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    • The OB Media Rundown for 2/18/12

    February 18th, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown One comment

    Occupy Harvard Holds ‘Think Tank’ in Lamont

    A day before they plan to end their occupation of Lamont Library Café about 20 supporters of the Occupy Harvard movement talked in the café on Thursday night about the next steps that they will take after they leave this most recent encampment when the library closes at 10 p.m. on Friday.

    This discussion was one in a series of small ‘think tanks’ that the group has held twice a day since the beginning occupation of the café Sunday night. According to a flyer distributed by the protesters on Thursday, the think tanks were intended as a “discussion forum where we will engage and collaborate on topics at the heart of our communities, the libraries, and occupation.”

    Protesters said that they created the think tanks to make it easier for participants and visitors to contribute their opinions on a focused topic.

    http://tinyurl.com/774tp9b

    Occupodcast Launches

    This week, the Occupodcast, – a series of in-depth conversations with individuals immersed in the occupy movement, launched at Occupodcast.org

    Dennis Trainor, Jr, a writer, activist, and new media producer whose projects include Acronym TV and an upcoming documentary on the Occupy movement, will serve as host with episodes planned every Monday- Friday. The Occupodcast is available for free streaming and download at Occupodcast.org.

    Guests in this, the first week of Occupodcast include Occupy Wall Street organizer and originator of the 99% call to action David DeGraw, Alli McCracken of Occupy DC, Occupy Harvard organizers Derin Korman & Hannah Hofeinz, Susie Cagle – a journalist covering Occupy Oakland, and Glenn Ford of Black Agenda Report discussing Occupy the Dream.

    http://tinyurl.com/77ozwbp

    Students weary about fallout from transit cuts

    In preparation for a March 1 Waltham hearing on MBTA cuts, Student Union President Herbie Rosen ’12 and Vice President Gloria Park ’13 organized a Town Hall Forum on Monday night for members of the Brandeis community to voice their concerns and hear the university’s response to the recent MBTA plans.

    While a handful of students attended the Town Hall meeting, others rallied at Occupy the MBTA, an extension of the overall Occupy movement. On Monday evening, protesters organized by the T-Riders Union took to the rail lines as a means of retaliating against proposed service reductions and fare increases.

    “The atmosphere in the demo was incredible. Many familiar faces from the Occupy Boston community, standing strong with the T workers union,” Noam Lekach, organizer of the Brandeis protest, said.

    http://tinyurl.com/74w2ya4

    Continue reading »

    The Harvard Library Occupation

    February 17th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements One comment

    The New Harvard Library Working Group led an autonomous action on Sunday Feb. 12, occupying Lamont Library during the last hour of the Students Occupy Summit. The New Library Occupation then connected with the Student Summit via livestream, to the enthusiastic support of the Summit participants, who marched to the library and chanted outside its windows.

    For the next few days, the Occupation held Think Tanks that attracted students, library employees, and university officials. Think Tank discussions ranged from “What is a library?” and “Power and the University” to “Strategies for the Occupy [Harvard] Movement.” All were recorded and are available on Occupy Harvard’s website. Numerous actions were brainstormed in those discussions, including an initiative to document and archive library workers’ experience in the library. One of the think tanks was attended by a member of the Harvard Library Innovation Laboratory (an independent project of the Law Library) — he suggested a collaboration between students, library employees and the Innovation Lab to envision a restructuring of the library system that draws on the experience of employees and library users, instead of on (three!) outside consulting agencies.

    A Think Tank of students and workers at the Library

    The Occupation’s program also included skill shares and knowledge shares, a teach-in on challenging institutional hegemony, and a nonviolence training workshop. At night, Occupiers watched silent films, welcoming late-night library patrons to stop by and share food and films. The occasional Absurd Theater Workshop with university police was also a special treat. The Occupation was watched by as many as four city policemen and university guards at any given time,prompting some nonviolent resistance against spontaneous rules on sleeping “equipment.”

    The Occupy Harvard Pink Bloc

    While they occupied, students at times struggled to keep up with their demanding workload. Similarly, supportive university employees were concerned that they might jeopardize their position by visibly participating in the Occupy. Although the police presence was oppressive, many at the libraries recalled successful protests in Harvard’s history. In 1929, Corliss Lamont (who endowed the occupied library in his name) interfered on behalf of 19 scrubwomen who were fired by the Harvard Administration for demanding to be paid the Massachusetts Minimum Wage. On March 6, 1971 the International Women’s Day marchers occupied a building on the Harvard campus to turn it into the Harvard Women’s Center. Others also recall the Living Wage Campaign in Harvard’s recent history, as well as the numerous successful actions of the Student Labor Action Movement of Harvard.
    This Valentine’s Day, to thank the Occupiers for their support, members of the Clerical Workers’ Union and non-unionzed employees presented them with a Valentine’s Day card.

    Library employees present Occupy Harvard protesters a Valentine's Day card

    On Thursday, workers, students, and alumni rallied to protest the university’s top-down, secretive approach to the restructuring of the library. Cambridge City Councillor Leland Cheung spoke at the rally, letting the protesters know that the City of Cambridge stood with them. Protesters decried Harvard’s plan to indiscriminately buy out long-time, older workers, calling against layoffs in Harvard’s libraries.

    Rally against indiscriminate layoffs and lack of transparency at Harvard

    This targeted occupation ends tonight, Friday, at 10pm. Before it leaves the library, Occupy Harvard is holding a phone-in to contact university donors and inform them about how their funds are being used by the Administration. The Occupy is also offering two Think Tanks, a nonviolence training, and a Library Assembly. Future actions are in the planning stages. To learn about what comes next, follow Occupy Harvard on their social media channels and see www.occupyharvard.net.

    Monday Feb 20: National Occupy Day for Prisoners

    February 17th, 2012 · · News and Announcements 10 comments

    On Monday, February 20, 2012 at 3:00 PM, the Occupy Boston People of Color Working Group, Ocupemos El Barrio, Jericho Movement, and many other individuals and organizations will be taking part in the National Occupy Day for Prisoners. We will meet at 3pm at the North Station MBTA Stop at Causeway St. and Friend St. and then march to the Nashua Street Jail on 200 Nashua Street in Boston. Answering the call from Occupy Oakland, we will stand in solidarity with the people confined within prison walls and to demand the end of the incarceration as a means of containing those dispossessed by unjust social policies.

    *Action agreements for Occupy 4 Prisoners Boston prisoner solidarity march, February 20th:

    * This protest will be a peaceful action. We are creating a space for our entire community, including formerly incarcerated people and their families, to feel free to speak out and build together to take on the prison system.

    *We will not engage in property destruction, civil disobedience, or arrest-able direct action. Many groups participating in this march, including some of the march organizers, the OB People of Color Working Group, Jericho Movement, Ocupemos El Barrio, and other organizations have members who are former prisoners or whose immigration status makes them vulnerable. Please show solidarity with the march and these groups by respecting this request.

    *We are here to march and protest the prison industrial complex. During the march, we will refrain from provoking the police so as not to raise the risk of arrest for those who participate. Any disagreement regarding the direction of the day will be resolved within our community, and not with law enforcement.

    *This march will be safe for people of all backgrounds, creeds, sexualities, genders, races, ethnicities and immigration status.

    *By following these agreements, you are respecting the wishes of those who planned this event and the community taking part in it. Please respect the tactics we have chosen for the march.

    Reasons for this protest:

    Continue reading »

    The OB Media Rundown for 2/17/12

    February 17th, 2012 · · Daily Media Rundown Comments Off on The OB Media Rundown for 2/17/12

    Students attend Occupy summit

    Emerson occupiers joined more than 80 other college students at a summit at Harvard University Sunday to discuss systemic issues that do not normally receive attention at general assemblies, according to Emerson Occupies Boston member Mark Rizzo.

    The Feb. 12 summit brought students from 18 local colleges and other New England schools to refocus the efforts of Boston’s student occupiers.

    The summit started off with a discussion about student debt, and what students need to do to save themselves from being in debt after college, according to Rizzo.

    http://tinyurl.com/6o3xw4n

    Boston journalist, JP resident documents ’99 Nights’ with Occupy movement

    A local award-winning political journalist from Jamaica Plain will release a book next month detailing his visits to protest camps across the country during the first three months of the Occupy movement that began in mid-September.

    Chris Faraone, a Boston Phoenix staff writer in his early 30s, will release 99 Nights with the 99 Percent: Dispatches from the First Three Months of the Occupy Revolution on March 27.

    The 224-page book will include recently-completed, unpublished reporting, along with features Faraone published in the Phoenix, from Occupy camps in 10 cities that Faraone visited during the first three-months of the movement that spawned near Wall Street in New York City and spread as camps formed in municipalities nationwide to protest corporate greed, wealth imbalance, and money’s sway on politics.

    http://tinyurl.com/7m59tb9

    Breitbart website extensively excerpts Phoenix article on OB sex offender discussion to justify owner’s outburst at CPAC about rape at Occupations

    Supporters of the Occupy movement have been on the defense ever since, some rushing to say that rapes and sex offenses have been minimal and don’t represent the whole of Occupy, others blindly and willfully claiming the incidents are non-existent entirely.  The truth is, whether it’s been 20 sex crimes or 2,000, one is too many.  And denying that rapes have occurred is as equally abhorrent as raping those victims all over again.

    But don’t take an evil “Breitbart blogger’s” word for it, take it from some of the women from Occupy.

    A comprehensive article last month from the Boston Phoenix about Occupy Boston provides remarkable insight into the inner-workings of the movement, as that camp struggles with the same challenges that have plagued so many other Occupy camps across the country in dealing with crime and harassment of a sexual nature.

    http://tinyurl.com/7dasy3u

    Continue reading »

    This Saturday: From Occupy to Organize: Workshops to Expand Our Movement!

    February 16th, 2012 · · News and Announcements One comment

    From Occupy To Organize:
    A series of workshops, presented by long-time community organizers from a wide background, to give activists the skills we need to build a truly popular movement!

    Part I: Saturday, February 18* 2pm-5pm
    Community Church of Boston
    565 Boylston St #2
    Boston, MA
    Copley Green Line T stop

    *Part II is March 10 at 2pm.

    You must preregister for this workshop at  http://www.popularassembly.org/.

    • Join the conversation about expanding participation in our movements.
    • Discuss ways we can work together to engage more people through tried and true organizing tactics such as story sharing, listening campaigns, door-to-door outreach, one-on-ones and house meetings.
    • Find out about ways Occupy activists have moved beyond Facebook activism to face-to-face relationship building based on solidarity through common struggles.
    • Learn about effective collaborations between the Occupy Movement and organizing projects and the development of organizing practices that support grassroots leadership of those most affected by economic, racial and social injustice.
    • Share success stories about your grassroots organizing that have reached beyond activist circles.

    Prior trainings have provided Occupy Boston activists with a participatory strategy and a campaign development process that built organizing capacity and turned activists into local organizers. For many of the Occupy activists, it was their first time organizing more broadly instead of focusing on event or action mobilizations.   Whether you’re a seasoned organizer or an Occupier looking to learn new organizing tactics, please join us on Saturday!

    And don’t forget to register at http://www.popularassembly.org/.

    Contact us

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