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  • Archive: 2011

    Students Occupy Boston, Will March in Solidarity

    A nation-wide student walk out is planned for today, October 5, at noon. Students from across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, will march in solidarity with the Occupy Movement.

    In Boston, students from universities and colleges across the city will join together in solidarity with Occupy Boston by taking part in the walk out. Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis, and others—including Harvard, MIT, UMass Boston, Berklee, Simmons, and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts—will leave class and march with us. They have organized on the site studentsoccupyboston.com—which is “a central communication point for organizing Boston area college students to help Occupy Boston“—and on Twitter, at @studentsoccupy.

    On Facebook, students are circulating an invitation to their friends that includes the following description of Occupy Boston:

    What I can tell you is that attending an #OccupyBoston event is the only way you will ever have a shot at understanding what the movement is really about. I can tell you that the individuals involved with #OccupyBoston and #OccupyWallStreet are unbelievably passionate, organized, determined people of every age, race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, and spiritual affiliation who are working unwaveringly in the spirit of democracy. I can tell you that members of the #Occupy movement’s General Assemblies are effectively drawing the nation’s attention to a number of alarming economic, political, and social issues that negatively impact each and every one of us. Finally, I can assure you that this movement will be what its participants make of it, and for that reason, I implore you to visit Dewey Square for a General Assembly and to have a say in what #OccupyBoston becomes. I cannot contain my excitement when I think of the potential a movement like this has to change the United States and the world for the better, and I know that the participation and support of every single student and recent graduate in the Greater Boston area will help it achieve its incredible promise.

    We are so proud of our students! Boston is America’s college town—one third of people who live in the greater Boston area are under 30, and 60% of those are students.

    For more information on how your school can get involved, please email studentsoccupyboston@gmail.com or follow @studentsoccupy on Twitter.

    Needs of Occupy Maine

    So many people have been so generous toward Occupy Boston, and we’d like to pay that generosity forward. Our brothers and sisters occupying Monument Square in Portland, Maine could use a few things. If you have any of the following items, please bring them to Dewey Square by this Thursday, when members of Occupy Boston will deliver them to Maine in person:

    • Easy ups
    • Screen tents
    • Medical gloves
    • Rescue inhalers
    • Epinephrin pens
    • Blankets
    • Care packages

    Most importantly, please send Occupy Maine words of encouragement and solidarity on their Facebook page or their Twitter feed, then check out their live stream.

    Schedule, Needs, and Announcements for Day 6 (October 5)

    Day 5 of our occupation was exhilarating as we received support from the Greater Boston Labor Council and began deliberating on whether or not to endorse Occupy Wall Street’s “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City.” Tomorrow promises to be even more exciting as we receive delegations of union workers and college students. Here’s the schedule:

    • 10:30 am – Morning General Assembly
    • 3:00 pm – Visit from the Boston Nurses Association and Jobs with Justice
    • 4:00 pm – Nonviolence training
    • 5:00 pm – Visit from students from Boston University and the Museum School who are participating in a walkout in solidarity with the Occupy movement
    • 7:00 pm – Evening General Assembly
    • 7:00 pm – Visit from the Harvard Unitarian-Universalist Ministry to Students from Harvard Divinity School

    We’re also in need of the following:

    • Sugar
    • Soy, rice, or almond milk
    • Rice
    • Beans
    • Lentils 
    • Tables
    • Blankets
    • Tarps
    • Heavy, grounded extension cords
    • Power strips
    • Network router
    • Printer
    • General art supplies
    • Large plastic bin (to keep books dry)
    • Legal volunteers
    • Ponchos!!!

    That’s all for now. Sleep well, Boston. Tomorrow is another day in occupied Dewey Square.

    AFL-CIO Supports Occupy Boston

    This release was given to the Occupy Boston media team at Dewey Square. 

    The Greater Boston Labor Council applauds the efforts of Occupy Boston to place a spotlight on the imbalance of power in our nation and the role that Wall Street has played in devastating our economy.

    Faced with the worst economy since the great depression and saddled with college tuition debt young people are saying what labor has been saying for a long time. Shared sacrifice is a one-way street in our nation.

    Occupy Boston and similar organizations in New York and across the nation are using valid tactics to expose the reality that there are two economies in America. One for real people and another for financial elites, the same people that created the economic crisis and have been untouched by its consequences, while millions of Americans have lost their jobs and their homes.

    Richard M. Rogers.

    Internal Solidarity Statement

    Update (10/7): This document represents the views and opinions of just some members of Occupy Boston. This living document was crafted to express that all are welcome and intolerance is not a value we will condone. 

    This is a living document. As the Occupy Boston community, we have the right and responsibility to edit this document on an ongoing basis. We welcome feedback and new ideas.

    We are the 99%, and our task is to unify the 99%. Unfortunately, we live in a society that is racist, sexist, classist, homophobic, and ridden with various other forms of oppression.

    As the Occupy Boston community, we will consciously and urgently work on dismantling these systems of oppression in our movement. We are working on creating a community where everyone’s rights are respected, protected, and treated equally. We all have different levels of privilege that we strive to acknowledge and educate ourselves about in order to ensure that these privileges are not used to oppress others. We want to have an inclusive atmosphere of ideas in which we do not police each other’s thoughts, but we have absolutely no tolerance for oppressive or intimidating words or actions. If a conflict arises it should, if possible, be settled through democratic discussion or debate; otherwise, it should be settled with the help of the Conflict Resolution Team, the Support Team, or both, if necessary.

    We do not welcome any of the following in our community:

    • White supremacy (racism against people of all colors)
    • Patriarchy (sexism)
    • Ageism
    • Discrimination based on ability
    • Homophobia or heteronormativity
    • Transphobia
    • Anti-Arab sentiment
    • Anti-Jewish sentiment
    • Religious intolerance or intolerance of nonreligious people
    • Islamaphobia
    • Class oppression (classism)
    • Cultural intolerance
    • Discrimination based on immigration status
    • Discrimination based on experiences with the justice system
    • Disregard for indigenous rights
    • Weight-based discrimination

    Contact us

    Occupy Boston Media <Media@occupyboston.org> • <Info@occupyboston.org> • @Occupy_Boston