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    • Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-23-12

    April 23rd, 2012 · · Daily Digest Comments Off on Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-23-12

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: UC Davis campus police chief resigns after Occupy protest pepper spray incident. UC Davis spokesman Barry Shiller said the police chief, Annette Spicuzza, had told the school she was retiring immediately.UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi, who also faced heavy criticism has refused to step down. And more California news: Armed with placards reading “Please Raise Our Taxes” and colorful budget charts, about 75 well-dressed middle-aged folks assembled on the steps of San Francisco City Hall at noon on Tuesday, Tax Day. For more, click here. And: the Happiest Place on Earth? Click here to read about homeless children living on the road to Disney World. And for an infographic detailing how much money a woman loses every year for not being a man ($10,784!), click here. And one of the projects at the upcoming Burning Man event is “Burn Wall Street.” And this documentary on how to start a nonviolent revolution looks amazing, no release date yet, but for the trailer, click here (you can save it on Netflix FYI).

    Other Occupies/Protests: Support for Pfc. Bradley Manning, who is charged with leaking diplomatic and Iraq and Afghan war-related classified materials to Wikileaks, will be one of the subjects of an April 23 civil disobedience protest at the Justice Department in downtown D.C. The rally also will call for an end to the death penalty, an end to solitary confinement and other brutal practices in the nation’s prisons, an end to prison privatization, the release of radical journalist and long-time prisoner (and until recently death-row inmate) Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a call to spend federal money on jobs, education and health care – and not on jails. Among the expected prominent participants in the event is actor Danny Glover.

    “The more you can increase fear of drugs and crime, welfare mothers, immigrants and aliens, the more you control all the people.” Noam Chomsky

    Upcoming Events:

    • Tuesday, April 24, 10am-8pm, Occupy Brandeis is hosting The Great Teach-In on the Great Lawn. For the schedule of events, click here.
    • The Occupy Boston Media Working Group has dissolved. To try to help us explore how the entire community can be empowered to create its own media, we invite /urge you, the community, to participate in a conversation about the future of media work at Occupy Boston next Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 7pm at Encuentro 5 (5th floor, 33 Harrison Ave, Boston). We will discuss the best way to reallocate existing resources in a way that is equitable and consistent with OB’s values. People who want to help copy/edit, write stories, make videos, etc. should come. I’ll be there, hope to see you too!
    • What is Occupy Wall Street? A film screening. Occupy HCC (Holyoke Community College) is hosting a film screening of short films produced by Occupy Wall Street in the Forum at HCC, April 27, 3pm-5pm. Come and find out about the Occupy Movement that started on Wall St. and has spread across the globe! There will be a Q&A session following the films with activists from different Occupy groups across the Northeast. This event is sponsored by the Holyoke Community College Student Senate.
    • On April 28, 2012 from 5pm to 10pm, artists from Occupy Boston will host a gathering with artist and cultural provocateur Steve Lambert. Taking place at Samsøn (450 Harrison Avenue), this event will be an opportunity for Lambert and the greater Occupy community to connect over questions of messaging, humor, culture jamming, and creative activism as the movement heads into the coming seasons. Following the discussion, we will screen the film The Yes Men Fix the World.
    • MA Unite Against the War on Women Rally, April 28, 10am-2pm, at City Hall Plaza. Help defend women’s rights and pursuit of equality. Join Americans all across the United States as we come together as one to tell members of Congress in Washington DC and legislators in all 50 states, “Enough is enough!” All Americans have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, including contraception, without interference from government, business or religious institutions. Please join us as we gather together and show both state and federal legislative bodies that we won’t stand silently by as they propose and pass laws that will impact women’s choices, health, and wellbeing. We need everyone’s voice! These decisions affect all genders, races, and socio-economic statuses!
    • Boston New Sanctuary Movement Presents A Return to A Faithful UnderstandingAn Interfaith Conference: Toward a More Compassionate National Debate on Immigration, Sunday, April 29, 2012, 12:30 – 5 p.m.  (12-1, lunch provided by Brazilian Immigrant Center), Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Boston, MAWorship leader:  Rev. Rob Mark, Pastor, Church of the Covenant, Boston, Presbyterian/UCCSpeakers, Reflection leaders:  Members of the Boston New Sanctuary Movement. Schedule: 12:30  Registration; 1:00 Welcome, opening reflection; 1:15  Current Immigration issues in Boston, and the Boston New Sanctuary Movement; 1:40 Workshops, period I; 3:10 Workshops, period II; 4:40 Closing reflection; 5:00    Networking.  Continue reading “Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-23-12” »

    The OB Media Rundown for 4/23/12

    April 23rd, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown Comments Off on The OB Media Rundown for 4/23/12

    All-day teach-in at Brandeis will focus on the Occupy Movement

    Members of the Brandeis faculty, student body and staff have organized an all-day teach-in from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday on the Great Lawn outside the Shapiro Student Center to consider various aspects of the Occupy Movement.

    Among the subjects of the sessions are “Media and Occupy,” “May Day and Occupy,” “Israel and Occupy,” “Occupy and Democracy” and many others. Provost Steve Goldstein will welcome participants, President Fred Lawrence will lead discussion of “Occupy as National Teaching Moment” and Environmental Studies Program chair Laura Goldin will hold a session on “Whose Earth Anyway? Environmental Justice for the 99%.” Numerous students and other faculty will participate, as will activists from around greater Boston.

    http://tinyurl.com/7ugvnd2

    UN to investigate plight of US Native Americans for first time

    Many of the country’s estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, incest and other social problems.

    The UN mission is potentially contentious, with some US conservatives likely to object to international interference in domestic matters. Since being appointed as rapporteur in 2008, Anaya has focused on natives of Central and South America.

    A UN statement said: “This will be the first mission to the US by an independent expert designated by the UN human rights council to report on the rights of the indigenous peoples.”

    http://tinyurl.com/7kqta7n

    Protesters occupy Berkeley-owned farm tract in Albany

    Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.

    For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.

    “For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children,” explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years.

    http://tinyurl.com/7722guq

    Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 4/23/12” »

    Occupy Boston to Give $ to Occupy Cape Cod and Occupy JP

    April 22nd, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Occupy Boston to Give $ to Occupy Cape Cod and Occupy JP

    These proposals passed General Assembly on April, 21, 2012.

    •  Give Occupy Cape Cod $1,000 to use as they wish directed towards their May 13th and May 20th actions.

    •  Occupy Jamaica Plain requests funding, $312.00, to pay for a one-quarter page advertisement in the Jamaica Plain Gazette, to promote our participation in “Wake Up The Earth Day,” May 5, 2012.  Jamaica Plain is a community with many activists and many progressive organizations, and Wake Up The Earth Day has been an extremely popular, well attended event in the past 30 years.  We are planning an information table, children’s activities, and a small parade float built with the help of the kids on the theme of “Imagine a Neighborhood You’d like to Live In.”  We believe our involvement in this event will be an excellent opportunity to spread the word about who Occupy and Occupy JP are, what we do, and to recruit new members.

    Occupy Boston Artists to Host Night of Conversation & Action Featuring Artist Steve Lambert

    April 22nd, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Occupy Boston Artists to Host Night of Conversation & Action Featuring Artist Steve Lambert

    Steve Lambert’s Capitalism Works for Me True/False, currently being shown at various locations in Boston

    Lambert at Occupy Boston in October with one of the many signs he made with Josh Luke

    On April 28, 2012 from 5:00PM to 10:00PM, artists from Occupy Boston will host a gathering with artist and cultural provocateur Steve Lambert. Taking place at Samsøn (450 Harrison Avenue), this event will be an opportunity for Lambert and the greater Occupy community to connect over questions of messaging, humor, culture jamming, and creative activism as the movement heads into the coming seasons. Following the discussion, we will screen the film The Yes Men Fix the World.

    Lambert’s work includes The New York Times Special Edition produced with the Yes Men and many other groups in 2008 and distributed in cities across the US carrying headlines such as “Iraq War Ends,” “Maximum Wage Law Passed” and “All Public Universities to Be Free.” More recently, Lambert’s gigantic, sign/scoreboard Capitalism Works For Me,True/False is touring the country posing a personal question its viewers can vote on.

    The Present Group writes of Lambert’s work, “These bits of provocation get people thinking (and talking) about how they act, what they believe, how they imagine the world around them, and how they imagine it could be.” With the School for Creative Activism, Lambert has taught workshops that infuse creative tactics with traditional community organizing and civic engagement.

    Lambert, along with painter Josh Luke, produced signs for many of the tents in the Dewey Square occupation in October 2010. Intending to produce change, he’s given simple advice for how to do more than “raise awareness” while maintaining a positive attitude. Join us on the 28th as we recharge our creative batteries and rehash the radical. Spring is upon us. There is difficult and enjoyable work to be done, absurd futures to dream up, and important questions to ask ourselves in the next stages of the Occupation. We think art and creative action should play a significant role in the shapes, forms, and modes of communication and performance employed in these next steps.

    Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-22-12

    April 22nd, 2012 · · Daily Digest Comments Off on Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-22-12

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: The winners of the Boston Occupier’s Haiku Contest have been announced, and second prize went to – well, me! But here’s one I wrote that didn’t win: Democracy blooms/Dissent is patriotic/Love, evolve, revolt! Congratulations to all the winners! To read the winning entries, click here! In other news: In an effort to uncover the source of bomb threats sent to the University of Pittsburgh, the FBI seized an entire server on Wednesday that is used by anonymous remailing service Mixmaster as well as several progressive rights groups. The server was seized from a co-location facility in New York with a search warrant served by the FBI. … the server was [also] used by the Seattle-based digital activist group Riseup Networks, as well as May First/People Link, a politically progressive internet service provider. The server was operated by European Counter Network, an ISP based in Italy. For more, click here. And check out this informative website: HowToCamp/HowToOccupy is conceived to promote and spread the methods, techniques and knowledge about peaceful occupation of public spaces while developing sustainable ways of living based on participatory democracy … Our goal is to establish an universal and accessible database made up of documents related to peaceful civil disobedience and grassroots practices, spreading it physically and on-line to the very assemblies, occupations and groups around the whole world. And: two days before the NYPD’s eviction of the Occupy Wall Street encampment from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, Brookfield Properties’ security was in direct communications and sharing information with the U.S. Park Police in Washington, D.C., and communicating with other cities around the country, according to newly released internal documents from the National Park Service. The documents were released late Friday to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) in response to the civil rights legal group’s FOIA demands to the NPS, FBI, CIA, DHS and other federal law enforcement agencies seeking information about the role of Federal agencies in the coordinated nationwide crackdown that led to the eviction of Occupy encampments in cities throughout the United States. The request was made also on behalf of author and filmmaker Michael Moore and the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee. For more, click here.  And here’s another great update on a song from West Side Story, by Occupy Wall Street – The Debt Song (“when you’re in debt, you’re in debt all the way…”)

    Other Occupies/Protests: TENTS ALONG THE ALEWIFE MONDAY – CALLING ALL OCCUPIERS! Occupy Arlington occupies Alewife Brook: No more development in the Alewife Watershed, no more sewage in the Alewife Brook. In honor of Earth Day, Monday April 23, set up 5:30am, action begins at 6am. Bring pop-up tents if you own them. If you are so moved dress up as silver maples or alewives. Meet at the benches in the passenger drop-off area and be ready to occupy some of the area of Alewife to protest the dumping of sewage in Alewife Brook and the threatened development of the Silver Maple Reservation. For additional information or to RSVP,  contact Occupy Arlington: https://www.facebook.com/events/277301135692232

    “The oppressed are allowed once every few years to decide which particular representatives of the oppressing class are to represent and repress them.” Karl Marx

    Upcoming Events:

    • Tuesday, April 24, 10am-8pm, Occupy Brandeis is hosting The Great Teach-In on the Great Lawn. For the schedule of events, click here.
    • The Occupy Boston Media Working Group has dissolved. To try to help us explore how the entire community can be empowered to create its own media, we invite /urge you, the community, to participate in a conversation about the future of media work at Occupy Boston next Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 7pm at Encuentro 5 (5th floor, 33 Harrison Ave, Boston). We will discuss the best way to reallocate existing resources in a way that is equitable and consistent with OB’s values.
    • What is Occupy Wall Street? A film screening. Occupy HCC (Holyoke Community College) is hosting a film screening of short films produced by Occupy Wall Street in the Forum at HCC, April 27, 3pm-5pm. Come and find out about the Occupy Movement that started on Wall St. and has spread across the globe! There will be a Q&A session following the films with activists from different Occupy groups across the Northeast. This event is sponsored by the Holyoke Community College Student Senate.
    • MA Unite Against the War on Women Rally, April 28, 10am-2pm, at City Hall Plaza. Help defend women’s rights and pursuit of equality. Join Americans all across the United States as we come together as one to tell members of Congress in Washington DC and legislators in all 50 states, “Enough is enough!” All Americans have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, including contraception, without interference from government, business or religious institutions. Please join us as we gather together and show both state and federal legislative bodies that we won’t stand silently by as they propose and pass laws that will impact women’s choices, health, and wellbeing. We need everyone’s voice! These decisions affect all genders, races, and socio-economic statuses!
    • Boston New Sanctuary Movement Presents A Return to A Faithful UnderstandingAn Interfaith Conference: Toward a More Compassionate National Debate on Immigration, Sunday, April 29, 2012, 12:30 – 5 p.m.  (12-1, lunch provided by Brazilian Immigrant Center), Church of the Covenant, 67 Newbury St., Boston, MAWorship leader:  Rev. Rob Mark, Pastor, Church of the Covenant, Boston, Presbyterian/UCCSpeakers, Reflection leaders:  Members of the Boston New Sanctuary Movement. Schedule: 12:30  Registration; 1:00 Welcome, opening reflection; 1:15  Current Immigration issues in Boston, and the Boston New Sanctuary Movement; 1:40 Workshops, period I; 3:10 Workshops, period II; 4:40 Closing reflection; 5:00    Networking. 
      • May 1 General Strike! A Day Without the 99%. NO WORK – NO SCHOOL – NO SHOPPING – NO BANKING – NO TRADING. GENERAL STRIKE AND BOYCOTT CALLED! 7am-11am: Financial District Block Party! (corner of Federal and Franklin Streets). Bring a friend and let’s party! Bring whistles, drums, noise makers. Bring street theater ! 12:00pm: Boston City Hall Rally. Can’t make it to Boston City Hall at Noon? Well how about: The Chelsea City Hall? – Gather at Noon – March at 2pm (For More information please contact La Colaborativa (617) 889-6097). 2pm: LoPresti Park Rally/March (Blue Line: Maverick Square) (For more information contact Dominic at City life/Vida Urbana (617) 710-7176). 4pm: Everett – Glendale Park (For more information please contact La Comunidad (617) 387-9996). 7pm: Death of Capitalism Boston Funeral March (Copley Square). We invite people to participate in this piece of street theater which includes puppets, a marching band, and other creative surprises. People will begin gathering at 7pm at Copley Square Park (by the steps of Trinity Church) to put on costumes, puppets and face-paint and get info on their respective role in the funeral procession. We ask that people participate as: mourners (dressed in black), celebrators (wearing neon/bright colors/glow stuff), skeleton block (bring your own skeleton costume). The funeral procession will leave Copley Square Park at 8pm and will travel through areas of wealth and commerce. Continue reading “Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-22-12” »

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