Time’s Person of the Year: The Protester

The nonleader leaders of Occupy are using the winter to build an organization and enlist new protesters for the next phase. They have shifted the national conversation. As Politico recently reported, the Nexis news-media database now registers almost 500 mentions of “inequality” each week; the week before Occupy Wall Street started, there were only 91. But what would count, a few years hence, as success? According to gung-ho Adbusters editors Kalle Lasn and Micah White, it’s already “the greatest social-justice movement to emerge in the United States since the civil rights era.” Yet it took a decade to get from the Montgomery bus boycott to the federal civil rights acts, which were just the end of the beginning.

The wisest Occupiers understand that these are very early days. But as long as government in Washington – like government in Europe – remains paralyzed, I don’t see the Occupiers and Indignados giving up or losing traction or protest ceasing to be the defining political mode. After all, the Tea Party protests subsided only after Tea Partyers achieved real power in 2010 by becoming the tail wagging the Republican Party dog. When radical populist movements achieve big-time momentum and attention, they don’t tend to stand down until they get some satisfaction.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0,29239,2101745_2102132_2102373,00.html

Occupy protesters arraigned; some get probation

Arrested on the denuded Dewey Square early Saturday, 24 Occupy Boston protesters were arraigned yesterday in what has become a familiar place to the movement, Courtroom 17 in Boston Municipal Court.

Five men and three women refused offers of probation and decided to continue to fight the charges. Another 16 defendants accepted probation, from six months to a year, and were ordered to stay away from Dewey Square.

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/13/occupy-protesters-arraigned-some-get-probation/aJTspKJ5czqJeNobXSbUGN/story.html

Occupiers seize the day – in court

Sixteen Occupy Boston protesters accepted prosecutors’ offer of pre-trial probation yesterday while eight others were arraigned in Boston Municipal Court and released on their own recognizance after their eviction from their Dewey Square encampment.

“We are going to continue taking over public space – with permits – to spread our message,” said Daniel Chavez, 23, of Boston. “There’s even more passion now. We don’t need tents to continue to build momentum for this movement.”

Chavez, like most of the protesters, was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. The resisting arrest charge for Chavez and 11 other protesters who agreed to a year’s pretrial probation was dropped, according to the DA’s office. If they stay away from Dewey Square and don’t break any laws, they will not be arraigned and their cases will be dismissed, the DA’s office said. Four female protesters were placed on six months’ pretrial probation with the same conditions.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_1214occupiers_seize_the_day__in_court/

Tiny tents in Dewey

Photographer Aaron Spagnolo took a miniature Coleman tent down to the newly refurbished Dewey Square for some camera fun. I am no expert when it comes to photography like this but it’s pretty cool.

http://boston.com/community/blogs/less_is_more/2011/12/tiny_tents_in_dewey.html?comments=all#readerComm

[see the pictures on Flickr here:]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronspagnolo/6506656161/in/set-72157628406065771/

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/14/2011” »

Beyond the Rhetoric: The Complicated, Brief Life of Occupy Boston

Whatever you think of the Occupy Wall Street’s tactics, methods or politics, one thing is indisputable: the Occupy Wall Street movement make people emotional. Even after wading through confusion to understand how Occupy actually works, people tend to love it or hate it.

And Boston is an emotional city. More than any occupy I visited, passersby would scream and honk in support and derision many times a day.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/brief-complex-life-of-occupy-boston/?pid=212&pageid=34330&viewall=true

Occupy Boston: ‘This is a movement of the mind’

Occupy Boston protesters marched back to Dewey Square on Monday. It doesn’t look like the place they remember. Barricades up, police standing guard, walling off the newly planted sod at Dewey Square from the occupiers who took over and called this place home for more than two months.

“I’m glad we’re here just to show that we’re not locked down on a physical property because this is a movement of the mind,” Carlos Ashmanskas of Quincy said, adding that he had camped out since Sept. 30.

http://www.necn.com/12/12/11/Occupy-Boston-This-is-a-movement-of-the-/landing_newengland.html?blockID=610998&feedID=4206

Boston counts, counsels homeless

In Downtown Crossing, Mayor Thomas M. Menino and emergency shelter director Jim Greene offered assistance to Courtney Smith, 35, during Boston’s homeless census last night.

Menino and Greene spent several minutes talking to Harris, as an activist passing by with a tray of sandwiches from an Occupy Boston meeting handed him one.

“I’ve been feeding the homeless for a long time,” said the activist, David Lamoso, 30, of East Boston. “We did it a lot in Dewey Square” where Occupy Boston had been located. As the night and the count went on, some homeless residents accepted transportation to shelters, while other refused.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/13/boston-counts-counsels-homeless/IcX5EnERCaG84LkqsTfr6I/story.html

Boston Herald runs photos of arrested Occupy protesters as columnist mocks

Howie Carr: A mug shot is worth a thousand words. And these BPD mug shots from Occupy Boston tell us quite a story, namely, how greasy and dirty you’ll look if you stop bathing for weeks at a time.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2011_1213wonder_why_occupy_lugs_have_no_jobs/

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/13/2011” »

Compiled by John M and the OB media team to help keep the Occupy Boston community informed with the latest local, national, and international occupy-related news and stories. 

An inside look at Occupy Boston’s last morning in Dewey Square

Waiting for arrest, a male occupier shouted for and got the people’s mic. He then yelled, “the officers…are enforcing…the law…in the past…people have…stood up against…laws…so their voice…could be heard…It’s sad…that this…is what it took…for us…to get our voice…but now…we have a voice…and we’re not going to…shut up…we are relevant…listen to us!”

Seconds later, a female occupier mic checked saying, “we have a right…to assemble…it is not up to them…to tell us when…to stop assembling!” Another male voice, mic checking as well, complained that the press had been pushed too far back to record what transpired. A fourth voice, belonging to a person holding a camera and weaving between the police, assured his comrades that the live stream was broadcasting it and had thousands of viewers. Someone yelled, happily, “Thank you, Internet!”

http://blastmagazine.com/the-news/local-news/an-inside-look-at-occupy-bostons-last-morning-in-dewey-square/

Occupy protesters gear up for court, next steps

The protesters said there were no plans to use the court proceedings as a platform for dissent, as has been the case in some other cities – although they plan to attend the arraignments carrying a statue of Gandhi. As for longer-term plans, they said their next steps were still being developed, with suggestions made at a meeting yesterday ranging from a symbolic placement of tents across the suburbs to an attempt to shut down Boston’s port operations.

Occupy Boston plans to hold a “speak out’’ at 4 p.m. today at Government Center, followed by a 6 p.m. march to Dewey Square, according to the group’s website.

http://bostonglobe.com/metro/2011/12/12/occupy-protesters-gear-for-court-next-steps/WTv3haHu4qsZDbtFyikBYK/story.html

Occupy Boston cleanup to cost Greenway $40K to $60K

So far, the Greenway has collected $10,000 in donations and Brennan hopes more contributions will be made to help offet the cost. “When we looked at the site in October, we estimated that the repair cost would be $15,000, a number we could have absorbed,” Brennan said. “But as people stayed longer and the soil was compacted further, the costs escalated and it’s something we never budgeted for.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/real_estate/2011/12/occupy-boston-cleanup-cost.html

Protester: ‘This was never about tents’

“We didn’t occupy Dewey Square because we wanted to camp out. We occupied Dewey Square because we think there is something fundamentally wrong with the system,” one protester said.

“I think something was sparked three months ago, which has changed the tenor of this country,” another protester said.

http://www.necn.com/12/12/11/Protester-This-was-never-about-tents/landing_newengland.html?blockID=610432&feedID=4206

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/12/11” »