The following letter was written to the Boston Teachers Union regarding a potential fundraising event by Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel, who were both unanimously voted to be disavowed from all Occupy Boston financial activities. The letter was written by the Financial Accountability Working Group and addressed to publicly listed members of the Boston Teachers Union. It is being reposted here for transparency.

On behalf of Occupy Boston, we wanted to reach out thanking for your
support for our movement. However, it has come to our attention that
you all may be the target of a potential fundraising scam. Recently,
the Finance Accountability Working Group of Occupy Boston has passed a
resolution disavowing Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel from any
financial activities on behalf of Occupy Boston. We’ve included the
text to the resolution that we passed below, as well as a link to the
Press Release that was posted on our official website. The reason for
their disavowal was embezzlement of Occupy Boston funds and a lack of
transparency and accountability in all actions. They have specifically
been stripped of any privilege to raise funds on behalf of Occupy
Boston.

We were informed they may be trying to throw a fundrasier in
conjunction with the Boston Teachers Union, so we felt it incumbent on
ourselves to let you all know the actions we’ve taken on the matter.
Given their corruption, we strongly recommend against giving them any
funds for any reason whatsoever.

We regret that our first point of contact with you had to come with
such a negative tone. We cherish your support and look forward to
working with you in the future.

Unfortunately, the heavy-handed police response in Oakland, California that we posted about earlier has continued. Tuesday evening, and throughout the night, over 500 members or the Oakland Police Department (OPD) and 16 other agencies around central California arrested around 97 protesters at Occupy Oakland and dispersed hundreds more. Protesters who went to reoccupy the space at the Oakland Library were met with heavily armed riot police using tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash-bang grenades.

As in Boston, the Oakland Police Department’s use of force seriously injured an Occupy activist who was also an Iraq War veteran:

Scott Olsen, 24, remains sedated on a respirator, in stable but critical condition at Oakland’s Highland Hospital after being hit in the head with a police projectile . . . .

In another instance of misconduct, OPD treated Occupy Oakland street medics as an excuse to throw more firepower, lobbing a flash-bang grenade at a group of people trying to evacuate a protester who had been knocked out by police.

This video highlights the extreme tactics used by police to remove the peaceful protesters of Occupy Oakland:

This is what the OPD had to say after their actions:

Q. Did the Police deploy rubber bullets, flash-bag grenades?

A. No, the loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at Police by protesters. In addition, Police fired approximately four bean bag rounds at protesters to stop them from throwing dangerous objects at the officers.

There are reports that some protesters may have thrown bottles, rocks, and possibly fireworks at police; however, it should be noted, that, as The Guardian reports,

The violence in Oakland is against a backdrop of a troubled city whose police force is notorious for its heavy-handedness and has been the subject of numerous allegations of abuse and police brutality.

Oakland City Hall claims that this is a “peaceful dispersion.” To the mayor we respond that this is an unqualified lie. We stand in solidarity with the protesters of Occupy Oakland. For further information we recommend their website: www.occupyoakland.org.

PRESS RELEASE, October 26, 2011

Contact: Victoria Porell | 602-999-7312 | toriporell@gmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Students Call for Walkout

Boston, MA, October 26, 2011—The Occupy Boston Students Working Group has called for a city-wide walkout, rally, and march on Monday, October 31.  Each campus will organize to walk out of class in time to all convene at the gazebo in Boston Commons at 1 pm.  The rally in the Commons will be followed by a march to the Occupy Boston site at Dewey Square.

The walkout was called in solidarity with the wider Occupy Boston movement and specifically to highlight student’s main concerns: Fair and affordable higher education, student loans, and the corporatization of universities. These issues are at the forefront of the student’s agenda, since students are not unaffected by the wider issues highlighted at Occupy Boston, such as inequality, unemployment, and financial corruption.

To add a unique twist on the event and in celebration of Halloween, the students have decided to dress as zombie bankers.  This is a
playful, but powerful, visual that will undoubtedly draw attention while also demonstrating how many participants feel about the United States’s economic outlook.

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Occupy Boston is the beginning of an ongoing discussion about reforming Wall Street and removing special interests from government. Its continuing occupation of Dewey Square—outside South Station in the heart of Boston’s Financial District—is just one of more than 120 separate Occupy encampments in cities across the nation and a symbol for “occupiers” everywhere who support real and lasting change.

Boston, MA, October 25, 2011—Yesterday afternoon, Occupy Boston’s Financial Accountability Working Group (FAWG) voted unanimously to remove two members, Paul Carnes and Sidney Sherrel, due to their lack of accountability and transparency, as well as their failure to provide information to both the FAWG and Occupy Boston’s General Assembly. Carnes and Sherrel also repeatedly failed to follow established procedures for financial expenditures. This grave decision was reached by consensus following many unsuccessful attempts to communicate with Carnes and Sherrel.

In addition, FAWG unanimously passed the following resolution:

Be it resolved that any actions taken by Paul Carnes are not sanctioned by the Finance Accountability Working Group, including any credit union accounts remaining open, monies spent by him, or any fundraising efforts.

In the interest of transparency, an announcement was made to General Assembly today regarding Carnes’ status within Occupy Boston. Members of other work groups came forward to speak about other incidents where Carnes had expressed disdain for the consensus process and the authority of Occupy Boston’s General Assembly with regards, but not limited to, finances and fundraising. Carnes and Sherrel were in attendance and were both invited to speak on their behalves. Both spoke directly to the General Assembly and answered questions from the crowd. Members of the General Assembly supported FAWG’s resolution. FAWG continues to work in conjunction with lawyers and accountants to put better practices in place  for continued transparency in order in ensure that those entrusted with Occupy Boston’s funds are accountable.

###

Occupy Boston started in Dewey Square in Boston on September 30, 2011. We have been directly inspired by our brothers and sisters at Occupy Wall Street in New York, and we stand in solidarity with them. The spirit of Occupy Wall Street has spread nationwide and has an unofficial hub at Occupy Together. There is also a list of occupations and Facebook pages at Daily Kos. While these different occupations share many goals and attitudes, they each operate independently and there is no national organization that can speak for all Occupations. For more information about Occupy Boston, visit https://www.occupyboston.org.

[Updated October 26, 2011 for clarity]

The Occupy Boston Globe has surpassed the funding threshold of $8,000 on its Kickstarter project, enabling the fledgling newspaper of Occupy Boston to come out of cyberspace and into the streets.

The Occupy Boston Globe has been publishing as an online newspaper since early October, about 10 days after the Occupation started.  But the denizens of Dewey Square themselves have so far been the least likely to see a copy, since funds for printing hard copy versions of the newspaper were not available.

Like everything else that has happened as a result of the movement, The Occupy Boston Globe grew organically when a loosely connected group of individuals decided to focus in on a project.  Today’s free and easy Internet allowed the group to start providing an online edition almost right away.  Then the aspiring publishers started a Kickstarter project to raise the funds they thought they would need to print both a daily and weekly edition, the latter to be distributed not just in camp, but across Boston.

Kickstarter is a popular funding platform for creative projects, where The Occupy Boston Globe spells out its mission:

A group of us within the Occupy Boston encampment saw a need to provide more detailed, objective coverage of the events unfolding not only here in Massachusetts but across the country.  Traditional media sources have served to raise awareness of our movement, but have thus far been inadequate in reporting on us as a group and as a diverse collection of individuals from across the social and economic board.  Access to clear, accurate information is necessary for a true democracy to function; this is exactly what we want to give.

The Occupy Boston Globe was founded with a two major goals in mind: to provide accurate, in-depth accounts of Occupy Boston (including the broader issues that affect our movement) and to provide practical information on the goings-on at Dewey Square on a day-to-day basis.

With the $8,000+ they’ve raised through Kickstarter, the publishers have what they need to print and distribute at least two or three editions of the hard copy paper.  They haven’t yet settled on what printer they will use, and distribution is still a question mark too.  They may need to rely on their own manpower (and any volunteer help they get) in order to distribute it to all of the neighborhoods of Boston they would like to cover.  They are also offering home delivery via mail to those willing to donate $40 or more to the Kickstarter project.

Now that funding has been secured, the print editions could hit the streets as early as the end of next week.  If the newspaper is successful, the publishers will need to find an ongoing source of funding to meet the demand.  It will be interesting to see how this Occupy-style enterprise turns out.

Read The Occupy Boston Globe online: http://occupybostonglobe.com/

Kickstarter STILL OPEN until SAT. OCT 29, 11:50 AM EDT:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obg/the-occupy-boston-globe

Write for The Occupy Boston Globe: http://occupybostonglobe.com/editorial-policy/