Supporters of Occupy Boston recently became aware of a letter from the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy (RKGC) which calls on the police to “remove the occupiers” from Dewey Square. The patch of land that makes up the square is owned by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and the RKGC are the stewards of it.
The letter is dated November 8.
Volunteers from Occupy Boston, the National Lawyer’s Guild, and the American Civil Liberties Union sat down for a meeting to discuss health, safety, sanitation, the Dewey Square Farmer’s Market, winterization, and legal concerns with RKGC executives on November 9. In that meeting, the RKGC made no mention of its November 8 letter, even though the letter clearly calls on the police to “remove the occupiers.” Relations were amicable among all of the parties present at the meeting.
What this means for the occupation in Dewey Square is now being vigorously discussed.
Mayors Menino and Bloomberg, who have been working together since 2006 on federal gun-control legislation.
Some are saying that no police crackdown is immanent because the letter is over a week old and was written before a Boston judge recently granted a temporary injunction barring the city and police from removing the occupiers. Others are arguing that injunctions will not prevent a crackdown because mayor Bloomberg disregarded a similar injunction to remove the occupiers from Liberty Plaza in NYC, and then got a judge to over-rule an injunction that was to pave the way for the protestors return to the plaza.
The Boston judge who issued the injunction has also ordered a mediation between the City, the BPD, RKGC, and Occupy Boston.
This has posed a difficult question for the occupiers: How does a “leaderless” movement that strives for transparency, openness, and democracy react to a court order to “mediate” (presumably behind closed doors) with forces that have already cracked down on Occupy Boston and have issued a letter calling on the police to “remove the occupiers” from Dewey Square?
25 Responses to “Greenway Calls on Police to “Remove the Occupiers” from Dewey Square”
Is there anything in the call for mediation that would prevent the meeting from happening at GA?
invite them to consensus building and general assembly for mediation.
They are the 99% most of the time and welcome to assembly at any rate.
You make them negotiate on your terms. Get as many occupiers to go to the meeting and turn it into a GA. Or make them come to a GA to do the discussion.
exactly: invite them to consensus building and general assembly for mediation.
Better yet why not invite them to your house, or property, or office.
The Right’s solution to Occupy Wall Street: Arm them. Sharron Angle and Saray Palin say Second Amendment remedies are a better way to change your government than camping.
http://brettcottrell.blogspot.com/2011/11/rights-solution-to-occupy-wall-street.html
This lack of flexibility on the Occupy movement will cripple it, right along with its self-righteous attitude. Don’t you have a legal team that you trust? Or any Occupiers who are actually practiced in this sort of thing? use your resources. Not everyone is equal in the camp. Some have talents, insight, and a historical perspective that many lack. And if you do elect a group of spokespeople, rig them up so you can watch the goings on on a webcast or something.
But don’t let your greatest virtue become a stumbling block.
Fair point, but keep in mind that the goal of city officials is to quiet the movement. The more Occupy Bos. gets involved in legal wrangling the more THEY have the upper hand.
I’m not exactly sure how you came to your conclusion, but I have yet to encounter a lack of flexibility in any of the OWS camps, GAs, marches, encounters, discussion….on all matters, here or in NY. In fact, I can’t think if a single person that has participated in any way that would agree with you.
You’re dreaming, buddy… yeah, the city wants to quiet the movement, but Occupy does not have the upper hand. They’re lucky that the administration has been far more tolerant than the citizens of the Commonwealth. Being in favor of the original anti-corporatism is not the same thing as supporting the movement in all of its machinations.
I agree. OBVIOUSLY, there was a team selected to sit at the table and in the courtroom for the TRO Hearing.
Have a GA, pick a team and give them a consensus of what terms you will agree are acceptable and what are not. If they strike an agreement, AWESOME, live by the agreement. If you can’t reach one. Come back and start building a consensus on a plan B or aftermath plan so that the Boston Occupation survives after the raid.
Also, maybe we should be starting to put heads together WITH NYC, PHILLY, PROV, BALTIMORE, DC, Yada, yada, yada and see if a master plan to keep the whole movement alive through the winter and continue building the momentum is at this time possible.
I think we’re at a point where the cities should start networking more purposefully.
Try occupying an office and contribute to society. The real 99% is ashamed of this group of vagrants.
Elect a representative.
I’m not exactly sure how you came to your conclusion, but I have yet to encounter a lack of flexibility in any of the OWS camps, GAs, marches, encounters, discussion….on all matters, here or in NY. In fact, I can’t think if a single person that has participated in any way that would agree with you.
It is essential to maintain the transparency and the commitment to participatory democracy. Invite the RKGC to come and talk about the issues at a GA. They will be treated respectfully, and they may learn more than they can possibly imagine. Another world is possible.
Who is the Greenway Conservancy to decide how our public realm is used and where First Amendment rights can be exercised? These “stewards” of the park are nothing but a front for the downtown real estate interests, who have themselves “occupied” this public land and grabbed up millions of public tax dollars as well! They are in fact exactly the 1%, and they’ve fooled everyone into believing that they have some claim to limit our rights because they’ve contributed a few private dollars toward the landscaping. This is state land, public land, and this corporate cabal cannot be allowed to put democracy on their “office hours” and leashed by their rules of etiquette for the “nice” people they want occupying their front yard to enhance their property values.
Hiddenwheel, the more negative press that Occupy Boston gets, and the more foolishness that Occupy Boston does like messing up rush hour traffic, the better it looks for Menino when he has the BPD clear Dewey Sq. out in the near future.
My worry is that Occupy will be forced to leave due to some technicality within an agreement that they themselves agree to.
Which is why you want your most astute people along AND insist, if it is in fact ordered mediation that your attorneys from the TRO case be present. They don’t ethically have an option of not being there I don’t think.
I would suggest that you ask your supporters to flood the Greenway Conservancy with email protesting their letter asking to evict the Occupiers. If the Greenway hear from lots of ordinary citizens on this they may rethink their position, especially leading up to the forthcoming mediation. I have already sent an email to the Greenway Conservancy myself. Shame on them! We can only imagine what Rose Kennedy herself, not to mention her sons Jack, Bobby and Teddy would think of the situation in the country today.
At the same time, OB needs to uphold their committment to play by the ground rules first set out and stay in your original area of Dewey Square. Do not overflow into adjacent areas of the park. OB has a quite good track record of good relations w/ the City and the Greenway since October. You’ve also shown that you are organized enough and mature enough to delegate authority from the GA to the three who will represent you in the mediation. You are going to have to do this in order to negotiate on any issue. Else how can you press forward your demands to those in authority? The other side needs someone to negotiate with who at least is empowered to bring negotiations back to the General Assembly for a vote. I don’t know if the New York group has learned this lesson yet.
It’s not acceptable that the Greenway should try to force you out as long as OB continues to make a good faith effort to play by the rules. Greenway needs to hear from the public on this. Pretty parks are less important than social justice for all.
I find it absoutely ridiculous that you guys can even occupy Dewy Square without the proper permits that is required. The movement never even applied for them in the first place. The city has been more then godo to you. Please leave at once. The occupy boston movement is only costing the city millions.
Dec 2nd 1am Occupy Boston ends,
Your gracious host has asked you to leave. How about you just leave and get a permit like everyone else.
Occupy Boston = the 1%. We don’t follow rules that apply to everyone else – we just (try to) play the free speech card.
on December 28th, 2011 at 10:50 am #
[…] 7.A Contrary to the beliefs of hundreds of commenters on Boston Globe and Boston Herald web sites, the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy does not own the Greenway; it leases it from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. The Greenway recently admitted as much when a neighbor of the Greenway's Mary Soo Hoo park at the edge of Chinatown called to complain about uncollected trash: the Greenway contact said that only the MassDOT could pick up trash. Nothing happened until the neighbor called up the City's Constituent Services. The Greenway Conservancy had no such qualms about demanding the city remove protestors from Dewey Square. […]