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<font face="Arial"><b><font color="#000000"><big><big>Join City
Councilors Chuck Turner & Charles Yancey</big></big></font></b></font><br>
<font face="Arial"><b><font color="#000000"><big><big>and community
activists & trade unionists in a</big></big></font></b></font><br>
<br>
<font face="Arial"><big><big><b><font color="#800000">PRESS CONFERENCE
- RALLY</font></b></big></big></font><br>
<font face="Arial"><b><big><big>Monday October 27- 4pm </big></big></b></font><br>
<font face="Arial"><big>Curley Room, Boston City Hall</big></font><br>
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<font face="Arial"><br>
<b>National Grid and NStar:</b> Restore Heat and Light to all those who
have been cut off NOW!<br>
<br>
<b>Governor Patrick:</b> Declare an Economic State of Emergency and
issue an executive order to insure that no one goes without heat or
light this winter!<br>
<br>
<b>Mayor Menino:</b> Declare a State of Emergency in Boston and ensure
no one is without heat and light in the city! <br>
<br>
Poor and working people face a humanitarian crisis this winter:
thousands are without heat and light as the winter cold season begins.
Last May, when the annual November to April moratorium on utility
shutoffs ended, over 100,000 in Massachusetts received utility shutoff
notices, as reported in the Boston Globe. <br>
The growing economic crisis is devastating Boston as well as
communities throughout Massachusetts resulting in an untold number of
people unable to pay their utility bills and who have been shut off or,
in many cases, not had their utilities turned back on. How many of
these shutoffs are in communities of color? How many are women and
children, elders, and the disabled?<br>
<br>
National Grid and NStar must open their books and reveal exactly who
has been and remains shut off, and restore power to these families
immediately!<br>
<br>
Governor Patrick should utilize his powers under state law (Chapter
639) to declare a Gubernatorial State of Emergency, and issue an
executive order insuring that no one is left in the cold and dark this
winter.<br>
<br>
The Winter of 2008 is predicted to be very severe. We will not stand
by while people freeze, or go without lights while NSTAR ($7.8B in
assets) and National Grid make millions in profits. $150M a day is
going to the war in Iraq, and Bush bails out the banks to the tune of
over a trillion, while poor and working families are homeless, jobless
and children are going hungry - we need to bring this money back here
to our communities. Youth need education and jobs, NOT jails. Heat,
Housing, Food and Fuel are a Right! Together we have the power to build
a movement to turn this around. <br>
<br>
This press conference / rally is part of nationally coordinated local
protest actions demanding <b>"Bail Out the People, Not the Bankers"</b>.
Actions will occur in over a dozen cities around the country on October
24-27 saying: <br>
<br>
<i><b>IT'S TIME FOR THE GOVERNMENT TO DECLARE AN ECONOMIC STATE OF
EMERGENCY AND GIVE DIRECT HELP TO THE PEOPLE--NOT THE BANKS </b></i><br>
The following are some of the growing list of emergency measures that
people across the country will be raising at protests during the Days
of Action: <br>
<br>
</font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Arial">Emergency moratorium on home foreclosures and
evictions </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">No budget cuts in education, healthcare and
all social services </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">No layoffs, extend unemployment benefits </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">No utility shut-offs </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">Debt relief for students, poor and working
people </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">Protect public and private pensions </font></li>
<li><font face="Arial">Jobs at a living wage</font></li>
</ul>
<font face="Arial"><b>Local Endorsers (partial list):</b> City
Councilor Chuck Turner; City Councilor Charles Yancey; Frantz Mendes,
President, USW Local 8751 (Boston School Bus Union); Bishop Filipe
Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of St. Francis of Assissi, CCA; Tony
Hernandez, Organizer, District Council 35, Painters and Allied Trades;
New England Human Rights for Haiti; Women's Fightback Network, FIST
(Fight Imperialism, Stand Together)<br>
<br>
Initiators of the national days of action include:<br>
Ad-hoc National Network to Stop Foreclosures and Evictions, Bail Out
the People Movement, Women's Fightback Network (Massachusetts), Frantz
Mendes, President, USW local 8751 (Boston School Bus Drivers), Bishop
Filipe Teixeira, OFSJC, Moratorium Now Coalition To StopForeclosures
and Evictions (Michigan), Labor/Community Coalition to StopForeclosures
and Evictions (California), Service Employees International Union,
Local 721, Latino Caucus, SEIU Local 721, Gloria Saucedo, Hermandad
Mexicana Nacional, BAYAN USA, NY May 1 Coalition For Workers and
Immigrants Rights, Chris Silvera, Secretary Treasurer, Teamster local
808, Brenda Stokely, New York Solidarity Coalition with Katrina/Rita
Survivors, La Peña Del Bronz, Trabahadores Por La Paz, Rebel Diaz,
Queers for Peace and Justice, Action Center for Justice (North
Carolina), FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together), Troops Out Now
Coalition (partial list)<br>
<br>
<br>
<b>For more information contact:</b> <br>
Councilor Turner's office - 617-635-3510<br>
Women's Fightback Network - 617-522-6626 - <a
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:wfn@iacboston.org">wfn@iacboston.org</a>
-
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.iacboston.org/wfn">www.iacboston.org/wfn</a><br>
<br>
</font><b><font face="Arial"></font></b>
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<br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size="2"><b>Women's FightBack Network</b>
</font>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size="2"><b>Boston:</b><br>
617-522-6626<br>
<a href="mailto:wfn@iacboston.org">wfn@iacboston.org</a><br>
<a href="http://www.iacboston.org/wfn">www.iacboston.org/wfn</a>
</font></p>
<p><font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" size="2"><b>National Office:</b><br>
212-633-6646<br>
<a href="http://www.iacenter.org">www.iacenter.org </a>
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