfast

Religious Occupy movement protesters vowed to greet Washington’s National Prayer Breakfast guests with a vigil stressing wealth and income differences.

The Occupy Faith vigil — with protesters holding candles and handing out artwork from children depicting their dreams for the future — was to take place Thursday across the street from the Washington Hilton, where President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were to join about 3,500 other guests, including international invitees from more than 100 countries.

The $650-a-plate, invitation-only National Prayer Breakfast is hosted by members of Congress and organized by the Fellowship Foundation, a conservative Christian network also known as The Family.

http://tinyurl.com/6ovd2kc

Queer Occupy Wall Street Offshoot To Protest HRC Gala

Attendees to Saturday’s Human Rights Campaign dinner in New York will have to cross protesters angry at the organization’s support of investment bank Goldman Sachs.

Members of Queer Caucus, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, will air their disapproval in front of the Waldorf Astoria, site of the HRC fundraiser. The group is condemning the equality group for honoring Goldman Sachs, which QE says helped spur the global financial meltdown.

“The Queer Caucus condemns HRC’s decision to honor Goldman Sachs in a time of financial collapse caused by their unethical business practices and greed, and deplores the use of our cause and suffering for corporate public relations,” the group wrote in a statement. “HRC honoring Goldman Sachs at this time reveals all one needs to know about the corporate LGBT lobby, and its disconnect from the 99% and the LGBT people it purports to represent.”

http://tinyurl.com/887sark

If you’re about to lose your home . . . maybe it’s time to just occupy it

The offspring of the Occupy Wall Street movement are forging solidarity ties with neighborhood groups fighting for justice. Most prominent among these collaborations are with the Occupy Homes initiatives coming out of existing neighborhood activities.

Quickly spreading in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Minneapolis, Boston and New Orleans, the Occupy people are joining with community groups that believe many homeowners in foreclosure, or about to be taken over, have a strong, equitable and often legal case to physically stay in or occupy empty homes in order to stave off eviction or keep people in their houses.

The equitable case is the widespread fraud and deception involving subprime mortgages raining down on innocent homeowners following the Wall Street crash and the corporate greed that caused it. This is the ugly license fostered by massively one-sided, fine-print contracts.

http://tinyurl.com/7oxap64

Disputed rule intended to shame CEOs

Business groups and unions are sparring over a little-known provision in the Dodd-Frank reform law that supporters concede is an effort to shame the nation’s highest-paid CEOs.

The rule, which predates the Occupy Wall Street movement but channels it in spirit, requires companies to disclose the difference in pay between their chief executives and average employees.

“It’s quite astounding that a relatively simple disclosure requirement would trigger so much hand-wringing,” said Brandon Rees of the AFL-CIO, which pushed for the provision’s inclusion in Dodd-Frank.

“They will be embarrassed, and that’s the whole point,” Rees said.

http://tinyurl.com/6qn2vh3

Good Protesters, Bad Protesters and Nonviolence

Following mass arrests in Oakland, the mainstream media has largely shifted blame for police violence onto a group of protestors who burned flags, broke glass and painted anarchist symbols on buildings. Yesterday, Alameda County prosecutors announced that they would only file charges against 12 demonstrators, releasing the more than 300 who were cited for “remaining at the scene of a riot” (and who the National Lawyer’s Guild says were kettled and illegally arrested.)

http://tinyurl.com/7scm39r

Minn. Occupy protester to receive $15K settlement from county

Hennepin County will pay $15,000 to a Minneapolis woman charged with trespassing during the Occupy Minnesota demonstrations last year.

Melissa Lynn Hill was issued a trespass notice Oct. 13 for writing slogans in chalk on the Hennepin County Government Center plaza. The county barred her from the plaza and Government Center property for a year.

In a federal lawsuit, Hill alleged that two days later she was arrested by a deputy sheriff while she was standing on a sidewalk adjacent to the plaza.

http://tinyurl.com/6vt5uof

Debating the Super Bowl Protests: Is CBS Columnist Gregg Doyel really proud to know nothing?

Doyel wrote primly of the protest, “It’s inappropriate.” I have to wonder if it was Doyel’s paycheck being threatened, whether he would think it appropriate to resist. But for all he knows, “right to work” is a breakfast cereal, so we’re left to wonder.

He then writes, “protesting the Super Bowl is unfair to the teams involved and the fans of the game.” This ignores two things. The first is that the players, as represented by the NFLPA, have come out loudly and proudly against “right to work.” Nowhere does Doyel mention this crucial fact. It’s absence is negligent.

Doyel also claims that the spectre of politics will repulse fans “liberal and conservative alike.” Has Doyel ever watched the Super Bowl? Politics swamp the game, whether it’s General David Petraeus flipping the coin, sexist commercials, military flyovers, or interviews with whoever is in the White House. Still, people somehow have the ability to separate this from the game itself. I watched the game last year with a group of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and if they could separate the politics from the fun of the game, then I think others could do it as well. Also, given the way working people have seen their wages and benefits gutted, who’s to say they wouldn’t be thrilled to know that the game is being used as a platform for something other than godaddy.com?

http://tinyurl.com/7eprhg2

Occupy Oakland supporters claim authorities used excessive force and violated their rights

None of the people who said they were injured over the weekend appeared Wednesday. But a variety of videos online showed police firing into the crowds and slugging them with batons. Several police also were injured.

Some supporters who spoke Wednesday described chaos at Santa Rita Jail, which was caught off guard by the unexpected number of arrests that flooded the facility beginning late Saturday.

http://tinyurl.com/7f7dwx2

NYPD: Officer who obstructed ‘Times’ photographer during O.W.S. protest got a reprimand

The New York Police Department reprimanded an officer and a sergeant who obstructed journalists covering Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, according to Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

One of the incidents involved New York Times photographer Robert Stolarik, who was documenting an arrest at the World Financial Center back in December when an officer repeatedly stood in front of his camera, attempting to block his shots. The altercation was caught on video and went viral after it was uploaded to YouTube, intensifying a months-long standoff between police and the press.

http://tinyurl.com/7k9abzy

Canadian University bans Occupy rally from campus with trespassing threats to prevent occupation

“Simply, any attempt to establish an Occupy camp on University of Alberta property – which is private property – will put the U of A community at risk, and, further, it will interfere with the university’s clear responsibility to effectively deliver its programs and services to students, staff and faculty,” the statement read.

Katie Nelson, a spokeswoman for the group, said the decision to set up camp would have been made following a rally to draw attention to the “inaccessibility of education.”

That rally, planned for the university quad following a march from Ezio Faraone Park, ended up on the north side of Saskatchewan Drive, across from Hub Mall, when the group was given notice they were not allowed on university property.

http://tinyurl.com/79vf5ds

Occupy London activists to stage protest show

Occupy London protesters are taking over the stage with a theatrical production dramatising the group’s four month demonstration outside St Paul’s Cathedral.

A series of short plays inspired by the international movement’s protest against bankers and corporate greed are to be performed at the Arcola Theatre in east London on February 19.

German Munoz, organiser of the event titled, Occupied Times, said his intention was to create a “living newspaper” as in Russia during the Bolshevik Revolution when theatre was used to inform people about current events.

http://tinyurl.com/7gm8gdq

Arrested South African “Occupy” activist wants inquiry

MARIO Wanza, of Proudly Manenberg, who spent the weekend behind bars for his Occupy Rondebosch Common campaign, met the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) yesterday and made a call for a public inquiry into his arrest and into legislation regulating public gatherings.

http://tinyurl.com/7ece9rp