This morning, Mayor Menino issued a midnight deadline for Occupy Boston to leave the Greenway. The articulated threat of eviction is a clear and present danger to the community we have built over the past ten weeks. We came to Dewey Square to practice true democracy and give visibility to injustice; we came to see if we could not–in providing for basic needs–maintain a standing indictment against their enforced deprivation within our broader community. With this commitment came hard evidence of economic suffering, evidence that we present at the doorstep of the Federal Reserve along with our democracy, our songs and our chants that echo daily through the financial canyon. Today, the city threatens that community. It threatens the library, where we hold our classes and discuss ideas. It threatens our food tent, which has served thousands of people many more thousands of meals. It threatens our medical tent, which has provided treatment and care to the sick and to the injured. Not only these, it threatens the lives of those of us who have no place else to go. The city has cited concern for our safety as the reason for forcing us back into the streets. But make no mistake; the city’s concern for our safety will disperse when we do. We have therefore taken steps to ensure the safety of the infrastructure we have built, and to protect the most vulnerable among us in the event of the eviction. We are taking down the food tent, the medical tent, packing up our logistics supplies for safe-keeping and working with social service providers and other allies to secure shelter for our brothers and sisters most likely to experience homelessness if and when the city throws away their tents. We take action–today and always–in the name of economic and political justice, freedom of expression and our entire community.
9 Responses to “On Threatening Eviction”
I really hope everyone who can will be there tonight.
oh me too.
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please resist. please please resist.
Thank you for the work you have done so far to help bring the discussion of the inadequacies of our Democracy to the forefront. The movement has prompted some changes and hopefully the conversation will continue. Please keep up the good work (from possibly a warmer location!) and keep me informed of upcoming events.
I’d so much rather the occupation take the high road- it was a great 2 month run. Walking away rather than staying to ‘fight’ , then later talking about the bruatality- is only further alienating some of the disenfranchised.
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Packing up, and leaving the Dewey square with the thought that the movement is an idea, one that cannot be evicted, seems so much more powerful than one final stand.
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Oh well.
Stay safe.Tactical retreat will work for you in the long term. Disappear like ghosts to reappear where and when you please.
They are trying to use you as an example, please don’t let them: it only bosters what Fox news can report about you.
Thank you
I believe DC is a wonderful place in the spring
Cant wait to take a walk thru the park tomorrow without it smelling like shit & piss. You guys should move under the overpass by Bunker Hill Community College, nobody will even notice.
Under the cover of anonymity, let the insults fly!! Who cares about civil discourse when you can just say what ever you want and act like a mean jerk!
on December 8th, 2011 at 5:03 pm #
[…] Supporters of Occupy Boston, Mayor Menino has asked Occupy Boston to shutdown and leave by 12:00am tonight, or face action. We are having a General Assembly, as scheduled, at 7:00pm tonight. We encourage everyone to come. We are also asking for people to come down to Dewey and stay after, to help those who need to pack, to help those who need transportation, and to otherwise show support for Occupy Boston. Coming down does not mean you face arrest. The deadline is 12:00am tonight, and supporters not wishing to risk arrest can stand on the sidewalk or wherever police designate is ok. Those who are willing to risk arrest, you know where to go. All support is welcome. Many thanks to those who lent support over these past few months to this stage of the movement. What may end tonight will be the temporary physical presence we had at Dewey Square. What will continue is our organizing, mobilizing, acting and building a movement that stands up to the social and economic justice that dominates our society. This is just the beginning. Please see our statement on eviction below. We hope to see you at Dewey tonight. – Daily Digest https://www.occupyboston.org/2011/12/08/threatening-eviction/ […]
on December 8th, 2011 at 5:11 pm #
[…] Supporters of Occupy Boston, Mayor Menino has asked Occupy Boston to shutdown and leave by 12:00am tonight, or face action. We are having a General Assembly, as scheduled, at 7:00pm tonight. We encourage everyone to come. We are also asking for people to come down to Dewey and stay after, to help those who need to pack, to help those who need transportation, and to otherwise show support for Occupy Boston. Coming down does not mean you face arrest. The deadline is 12:00am tonight, and supporters not wishing to risk arrest can stand on the sidewalk or wherever police designate is ok. Those who are willing to risk arrest, you know where to go. All support is welcome. Many thanks to those who lent support over these past few months to this stage of the movement. What may end tonight will be the temporary physical presence we had at Dewey Square. What will continue is our organizing, mobilizing, acting and building a movement that stands up to the social and economic justice that dominates our society. This is just the beginning. Please see our statement on eviction below. We hope to see you at Dewey tonight. – Daily Digest https://www.occupyboston.org/2011/12/08/threatening-eviction/ […]