Hundreds Rally in Harvard Square for Trayvon Martin, Against Pending State Law That Would Protect Martin’s Killer in Mass

The hundreds of people who rallied in the Harvard Square pit tonight weren’t just there to demand justice for Trayvon Martin. Nor were they merely there to call attention to the atrocity that was unleashed on the state of Florida, where the unarmed 17-year-old Martin was shot and killed last month by George Zimmerman, an overzealous neighborhood watchdog who has yet to be arrested.

The throng of activists and onlookers was also calling attention to an alarming situation in the commonwealth – one that could soon lead to any number of comparable incidents happening right here. It seems there’s a sticky piece of legislation floating in the Massachusetts legislature – Senate Bill 661 – that would protect murderers like Zimmerman.

http://tinyurl.com/6uarqv8

Occupy Wall Street plans return to spotlight – but in what form?

Demonstrators torn over whether to concentrate on economic inequality or to move towards protesting police brutality.

http://tinyurl.com/6vyqs68

Occupy Earth: State Of The Environment Fundamentally Linked to Economic Injustice

From New York to St. Louis to Los Angeles, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) will be buzzing with spring activities throughout the United States. One of its many pending actions is to join forces with the environmental movement to launch Earth Month on March 24.

Dubbed “Disrupt Dirty Power,” the environmentally-focused occupy movement will support direct actions around the U.S. and abroad to call for both environmental and economic justice. These actions, according to the website www.disruptdirtypower.org, seek to “evict Wall Street polluters,” focusing on “dirty banks, big oil, big coal, fracking, uranium.” It claims that “the climate can’t wait and neither can we.” Initiated by an OWS affinity group called 99forEarth, the effort has been joined by various environmental groups.

http://tinyurl.com/7rzfs74

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/24/12” »

Facing protests from Occupy groups, Southern CA car dealerships pull advertising from Rush Limbaugh show

Toyota Carlsbad, Lexus Carlsbad and Lexus Escondido dealerships have pulled advertising from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show on KOGO-AM 600 – a move that has prompted local groups to cancel a protest they had planned for this weekend.

Occupy Encinitas and Women’s Occupy San Diego were planning to picket outside the Toyota Carlsbad dealership to protest its support of Limbaugh, who they say is guilty of recently using “misogynistic hate speech toward women,” according to a news release from the group.

“Mr. Limbaugh’s misogynistic hate speech toward women was most recently demonstrated in a three-day diatribe disparaging law school student Sandra Fluke; including a demand that Ms. Fluke make and post ‘sex tapes on the internet’ and a characterization of women who use birth control as ‘sluts’ and ‘prostitutes,'” the news release reads.

http://tinyurl.com/7hm79jp

Federal student loan interest rate set to double

Federal subsidized Stafford loan interest rates are set to increase to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent  for undergraduate students on July 1.

Western Michigan University Director of Financial Aid Mark Delorey says the federal government increasing rates fits perfectly into a pattern of “eroding support” already displayed.

http://tinyurl.com/7kufvv4

Occupiers march for Trayvon Martin at “Million Hoodie March”

On Wednesday night, around 5,000 people took to the streets of New York to demand justice for Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African-American who was killed by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, last month. Martin was armed only with a pack of Skittles when Zimmerman shot him, claiming the boy looked “suspicious.” Martin’s crime – the same one committed by Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Ramarley Graham and others – appears to have been walking while black. Zimmerman has not been charged in the killing, despite a national outcry.

Organizers of the “Million hoodie march” for Trayvon Martin asked protesters to converge at Manhattan’s Union Square on Wednesday evening wearing hooded sweatshirts, to symbolically highlight the profiling used against non-white youths in hoodies. The plaza, from which Occupy supporters were evicted by police the night before, was once again full of Occupy participants and hundreds of others galvanized by the Trayvon Martin case. Many young, black marchers donned hoodies and held signs reading, “Am I next?”

http://tinyurl.com/72adnwj

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/23/12” »

Two arrested on Dewey Square during Occupy Boston women’s march

Video of aftermath of two kids getting arrested on Dewey Square — and of Boston Police Officers taunting the protesters. According to OBers in the video, the arrestees were goofing around on a jungle gym.

http://tinyurl.com/6vduq3t

Two protesters held after Occupy march

Two men who participated in an Occupy Boston march Tuesday night were arrested after climbing on structures in Dewey Square, police said. Boston police Captain Thomas Lee said the suspects, whom he did not identify, were among about 50 protesters who began marching in the downtown area at about 9 p.m. Lee said about 20 people marched to a lawn in Dewey Square, where the suspects were arrested at about 11 p.m. It was not clear Tuesday night what they would be charged with. Ariel Oshinsky, an Occupy Boston media volunteer, said the march was a gesture of solidarity with female Occupy protesters whom the group says were victims of police brutality Saturday in New York.

http://tinyurl.com/72tk664

Occupy Boston budding with warm weather

Occupy Boston is “out of hibernation” according to one of the group’s members, and they have plans to reoccupy, although when and where remains a mystery.

“We budgeted a certain amount of money for [reoccupying] and we have a tactical group putting something together,” said Robin Jacks, one of the group’s founders.

But Mayor Thomas Menino won’t stand for the group reclaiming public land.

http://tinyurl.com/8yoqcq9

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/22/12” »

Community Stands With OWS To Condemn NYPD Violence

Yesterday, members of the New York City Council decried the NYPD’s behavior during the March 17th re-eviction of Liberty Square. Today, Occupy Wall Street protesters joined with members of other American communities routinely targeted by police, and called for the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly for authorizing brutality and extreme abuse of police power.

“Hardly a day goes by without another story of NYPD abuse hitting the news and undermining the ability of the community to trust the police department,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman, in a statement on Monday. “We know the NYPD is watching us, but who is watching the NYPD? New York City is in desperate need of an Inspector General to bring strong, meaningful NYPD oversight, as well as a strong ban on religious and racial profiling. It’s time for the City Council to quickly act and pass these important reforms.”

http://tinyurl.com/7jtx9es

Calling for Police Commissioner’s Resignation, Occupy Wall Street Teams Up With Victims of NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk

Occupy Wall Street protesters have issued a joint call with members of New York City’s black, Latino and Muslim communities for New York City’s police commissioner to resign.

http://tinyurl.com/7r45wdz

99% v 1%: the data behind the Occupy movement

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/73uoqgx

The JOBS Act is so Criminogenic that it Guarantees Full-Time Jobs for Criminologists

The “Jumpstart Our Business Startups” Act, the comically forced effort to create a catchy acronym, is the most cynical bill to emerge from a cynical Congress and Administration.  It is an exemplar of why Congressional approval ratings are well below those of used car dealers.  The JOBS Act is something only a financial scavenger could love.  It will create a fraud-friendly and fraud-enhancing environment. It will add to the unprecedented level of financial fraud by our most elite CEOS that has devastated the U.S. and European economies and cost over 20 million people their jobs.

Financial fraud is a prime jobs killer.

http://tinyurl.com/7lvqnhd

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/21/12” »

Small Meetings of Occupy, Germinating the Seeds of Democracy

There is a side of the Occupy movement that does not consist of street marches and confrontations with police. It doesn’t involve the occupation of parks or shipyards. It is a side that receives little to no press, but in the end may be one of the most important aspects of the movement: The community meeting. There are scheduled meetings listed practically every night of the week on the Occupy Portland Calendar. Some are planning meetings, some are lecture meetings, some are for team-building. There are also community cell meetings that do not make it to the calendar-small groups, quietly working behind the scene to network, organize and create change.

http://tinyurl.com/8yx96z8

Occupy Northampton parlays with Northampton officials

The protesters said they wanted city money spent on items such as food for the hungry and orchards, and spoke out against tax breaks for corporations like Coca-Cola and Kollmorgen. They also said the city does not need the $20 million police facility currently being built.

Council President William H. Dwight proposed a meeting to discuss these issues and Monday night came to fruition. Lisa DePiano, an organizer with the group, started the evening by outlining the topics and going ove the hand signal the group uses to express approval, disapproval and the wish that someone would stop talking.

Those in attendance then separated into five groups to address economic development, civil iberties, public space, civic engagement and corporate accountability. Names were exchanged, hand signals reviewed and the talking was on.

http://tinyurl.com/7drkvqm

Occupy University of Rhode Island, with singing help from Rrraging Grrranies, protests rising tuition

Political theater came to the regular meeting of the Board of Governors for Higher Education Monday as Occupy URI and the Rrraging Grrrannies of Greater Westerly drove home the point that high tuition is sinking college students.

The group, including a half-dozen women wearing oversize hats, sang “Bail Out the Students,” their original lyrics set to the tune of “Beer Barrel Polka.”

http://tinyurl.com/893eutl

Continue reading “The OB Media Rundown for 3/20/12” »