Homeless allies’ plight haunts Occupy protesters

For many of those who spent their nights at the Occupy Boston encampment, Dewey Square was not just a meeting place – it was a home.

In the nearly two weeks since Mayor Thomas M. Menino ordered the closing of the Financial District camp, the movement has scrambled to find housing for some of its most vulnerable members.

And for many involved in Occupy Boston, the challenge of finding shelter for those people every night has opened a window onto the vast complexity of homelessness, framed by substance abuse, mental health issues, and economic forces.

http://tinyurl.com/87p22p3

OWS metamorphosis three months later

(video)

Joseph Ramsey, a member of Occupy Boston, joins us (RT) to discuss how the Occupy movement is doing nationwide.

http://tinyurl.com/bl8huuj

Ocupemos el Barrio: A Growing Voice Within the 99 Percent

They marched and chanted and gave speeches, lamenting the ills of corporate greed. But these are not your typical Occupy Boston protesters.

Meet Ocupemos el Barrio, a group comprised of Latinos from all walks of life. Its participants say they formed the group to address issues within the larger Occupy Wall Street movement, matters – namely, immigration – specific to Latino concerns. It is one of a handful of so-called affinity groups that have emerged since the Occupy protestors first hit the streets.

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/21/11” »

Dressed in finery, Occupy Boston celebrates an anniversary

Occupy Boston participants aren’t known for their high-brow fashion decisions; when the objective is staying dry and warm and you’re living in a tent in the middle of a city, your clothing of choice tends to be quite the opposite of haute couture (not that we’re judging).

So to see some of the Occupiers dressed in outfits that would be considered decidedly 1 percent-like on Saturday, Dec. 17, was a little out of the ordinary. At the same time, it was fitting, as their Day of Action activities, marking the movement’s three-month anniversary, included an “ironic ‘pro-corporate’ march” down Newbury Street and through the Prudential Center.

http://tinyurl.com/77qo5ap

Profile: People of Occupy Boston – Nicole Sullivan

BLAST Magazine: What do you do?

NS: At Occupy, I do quite a few things. I am in several action-oriented groups such as Direct Action and street teams. I believe that doing actions is the only way to create change. Its like that cliché, “actions speak louder than words.” The fact that Occupy is so action oriented is why I joined. I was sick of talking about things, I wanted change I am also in a couple of outreach groups – outreach and movement building – where we reach out into the Boston community to try to get really grounded in community issues and to bring our message out to the masses. I also do a lot of anti-oppression work. I came into activism through feminism and I see everything from an anti-oppressive standpoint. I fully believe that we need to include the full 99% percent to be a mass movement so the anti-oppression working groups I am in seek to create a space to do that. I also participate in more infrastructure related groups, such as in reach which works on internal communication. Occupy Boston keeps me pretty busy.

http://tinyurl.com/88dgjfp

Occupy Atlantic Avenue! The night before the Occupy Boston clearance

Occupy Boston! It was one of the last big ones to get cleared out, as I understand. I wasn’t there for the police clearance operation-but I was there the night before, when OB chumped down Boston Mayor Tom Menino, at least temporarily.

I’m not an occupier as such: I never camped at Occupy Boston, and I can’t claim to have been a big player in what went on. Some friends and I went to marches regularly, and made new friends at them. The Boston bunch is interesting, along with the usual cast of activists and people from the anarchist and red circuits, you get types characteristic of New England: kids with the clothes, accents, and (the most convincing elements) sallow skin and bad teeth of the local white working class talking anarchy and trans rights; WASPy late-middle-aged engineers biking in from MIT in their best windbreakers and wire-rim glasses; bro-dudes from BC, BU, and Northeastern who’ll start a chant of “OCCUPY! SHUT IT DOWN! BOSTON IS THE PEOPLE’S TOWN!” faster than they will “YANKEES SUCK!” It felt good to be a part of it, even in my limited way.

http://tinyurl.com/8y4ta2z
Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/20/11” »

Without A Camp, Occupy Boston Seeks Next Phase

The Occupy Boston movement plans to join a rally on Causeway Street Monday afternoon against federal housing policies. More than a week after the dismantling of the Dewey Square encampment, opinions vary on the effectiveness of the movement.

So, where is the Occupy Boston movement going? And what has it accomplished?

http://tinyurl.com/cycnwuq

Profile: People of Occupy Boston: Elizabeth Holmes

BLAST Magazine: What do you do?

EH: I am a part of medical, safety, wellness, legal and jail support; was in media and direct action.

http://tinyurl.com/d3qkhts

Indian ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement takes shape

A local version of ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement – a protest against social and economic inequality that started in New York but has now spread across 83 countries, is now also shaping up in India, and has in fact already incubated a ‘community-owns-resources’ experiment at Hazaribagh in Bihar.

The experiment questioning the new global economic order that led to the collapse of European and American economies, leaving people unemployed across the globe, has emboldened those Indians who oppose the “World Bank-piloted economic models designed to satiate appetite of big corporations and re-colonizers”.

http://tinyurl.com/d9m8zzg
Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 12/19/11” »