Occupiers speak out at Somerville MBTA hearing, February 28, 2012
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On Monday, February 27th from 6pm – 9pm, at Christ Church in Cambridge (map), members of the Decolonize to Liberate Working Group will host an Occupy Boston Community Gathering. The Working Group invites the rest of Occupy Boston and members of the public to join in an ongoing discussion of how the goals and roots of the Occupy movement are related to the history of ongoing indigenous resistance to colonialism and corporate exploitation. Please join us to learn what it means to “Decolonize Occupy” and how we can better create a global movement that works for everyone.
“Unless we each decolonize our minds, and together decolonize this movement, unless we dismantle the deeply-ingrained systems of oppression that we inherited with colonialism, we risk merely creating a new version of an unjust society,” said Martin Dagoberto, a member of the working group. The Decolonize to Liberate Working Group has been hosting weekly discussion meetings since it formed and introduced one of the first proposals passed by the Occupy Boston General Assembly, the “Statement of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.”
Working group member Laurie Leyshon emphasized that the Community Gathering will not only provide a movement-building experience, but also present “a renewed call to action for the benefit of all people and all Life.” The gathering coincides with “#F27 Occupy the Food Supply and attendees will also have an opportunity to join in on this international day of action. Added Leyshon, “The privatization, control and manipulation of our food supply is the ultimate form of conquest. What Monsanto and the like are doing is a continuation of a long history of colonialism – the commodification of life.”
To learn more about the meaning of “decolonization,” people are encouraged to listen to a recent radio broadcast produced by Decolonize to Liberate working group member Ukumbwa Sauti: “Ancestral Continuum – Decolonization. The working group has also assembled a collection of articles and materials at decolonizeboston.org.
If you are a dedicated catalyst at Occupy Boston, a supporter, or just curious or completely new to the movement, we invite you to please join us for a unique community learning experience. This will be a great opportunity to connect, share food, words, and build. If you would like to take advantage of free child care during the event, please email decolonizeboston@gmail.com.
Occupy Boston’s Community Gatherings are held every Monday evening and are free and open to the public. The Gatherings are designed 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.
On 
Saturday, February 25, at noon, members of Occupy Boston will rally and march from Copley Square against the MBTA’s proposed fare hikes, service cuts, and layoffs.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, 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.It’s time to show the general public that we, the 99%, will not accept these proposals and that we demand to find a more sensible way of addressing the MBTA’s financial situation. Join us on Saturday at noon!
Saturday, February 25, at noon, members of Occupy Boston will rally and march from Copley Square against the MBTA’s proposed fare hikes, service cuts, and layoffs.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, 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.It’s time to show the general public that we, the 99%, will not accept these proposals and that we demand to find a more sensible way of addressing the MBTA’s financial situation. Join us on Saturday at noon!
For more information, please visit http://www.facebook.com/events/155333684580789/
Members of Occupy Boston and the Protest Chaplains will gather at the First National Bank Building (home to Bank of America) in Boston’s Financial District every Friday of Lent to pray for forgiveness from our society’s economic sins and our complicity with them. The gatherings will start this Friday, February 24 at 8 AM and continue every Friday until Easter.
“Come join us as we repent from the sins of greed, corruption, and apathy,” said Occupy Boston member Joshua Eaton. “Come join us as we wait for the world where every chain is loosed and every yoke is broken. Come join us as we Occupy Lent.”
The group plans to recite prayers of repentance, sing hymns, and read passages from scripture that relate to economic justice. Their event announcement quotes Isaiah 58, verse 6: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?”
WHO: Members of Occupy Boston and the Protest Chaplains
WHAT: A gathering each Friday in Lent—the season of repentance—to publicly ask forgiveness for our society’s economic sins and for our complicity with them
WHEN: Friday, February 24 at 8:00 AM and every Friday in Lent (through April 6)
WHERE: First National Bank Building at 100 Federal Street in Boston’s Financial District. Once the Federal Street Church, it was an incubator for liberal religion and the site where Massachusetts ratified the US Constitution. Now, as home to Bank of America, it stands as a temple to unfettered financial capital.
For more information, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/events/324346397617221/.
From Occupy To Organize:
A series of workshops, presented by long-time community organizers from a wide background, to give activists the skills we need to build a truly popular movement!
Part I: Saturday, February 18* 2pm-5pm
Community Church of Boston
565 Boylston St #2
Boston, MA
Copley Green Line T stop
*Part II is March 10 at 2pm.
You must preregister for this workshop at http://www.popularassembly.org/.
- Join the conversation about expanding participation in our movements.
- Discuss ways we can work together to engage more people through tried and true organizing tactics such as story sharing, listening campaigns, door-to-door outreach, one-on-ones and house meetings.
- Find out about ways Occupy activists have moved beyond Facebook activism to face-to-face relationship building based on solidarity through common struggles.
- Learn about effective collaborations between the Occupy Movement and organizing projects and the development of organizing practices that support grassroots leadership of those most affected by economic, racial and social injustice.
- Share success stories about your grassroots organizing that have reached beyond activist circles.
Prior trainings have provided Occupy Boston activists with a participatory strategy and a campaign development process that built organizing capacity and turned activists into local organizers. For many of the Occupy activists, it was their first time organizing more broadly instead of focusing on event or action mobilizations. Whether you’re a seasoned organizer or an Occupier looking to learn new organizing tactics, please join us on Saturday!
And don’t forget to register at http://www.popularassembly.org/.