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    Occupy Boston Responds to Anniversary of Citizens United Decision With Rally & Summit

    On the January 20–21, the anniversary of the Citizens United decision, Occupy Boston will stand with a wide coalition of groups for GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS, two days of events and rallies.

    On Friday, January 20th

    • 12:30-2:00 PM – Move to Amend’s “Occupy the Courts” rally and Operation Woof at the Federal Courthouse at 1 Court House Way in Boston, MA. Operation Woof encourages dog owners to bring their dogs to protest and international superstar Snoopy has endorsed Dogs Against Corporate Personhood’s participation in Move to Amend’s “Occupy The Courts” rally.
    • 4:00PM-8:00PM Citizens United Working Group of Occupy Boston on will host “Rally and Summit to Unite Citizens for Democracy” at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 138 Tremont Street in Boston

    On Saturday, January 21st

    • 10:00AM-4:00PM – day two of “Rally and Summit to Unite Citizens for Democracy” at Suffolk University in Donahue Hall, 41 Temple Street in Boston.

    These events are designed to educate participants on the complex issues of money in politics and explore and engage in solutions to this problem.

    “Whether you identify with Occupy because of housing, jobs, health care, the environment or because of any of the other myriad of problems facing this country,” said Heleni Thayre, an organizer of the event and a member of the Citizens United Working Group, “They are all just a symptom of a greater problem—the excessive influence of money on public policy, elections and the law.”

    Speakers for Friday and Saturday include: Senator Jamie Eldridge and Representative Cory Atkins, both sponsors of a resolution in the State House to overturn Citizens United; John Bonifaz, co-founder of Free Speech for People; Julius Levine, BU Law Professor Emeritus and Clean Elections activist; Donna Palermino, a Civil Liberties professor at Suffolk University and writer for Fire Dog Lake; Pam Wilmot, MA State Director for Common Cause; Grace Ross, former gubernatorial candidate and founder of Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending; Melia Lazu, MIT professor and co-founder of MassVote.

    Speakers will examine the complex issue of corporate personhood and how special interest money negatively impacts democracy.  Some of the solutions that will be presented and discussed are; state and local resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, consumer strategies to target the worst offenders, clean elections, running citizen candidates and citizens lobbying training.

    All events are free and all are welcome to attend. For more information about this event, please email citizensunited@occupyboston.org or visit http://www.campaignfinancereform.us/take-action/rally-summit for full schedule of events.

    Help Distribute The Boston Occupier

    The latest issue of The Boston Occupier is coming out THIS WEDNESDAY (Jan 18th), We want to get out the word — all over Boston, and beyond — that our movement is growing, changing, and as urgent as ever. WE NEED HELP DISTRIBUTING, especially because we are printing 15,000 copies — 5,000 more than last time!! Here is the game-plan.

    • Our BIG DISTRIBUTION PUSH is the Wednesday afternoon commute. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!! We want to hit all the busiest T stations; let’s have commuters on every line reading our papers — especially because our cover story concerns MBTA fare hikes! Volunteers should meet at 5 pm at “E5” (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor). (If you can’t come until 5:30 or 6, that’s ok too.) It’s more fun to go out in pairs, so hopefully we’ll have enough volunteers to make that possible. We’ll have newly screen-printed Occupier patches and bandanas to wear, if you like. So, bundle up & come spread the Occupy news!
    • Copies of the paper will be available for anyone and everyone to pick up, beginning at noon on Wednesday in the Occupy Boston cubicle of “E5” (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor). All of the papers (all 15,000 of them!) must be gone by the end of the week. Please take a stack and commit to distributing them in your community (small stacks in cafes, libraries, bookshops, laundry mats, community centers, waiting rooms, campuses, etc). In this issue: coverage of proposed MBTA fare hikes, the student debt campaign, the Socialist caucus, Occupy the Primaries, First Night actions, Mass Occupy, NDAA, and more!
    • 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! Send questions or suggestions about distribution to Julie O (juliettejulianna@gmail.com) — or, better yet, just pick up a big pile of papers from E5.
    • Also available with this issue is our new subscription service, part of our effort to raise funds and make the Boston Occupier sustainable for the foreseeable future. An official online announcement is appearing on the website soon. I hope you’ll encourage those you know to subscribe to the paper!

    Please feel free to respond to me (juliettejulianna@gmail.com) with any questions, ideas, or suggestions.

    Martin Luther King Occupied: An Occupy Boston Community Gathering to Explore the Radical Legacy of Dr. King

    On Monday, January 16, 2012 at 6:00 PM, the Occupy Boston People of Color Working Group will host Occupy Boston’s weekly Community Gathering at Arlington St. Church, 351 Bolyston Street in Boston. This MLK Day gathering will encourage participants to think about what Occupy Boston and the public can learn from the ideas, campaigns, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


    “People of Color are disproportionately affected by the rule of the top 1%, in everything from housing, jobs, education, health, and prison incarceration,” said Brian Kwoba, an organizer of the event and a member of the People of Color Working Group of Occupy Boston.  “That is why issues of race and racism must be taken seriously by the Occupy movement. The People of Color Working Group is excited to be hosting a community gathering on MLK Day to project more of our culture, our voices, and our stories into the forefront of the movement.”

    Speakers include, Kwame Somburu, who helped to organize mass protests in the 1960’s and Harlem’s Freedom Now Party. The gathering will also feature a reading of excerpts from MLK’s beyond Vietnam speech, musical performances from Earthdrum Council, a presentation on the State of the Dream from by United for a Fair Economy, slam poets, a teach in on the 3-Strikes Bill, and a ‘fishbowl’ discussion with People of Color from Occupy Boston, and the Optimus of the Foundation Movement.

    Occupy Boston’s Community Gatherings are held every Monday evening and are open to the public. The intention of these Community Gatherings is to build and strengthen the Occupy Boston community through ongoing dialogues, presentations, workshops, and facilitated conversations, in order to build a resilient, widespread and inclusive social movement.

    This event is free and all are welcome to attend. For more information about this event, please email occupybostonmedia@gmail.com or visit https://www.occupyboston.org

    Occupy the Hood’s Call To Action To Be Rescheduled

    Sorry for the Short Notice – We have learned that the meeting at the State House has been cancelled for today. We will keep you updated when it is rescheduled.

    New Info: Legislative Conference Committee Cancels Meeting on 3-Strikes Bills in Massachusetts

    According to State House News today, “Although a House-Senate committee tasked with negotiating a compromise on sweeping crime and sentencing legislation is scheduled to resume
    talks Thursday, the three House members of the panel have no intention of showing up.”

    In the meantime: On January 27th there will be a Strategic Public Discussion on 3-Strikes Bills in Massachusetts from 5:30pm-8:30. Doors Open at 5pm at the Peoples Baptist Church (Tremon St.)

    Background on 3-Strikes Bill Community Action:

    On Saturday, January 7th, Occupy the Hood held a Town Hall to discuss the Habitual Offender (aka “Three Strikes”) legislation currently being debated in both houses of the Massachusetts State Congress. Different versions of the bill have been proposed in either house, with the Senate bill passing unanimously and the House bill passing 142-12. However, though the bill disproportionately affects communities of color, ethnic neighborhoods have come out strongly against the bill, with eight of the nine minority members of the Massachusetts House voting against the bill. The Town Hall meeting included an in-depth analysis of the bill and the injustices it would enable, focusing around the potential life-long detention of low-level offenders and the sizable influence of private prison lobbies in the crafting and supporting of the bill. The meeting included both white and minority legislators from who had voted against the bill in the House.

    For more information click here.


    Speak Out at the State House Against Foreclosures and Evictions

    Stand up against unnecessary evictions and foreclosures at this rally organized by Mass Alliance Against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) and National Lawyers Guild.

    Wednesday, January 11th                              
    Noon – Speak-out for Justice at State House

    1pm – Hearing, State House, Rm B-1

    Legislative Hearing: 4 important bills written by those of us fighting Massachusetts Foreclosures!
    • Stop unnecessary evictions: The banks should have to let former home-owners pay rent unless they have a reason to evict
    •  Mandatory mediation before foreclosure: Banks should have to provide someone authorized to negotiate with homeowners.
    • Judicial review: Victims of predatory home loans should have their day in court before foreclosure.
    • Banks should prove ownership before eviction: Give Housing Court power to make banks prove they own the property legally before eviction.
    44,100 Massachusetts foreclosures since 2007 = 88,000 households threatened. Our state economy loses $4 billion every month! Time to say ENOUGH!
    Please attend and support! For more information visit http://maapl.info/actionalerts.html

     

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