MBTA Riders Express Anger, Offer Solutions At Latest Hearing

The meeting began with chaos; after a very short speech about the building’s emergency exits and the translation services available, the MBTA’s Assistant General Manager For Development, Mark Boyle, was speaking about the availability of assistive listening devices and an older woman in the front row yelled, “This is our time to talk!”

She continued to yell the phrase repeatedly, which resulted in a standing ovationand some boos from the crowd as MBTA employees tried to restore order and keep her an appropriate distance from the seated panel. MBTA GM Jonathan Davis then took the microphone and said that they would get started hearing from community members. The crowd soon quieted when the microphone was given to Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone.

http://tinyurl.com/7nk3h3p

New documentary ‘The Occupiers’ focuses on camp community from start to eviction

The Occupiers, premiering tomorrow morning at Emerson College’s Bill Bordy Theatre, captures the Occupy Boston movement from its impassioned beginning to its controversial eviction. Co-directors John Forrester and Joseph Leahy spent months filming — and even occasionally sleeping — in Dewey Square.

“For me, it was one of the most fascinating things I’ve seen come out of our generation,” Forrester said. “[Filming at the camp] was exciting — frightening at times — but it was definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

http://tinyurl.com/7pys4kd

Occupy Boston: the movie!

John Forrester spent the past five months filming and editing two terabytes of raw digital Occupy Boston footage, captured between late September and December 2011. The result is The Occupiers – a feature-length documentary of the rise and fall of Camp Dewey.

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/134796-occupy-boston-the-movie/

Occupiers rise again as Wall Street suffers losses

The same day Occupy Wall Street rallied against corporate excess, a new report shows New York’s once booming financial sector has not yet fully recovered from the 2008 economic collapse.

The city’s securities industry shed 4,300 jobs across the board between April and December last year, according to a report released yesterday by State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

http://tinyurl.com/7wkayyr

Occupy Colleges Takes the Next Step

On March 1, thousands of students are expected to occupy their colleges to voice concerns over rising tuition costs and the diminishing quality of education. For so long students have found themselves helpless in the face of inaction by politicians and a culture which has chosen to ignore America’s education crisis. But re-energized by the birth of a new season and the Occupy movement, students will demand real change in America’s failing higher education system.

While grievances vary by campuses, they all include demands for a stay in tuition increases and transparency in accounting. Fifty-nine colleges and universities have registered for actions as of today. All registered institutions have at least 100 participants pledged to attend this call to action. Among the registered schools are Temple University with 700 participants, California State University, Long Beach with 500 participants, Ohio State University with 400, University of Massachusetts, Amherst with 200 and the notable participation of Occupy Colleges’ first international solidarity group at EWHA Womans University of Seoul, South Korea, with 500 pledged participants. Other participating schools include American University, Columbia University, George Washington University, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, North Carolina State University and University of Las Vegas.

http://tinyurl.com/87xow8j

‘The Occupiers’: John Forrester’s film documents Occupy Boston rise and fall

From the first tent that went up in Dewey Square in late September to the last one dismantled by Boston police several months later, John Forrester captured the Occupy Boston movement on film.

On March 1, Forrester will debut “The Occupiers,” a documentary tracing the emergence of the group through the perspective of the occupation’s activists.

“There hasn’t been a lot of activism in our generation. We are known as this apathetic generation,” said Forrester. “We thought it was interesting that people were stepping up to do something in a major kind of way.”

http://tinyurl.com/7bs4pk3

Massachusetts activists push to end corporate political spending

A coalition of lawmakers, advocates and activists rallied at the Massachusetts Statehouse on Tuesday to support a resolution that calls on Congress to overturn the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

The People’s Rights Resolution was introduced to the Massachusetts legislature by state Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D) and state Rep. Cory Atkins (D). The resolution calls upon the U.S. Congress to “pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to restore the First Amendment and fair elections to the people.”

http://tinyurl.com/6me2l9o