(from PassMassAmendment)

You will have an opportunity to tell the MA legislature your thoughts about the corrupting influence of corporations and big money on the political process.

The joint Judiciary Committee is holding a Hearing on Monday, April 10th, at 1pm, in A-2. Our Amendment, H63, is on the agenda. You can attend and sign up to testify and tell the Committee your thoughts. The Judiciary Committee also accepts written testimony, which I would suggest that you turn in by April 12th so as to be included in the initial info to the Committee. https://malegislature.gov/Committees/Detail/J19

We ask All to use this opportunity to show your support. Our regrets on the short notice.

Also, HD3070, addressing foreign nationals influencing our elections, is now open for co-sponsors until April 11th. We would ask that you contact your State Senator and Representative to support. Go to our site for the updated version, expected in the next day or two.

We expect to be gathering in the State House by 11am to go around and ask legislators to support our efforts. Please contact me if you would like to participate.

Thank You All for your support.

TecsChange and Encuentro 5 (E5) have been working together for years. We urge you to support the continued existence of this important organizing center at this crucial time.

Charlie,
for TecsChange

e5’s Next Decade – Honoring Charles Yancey
Saturday, April 8, 2017 – 26 West Street
http://10th.encuentro5.org
Here is the event’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1950080385220015
Tickets can be had directly at EventBrite

Suren Moodliar notes:

I should say that honoring Charles Yancey is something of a personal matter for me – in the mid-1980s, Charles Yancey helped lead Boston to disinvest from the original Apartheid state, South Africa. As a South African, I feel personally indebted to his efforts. Over the years, he was one of a handful of dependable city councilors to defend working people, communities of color and immigrants. Also joining us that night is the renowned scholar activist, Patrick Bond, who is based in South Africa but whose writings on Palestine, Climate Change, Water, Development, Work Class Struggles and many other topics have helped solidify a pole of radical thinking that serves all our movements! Junot Diaz’s comment about e5, “A pillar of Boston’s progressive community, encuentro5 is the dream of solidarity made true…” applies equally to Councilor Yancey and to Patrick Bond!

http://10th.encuentro5.org
​

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Leslie Lowe
thy42(AT)comcast.net
978-443-5138
Sudbury, MA
March 16, 2017

Local Greening: Use Your Municipal Rights

Residents of every town have well established rights to create local climate justice

• How much power do we have in our town halls to make change?
• How “green” is our town?
• What steps can we take to make it greener?
• How do we prioritize those steps?

The answers to these questions and more at 350 MA MetroWest Node’s “Go Local Greening Night”, April 6th, 7 to 9 pm, Peace Lutheran Church, 107 Concord Road (route 126), Wayland. Light refreshments available.

Terra Friedrichs, former Selectman from Acton, will present what she’s learned about “home rule state”municipal rights and how townspeople use them to stop new pipelines, control unnecessary/destructive construction, limiting/banning the use of plastics, herbicides and even pesticides.

David Ward, a sustainability engineer will discuss how towns can become greener. He’ll present the 350MA-MetroWest Node’s Handy Municipal Assessment Tool that you can use as a survey to see if your town is meeting appropriate green metrics toward a greener and socially just future.

Help each other assess all towns in our region. We’ll break up into groups of people in nearby towns and do a preliminary assessment of our towns, make plans to work with town officials to complete the survey, and urge them to go further.Over time, you can track your town then see how it compares to other towns.

Our Metrowest node public meetings usually happen the first Thursday of the month with locations changing to accommodate learners, supporters, and activists around the region. All are encouraged to sit in on the subgroup meetings for the local initiatives as well as the informal planning group that meets at different times.

For more information about climate change and the metrowest node:
metrowest(AT)350MA.org
https://www.facebook.com/350MAMetrowestNode

We will be rallying to close Guantanamo on Saturday, April 8 from 1 to 2 at Park Street Station on the Boston Common.

Forty one prisoners are left at Guantanamo, including 5 who have been cleared for release.

Trump has been talking about adding more prisoners. This is the opposite of what needs to happen.

Join us to raise the call to get rid of this center of indefinite detention and torture which is a stain on our reputation.

This demo is organized by the Committee for Peace and Human Rights and the Center for International Labor Defense.

For more info, contact Susan McLucas, (617) 776-6524, SusanBMcL(AT)gmail.com.

Ellen Brown, founder of the Public Banking Institute and author of The Public Banking Solution and Web of Debt, will be speaking here in Boston on Friday, March 31, at Encuentro 5, 9 Hamilton Place.

Doors open at 5:30 and the talk begins at 5:45. The talk is free and everyone is welcome. Come hear about the advantages of public banking, from the Bank of North Dakota here in the US, to public banks around the world. Ellen will discuss how the privatized creation of money draws us into an endless cycle of debt, and how public banking offers not only a more sustainable foundation for “common wealth,” but could also address issues with infrastructure and protect us against the next recession.

There will be plenty of opportunities for questions, and to learn more about legislation for a public infrastructure bank here in Massachusetts.

For more information, email bclancy122(AT)earthlink.net or call 978-760-4123.

Encuentro 5 is not wheelchair accessible. Hamilton Place is off Tremont Street, close to Park Street Station on the Red and Green lines.