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    NATGAT ’14 Report Back

    NEWS FROM AROUND OCCUPY EMAIL NOT DISPLAYING CORRECTLY? CLICK HERE
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    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Together We Rose!  Occupy’s Third National Gathering
    Last week in Sacramento, the Occupy movement came together for reflection, learning, planning, sharing—and yes, marching!  Despite drought and heat of 100°+, Occupiers from up and down the West Coast, as well as other areas of the country (and a few from elsewhere on the globe) shared 5 days of activism and discussion.
    Tonight is the DeBrief call where we discuss what worked well this year, what didn’t, and what could be done better next time Occupy does something like this.
    Register for the call here.
    http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/events/ngwg2014-planning-call-2014-08-13/
    Watch the GAs and more on these stream channels:
    Fri. GA
    http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9447130/events/3237961/videos/58115702
    Sat. GA
    http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9447130/events/3240599/videos/58188745
    Sun. GA
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/50915909
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/50921119
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/50877420
    Here is some of the exciting news to come out of the GAs and other interactions at NatGat2014:
     
    2014 OCCUPY NATIONAL GATHERING STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE PRESS RELEASE
    http://interoccupy.net/blog/2014-occupy-national-gathering-statement-of-solidarity-with-palestine/
    OCCUPY NATIONAL GATHERING STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE
    http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/occupy-national-gathering-statement-of-solidarity-with-palestine/
    D’andre Teeter, stopmassincarceration, brought a proposal for NatGat attendees to endorse the Month of Non-Violent Resistance Against Mass incarceration, which was passed July 31. 
     
    “Occupy has distinguished itself as being one of the great moments in recent history of the United States when people came together from all walks of life, different races, different creeds, different political positions and all came together around something that was absolutely urgent and necessary.
     
    In that spirit, I am really calling on people to take up this month of mass resistance vs. mass inc that can bring together many many people –a big tent, a big occupy tent, where occupy can actually rejuvenate its energy and reach out to many people in the press community that we have not reached out to before.”
    D’andre Teeter.
    http://new.livestream.com/accounts/9447130/events/3240599/videos/58188745 c. 25:00-26:40
    THE 2014 OCCUPY NATIONAL GATHERING ENDORSES A MONTH [OCTOBER] OF NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE AGAINST MASS INCARCERATION
    http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/the-2014-occupy-national-gathering-endorses-a-month-october-of-non-violent-resistance-against-mass-incarceration/
    A CALL FOR A MONTH OF RESISTANCE TO MASS INCARCERATION, POLICE TERROR, REPRESSION AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF A GENERATION!
     
    For 2 generations, Black and Latina/Latino youth in the U.S. have been shipped off to prison in numbers never before seen anywhere in the world at any time. More than 2 million people, of all nationalities languish in prison — ten times the number 50 years ago. The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prison population! More than 60% of those in U.S. prisons are Black or Latina/o. 32% of Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 are in prison or on parole or probation on any given day. More than 80,000 people in prison are held in solitary confinement. 
    The Stop Mass Incarceration Network 
    http://www.stopmassincarceration.net/
     
    A working group of folks from around the country has continued the work started by the 2011 Demands and Objectives survey results of Occupy LA,  to help solidify our unity, declare our non-violence, summarize what we want, and grow our movement.  Please stay tuned for upcoming conference calls if you would like to be involved in this work.
     
    Please help advance this proposal and work by signing the Petition:  http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/voice-to-the-voiceless-solidarity-declaration
    VOICE TO THE VOICELESS SOLIDARITY DECLARATION
    http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/voice-to-the-voiceless-solidarity-declaration/
    Voice to the Voiceless Solidarity Declaration Discussion on Loomio
    https://www.loomio.org/d/MkEsWlP0/voice-to-the-voiceless-solidarity-declaration
    Katherine Dawn, visiting from Australia, and advocating for an International Gathering in counterpoint to the G20 meeting in Brisbane, Australia, in November 2014, wrote a piece on her reflections:
    AN AUSSIE’S REFLECTIONS ON OCCUPY NATGAT 2014 AND WHERE TO FROM HERE
    http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/an-aussies-reflections-on-occupy-natgat-2014-and-where-to-from-here/
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/50923305 c.18:40
    We have been doing a lot of organizing and having lots of discussions on Loomio this year; Loomio.org was created by members of Occupy New Zealand and shares many conceptual similarities: how to include the 99 percent in decision-making.  Here is the link to our organizing group there: https://www.loomio.org/g/FbxnmrQ2/occupy-national-gathering-organizing-group
    The Occupy National Gathering was planned using InterOccupy tools and services. InterOccupy seeks to foster communication between individuals, Working Groups and local General Assemblies, across the movement. We do this in the spirit of the Occupy Movement and general assemblies which use direct democratic and horizontal decision-making processes in service to the interests of the 99%.
    You received this email because you signed up to receive information from InterOccupy or one of its partners. Learn more and connect by visiting our web site www.interoccupy.net and please join/like theInteroccupy Facebook Page.  Google+ 

    Ferguson Murder Demo, TOMORROW, 8/16, Copley

    STOP POLICE VIOLENCE

    COPLEY, TOMORROW, 2PM

    NATGAT ’14

    The Ferguson Murder is part of the militarization of US that starts with one-on-one racism between police and the poor and ends with locking people up to make a buck. Occupy Nat Gat 2014 has called for

     

     

    “A MONTH OF RESISTANCE TO MASS INCARCERATION, POLICE TERROR, REPRESSION AND THE CRIMINALIZATION OF A GENERATION!

     

    For 2 generations, Black and Latina/Latino youth in the U.S. have been shipped off to prison in numbers never before seen anywhere in the world at any time. More than 2 million people, of all nationalities languish in prison — ten times the number 50 years ago. The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prison population! More than 60% of those in U.S. prisons are Black or Latina/o. 32% of Black men between the ages of 20 and 29 are in prison or on parole or probation on any given day. More than 80,000 people in prison are held in solitary confinement.

    The Stop Mass Incarceration Network

    http://www.stopmassincarceration.net/

     

     

    In 1967 the Black Panthers called for the release of all imprisoned Black Men as part of their 10 Point Plan. Now it’s your turn.

     

    DEMAND THE RELEASE OF ALL THOSE CONVICTED OF VICTIMLESS CRIMES.

     

    Long live Treyvon Martin,

     

    Aria Littlhous

     

    DEMO DETAILS

     

    As many of you have heard, teenager Michael Brown was killed August 9th in Ferguson, MO – shot multiple times by a police officer despite eye-witness accounts that he was unarmed and had his hands up in surrender. The police reaction? Refusing to interview the main eye witness, confiscating phones with videos of the incident, and declining to publicize the autopsy report or the name of the involved officer. As protests in Missouri heat up on both sides with protestor and police violence escalating, support from cities across our country is vital!

    This peaceful protest is for Boston to show its solidarity with Ferguson and say that racialized police brutality is an American CRISIS that needs to be addressed. The slaughter of unarmed children cannot continue – every American citizen has the right to due process, and to be treated with dignity and respect.

    Come to Copley Square this Saturday the 16th to make our voices HEARD! There will be plenty of signs, and I need YOU GUYS to help carry them all!

    Please please share and invite. Michael Brown’s family deserves justice!

    http://www.occupy.com/article/black-man-killed-us-every-28-hours-police

    http://jezebel.com/this-is-why-were-mad-about-the-shooting-of-mike-brown-1619522935?utm_content=buffer98760&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

    http://gawker.com/anonymous-vows-action-over-shooting-death-of-unarmed-te-1619233440

    http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/12/opinion/baez-police-garner-michael-brown-chokehold/

     

    Olympic Take Away

    mister-moneybags

     

    The next round of bread and circus should leave behind more than a giant bag of money for the 1%. Angling for the Olympics to come to Boston should start with a commitment to share the wealth created by the games as widely as possible.

     

    And we don’t mean a Reagan-ish shrug and a coy “a rising tide lifts all boats” license here-pushcart-there-increase-in-commerce-yeah-you’ll get a little bit sharing. We mean WEALTH. We mean PROPERTY REDISTRIBUTION.

     

    Building temporary housing for the cream of the crop, while the hoi-polloi sleeps in the streets is insulting, inhumane and in the face of ongoing environmental collapse just plain insane. Consider instead:

     

    A Modest Proposal:

     

    1. Build permanent multi-unit housing and sell it at cost to the poor who can in turn become resident landlords. It was good enough for the Irish; it’s good enough for us.

    2. Leave behind a horticultural academy to care for Franklin Park.

    3. Create a real underground transit system that reaches neighborhoods of color.

    4. Food by small local restaurants.

    5. Cleaning by small local businesses.

     

    And when all else fails:

     

    6. EAT THE RICH.

    For the Earth,

    A.

    Trees, Extinction, Eviction

     Save the Alewife Silver Maples,

    STAND UP FOR TREES, 6/28

     Fannie Mae Evicts Activists, see below.

    Like lemmings off a cliff, those that believe in endless growth are building on the corpses of trees, evicting homeless families from empty homes and herding us all closer to a man made apocalypse.

    Please be present either in person or by forwarding this notice wildly.

     For the Earth,

    A.

    Silver Maples

    Friends of Alewife Reservation has been alarmed by the news that the 7 acre silver maple floodplain forest located off Acorn Drive in the Alewife Reservation may be clear cut by the end of the summer by Brian O’Neill Properties from Pennsylvania and that a curb cut had been granted. We are asking once again for you to sponsor  and/or join another activity related to the preservation of this forest. Please consider signing onto a demonstration at the Alewife T stop on

    Saturday June 28th at 10am for a visibility showing and a march with giant Earth Mother and Alewife puppets to the silver maple forest to stand for 30 minutes in silence.

    Families are welcome.
    We will be handing out and getting post cards signed as well.

    There will be many signs to hold from Green Cambridge and Friends of Alewife Reservation. In the past the following have been supportive of conservation of this magnificent “small river floodplain forest”, deemed so by the state’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Department. http://friendsofalewifereservation.org/2006_03_riverrestlessspirit_audubon.htm

    We will be inviting other groups who are interested to sign on as well. We would like your recommendations as to additional endorsers.
    Please consider endorsing this event.

     

    Fannie Mae Evicts Protestors

     

    193 NORWELL  STREET DORCHESTER

    June 10, 2014

    Community reclaimed home under banner of affordable housing, held rally and cookout for community, and set up a pirate radio station before being evicted

    This this past Saturday, City Life/Vida Urbana and a local coalition of Right to the City Boston groups held a block party and cookout at 193 Norwell St. in Dorchester to celebrate the move-in of a family in need of stable, affordable, accessible housing after post-foreclosure eviction by an “investor.” We also celebrated the launch of a new community radio station broadcasting under the historic 106.1 FM frequency. The community came together to support the Adamson family’s taking up residence in a bank-owned home that had been vacant for months.  We had over 150 guests throughout the day, two local ministers came to bless the family in their new home, and the district City Councilor paid a visit. The event showed what the face of homelessness in our city really looks like; how the neglect that makes empty houses dangerous can be completely reversed with community effort; and the practical solutions to the housing crisis that we have at our fingertips.

    It saddens us to report that around 2:00 PM on Monday June 9, 2014, the Boston Police came to193 Norwell St. At the behest of the realtor managing the property for the bank owner, Fannie Mae, the police emptied out the home, arresting one volunteer in the process. We urged law enforcement to tell Fannie Mae to negotiate with the occupants, who were quoted in the Boston Globe publicly offering to pay any reasonable rent. Instead, hours of police time were spent overseeing a move-out.  City Life/Vida Urbana condemns this waste of public safety resources.  At a time when family homelessness is a growing epidemic, our tax dollars shouldn’t go to enforcement of banks’ policies of keeping properties vacant to speculate on the price going up in the future.  An offer was put in months ago by a nonprofit organization to buy the house in order to rehab it and run it as affordable rental housing. Given its status as a publicly-funded, government-run bank, Fannie Mae should do its part to stabilize our communities.

    As Mayor Walsh prepares his municipal housing plan and the state considers an increase in the minimum wage, Boston tenants and community activists will hold a press conference on the Right to the City “Rise of the Renter Nation” national report. The conference will be held in front of 193 Norwell St. on June 10, 2014 at noon, with a coalition of housing justice and low-wage worker groups. In this report, grassroots organizations detail solutions to the ongoing housing crisis in America. To read a digital copy online or purchase a printed copy of the national report, go to: homesforall.org

     

    Your Health Crisis is Their Third Home

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