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    • Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 3-30-12

    March 30th, 2012 · · Daily Digest One comment

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: Occupy Boston hosted a viewing of the movie “Thrive” when it was released on 11/11/11, but if you haven’t seen it yet, now is your chance. Starting April 5, you will be able to stream it for free at http://www.thrivemovement.com. “The world is waking up… Follow the money… ” And, from the City University of New York to the University of California, students increasingly find themselves on the frontlines, not of a war on terror, but of a war on “radicalism” and “extremism” – see “Repress U, Class of 2012: Seven Steps to a Homeland Security Campus.” And Monsanto wants to brainwash children with their ‘Biotechnology Basics Activity Book’ – see kids, GMOs are fun!

    Other Occupies/Protests: Spanish workers angry at austerity measures the government calls a necessity staged a general strike on Thursday, bringing factories and ports to a standstill.Hundreds of thousands attended largely peaceful marches throughout Spain, waving red flags and beating drums to protest budget cuts by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

    “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Mark Twain

    Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

    – A musician who will be playing at Dewey Square on April 1 is looking for a couple of people to help unload equipment around 11 am. Contact: mark@melodeego.com

    – Did you enter the Occupier’s Haiku Contest? I did! Send submissions to submit@occupier.com by April 7, no more than 3 haikus per person.

    Prizes: The top 3 haikus will be published in Issue 7 of the Boston Occupier (out April 18th), as well as on bostonoccupier.com.  In addition…

    1st place: A Boston Occupier bumper sticker, screen-printed bandana, and a 12-issue subscription to The Boston Occupier!

    2nd place: A Boston Occupier bumper sticker and screen-printed bandana

    3rd place: A Boston Occupier bumper sticker

    Upcoming Events:

    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.

    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.

    Friday, March 30, 2012

    Event Highlight: OB Decolonize supports Free Palestine Rally & March, 6pm – 8pm. Copley Square

    March 30 marks Palestine Land Day in Palestinian national memory. The march’s aim is to mark it as an international event to demonstrate solidarity with Palestinians and to protect Jerusalem.  Join us in Boston to stand in solidarity with this global effort to bring justice to Palestine and to end US and Israeli aggression against Iran. Sponsored by Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights (BCPR), Boston United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), the International Action Center (IAC), the Palestine Task Force of United for Justice with Peace, Veterans for Peace, Chapter 9, Smedley Butler Brigade, Code Pink and Students for Justice in Palestine Boston University Chapter.

    Calendar for Friday, March 30, 2012

    Occupy Lent: Prayers of Repentance for Economic Injustice, 8:00am – 8:30am, Bank of America Building, 100 Federal St, Boston, MA 02114

    Free School University WG Meeting, 5:30pm – 7:30pm, Harvest Food Coop Community Room, 581 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge

    Women’s Caucus Working Group,  5:30pm – 7:00pm, 14 Beacon St, First Floor, Boston.

    Occupy MBTA WG Meeting, 6pm – 8pm, SEIU 26 West St.
    Radio WG Meeting, 7pm – 9pm, City Place Food Court (In State Transportation Building)

    There’s More: Check out our Daily Calendar for full descriptions of events at Occupy Boston.

    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

    Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 3-29-12

    March 29th, 2012 · · Daily Digest One comment

    Good Morning from Occupy Boston!

    Stories of the Day: MBTA unveils final proposal: 23 percent fare hikes, multiple service cuts (see below for April 4 action). And how you dress really does make a difference: OWS people in suits get arrested and police apologize for arresting them! And here’s a playful DIY instructional video on how to dress for a protest – hint, pockets!  And in case you feel like monitoring the Boston police scanner while listening to ambient music, click here!

    Other Occupies: This morning before rush hour, teams of activists, many from Occupy Wall Street, in conjunction with rank and file workers from the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Amalgamated Transit Union, opened up more than 20 Metropolitan Transit Authority stations across the city for free entry. 

    Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: 

    Do you like writing poetry?  Do you like writing three lines of it?  Then submit your entries for The Boston Occupier’s 1st Annual Haiku Contest today!

    The rules for the contest are as follows:

    -Submissions are open…starting now!  They will remain open until April 7th, 2012.

    -Writers are allowed 3 submissions max

    –All submissions must be sent to submit@bostonoccupier.com

    -All submissions must be haikus (no iambic pentameter shenanigans, please).  See here if you don’t know exactly what a haiku is.

    -All submissions must be the original work of the author.  Any plagiarism will mean instant disqualification.

    -The content of submissions should be relevant to the content of The Boston Occupier, or touch on related subjects.

    -The tone of submissions can be humorous, dramatic, whimsical, whatever you want!

    -Submissions will be judged by the editorial staff of The Boston Occupier

    PRIZES!

    “Become an internationalist and learn to respect all life. Make war on machines. And in particular the sterile machines of corporate death and the robots that guard them.”

    –Abbie Hoffman

    Upcoming Events:

    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.

    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.

    Thursday, March 29, 2012

    Event Highlight: General Assembly,  7:00pm – 10:30pm

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

    Calendar for Thursday, March 29, 2012

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

    Facilitation WG Meeting, 5pm – 6:45pm, CITY PLACE FOOD COURT – aka TRANSPORTATION BUILDING – Boylston, Charles and Stuart Streets
    General Strike (May 1) WG Meeting, 5:15pm – 6:45pm, Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, Boston (5th floor)
    There’s More: Check out our Daily Calendar for a list of all events at Occupy Boston.

    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

    The OB Media Rundown for 3/29/12

    March 29th, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown One comment

    Occupy Harvard Protesters Speak Out Against Layoffs

    Approximately 45 protesters gathered in front of the Science Center on Tuesday with signs and a megaphone for a “Speak-Out Against Layoffs at Harvard.” The event, which was organized by the No Layoffs Campaign, the Student Labor Action Movement, and Occupy Harvard, featured short speeches from workers, students, and faculty opposing the layoffs of Harvard Library workers.

    The speak-out is the latest in a series of protests and rallies regarding library layoffs following Harvard University Library Executive Director Helen Shenton’s Jan. 19 announcement that the library’s reorganization would include staff reductions.

    Library assistant Geoff P. Carens, who introduced many of the speakers, said that events like these have “definitely raised awareness” about the situation facing library workers. He called the “speak-out” format “more of an opportunity to reach out to the broader community in a more conversational way.”

    http://tinyurl.com/cl9s8hb

    Harvard Students Celebrate Occupy Art

    The alcohol was provided at Bring Your Own (BYO): Voices of the Contemporary’s discussion about the role of art in the Occupy movement at the Sert Seminar Space on Tuesday.

    More than fifty college and community members delved into the open bar and Thai food at the “Unstable Art” discussion as they were greeted by the event’s facilitators-a various collection of Graduate School of Design students and artists.

    “We really wanted to foster discussion about the involvement of art in the Occupy movement,” History of Art and Architecture graduate student Claire R. Grace said. “This evening is for open-form discussions, so that the conversation can form organically, much like the organizational structure of the Occupy movement.”

    http://tinyurl.com/bwmafjt

    Occupy Wall Street: Surviving the winter

    (video)

    Al Jazeera looks at how Occupy Wall Street continued to build itself through the winter months by following key organisers through planning meetings, days of action and assemblies – and how the movement must battle political co-optation in a US election year.

    http://tinyurl.com/cqpxa8p

    Continue reading »

    GA Agrees to FAWG Request for a Community Conversation

    March 28th, 2012 · · General Assembly, Passed Resolutions Comments Off on GA Agrees to FAWG Request for a Community Conversation

    The below proposal was agreed to at Occupy Boston’s General Assembly, on Tuesday, 3/27/12

    Occupy Boston’s Financial Accountability Working Group invites the OB community to hear FAWG’s story, to consider its history,  to feel its distress, to understand its observations and concerns, to think about OB’s relationship to FAWG and to money  – and to engage in a conversation.

    FAWG proposes to tell this story and to facilitate this conversation, at Occupy Boston’s General Assembly, for two hours, on Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

    (Amendment)
    FAWG will take minutes of the conversation and capture key ideas, issues and concerns on easel pad paper, all of which will be made available for review on FAWG’s wiki page.

    FAWG will ask for evaluation and possible next steps, at the end of the meeting.

    The 99% Rejects the MBTA’s Austerity Measures

    March 28th, 2012 · · Events, Press Releases 4 comments

    The following is Occupy MBTA’s response to the MBTA’s latest  proposal for service cuts and fare hikes:

    Today’s proposal by MBTA does not go nearly far enough in addressing the concerns of the T-riding 99%. The MBTA claims to have listened to the thousands of riders who have flooded their meetings and demonstrated these past few months, but they seem to have missed our key message: “No Hikes! No cuts! No Layoffs!” Significant fare increases and service reductions will devastate students, seniors, low-income communities, people of color, workers, and everyone who must rely on the T. Any plan that will lead to more driving, more congestion, and more CO2 emissions is simply unacceptable. And, to make matters worse, the MBTA freely admits this is only a one-year stop-gap measure, and that we’ll be facing further austerity measures next year.

    The MBTA has been presented with many solutions that would have allowed the agency to balance its books without placing the financial burden on those who can afford it the least. The MBTA’s refusal to explore those solutions – including, but not limited to, the possibility of canceling its interest rate swaps with Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bancorp (USB), and JPMorgan Chase – speaks volumes about its priorities.

    We are neither placated nor discouraged by the MBTA’s latest proposal; the fight to save the T is only just beginning. On April 4, this fight will move to the State House when Occupy MBTA and our allies hold a People’s Assembly to demand a comprehensive state-wide plan for affordable and sustainable transportation that works for the 99%.  Join us!

    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/.

    Contact us

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