Protesters stand with Malden foreclosure victim as she battles Wells Fargo
A 23-year Malden resident is claiming victory after Wells Fargo decided to repurchase her house at a foreclosure auction this afternoon, a move she said would give her leverage to re-negotiate her mortgage and keep her children in their home.
Marie Odestin was joined by 30 protesters outside of her home, with members from groups as varied as City Life, Occupy Boston and the Industrial Workers of the World, who said they were trying to send a message to banks like Wells Fargo that they should work with underwater homeowners.
“The Odestin family was mistreated, ignored and stonewalled by Wells Fargo,” City Life Lead Organizer Dominic DeSiata said, accusing the bank of giving the family the runaround as they tried to re-negotiate their loan. “Wells Fargo has been bailed out by taxpayers, and they should be working with people in our communities (to reach) a fair outcome.”
http://tinyurl.com/74ta7de
Students set up camp and occupy UMass Boston
Borrowing a page from the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, about 20 students on Monday occupied the campus center at University of Massachusetts Boston to protest cuts in public education spending and hikes in tuition.
“Public universities were built for the 99-percent and we intend on maintaining that,” said Amanda Achin, a 22-year-old student of political science at UMass Boston. “We need to end the wars, tax the rich and fund public education.”
http://tinyurl.com/86rxel8
The MBTA’s Proposed Fare Hikes And Service Cuts Draw Attack
MBTA officials absorbed withering attacks Monday on their proposals to hike fares up to 43 percent and slash dozens of bus routes, commuter rail hours, weekend E Line service and ferry service.
A familiar refrain – that the elimination of services would strand people in their homes, shatter a fragile economy and worsen pollution – was amplified during a hearing on the proposed fare hikes and service cuts that drew dozens of boisterous opponents to the state Transportation Building in downtown Boston.
Eliminating weekend and late-night commuter rail service, a component of one of the proposals, would prohibit visitors from the South Shore and central Massachusetts from attending Boston sports games, some of the critics argued. Others drew on the language of Occupy Boston to argue that the “1 percent” had bankrupted the T by borrowing to support the Big Dig and then foisting the fiscal burden on riders.
Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 1/24/12” »
This morning, a group of UMASS-Boston students occupied their university.
Following in the footsteps of the physical occupations at Zucotti, Dewey, and other public spaces around the world, these students have asserted their presence in order to “provide a forum where students, staff, faculty, and members of the community can come to a consensus on what concrete changes would provide quality, accessible education in Boston that is available to everyone in the 99%.”
One of our Occupy Boston livestreamers is on the scene. Watch the feed live:
Follow Occupy UMASS-Boston on on Twitter at @OccupyUMB, #OccupyUMass, and #OUMB. Read the press release announcing their occupation here.
And be sure to watch the great video they created to introduce their occupation:
Towards Co-Creating a Safer Community
A Gathering for Vision and Action
MONDAY 1/23, 6-8:30PM
St. Paul’s Cathedral, 138 Tremont St., Boston
Step into the circle, envision an alternative community of trust —
What would a safe AND open community look like?
Members of all OB Working Groups are encouraged to attend!
Guests of Occupy Boston warmly invited!
Football players may support Occupy the Super Bowl in fight against ‘right to work’ law
As the February 5 Super Bowl approaches, right-to-work opponents [in Indiana] are buoyed by support from the NFL Players Association. The NFLPA released a statement against the bill and six football player unionists, all Indiana natives, sent letters to the legislature last week opposing it. Protesters celebrated this support with an “NFLPA Appreciation Day” last Thursday. Wearing football jerseys, hundreds marched through the snow to Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Super Bowl will be played.
While Democrats said today they have no plans to intervene in the big game, protesters may have other ideas. In the past few weeks, “occupy the Super Bowl” has become one of the most popular chants in the statehouse.
NFLPA Director DeMaurice Smith indicated in an interview yesterday that the football players’ union may “possibly” support a demonstration outside the stadium. Noting that the union has lent its support to picket lines in the past, he said, “We’ll have to see what is going to go on when we’re there, but issues like this are incredibly important to us.”
http://tinyurl.com/7ywzgdt
Update: Support petition for NFL player action here.
Corporate cheerleaders at Davos: ‘Now is the moment for business to take over from government as the key force for social change’
The Corporate Muppets running Davos, the annual gathering of financial and industrial leaders, launched their 2012 meeting saying that now is the moment for business to take over from government as the key force for social change. But the evidence they present for this claim proves quite the opposite: in reality, while trust in politicians and companies has collapsed, public movements like Occupy and Tea Party, plus peer-to-peer web sites are likely to become far more influential.
The impetus for the debate is the just-released poll by Edelman, a corporate PR company, showing that the public’s faith in government has dropped sharply around the world in the past year due to a mixture of corruption and incompetence. It is this change which is causing people to go off-grid in growing numbers, particularly in the US.
http://tinyurl.com/77r3yfo
Corporate Rule Is Not Inevitable
You may remember that there was a time when apartheid in South Africa seemed unstoppable. Sure, there were international boycotts of South African businesses, banks, and tourist attractions. There were heroic activists in South Africa, who were going to prison and even dying for freedom. But the conventional wisdom remained that these were principled gestures with little chance of upending the entrenched system of white rule.
“Be patient,” activists were told. “Don’t expect too much against powerful interests with a lot of money invested in the status quo.”
With hindsight, though, apartheid’s fall appears inevitable: the legitimacy of the system had already crumbled. It was harming too many for the benefit of too few. South Africa’s freedom fighters would not be silenced, and the global movement supporting them was likewise tenacious and principled.
Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 1/23/12” »