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    Canceled: Socializing for Justice party for Occupy Boston

    March 13th, 2012 · · News and Announcements 2 comments
    Unfortunately, the transformer fire in Back Bay last night left the area without power. So we have to cancel tonight’s event.

    Please join us at the 99% Sprint Direct Action Training on Wednesday, April 11- http://www.sojust.org/events/55667142/– where you’ll be able to learn more about Occupy Boston and other groups planning actions against big banks and greedy corporations this spring.For Justice,
    Robbie
    SoJust

     

    Protest MBTA Fare Hikes, Service Cuts & Layoffs on Wednesday, March 14th at the MBTA Board Meeting

    March 12th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements One comment

    Meet March 14th at 12:30 PM at the Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston
    As the Massachusetts Department of Transportation meets to discuss the fate of the MBTA, we’ll be rallying outside and inside the meeting to demand:

    • No service cuts
    • No fare hikes
    • No layoffs
    • No privatization of our treasured public transit system.

    A comprehensive state-wide plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%.

    For years, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has failed to fund public transportation adequately, and forced the MBTA to borrow exorbitant sums.  Now the MBTA is trying to balance its books on the backs of those who can afford it the least.  Drastic fare hikes, service cuts, and layoffs will devastate students, seniors, low-income communities, people of color, workers and everyone who must rely on the T.  The MBTA’s proposals will also force between 55,000 and 92,000 more cars on the road each day, creating traffic nightmares, and 50,000 tons of additional carbon dioxide emissions per year.

    For weeks, outraged T riders have packed public hearings to say no to MBTA’s ill-conceived and damaging proposals.  It is critical that we keep the pressure on as the Board meets for the first time after the hearings.

    Join Occupy the MBTA, along with other advocates for seniors, low income communities, workers, and the environment, on March 14th! For more information visit http://occupymbta.org/

    Save the Date: April 4th – People’s Hearing on Transportation in the State House
    3 pm Hearing and 5pm Rally Come after Work! (Think Wisconsin)

    As the MBTA’s Public Hearings come to an end, the MassDOT boards are meeting to decide how to squeeze more money out of the T-riding 99%, while the banks’ profits keep flowing. Tell the MBTA and state legislators we want real solutions, and we won’t accept higher fares, less service, layoffs, or more pollution! We need a transportation plan for the whole state that works for the 99%.  Join us as we take our message to the State House as part of the National Call to Action on Transportation.
    Download flyers in:

    Organizing Training for Occupy Activists

    March 7th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on Organizing Training for Occupy Activists

    Saturday, March 10, 2012
    From 2 to 5 PM Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street

    From Occupy to Organize: Turning General Assemblies into Popular Assemblies
    Community organizing training with longtime organizers and community groups
    *Organize our neighborhoods & build popular power in our communities &
    schools*
    – Learn lessons from popular assemblies around the world & plan together a popular assembly
    – Turn public support into greater public involvement with ways to engage broader participation beyond activist circles
    – Reach the 99% with organizing tools that go beyond Facebook to face to face: sharing your story, listening campaigns, door to door outreach, One on Ones & house meetings
    – Connect common concerns to build bonds of solidarity & strategies to support those most impacted by economic injustice.

    This is free but please register: http://www.popularassembly.org for more information go to: activism2organizing.org

    Get a sneak peek of what this training is going to be like…

     

    Occupy Boston Student Summit a Success

    February 15th, 2012 · · News and Announcements 2 comments
    Photo Essay By Forest and Chase
    The Occupy Boston Student Summit this past Sunday (the 12th) was the first time the many Occupy student groups in Boston convened in one, large space outside the context of a general assembly.
    Held in a philosophy building near Harvard Yard, the summit saw more than a hundred attendees from over a dozen schools both in the area, and as far away as Vermont.

    This actually isn’t at the summit. This is UMass Boston, where students have set up a small tent city inside their student center to fight the increasing privatization of the supposedly public university. This is the back of the camp; the front area with a table and literature is in the background of the photograph. This photograph was taken the day that Occupy UMass Boston mic checked the board of trustees that was meeting a floor above the camp.
    Banner from UMass Boston hanging over one of the conference rooms at the summit, which was located at Harvard. Other schools represented in the attendees included Tufts, MIT, SMFA, Lesley, Northeastern, Berklee, Boston College, Emerson College, Bridgewater State University, Bennington College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and many others.
    I was really hoping Emerson would come to life and pick up that megaphone.
    Lovely program.
    The eight hour conference passed rather quickly. The day began with a group speak-outs on class and education inequality, and another on student debt. Soon following those were identity breakout groups in which separate spaces were given to discuss and contemplate particular conditions of oppression facing women, people of color, and queer/trans people with insight to how these might be understood within the student community of Occupy Boston. The day ended with a Q&A panel, followed by planning for future actions/tactics.

    Photo By Chase C.

    Photo by Chase C.

    Photo By Chase C.

    Professor Sam Christiansen from Northeastern gave a riveting talk addressing the history of student movements, and the continued revolutionary potential of student activism in society today. Christiansen said that students as seekers of truth are in the right place to directly act on society. She encouraged students to start cross-campus reading groups and to think of activism as a central aspect of education. She reminded us of events in the 1960s such as when students and workers united to shut down Paris, the release of the Port Huron Statement, and worldwide changes arising from the universities—finally concluding that these cannot be so much models to follow as things to remember and be informed by.
    Noam Chomsky spoke afterwards. Chomsky’s presence at the summit (it’s rumored) was not widely publicized so the event wouldn’t get flooded with non-summit participants. This meant it was really just him having a conversation with us, which was very nice. His talk addressed some of the causes for present restructuring of universities in the image of the corporation. Chomsky spoke about the present—and past—relationships between education and business in America, pointing to Lewis Powell’s 1971 memorandum to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which more or less points toward the present situation <http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/powell_memo_lewis.html>. He also drew attention to other countries such as Mexico that have maintained a free university system precisely through student strikes and struggle against privatization.

    Photo by Chase C.

    Here’s the video of Christiansen’s talk followed by Chomsky’s:

    Watch live streaming video from occupyboston at livestream.com
    During the summit students from Harvard occupied the Lamont Library to protest a set of proposed cuts in staff across the whole university’s library system. They are going to stay there for five days, at least.

    Video from Occupy Boston’s “No War on Iran” Rally

    February 6th, 2012 · · Multimedia/Art, News and Announcements 3 comments

    On Saturday, February 4th Occupy Boston’s Action for Peace Work Group joined communities across the nation, with over 60 endorsing organizations, to alert people to the ominous drumbeat, that unimpeded, will lead to war on Iran. The following video was produced by Occupy Boston Media Working Group member David L.

    Contact us

    Occupy Boston Media <Media@occupyboston.org> • <Info@occupyboston.org> • @Occupy_Boston