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    • The OB Media Rundown 4/6/12

    April 5th, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown Comments Off on The OB Media Rundown 4/6/12

    Occupy Transit! Transit Workers & Occupy Movement Team Up

    ATU national president Larry Hanley was inspired to ally ATU with the Occupy Movement when he learned of a proposal from Occupy Boston for a national day of protest around transit issues. Occupy Boston had issued this statement:

    “In Boston and in cities around the country, our hard-won and necessary transportation systems are under attack. Their viability is being threatened by savage cuts and fare hikes in a calculated push toward privatization by corrupt and unresponsive politicians and their corporate benefactors.”

    On April 4, the ATU led demonstrations in 15 American cities to draw attention to today’s transit crisis. (Salon.com)

    http://tinyurl.com/834lzkg

    Where There Are MBTA Cuts, There Are Occupiers: Group Staging 10-Day Camp Charlie Protest

    Just after the MBTA Advisory Board voted 4-1 yesterday to support the ailing transit agency’s plan to raise fares 23 percent and cut $15 million in service, members of the Occupy Boston movement assembled in front of the state house and announced another Occupy rally of sorts.

    Called Camp Charlie, the group vows to occupy the state house until April 14, when the advisory board meets again, or until the state legislature makes a move to help the embattled MBTA climb out of his perennial debt hole.

    “We recognize the MBTA and MassDOT are essentially powerless and can’t fix the solution on their own,” occupier Brett West says. “But we are showing that the plan passed by the board yesterday isn’t acceptable.” (Bostinno)

    http://tinyurl.com/cxfkjvp

    Dispatch from Camp Charlie: Hello Mother, Hello Father, Reps and Hacks, They’ve Come To Bother

    One of the points that was made over and over again by those protesting MBTA fare hikes (and Mass transit funding issues in general) yesterday was that this fight isn’t new. It’s been roaring for decades, and just seems to have grown extremely loud and and in-your-face over the past few months.

    As of today, though, activists have extended their message into the future, stressing that the war’s not over. Grabbing the baton from young transit crusaders who camped out on the Statehouse stoop on Tuesday, Occupy Boston’s Occupy MBTA contingent has officially set up shop on Beacon Hill. (Boston Phoenix)

    http://tinyurl.com/d8d78nz

    Continue reading »

    Occupy Boston Endorses Camp Charlie and Stands in Solidarity with National Actions

    April 5th, 2012 · · Passed Resolutions Comments Off on Occupy Boston Endorses Camp Charlie and Stands in Solidarity with National Actions

    The following proposal was passed by the Occupy Boston general assembly on April 5th:

    The genesis of the State House occupation was an autonomous action by members of Occupy Boston. Moving forward, Occupy Boston as a community endorses the continuation of the occupation at the State House until April 14th as an Occupy Boston action. Occupy Boston stands in solidarity with actions nationally that attempt to secure public transportation as a right.

    OccupyMBTA Assembly Schedule

    April 5th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on OccupyMBTA Assembly Schedule

    OccupyMBTA will be holding its first assembly at Camp Charlie, the ten day occupation established yesterday on the steps of the Massachusetts State House. Below is the tentative agenda. Please join us at 8:00pm tonight!

    1. Why we’re here

    It’s useful to get a quick overview of what, exactly, is going on with the T, and why this framing – a 10 day occupation ending on the 14th – matters. The current proposal includes a 23% fare hike to balance this year’s budget, but will leave the MBTA with an anticipated deficit of $100 million next year. Over the years, the MBTA’s financial viability has been wrecked by Big Dig debt, forward funding, and interest rate swaps ($26 million owed annually to Wall Street banks); the MBTA now possesses a total debt load of $5.2 billion and counting.

    2. Our demands – as they stand now – are threefold.

    First, the legislature must step in to fill this year’s $91 million budget gap – not with hikes (as proposed), but with money from the state budget. Second, the legislature must commit NOW to a comprehensive transit plan for the state of Massachusetts, not one that pits riders from one region against each other, but one which works to build an equitable transit system for the whole state. Third, they have to do this without privatizing it piece by piece. Public transit is not an asset to be sold for a quick dollar; it’s a right, and it should stay in public hands.

    There’s a lot of space under here for the how, where, and why – which is what we’re hoping to piece out in this discussion.

    3. What we can do in the next ten days to drive the message home.

    An action assembly to talk about plans, strategies, and next steps (and how you can help!)

    PRESS RELEASE: MBTA Refuses to Challenge Banks as Occupation Enters Second Day

    April 5th, 2012 · · News and Announcements, Press Releases Comments Off on PRESS RELEASE: MBTA Refuses to Challenge Banks as Occupation Enters Second Day

    At ‘Camp Charlie,’ Occupy the MBTA’s occupation of the State House steps enters its second day. Meanwhile, the board of the MBTA still refuses to challenge the dominion of Wall Street banks over public finances.

    Last night, dozens of activists slept on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to protest the proposed service cuts, fare hikes, and layoffs. Occupiers also demanded that the T cancel its interest rate swaps with JPMorgan Chase, Deustche Bank, and UBS. Combined, these three cartels enjoyed more than $200 billion dollars in taxpayer bailouts. Their CEOs took home nearly $32 million in 2010 alone. Now, despite owing their existence to the goodwill of taxpayers, they will extract $26 million a year from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority every year for the foreseeable future. So far, the MBTA has resisted demands to cancel these toxic swaps and instead is attempting to balance its books through massive fare increases that will devastate seniors, students, the disabled, and low-income riders.

    JPMorgan Chase

    The MBTA loses $8.9 million a year to JPMC and is on the hook for another $115 million in the future to JPMC; it can only get out of these deals if it pays JPMC $40 million in penalties. The CEO of JPMC made $20.8 million in 2010 after the company received a $100 billion taxpayer bailout. JPMC is currently foreclosing on homes all around Boston.

    Deutsche Bank

    The MBTA loses $8.3 million a year to Deutsche Bank and is on the hook for another $75 million in the future to Deutsche; it can only get out of these deals if it pays Deutsche Bank $23 million in penalties. The CEO of Deutsche made $8.3 million in 2010 after the company got a $66 billion taxpayer bailout. Deutsche Bank is foreclosing on homes all around Boston.

    UBS

    The MBTA loses $9 million a year to UBS and is on the hook for another $97 million in the future to UBS; it can only get out of these deals if it pays UBS $39 million in penalties. UBS received a $77 billion taxpayer bailout. It does not foreclose on homes.

    As a result, the MBTA is ready to cut service on nearly two dozen bus routes and increase fares more than twenty percent. This must be seen for what it is: a new chapter in the officially sanctioned robbery of the public trust by consolidated, private interests. Interests, it will be repeated, with a demonstrated inability to survive the open market in the absence of obscene taxpayer subsidy. These criminal, rent-seeking organizations are the products of government corruption and monopoly control, not free enterprise or competitive advantage.

    For thousands of the 99% who rely on the T to get to work, the proposed changes amount to a massive tax increase, all of which will go directly to the banks. This should be compared to the four billion dollars in federal subsidies lavished on oil companies like ExxonMobil, who in turn spend nearly fifty-million dollars a year lobbying to continue their historically profitable destruction of the earth’s atmosphere.

    Despite these obstacles, many other cities have forced bankers to the negotiating table by passing resolutions forbidding further business if they refuse. In this manner, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland and many others have succeeded in reducing interest rate payments, not only preserving their public goods and services, but reminding the multinational trusts that it is they who are in debt to us, and not the other way around. Occupy the MBTA remains mystified as to why the Board of Mass Dot and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are not willing to pursue a similar tactic.

    We need a comprehensive, accessible, and sustainable public transportation plan for the 99% across the entire Commonwealth, not a short-sighted, short-term austerity band-aid.

    Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-5-12

    April 5th, 2012 · · Daily Digest Comments Off on Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-5-12

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: MBTA Okays Fare Hikes and Service Cuts. Occupy Boston has officially declared a ten-day occupation in front of the MA State House front steps. We’re demanding that our legislature save the T by April 14. No hikes, no cuts, no layoffs! And Police pepper-spray 30 Santa Monica College students and others who were protesting tuition hikes – including this four-year-old girl. Two people were transported to the hospital. College officials are investigating campus police’s reaction to students who disrupted a Board of Trustees meeting upset over a highly controversial plan to offer pricier classes. The five Republican Supreme Court justices ruled on 4/2 to defend the rights of prison guards to strip search people, including a nun arrested in an anti-war protest and an African-American man who got arrested by mistake for not paying a fine that he had actually paid. And a follow-up: more information on the people behind Occupy.com which was mentioned in yesterday’s digest. “Seasoned OWS activists view [the site] with a mixture of hope and skepticism.”

    Other Occupies/Protests: Truckers vow to “bring Britain to a halt” in support of striking tanker drivers by blockading refineries and motorways.

    “The end of Democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” Thomas Jefferson

    Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

    Have you entered the Occupier’s Haiku Contest yet? I did! Send submissions to submit@occupier.com by April 7, no more than 3 haikus per person. For rules, click here. Prizes!

    For a partial listing of Working Groups looking for volunteers, please click here!

    Upcoming Events:

    • Lecture: Hawaii, Native America and Palestine: Indigeneity and Settler Colonialism, with Dr. J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Thursday, April 5, 2012   Boston University, 7pm until 9pm, Boston University Kenmore Classroom Building , Room 101, 565 Commonwealth Ave  [near Kenmore Square]
    • On Saturday April 7th at 12:30 p.m. at Ruggles Station, there will be a rally in support of justice for Trayvon Martin. The march will go from RUGGLES to DUDLEY, ending in front of the Police Station, with a speakout near the old B2 barracks grounds. Please come and stand up against racism, racial profiling and corruption! For more information, click here.
    • Raise Taxes on the 1% Tax Day Rally and March, Tuesday, April 17, 5:30PM, Dewey Square (South Station). Occupy JP and Occupy Boston will participate, along with many other groups, in a protest against the unfairness of the current tax regime, where people such as Mitt Romney pay at rates far lower than those earning far less, and Warren Buffet’s now-famous secretary pays at a higher rate than Warren Buffet.  The Rally and March will begin at 5:30pm at Dewey Square (South Station) and the march will begin at 6pm and proceed through the city streets, pass by several notorious corporate tax dodgers, and end at the bandstand in the Commons. Things to bring:  yourself (most important), signs, noise-making stuff (pots, pans, kazoos, whatever)

    Thursday, April 5, 2012

    Event Highlight:

    Event Highlight: General Assembly,  7pm – 10:30pm

    Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street (close to Arlington street)

    Calendar for Thursday, April 5, 2012

    5pm – 7pm,  Street WG meeting,  Boloco, next to Community Church (Copley Square)

    5pm – 6:45pm, Facilitation WG Meeting, at City Place Food Court in the Transportation Building – Boylston, Charles and Stuart Streets

    5:15pm – 6:45pm, General Strike (May 1) WG Meeting, Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, Boston (5th floor)

     

    These are just some of the many events at Occupy Boston. Check out our Daily Calendar for more information.

    For more information on Occupy Boston’s General Assembly, including passed resolutions, click here!  

    And if you’re interested in learning more about Occupy Boston and how you can participate, click here! 

     

    Contact Us: Want to subscribe to the Daily Digest? Click here to have it sent to your email inbox every morning! All Working Groups or Occupy Boston events that need placement in the Daily Digest, please email AnnaC@OccupyBoston.org. And subscribe to the Occupy Boston Media Rundown, a daily listing of Occupy-related news, by contacting JohnM@OccupyBoston.org.

    Contact us

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