T to raise fares, trim Green Line

The MBTA plans an overall 23 percent fare increase and will eliminate weekend Green Line streetcar service between Brigham Circle and Heath Street, following months of controversy about the T’s sorry financial state.

The T also will kill the Route 48 “JP Loop” bus that serves the 125 Amory Street residence for seniors and people with disabilities.

http://tinyurl.com/brs22h3

Occupy the MBTA Creates “Camp Charlie” on State House Steps to Protest T Fare Hikes, Service Cuts

Since the fall of the Occupy Camp at Dewey Square, which held for 71 days in the shadow of the Boston Federal Reserve building outside of the doors of South Station, a contingent of activists and community members have focused their energy and planning on the debt and budgeting controversy surrounding the MBTA. An offshoot of Occupy Boston called Occupy the MBTA staged demonstrations and organized canvasing missions in which activists and community members rode the subway. Handing out literature and engaging other riders on the impending proposed band-aid solutions, layoffs, service cuts, fare increases, and further debt shuffling to come – as “austerity” apparently becomes more than just a buzz word, but its application.

On Wednesday, April 4th, the MBTA’s Board of Directors voted to adopt a plan dubbed the “third scenario” to close their $161 million deficit in their $1.7 billion annual operating budget for 2013; including service cuts and a 23% average fare increase which many feel affect those in the lower income bracket, students, and elderly at a disproportionally higher rate than other riders with deeper pockets.

http://tinyurl.com/cn62wql

Jesse Jackson urges support for protest at NATO summit

On April 11, the Reverend Jesse Jackson announced his support for the May 20 protest march against the NATO summit in Chicago. Jackson made the announcement on the public radio station WBEZ.

Five days earlier, Occupy Chicago held its much awaited return to street protests. Jackson spoke, and it was at that a gathering of 1000 people that he first stated his plan to march.

Jackson said, “We have spent $3 trillion on war in the past decade. That’s enough to pay off all state debts, to re-open schools, pay teachers, firefighters and transit workers. ”

http://tinyurl.com/bsnlfcc

Tufts Occupiers protest student debt with kiss-in

Members of Tufts Occupiers on Saturday were joined by members of
Students Occupy Boston at a kiss-in protest at Dewey Square.

Roughly 20 students held banners, posted letters of protest and kissed
each other in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Citibank
and the Massachusetts State House. The theme of the event, highlighted
by the tag line “If the banks can make out like bandits, so can we,”
was meant to draw attention to the issue of persistent student debt,
according to Nate Matthews, a member of Tufts Occupiers who planned
the event.

http://tinyurl.com/czux5xp

Confronting Empire from Port Huron to Occupy

Fifty years after Port Huron, the Occupy movement has brilliantly
shaped the terms of public debate about class and, uniquely, class
struggle. But like the signatories of the Statement, the Occupiers
need to expand beyond the narrower interests of their original
members. When Occupy began, its social composition was primarily white
and middle class, and it targeted the corporate criminals and the
capitalist elite, a.k.a. Wall Street. Occupy, however, has struggled
to extend its reach to strategically essential low-income communities
of color. Besides the critical component of the movement’s social
composition, there is also the challenge of fleshing out the content
of its political program. The question is whether Occupy can truly
give voice to all of the “99 percent” that it wants to represent.

http://tinyurl.com/cnnnkun

White People Need to Join the Justice for Trayvon Martin Movement in
Greater Numbers

Whatever you think about the Trayvon Martin case, it’s clear that a
major travesty of justice occurred in Sanford, FL a few weeks back. So
it’s no surprise that a large spontaneous nationwide movement arose to
see Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, brought to trial, and ideally
to usher in a top-to-bottom housecleaning in the Sanford Police
Department – and possibly in the Sanford city government itself for
good measure.

And it’s great to see such a movement grow so quickly. It gives me
hope.

What I think is problematic is that white people are not yet joining
the new justice movement in serious numbers. Certainly not in Boston.
I’ve been to two public actions for Martin since the case came to
light. One rally in March in Harvard Square. And one march yesterday
from Ruggles to Dudley Square (which we’ll file a news piece on in a
couple of days, btw). Both events were called by the new
Boston4Justice network – that’s led by a number of young
African-Americans around town. The first event drew about 200 people.
The second drew closer to 300 people. Credible turnouts, but not
what’s needed to effect change. Those actions could have been bigger.
And would have been, if white Bostonians – including many progressive
“usual suspects” that I was surprised to find missing – had turned out
for them in greater numbers.

http://tinyurl.com/76yas33