[act-ma] Fwd: [OBupdates] Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 5-8-12
Anna Clayton
claytanna at gmail.com
Tue May 8 07:38:57 PDT 2012
Hello all,
This is an invitation to subscribe to the Occupy Boston Daily Digest, a
daily listing of Occupy Boston's events and activities (and more!). I have
included today's Digest for your information. If you find it useful, you
are welcome to subscribe to the Daily Digest by going to
https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/obupdates.
Best, Anna C.
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From: OB Updates Announcement List <obupdates at lists.occupyboston.org>
Date: Tue, May 8, 2012 at 5:32 AM
Subject: [OBupdates] Occupy Boston Daily Digest for 5-8-12
To: obupdates at lists.occupyboston.org
*Good Morning from Occupy Boston!*
*Stories of the Day: *The growing number of “ag gag”
bills<http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2012/04/20/missouri-ag-gag-bill-clears-house-heads-for-senate/>
being
passed state by state actually stem from “model
legislation<http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/ag-gag-american-legislative-exchange-council/5947/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenIsTheNewRed+%28Green+Is+The+New+Red.com%29>”
prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). These bills
make it illegal for undercover investigators, concerned citizens,
journalists, or anyone with a camera to capture “behind the scenes” footage
of factory farms. Invested corporations are concerned that if Americans
could see exactly where their food comes from and the horrors from
within<http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3Exa3KpN424>,
we wouldn’t purchase from those companies anymore. For more, see ALEC’s
Influence Over U.S. Food
Policy.<http://eatdrinkbetter.com/2012/04/29/alecs-influence-over-u-s-food-policy/>
And
ALEC has been under fire lately after the 15 major
corporations<http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/02/475510/teachers-board-drops-alec-15/>
and
organizations pulled their support for the conservative organization, which
helps quietly implement<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/us/alec-a-tax-exempt-group-mixes-legislators-and-lobbyists.html?pagewanted=all>
corporate-backed
legislation<http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/05/02/475270/alecs-top-five-anti-environment-model-laws/>
in
statehouses across the country. Now, the watchdog advocacy group group
Common Cause has released a complete
list<http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=8078765>
of
corporations on ALEC’s task forces. See a 5-minute video, ALEC
Explained, <http://youtu.be/azSUHpAb_E4>for
easy--to-understand information on ALEC. To see the trailer for a film
project on GMOs, click here: http://www.gmofilm.com. And even before the
hospital bills started coming, Lori Duff and her family were living
paycheck to paycheck. So when the debt collector called and demanded $1,800
for the prenatal visits she’d had while pregnant with her third son, she
panicked. The collector said the local Catholic hospital Duff had gone to
could garnish 25 percent of each of her paychecks to pay off the bill. She
offered to make a $20 payment—all she could afford at the time—but the
collector told her the minimum was $400 down. "I was like, 'I don’t have
that. You can have everything in my account right now. It's $1.25,'" Duff
recalls. Duff was likely eligible for free care under the Mount Carmel
Health System’s financial assistance policy, which offers medical care at
no charge for patients earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty
level. But the debt collector kept calling and soon informed her that the
hospital was planning to sue her for the money. For more, see Sued Over An
$1,800 Hospital
Bill.<http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/April/27/charity-care-nonprofit-hospitals-patient-debt.aspx>
And
in positive news: Grameen Bank <http://www.grameen-info.org/> in Bangladesh
does what most conventional banks fail to do: provide credit to the poorest
people without any collateral. The underlying vision of Muhammed Yunus –
founder, managing director, and Nobel laureate – is to lend to people based
on their potential, rather than material possessions. For a short video,
see Grameen Bank Lifts its Borrowers Out of
Poverty.<http://www.thrivemovement.com/views/solution?article_id=1126&article_title=Grameen%20Bank%20Lifts%20its%20Borrowers%20out%20of%20Poverty>
And
check out the trailer for the film project American Autumn: An
Occudoc.<http://vimeo.com/41486549>
*Other Occupies/Protests: *From W0men Occupying Wall Street (WOW): May 17,
6:30pm-9:30pm, Washington Square Park, New York City: Women Occupying Wall
Street (WOW) invites people and organizations of all gender identities to
the first Feminist General Assembly! Together, let's stand for justice and
disarm the war on women. It’s time to rise up! Misogyny is flagrant in our
patriarchal society, not only from the politicians, but even from our
comrades. It's time for us to join, support, and empower each other by
amplifying all our voices. This will be the beginning of what we hope will
become an ongoing discussion throughout the nation and worldwide. Through
this assembly we will create a public space for collaborating to address
patriarchy, violence, and hierarchical structures that harm everyone. In
the spirit of cooperation and transparency of Occupy Wall Street, we have
been meeting, and continue to do so once a week, on various days of the
week, and at various locations, to openly plan the event, and make
participation in planning accessible to as many as possible.
Please RSVP to us at wowsnyc at gmail.com to let us know if you'd also like to
take part in planning with us. And of course, feel free to please pass this
along!
Find us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/WOWSNYC
http://www.facebook.com/events/175078435948082/?ref=ts
Follow us on Twitter: @wowsnyc
On Tumblr:
http://wowsnyc.tumblr.com/
*"The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off." Gloria
Steinem*
*Upcoming Events:*
-
AMEND! – a MassOccupy/Brookline public forum the national movement to
amend, what the amendment should contain, and how to bring it
about. *Wednesday,
May 9, 7:00-9:00 p.m. *Selectmen's Hearing Room, 6th floor, Brookline
Town Hall, 333 Washington Street, Brookline, MA. Take Green line D Train to
Brookline Village, you have about 3 blocks to walk.Featured speakers will
be two of the nation's foremost spokespeople for the movement:• LAWRENCE
LESSIG, Harvard Law School professor, author of “Republic, Lost: How Money
Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It” and arguably the nation's
leading academic campaigner to end the corrupting influence of money in
politics.• JOHN BONIFAZ, leader of the successful 1998 campaign for Clean
Elections in Massachusetts and numerous other voting rights struggles in
the US during the past two decades, co-founder and director of Free Speech
for People, a lawyer highly experienced in conducting public campaigns, and
a compelling speaker. Contact:Frank Farlow frank.farlow at verizon.net
617-232-9654David Klafter dbklafter at gmail.com 617-734-2593Bruce Wolff,
balobo at verizon.net, 617-232-8215
- May 9, 4pm-6pm, *Community Picket to Support Janitors. What's
disgusting? Union busting! *Where: We will meet at the corner of St.
James Ave. & Dartmouth and will head over together to 31 St. James to
picket. Why: Come out and support union janitors who face layoffs this
Friday May 11because they are being replaced by another contract company
that plans on using non-union labor. This is a typical tactic used by
bosses to fire union workers to be replaced by workers who will have to
labor under deteriorated working conditions, less pay, and little to no
benefits. We want to make it clear to Capital Properties (the owner/s of
the Park Square building at 31 St. James Ave.) that union busting will not
be tolerated in Boston.Article about May 1st, 2012 picket:
http://siglo21.com/massachusetts/conserjes-exigen-prosperidad-renovada/.
Info
post by the SEIU:
http://www.seiu615.org/2012/05/03/may-day-international-workers-day-coverage/.
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/116331365165236
- *The Bank Working Group will host: Understanding Wall Street Banking &
How OCCUPY Can Do Better for the 99%*
Saturday, May 12th, 5-6:30 pm, Occupy Boston-General
Assembly, Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street, Boston. Speakers
include: Professor Fred Moseley, Mt. Holyoke and Professor Jim Campen,
(ret.) UMass-Boston
*Developing a common knowledge base and steps for transparent financial
institutions committed to the public good*...
- *Occupy New England - M12 Day of Action and Regional Gathering.*
9am-5:30pm,
May 12: Come join Occupy groups from all around New England as we converge
in Worcester for a day of action and networking! The day will have four
core key components to it: getting as many Occupy groups and participants
in one centralized location at the same time for a day of networking and
planning, direct actions and public visibility, continued actions against
corporations backing ALEC, and finally the flared up "War on Women" -
discussion on women's issues (rights, health care, etc...) Facebook event
page: http://www.facebook.com/**events/330778876980716/<http://www.facebook.com/events/330778876980716/>
This is, a non-violent protest, but just be aware the Worcester PD has a
reputation of conducting political related intimidation tactics and may be
tempted to arrest people as a result the second they perceive people step
out of line. Occupy New England has answered the call of the global day of
action by various groups in Spain, the anniversary of last year's 15M
protests in that country. More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%932012_Spanish_protests or
http://www.may12.net
Preliminary timeline of events: (Please note times/actions are subject
to change.)
9 am: Begin gathering at Worcester Common
10 am: Second New England Solidarity March. We will take to the streets
(or sidewalks, since we don't have permits) and join our comrades around
the world in protest against corrupt government, corrupt banks, austerity
measures, and other related issues of the Indignants. March will include
protests outside various bank branches (notably Sovereign/Santander and
Bank of America) with corrupt and greed driven leadership. Any CD will be
considered autonomous actions, or the result of Worcester PD intimidation
and hostilities.
Midday: Occupy New England gathering. Come meet your fellow Occupiers
from around the region, plan out regional strategies, discuss what your
local Occupy group has done and has planned coming up. Some food will be
provided for lunch, it is also encouraged those who can please assist
Worcester Food Not Bombs with the lunch efforts.
1 pm: Occupy Worcester's Women and Queer Caucus presents: Women's Health
Matters! Held at the YWCA of Central Mass. (a block from the Common down
Franklin St.), Workshops include: Men as Allies, Supported Pregnancy and
Empowered Birth, Healthy Families, Slut Shaming, Women over 50, and Lies
and Truths about Abortion. Bring your knitting supplies and come learn
about the Snatchel Project.
Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/333705343363009/
The regional gathering and the Women's Health Matters events will likely
run concurrently, at least for parts of the early afternoon.
Late afternoon: Neighborhood cleanup around the Common and Downtown
Worcester (if enough interest).
If anyone is interested in providing musical entertainment for the march
and other parts of the day, please reply to Occupy New England or Occupy
Worcester on Facebook.
- May 13, 12pm-2pm, Cape Exit of the Sagamore Bridge. *No Escape from
the Cape: Cape Codders will mobilize to call attention to the serious
dangers of the continued operation of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Reactor in
Plymouth* and the fact that the Cape Cod bridges will be closed in the
event of a radiological accident. The Emergency Planning Zone plans call
for both Cape bridges to be closed (with one lane open only to emergency
vehicles only). There is no escape from the Cape and the population will be
at great risk. In Japan, the NRC recommended evacuation within 50 miles of
Fukushima. Cape Cod is 12 miles from the Pilgrim reactor. We call upon the
NRC to deny the re-licensing of the reactor and for Entergy Corporation to
put people before profits and close down the Pilgrim reactor.
- *Restoring the Dream of Democracy – Reversing Citizens United.* A
forum with State Senator Jamie Eldridge and attorney Jeffrey Clements.
Arlington Center for the Arts, 41 Foster Street Arlington. May 14, 6:30
– 8:30pm. Sponsored by Progressive Democrats of America and co-sponsored by
Occupy Arlington. This will be an education session talking about what
people can do from a grassroots perspective.
- *Understanding Wall Street Banking & How **OCCUPY** Can Do Better for
the 99%*Saturday, May 12th, 5-6:30 pm, at the beginning of the Occupy
Boston General AssemblyCommunity Church of Boston, 565 Boylston Street,
BostonAlready on board: Professor Fred Moseley, Mt. HolyokeProfessor Jim
Campen, (ret.)UMA-Boston*Developing a common knowledge base and steps
for transparent financial institutions committed to the public good*...
- *Nonviolence WG will be meeting on May 15 4-5:30 and May 30 3-4:30* at
the Clear Conscience Cafe, Central Square, Cambridge. Agenda items include
follow-up on support to opposition to the potential BU biolab for level 3/4
hazardous substances; planning for 2 upcoming trainings: one in conjunction
with other local community organizations and one for trainers. Contact:
Linda Jenkins, Linda Jenkins, lindajenkins177 at yahoo.com.
- May 17 – nationally recognized transgender activist and member of
Occupy Boston *Gunner Scott will be honored with The Theater Offensive’s
Out on the Edge award.* As Executive Director of the Massachusetts
Transgender Political Coalition, Scott led the battle for passage of the
Massachusetts Transgender Equal Rights Bill in November. The Transgender
Equal Rights Bill, also known as An Act Relative to Gender Identity, makes
it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity in the areas of
employment, housing, public education and credit & lending.*Who:
*Transgender
activist Gunner Scott. *What:* The Theater Offensive honors Scott with
Out on the Edge award. *When: *Thursday, May 17 @ 6:30 pm. *Where:
*Hibernian
Hall (184 Dudley St, Roxbury). *Open to the Public: *Yes (with ticket
purchase)
- Please join the “Decolonize to Liberate” Working Group of Occupy
Boston for a special screening and discussion of a newly-released
groundbreaking film, “2012: La Palabra Maya (the Mayan Word).” Hear the
voices of the Mayan people as they share their perspectives on the
prophecies of their ancestors and their fight to defend Mother Earth and
their culture from destruction.Friday, May 18th, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
First Parish (UU) Church in Harvard Sq.
3 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
As with all Decolonize/Occupy events, this is FREE AND OPEN TO THE
PUBLIC!“2012: The Mayan Word” is both a message of hope and a call to
action. Featuring testimonies from contemporary Mayans throughout
Mesoamerica, from spiritual guides to activists, community leaders,
farmers, artists, teachers, and children, this film is an extraordinary
journey into the heart of Mayan struggle and spirituality.Watch the
Trailer, here http://youtu.be/**11KdG4z5FuY <http://youtu.be/11KdG4z5FuY>
You can also watch the entire film for free, here http://youtu.be/**
UwvpsVsawMg <http://youtu.be/UwvpsVsawMg>The film (64 Minutes) will be
followed by discussion with special guests, including Carlos Aceves (via
Skype), author of “Nine Seasons: Beyond 2012” and other in-person guests To
Be Announced. Attendees will also learn how they can join with
Cambridge-based non-profit Cultural Survival (cs.org) to help legalize
community radio in Guatemala. Organizers are performing outreach to invite
members from local Mayan and Mexican/**Guatemalan communities, and are
planning to arrange for adequate translation. If you can help with either
of these efforts, please contact decolonizeboston at gmail.com.
- *Shut Down Pilgrim Now! May 20, 1pm-2pm.* Groups of concerned citizens
from across New England will gather in Plymouth to demand that the Pilgrim
Nuclear Power Reactor 40 year license expire. The General Electric Mark 1
Boiling Water Reactor is the same design that failed in Japan. Loss of
electricity was an activating factor and, according to NRC officials, could
happen here. The nuclear waste spent fuel pool was designed to hold 880
highly radioactive rods and currently holds 3,270. The aging reactor is
susceptible to embrittlement with inherent problems. The terrible disaster
of Fukushima has mobilized citizens to come out in the streets to demand
the shut down of Pilgrim. We will march to Entergy Co. and deliver a
citizen’s petition to cease and desist putting our lives and our beautiful
environment at risk and call for the shut down of Pilgrim now.
- Sponsored by the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series: *Book launch for
Truth and Revolution by Michael Staudenmaier.* May 22 at 6 pm at
Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Ave, Boston. Michael Staudenmaier speaks on the
Sojourner Truth Organization/STO. STO was Founded in Chicago in 1969 from
the rubble of the recently crumbled SDS, the Sojourner Truth Organization
(STO) brought working-class consciousness to the forefront of New Left
discourse, sending radicals back into the factories and thinking through
the integration of radical politics into everyday realities. Through the
influence of founding members like Noel Ignatiev and Don Hamerquist, STO
took a Marxist approach to the question of race and revolution, exploring
the notion of "white skin privilege," and helping to lay the groundwork for
the discipline of critical race studies. Michael Staudenmaier is a doctoral
candidate in history at the University of Illinois.
*Calendar for Tuesday, May 8, 2012*
1pm – 2pm *Occupy Harvard Think Tank,* Dudley House Cafe (no ID required),
Harvard Yard, Cambridge, Cafeteria entrance is at the TOP of the stairs.
3pm – 4pm *Signs WG Meeting,* Encuentro 5, 33 Harrison Avenue, 5th Flo0r,
Boston
5pm – 6:45pm, *Facilitation WG Meeting,* City Place Food Court in the
Transportation Building, Boylston, Charles and Stuart Streets
7pm – 10:30pm, *General Assembly,* Boston Common - Soldiers and Sailors
Monument Hill, the hill southeast of Soldiers and Sailors Monument, facing
the Bandstand. Here's a link to a Google map showing how to walk there from
Park Street T. http://g.co/map**s/tj4kr
*Please note!* Meetings and their locations are subject to change. We
encourage you to check the Occupy Boston Calendar for the most up-to-date
information. There are events scheduled all day for the May 1 General
Strike and regularly scheduled events may not be held.
*Volunteer Opportunities/Announcements: *
*1) Issue 7 of the Boston Occupier is out now, and we need your help
distributing!!*
We rely exclusively on YOU, the broader Occupy community, to get our papers
out there to the 99%. So...
** We would love for you to join one of our planned outreach/distribution
efforts on the T.
** ANYTIME you're going to a progressive or Occupy-related event, try to
pass out papers. These are the most effective occasions to connect
sympathetic readers to our paper. Copies of the issue are stored in the OB
cubicle at E5, so PLEASE remember to grab a stack.
** Get them to readers in your community. We recommend small stacks in
small stacks in cafes, libraries, bookshops, laundr0mats, community
centers, waiting rooms, campuses, etc. Be creative!! But we've found that
the BEST way to get papers to readers is to hand them out face to face,
combining outreach and distribution.
** If you are a part of another local-area Occupy movement, a union, or a
community organization that is willing to distribute papers — let’s make it
happen! You can just come by E5 (between 9 am and 7 pm most days) and grab
a stack, or coordinate with us if you're not able to do so. Send questions
or suggestions about distribution to Julie O (juliettejulianna at gmail.com).
** We're also trying to raise funds so that we can continue printing the
stories of the 99%! To that end, we've started a subscription service. Read
about it online
here<http://bostonoccupier.com/2012/01/20/consider-subscribing-to-the-boston-occupier/>.
I hope you’ll encourage those you know to subscribe to the paper as well!!
As always, we welcome questions, suggestions, and distribution ideas --
send to juliettejulianna at gmail.com.
*2)* Needed: Volunteers who might be available with to help with technical
expertise and equipment in the next two weeks for Occupy participants
without computer access or computer skills. Project: an upcoming exhibition
of photos and short videos of Occupy Boston to be held in Freiburg,
Germany. This will be the first Occupy documentation project to be shown in
Europe. Please email Bonnie Woods,
woods_bonnie at hotmail.**com<woods_bonnie at hotmail.com> if
you are available.
*3) ** **GA locations: *
The following proposal passed the General Assembly of Occupy Boston on
April 17, 2012:
Facilitation Working Group proposes the following changes to the current
General Assembly schedule:
- Tuesdays: We propose that, effective May 1st, all Tuesday GAs be held
outside. We propose the Boston Common as a temporary location with the idea
that location may change in the future. We will give Arlington Street
Church notice that our last night using ASC space will be April 24, 2012.
- Thursdays: We have ended our relationship with Emmanuel Church and
therefore propose that all Thursday GAs be held outside effective April 19,
2012, at the Boston Common as a temporary location with the idea that
location may change in the future.
- Saturday: We propose to continue to hold GA at Community Church of
Boston on Saturdays in order to ensure that at least one GA per week is
held indoors. FWG is in the process of asking CCB whether it would have
space available on Tuesdays. If so we would ask the GA to decide whether
that one GA indoors should be on Tuesday or Saturday.
- Community Gatherings will remain on Mondays and effective May 14,
2012, will be held at CCB.
This schedule is subject to review by the GA at any time.
Amendments:
- FWG will seek access to the web banner and text service to ensure that
any change in GA location or time will be widely communicated.
*To join the Occupy Boston Community Forum email list, a general discussion
list, click here!<https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/community_forum>
For a partial listing of Working Groups looking for volunteers, please click
here!<http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Working_Groups_looking_for_Volunteers>
For
a list of Working Groups with contact info, click
here!<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aplilc4h6gHVdGdLVXdnaGxMVEg5WGFvQXJ0NDAxUXc#gid=0>
**For more information on Occupy Boston's General Assembly, including
passed resolutions, click here! <http://www.occupyboston.org/general-assembly/>
**And if you're interested in learning more about Occupy Boston and how
you can participate, click
here!<http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Occupy_Boston#Participate> For
contact info for other Occupies in the area, click here!
<http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Occupy_Other_Places>
*
*Contact Us: **Want to subscribe to the Daily Digest? Click
here<https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/obupdates> 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 at OccupyBoston.org. To view past issues of The Daily Digest, click
here.<http://www.occupyboston.org/category/daily-digest/> And
subscribe to the Occupy Boston Media Rundown, a daily listing of
Occupy-related news, by contacting JohnM at OccupyBoston.org.*
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