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    • Press Release: Occupy Boston Dissolves

    April 1st, 2012 · · News and Announcements 2 comments

    *FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, April 1 2012*
    Contacts: Media@OccupyBoston.org
    Twitter: @occupyBOS_media

    OCCUPY BOSTON REALIZES MISSION MISGUIDED, DISSOLVES

    In an uncharacteristically early morning meeting, the General Assembly of Occupy Boston voted to dissolve itself today, citing an introspective change of heart regarding criminal banking cartels, moneyed interests in politics, and the general lack of democracy both locally and around the world.

    “Three cheers for the current system!” cried John Perez, 26, smelling freshly showered on the way to his new job as an analyst for Citibank. “So what if 93% of the revenue generated by the so-called recovery went to 1% of the people? It’s time for me to get mine!”

    Ariel Plattus concurred, “I used to think that rewarding bankers with mountains of taxpayer dollars for destroying our economy might not make the most sense.” Plattus lowered her voice conspiratorially, “In fact, when I got involved with Occupy, I thought those corporations should be broken up and their executives thrown in jail. But then Tim Geithner made me realize that tax-dodging multinationals are part of America’s competitive advantage over other countries! We’re really lucky to have an elite cadre of greedy, unaccountable insiders robbing our grandchildren blind. Thank goodness none of them have been prosecuted!”

    Nearby, Rene Ford whistled a happy tune while straightening a new tie. “I used to be convinced that workers’ self-management was the only way towards building a sustainable, just economy,” Ford chirped, “but watching a private equity titan make a cool two-hundred million by destroying jobs and then clinch the Republican presidential nomination by piloting a raft of lies down a thick river of Wall Street cash — well, it really put things in perspective.” Ford stopped to hi-five Farhad Gradowski, who had his own reasons for voting for the dissolution. “I just realized that I hate helping people,” he said.

    After the assembly, Katie Cheeno could be seen laying out a veritable Wal-Mart’s worth of t-shirts, hats, and pins emblazoned with OBAMA 2012 on the lawn of Dewey Square. “The truth is that the President has delivered completely,” she said softly. “He understands what the people need, and that’s why he nominated another multi-millionaire Republican to the Federal Reserve after reappointing Ben Bernanke as a reward for his sustained refusal to do anything about unemployment;” and here, Cheeno paused, her voice growing husky as she gazed into the sun glinting off the Fed, “I just wish Barney Frank were running for re-election. He’s taught me so much about the power of elected officials to enforce the rule of law! And working with City Life/Vida Urbana, I have seen first-hand just how effective voting for rich people can be in stopping rampant, illegal foreclosures.”

    Watching the last of the freshly-scrubbed former occupiers make their way towards the subway, Rachel Ebrahimi looked on with approval. “Yup, we really learned something here. Namely that mutual aid, solidarity, and direct action are no substitute for pretending like a hopelessly corrupt, traveling media circus represents the interests of the people.” Setting fire to the previously-cherished plans for a local cooperative enterprise, Dan Oshinsky added, “After all, corporate leviathans are people, too.” Ebrahimi nodded, “Absolutely! God, I wish November was here already.”

    Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-1-12

    April 1st, 2012 · · Daily Digest Comments Off on Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 4-1-12

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: Pink slime, GMOs, and soup are on the menu today. Occupy Maine, which decamped from a city park last month, showed it’s still active with a noisy demonstration Friday evening outside a fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the Portland Museum of Art. Holding a banner that said “Occupy Everywhere,” demonstrators handed out free soup while Obama’s supporters paid $5,000 or more to dine with the president. For more, click here. And between “mechanically separated chicken” and “pink slime,” I’ve lost my appetite. Now three factories that made pink slime have shut down since public outcry about the ammonia-treated substance began last month. For more, click here. The scientist who coined the term “pink slime” was a reluctant whistleblower, and it has taken 10 years for the public to become aware of the issue! For his story, click here. And Occupy Monsanto ran this story: One Million Americans Tell FDA: We Have a Right to Know What’s in Our Food. For more, click here.

    Other Occupies/Protests: 

    • 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.
    • MA Unite Against the War on Women Rally: April 28, 10am-2pm, Boston City Hall Plaza. Help defend women’s rights and pursuit of equality. Join Americans all across the United States on April 28th, 2012, 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!!! Everyone is invited to join, plan, and rally as we unite to demand that every person be granted equal opportunities, equal rights, and equal representation. For more information, click here.

    “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Krishnamurti

    Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

    Did you know? Occupy Boston’s own newspaper, The Boston Occupier, is available online! Support free press!

    • 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!

    Upcoming Events:

    Monday, April 2, 6 pm-8:30 pm (doors open 5:30), Occupy Boston Open House at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 138 Tremont St., Boston. All WGs are welcome to attend, the idea is to make it like a job fair so that people can learn about what the working groups do. Please bring fliers/literature relevant to your group if you have it, and please make a sign with your group’s name on it. Please tell us in advance if your group plans to attend, you can contact me at AnnaC@OccupyBoston.org.

    Wednesday, April 4, 3pm-11:30pm Occupy Boston – National Day of Action for Public Transportation, Massachusetts State House

    Public transportation is a right and must be accessible to all. Service cuts and fare hikes will have a devastating and disproportionate impact on low-income communities, communities of color, students, workers, seniors and the environment. We say NO TO PRIVATIZATION of our common resources and NO MORE EXCUSES! We will not accept any funding strategies that attempt to divide the 99% against each other or shift the burden onto the backs of the 99%: the poor and working classes. End the wars and tax the rich! On April 4th, we will stand together to demand public transportation for the 99%. If our call is not answered and the necessary funds redirected, it will only add to the growing body of evidence that our government no longer represents us.

    Sunday, April 1, 2012

    Event Highlight:

    Sunday, April 1, 12 noon-11 pm, Take Back Dewey, Dewey Square, at South Station, Boston

    • 12:00pm – Lunch (Bring some to share).
    • 1:00pm – April’s Fools March – The theme is to sarcastically invoke the ideas and thoughts that Occupy Boston are fighting against.
    • 3:00pm – Livestream training (meet by Gandhi)
    • 3:00pm – Clothing Swap (Got stuff you don’t wear anymore? Bring your clothes, and trade with friends! Surplus clothes will be going to a worthy cause).
    • 4:30pm – Open Mic/Stack
    • 5:30pm – Occupy Boston’s General Assembly
    • 8:00pm – Direct Action Planning Meeting: On the agenda: How to institute anti-oppression? How can we organize without endangering others? Creating a decentralized model(spokes, affinities, etc)

    Calendar for Sunday, April 1, 2012

    Given the large attendance expected at the events listed above, other regularly scheduled meetings may not be taking place today. Check out our Daily Calendar for full descriptions of events at Occupy Boston.

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

    The OB Media Rundown for 4/1/12

    March 31st, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown Comments Off on The OB Media Rundown for 4/1/12

    BPD says it’s ready for Occupy A1 protest

    “We are aware of the event and we will be monitoring it closely and have sufficient police resources available to address any concerns,” Boston police Officer Nicole Grant told the Herald last night.

    “Obviously, people have the right to protest, and Occupy has been orchestrating protests and marches for months now without incident,” said John Guilfoil, a spokesman for Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “But we’ll certainly monitor the situation.”

    http://tinyurl.com/d2a6rwg

    6 Ways to Get Ready for the May 1st General Strike

    [2] Spread the Word On Social Media: Follow #M1GS, @OWSMayDay, @OccupyWallSt, and @OccupyGenStrike on Twitter. Also be sure to RSVP on Facebook and follow facebook.com/OccupyGeneralStrike. You can also look for city-specific events, like these from Chicago and Detroit.

    http://tinyurl.com/7zlazdr

    All Parties Ignore the One Way to Reduce Health Care Costs: Single-Payer

    Both parties studiously avoid the one health-reform solution that – unlike computers – would actually save money while sparing patients: single-payer, nonprofit national health insurance.

    Research shows that single-payer reform could save about $380 billion annually that’s currently wasted on insurers’ overhead and the unnecessary paperwork (and screen-work) they inflict on hospitals, doctors and patients. That’s enough money to fully cover the uninsured and eliminate copayments and deductibles for the rest of us.

    In the early 1990s, studies by the CBO and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) arrived at similar conclusions. Their basic findings still hold. And, of course, the experience of other developed nations has demonstrated this proposition in practice.

    But taking this path would mean taking on the big insurers, drug companies and medical-equipment manufacturers. It’s been much easier for politicians to toss some money to computer vendors and pretend that that will fix health care’s cost problem.

     

    http://tinyurl.com/bqwzqpx

    Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 4/1/12” »

    Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 Joins April 4 Public Transit Day of Action

    March 31st, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589 Joins April 4 Public Transit Day of Action

    Declaring “Urban Transit is a Civil Rights Issue,” the Boston Carmen’s Union, Local 589, which represents over 6,000 MBTA workers, has called on “transit workers [to] join together with the occupy movement and transit passengers across the country to honor Dr. King’s legacy” on April 4 for the National Day of Action for Public Transportation. On its website, the Boston Carmen’s Union wrote:

    Urban Transit Is A Civil Rights Issue

    On the anniversary of Dr. King’s death, April 4, transit workers join together with the occupy movement and transit passengers across the country to honor Dr. King’s legacy. Dr. King declared “transit systems in most American cities…have become a genuine civil rights issue…If transportation systems in American cities could be laid out so as to provide an opportunity for poor people to get to meaningful employment, then they could begin to move into the mainstream of American life.” His words ring true today as Boston and our country faces a public transportation crisis.

    April 4th, 2012 marks a National Day of Action in Boston and throughout the country to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, on April 4, 1967, delivered his famous speech, “Beyond Vietnam: Breaking the Silence,” in which he explained the link between war and poverty. On that same date, exactly one year later, Dr. King’s voice was silenced by an assassin’s bullet. Dr. King played a key role in Montgomery bus boycott for racial equality and throughout his life fought for the rights of those in the 99% impacted by cuts to public transportation: low-income Americans, communities of color, students, workers, and seniors.

    We ask: “Where Is Mass Transit Today?” In 2011 Americans took 10.4 billion trips on mass transit, the most in decades, but public transportation is still under attack…

    • 85% of transit systems have cut service or raised fares since the recession having a devastating impact on those who rely on mass transit — the 99%.
    • Thousands of transit workers have lost their jobs.
    • Transit systems are deteriorating: older vehicles, deferred maintenance, longer wait times for overcrowded buses and trains.
    • Wall Street is profiting off of the debt that transit systems face. The NYC Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) had to pay over $1.1 billion in interest payments in 2011.
    • Instead of cutting fares, MTA is cutting checks to Wall Street bankers – the 1%.
    • Service is being outsourced to foreign national companies looking to make a killing while compromising the safety and service for passengers and workers.

    Meanwhile…

    • The Pentagon spends $300 million per day on the Afghan War. That’s our tax dollars that could be spent on public transportation and other critical investments for our communities.
    • Politicians won’t commit to fund mass transit adequately and blame the economic crisis. Instead they raise fares and cut routes, but service does not improve.
    • The bankers and brokers – the 1% – control the money for public transportation and threaten the transit systems that took a century to build. The greed and corruption must stop.

    Take Action Now! Join us on April 4th, 2012 for hearing inside the State House at 3pm followed by a rally outside at 5pm.

    April 4 at the State House
    Hearing: 3-5pm
    Rally & Speak Out: 5pm until we’re done

    Join us as part of the National Day of Action on Transportation to demand:

    • No service cuts
    • No fare hikes
    • No layoffs
    • No privatization of our treasured public transit system.
    • A comprehensive state-wide plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%.

    For more information on #A4 or to get involved in Occupy MBTA, please visit http://occupymbta.org/.

     

    Occupy Boston Open House: Join the Movement!

    March 31st, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on Occupy Boston Open House: Join the Movement!

    On Monday, April 2, Occupy Boston will hold the first in a series of community-wide Open Houses at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (138 Tremont St, opposite Park Street Station) from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. Guests are invited to learn more about Occupy Boston and its many working groups, caucuses, and affinity groups.

    Occupy Boston is part of a movement inspired by Occupy Wall Street, which started in New York City on September 17, and is connected to similar demonstrations and occupations taking place around the world.

    We are raising awareness about widespread discontent with the American economic and political systems. We are inspiring discussion and debate around economic reform, focusing on topics like economic equality, campaign finance reform, abolishing corporate personhood, transparency in government, and stopping political corruption.

    Occupy Boston is not a single group with a single demand, but we feel our democratic system has been undermined by corporate and special interests. We will persist in advocating the need for change, defining the change we need, and reaching out to policy-makers, business leaders, and citizens to join us.

    Come join the conversation that’s already started to shift the national dialogue!

    Contact us

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