Supporters of Occupy Boston recently became aware of a letter from the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy  (RKGC) which calls on the police to “remove the occupiers” from Dewey Square. The patch of land that makes up the square is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and the RKGC are the stewards of it.

The letter  is dated November 8.

Volunteers from Occupy Boston, the National Lawyer’s Guild, and the American Civil Liberties Union sat down for a meeting to discuss health, safety, sanitation, the Dewey Square Farmer’s Market, winterization, and legal concerns with RKGC executives on November 9. In that meeting, the RKGC made no mention of its November 8 letter, even though the letter clearly calls on the police to “remove the occupiers.” Relations were amicable among all of the  parties present at the meeting.

What this means for the occupation in Dewey Square is now being vigorously discussed.

Mayors Menino and Bloomberg, who have been working together since 2006 on federal gun-control legislation.

Some are saying that no police crackdown is immanent because the letter is over a week old and was written before a Boston judge recently granted a temporary injunction barring the city and police from removing the occupiers. Others are arguing that injunctions will not prevent a crackdown because mayor Bloomberg disregarded a similar injunction to remove the occupiers from Liberty Plaza in NYC, and then got a judge to over-rule an injunction that was to pave the way for the protestors return to the plaza.

The Boston judge who issued the injunction has also ordered a mediation between the City, the BPD, RKGC, and Occupy Boston.

This has posed a difficult question for the occupiers: How does a “leaderless” movement that strives for transparency, openness, and democracy react to a court order to “mediate” (presumably behind closed doors) with forces that have already cracked down on Occupy Boston and have issued a letter calling on the police to “remove the occupiers” from Dewey Square?

On Friday, there was a meeting of around 120 people in East Boston for launching of Ocupemos El Barrio. After spirited discussion and speeches from the immigrant community, the gathering developed a media, outreach, and facilitation working group to take the project forward.

As one organizer said, “I’m moved by the prospect of the Latino and broader immigrant community from various nationalities joining this movement and taking it into their hands as their own. This is a monumental development because of the potential it holds out to expand the Occupy movement.”

Take a look at this favorable coverage by no less than Univision!

What next?  We are looking to get people working on

• Fundraising
• Labor solidarity
• Emergency and direct response in case of a deportation in the community
• Housing advocacy (e.g. eviction blockades)
• Research/statistics (we need to gather information about the state of immigrant community in MA and USA), and the Secure Communities program.

We also need translators because we want to have meetings, media releases, and our blog/website in multiple languages.

Please contact ocupemoselbarrio at gmail {dot} com  if you are interested in getting more involved.

The next meeting is this Friday at 6pm at the Maverick Landing Community Center, 31 Liverpool St, East Boston (near Maverick station on the Blue MBTA Line).

We are working on providing translation, so don’t let language be an occupation barrier!

• Facebook Event for this Friday.
• And community page.
• Email at ocupemoselbarrio at gmail {dot} com for more information
• Twitter: @OccupyBostonESP    and   #ocupemoselbarrio

Adelante!