Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 5/21/12-5/22/12

Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

Stories of the Day: Wondering why people are protesting NATO? See NATO: Just why are people protesting? Livestreamers including Tim Pool of @Timcast were followed by Chicago Police who pulled them over at gunpoint, watch the video here. For the story, see Occupy Journalists Stopped, Searched, Handcuffed, and Interrogated at Gunpoint. And here is An Open Letter from three Anonymous protesters in Chicago: The Chicago Police’s actions today, May 19th, were a brutally violent attack on our bodies and on our rights. An absurdly large police force was deployed in order to intimidate and provoke a peaceable assembly, and resulted in unbridled, militaristic attacks on activists demonstrating against NATO, inflicting several serious injuries – including broken noses, bloodied eyes, and a particularly sickening incident in which a dedicated comrade was belligerently run down by a police van. For a brief video of some of the police brutality yesterday against NATO protesters, including a clear shot of a cop assaulting a protester with his bicycle, click here. Here is another brief video of Chicago Police beating kettled protesters in Chicago on May 19. And buses that were scheduled to take protesters to NATO were mysteriously cancelled at the last minute by the bus company. For more, see Buses Scheduled to Transport 99 Solidarity Riders to NATO Protest Cancelled. For a good collection of photos and videos, click here. And the old trope of the bomb-throwing anarchist is back in the news, with a round-up in Ohio on May 1 and the three would-be NATO protesters arrested on Wednesday who are now charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism. While the impression that appears in the media is one of remnants of the Occupy movement verging toward violence, the driving forces behind these plots are the very agencies claiming to have foiled them. For more, see Entrapment of Cleveland 5 and NATO 3 is Nothing New. And Occupy Boston, Occupy Wall Street and other Occupies held solidarity protests on Sunday to fight back against the police state – here is a good summary of recent concerns, from Occupy Wall Street. “We must not allow this type of intimidation to continue. We must rise up and nonviolently resist. We must take our justifiable rage and use it to grow our resistance and solidarity. We will not turn against one another, and nor will we sacrifice our values. We will not be terrorized; our numbers will only grow as we expose the brutality of the system we oppose. The attacks on activists in the U.S. are but a fraction of the seemingly endless warfare imposed by NATO and the G8 countries on the nations they occupy across the world. We have exposed a tiny fragment of the true terror that is NATO. We will resist.” For more, see #SolidaritySunday: Fight Back Against State Terrorism!

Other Occupies/Protests: From Occupy Wall StreetOn Saturday, May 26th, at 12pm at Bryant Park, 42nd Street at 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10018, OWS Direct Action Group launches Summer Disobedience School – kicking off 3 months of city-wide mayhem! We’ve completed Spring Training – and we’re moving and communicating in the streets like never before. Now we take our fight to sites of injustices throughout NYC, gradually building a culture of radical non-violent disobedience. We’ll be disrupting banks, corporations and the state all summer long, starting with the crooks in mid-town. We graduate as a full-on revolutionary force September 17th: City-Wide Shut Down! More details to come… Facebook event page is: https://www.facebook.com/events/343421022384775/355202957873248.

“‎The world is like a ride in an amusement park. And when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. And the ride goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it’s very brightly colored and it’s very loud and it’s fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time and they begin to question: “Is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, ‘Hey, don’t worry, don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.’ And we kill those people.” Bill Hicks

 Upcoming Events:
  • No Layoffs at Harvard! Protest at Commencement. Thursday, May 24, 11am-2pm, Holyoke Center, 1350 Mass. Ave. Cambridge. Despite months of protests & bad press, Harvard’s Grand Poohbahs refuse to back off from their layoff threats against hundreds of workers, particularly in the libraries. 65 library staff members already took a miserly early-retirement deal, in the face of administrators’ announcements that their ranks would soon shrink, either by “voluntary or involuntary” means. The library workforce is nearly 1/3 smaller than it was in 2009, leading to a marked deterioration of library assistance and services. There is a clear danger that managers will act to cut jobs once students leave town. PLEASE HELP US SEND THE MESSAGE THAT ANY FURTHER CUTS WILL JUST LEAD TO MORE DAMAGE TO HARVARD’S PRECIOUS BRAND! Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/242111025894172/.
  • Union Busting is Disgusting! Recently fired union janitors need your support! Thursday, May 24, 4pm-6pm, 31 St. James Ave., Boston. Come out and walk a picket with union janitors who have been recently fired due to a decision made by Capital Properties to change contractors. Changing contractors is a typical tactic used by bosses to fire union workers to be replaced by workers who will have to labor under deteriorated working conditions, less pay, and little to no benefits. We want to make it clear to Capital Properties (the owner/s of the Park Square building at 31 St. James Ave.) that union busting will not be tolerated in Boston. Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/338105819590968/.
  • From Occupy Wall StreetOn Saturday, May 26th, at 12pm at Bryant Park, 42nd Street at 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10018, OWS Direct Action Group launches Summer Disobedience School – kicking off 3 months of city-wide mayhem! We’ve completed Spring Training – and we’re moving and communicating in the streets like never before. Now we take our fight to sites of injustices throughout NYC, gradually building a culture of radical non-violent disobedience. We’ll be disrupting banks, corporations and the state all summer long, starting with the crooks in mid-town. We graduate as a full-on revolutionary force September 17th: City-Wide Shut Down! More details to come… Facebook event page is: https://www.facebook.com/events/343421022384775/355202957873248.
  • Planning the Next Occupation: June 1, 7pm-11pm, Parkman Bandstand on the Boston Common. We call on every supporter (past and present) to come to this popular assembly. We ask that you help be the change we all want to see in this world. We ask you to come ,and share YOUR VOICE as occupy begins it’s next step towards SOCIAL JUSTICE! Oh and bring a tent 😉 (who knows what we all will together decide!)
  • June 2, 2012, 11am, Riley Plaza, Salem, corner of Washington and New Derby Streets. Occupy Salem is holding a Salem Trial of Bank of America. Join us – Offer Testimony & March to the the Bank to deliver the Verdict! Bank of America stands accused of: Predatory lending practices and Foreclosure Fraud; Being the US’s #1 financier of the coal industry, and in turn, a leading contributor to climate change in the United States; Extortion of the public through excessive fees and penalties; Paying CEOs Millions in Bonuses while Crashing the Economy;  Lobbying, bribes, credit card loan-sharking; paying $0 taxes, etc. For more information, contact OccupySalemMass@gmail.com.
  • June 2, 2012: Occupy the Judge Rotenberg Center Peaceful Protest. Occupy the JRC is a coalition of cross disability activists and allies who are determined to get the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts closed down, or at the very least force them to stop using electric shocks, restraints, and aversives on the students who are sent there. For those who may not know, the Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC) is a “school of last resort” for children with developmental disabilities (many of their students are Autistic) or other difficulties which eschews the use of psychiatric medications in favor of physical restraints and aversives, including the use of two-second skin shocks. Speakers: Senator Brian A. Joyce, Kat Whitehead (Community Alliance for the Ethical Treatment of Youth), Dan Fisher (National Empowerment Center), Ari Ne’eman (Autistic Self Advocacy Network), Laurie Ahern (Disability Rights International), Daniel Hazen (Voices of the Heart), Joseph Sitinbull (Helping Others to Promote Equality) and more! For more information, contact: Daniel@ (518) 932-3137. info@occupyjrc.org and see http://www.occupyjrc.org.
  • Anti ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, CCI, CISPA, MPAA, RIAA, MPA, ARAA, internet ID, censorship protest June 9, 2012.
    Occupy Wall Street
    Liberty Plaza, New York, NY 10006

    NATIONWIDE, CALLING ALL OCCUPIERS!!!! Knowledge should be free. This is a serious threat to education of people lower on the caste system. It will damage opportunity for all greatly. It also promotes monopoly and greed within governance as well as control of the people. This protest is to take place on the same date as a similar protest taking place in Paris France. MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD. SUPPORT FAIR USE AND EDUCATION! Facebook event page:  http://www.facebook.com/events/287232521354857

  • June 11: THREE national routes… THIRTEEN hub cities… TWENTY days… ONE NATIONAL OCCUPY GATHERING IN THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE. The Occupy Caravan plan is officially launched! “This Land is Our Land” Summer Caravan kicks off June 11 from Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. We will travel three routes across America on our way to Philadelphia for the five-day Occupy National Gathering that ends July 4 on Independence Mall! At each stop, cities will be organizing events to welcome the Caravan which brings with it musicians, speakers and performers — a traveling democratic road show that educates as it entertains! Feed-in caravans will be joining along the way, and a full day of celebration is scheduled in half a dozen Hub cities. Invite neighbors, friends and family to come out for this continental gathering where we’ll share stories as individuals and communities growing stronger together — then hop on board and travel the rest of the way to Philly! How bad do you want your democracy? Enough to take it back? As we celebrate the history of America that we are about to write, only one thing is required: Our Participation. Visit the Schedules and Cities page to find out when the Caravan reaches your town so you can plan an event and then climb aboard. Official route map to be issued soon…See you in June! http://occupycaravan.webs.com/. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Caravan/307692495949585.
  • June 22: Occupy Summer Camp in Maine.  Dobson’s Farm, 78 Old Cape Road, Kennebunkport, Maine. Occupy Our Neighborhood, the Kennebunk Occupy group is hosting Occupy Summer Camp with a number of folks from Occupy Maine Portland.  This is our opportunity to work with other Occupy groups to focus our efforts on reversing corporate personhood and the issues related to money in politics, environment and local economies. We hope to have a good attendance to include your thoughts and ideas and to plan the camp. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/238631406237615/.
  • From Occupy Wall Street: September 17, 2012, The People’s Picket on Wall Street, 7am-10am. We will form a massive moving picket line on our one-year anniversary, and continue the conversation we started One year prior with boots on the ground. People from all over the world get ready to shut it down.

Monday, May 21-Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Event Highlight:

Sponsored by the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series: Book launch for Truth and Revolution by Michael Staudenmaier. Tuesday, May 22 at 6 pm at Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, Boston. Michael Staudenmaier speaks on the Sojourner Truth Organization/STO. STO was Founded in Chicago in 1969 from the rubble of the recently crumbled SDS, the Sojourner Truth Organization (STO) brought working-class consciousness to the forefront of New Left discourse, sending radicals back into the factories and thinking through the integration of radical politics into everyday realities. Through the influence of founding members like Noel Ignatiev and Don Hamerquist, STO took a Marxist approach to the question of race and revolution, exploring the notion of “white skin privilege,” and helping to lay the groundwork for the discipline of critical race studies. Michael Staudenmaier is a doctoral candidate in history at the University of Illinois.

Calendar for Monday, May 21, 2012

7pm – 8:30pm, Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Justice WG Meeting, at Old West Church (United Methodist) at 131 Cambridge St.

7pm – 9pm, Radio WG Meeting, at Encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Floor, in Chinatown, Boston)

Calendar for Tuesday, May 22, 2012

1pm – 2pm  Occupy Harvard Think Tank, Dudley House Cafe (no ID required), Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Cafeteria entrance is at the TOP of the stairs.

3pm – 4pm  Signs WG Meeting, Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Flo0r, Boston
5pm – 6:45pm, Facilitation WG Meeting, City Place Food Court in the Transportation Building, Boylston, Charles and Stuart Streets
 7pm – 10:30pm, General Assembly, Boston Common – Soldiers and Sailors Monument Hill, the hill southeast of Soldiers and Sailors Monument, facing the Bandstand. Here’s a link to a Google map showing how to walk there from Park Street T. http://g.co/maps/tj4kr

Please note! Meetings and their locations are subject to change. We encourage you to check the Occupy Boston Calendar for the most up-to-date information. There are events scheduled all day for the May 1 General Strike and regularly scheduled events may not be held.

Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

Issue 7 of the Boston Occupier is out now, and we need your help distributing!!

We rely exclusively on YOU, the broader Occupy community, to get our papers out there to the 99%. So…

** We would love for you to join one of our planned outreach/distribution efforts on the T.

** ANYTIME you’re going to a progressive or Occupy-related event, try to pass out papers. These are the most effective occasions to connect sympathetic readers to our paper. Copies of the issue are stored in the OB cubicle at E5, so PLEASE remember to grab a stack.

** Get them to readers in your community. We recommend small stacks in small stacks in cafes, libraries, bookshops, laundr0mats, community centers, waiting rooms, campuses, etc. Be creative!! But we’ve found that the BEST way to get papers to readers is to hand them out face to face, combining outreach and distribution.

** If you are a part of another local-area Occupy movement, a union, or a community organization that is willing to distribute papers — let’s make it happen! You can just come by E5 (between 9 am and 7 pm most days) and grab a stack, or coordinate with us if you’re not able to do so. Send questions or suggestions about distribution to Julie O (juliettejulianna@gmail.com).

** We’re also trying to raise funds so that we can continue printing the stories of the 99%! To that end, we’ve started a subscription service. Read about it online here. I hope you’ll encourage those you know to subscribe to the paper as well!!

As always, we welcome questions, suggestions, and distribution ideas — send to juliettejulianna@gmail.com.

 To join the Occupy Boston Community Forum email list, a general discussion list, click here! For a partial listing of Working Groups looking for volunteers, please click here! For a list of Working Groups with contact info, click here! For more information on Occupy Boston’s General Assembly, including passed resolutions, click here!  And if you’re interested in learning more about Occupy Boston and how you can participate, click here! For contact info for other Occupies in the area, click here! 

Contact Us: Want to subscribe to the Daily Digest? Click here to have it sent to your email inbox every morning! All Working Groups or Occupy Boston events that need placement in the Daily Digest, please email AnnaC@OccupyBoston.org. To request that something be added to the Occupy Boston calendar, use the form on the website https://www.occupyboston.org/calendar-event-submission-form/. To view past issues of The Daily Digest, click here. And subscribe to the Occupy Boston Media Rundown, a daily listing of Occupy-related news, by contacting JohnM@OccupyBoston.org.