Occupy Boston Update, IV
Aria Littlhous
If you would like to dialogue about anything in this e-note, please put your comments here:
http://voices.occupyboston.org/forum/general-discussion/arialittlhous/155
Forward!
1. OB Strike Debt Meeting: 1/14/13, Community Church of Boston, 585 Boylston St. 6-10:00 pm. More info about the national campagin here: http://strikedebt.org/
2. Can New England Feed Itself? Greenport Forum: 1/15/13, more info below.
3. Q: How easy should it be to get dirty energy? A: Not Very.
- On 1/4/13 Murtaza Nek, an MIT grad who many will remember from Occupy Boston, was arrested in East Texas as part of the ongoing Tar Sand Blockade. http://www.occupyboston.org/
- Occupy Kalamazoo is gearing up to host NAT GAT 13 at the end of August in conjunction w/Global Noise and other allies. The theme of the Gathering will be COMMUNICATION. The main action will be against the Enbridge Pipeline.
- Tar Sands Action & Occupy New England Regional Gathering, 1/26. Sign up for buses here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dGhtcEZjZDY5eHR6dnZrOGl1bkVNc1E6MQ More info below.
4. MLK Day, 1/21: Why all this white space? See info and editorial below.
5. JPNET is hiring an organizer, see below.
OB General Assembly Schedule Change: Consented to 11/25/12: the General Assembly will meet twice a month starting immediately: the first Tuesday of each month from 7-9:30 and the third Sunday of each month from 4-5:30. (On Sunday the GA will be followed immediately by the Strategic Action Assembly, starting half an hour after its usual 5 p.m. Sunday start time.)
Join the Community Forum List Serv! This is the best way to get keep in touch with OB. https://lists.mayfirst.org/mailman/listinfo/community_forum
A.
4. Where are the MLK Day Occupy actions?
The one O. action that I know about is happening in Detroit. On the same day there’s an anti-war action and a disinauguration. That’s all I got.
Why? Because submerged in all the hullabaloo about Facebook’s predisposition to nosiness are two much more important bits of information. One: for monetary, not political reasons, FB’s business plan makes it very difficult to distribute information about Events across pages. Two: FB is “where the action is” (listed.) There are other MLK Day actions, I just haven’t got the finger power to find them all, or to get that information to the people who need it.
What is Internet Organizing?
Organizing is different from learning. You, we all, can learn a lot about political malfeasance, surveillance tactics and class warfare on the Internet. And we can pass that information along to our friends along with the meme of the day. But that’s that not organizing, that’s education. Education is good, but it’s not organizing.
Organizers need information about real time events, that are preferably going to happen in the future and they need information about other groups who might be interested in the same kind of real-time events. De-centralization makes finding this kind of information--even if you restrict yourself to the Occupy ocean--very, very difficult. No number of centralized pages can stop the proliferation of yet more pages filled with interesting tidbits that are, when it comes right down to it, not all that useful.
Share Actions, not Cats.
You can help organizers everywhere----you can be an organizer yourself---if while noodling on Facebook or wherever you noodle---you ask yourself, “Who needs to know about this Event? and then share it with them. If we all shared the Detroit MLK Day Action with one other Occupy, I can guarantee that some Occupier somewhere, maybe more than a few, would show up in Detroit and that other Occupies would hold solidarity actions. And because no one wants to be in solidarity alone, before you know it we’d all be on the same page.
---with best intentions,
A.
Something Else to Think About When You Think about FB
“Paranoia makes actual intervention unnecessary”.
peace and love,
A.
JUMPS!
2. Can New England Feed Itself?
Greenport Forum - January 15 at 7pm.
Presented by Hannah Ramer, researcher for New England Food System Vision. New England presents a tremendous opportunity to create a healthy, resilient,
sustainable food system. By growing more food locally we can improve our
health, bolster our economy, protect our environment, and empower our
citizens. However, scaling up local and regional agriculture is a great
challenge to achieve. How much quality cropland and pasture land is
potentially available? How do we connect all our citizens with good,
healthy food? Our vision explores connections between production and
consumption; farming, fishing, and eating. Join us to discuss these
critical issues. Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Ave (corner of
Magazine and Putnam). For more information contact steven....@gmail.com
3. Trailbreaker Tar Sands Pipeline Action
On January 26th, 2013, ONE and 350 New England are hosting a day of regional action for the environment in Portland Maine! Topics on the table include; fracking in the Pioneer Valley; the Northern Pass project; the Vermont Yankee power plant; and, of course, the infamous Trailbreaker tar sands pipeline! After the rally, we will be meeting to discuss this year's events. The event might be catered by Food Not Bombs Portland, so come on an empty stomach!" More details to come. If your group needs funds to get to Portland, we might be able help."We're still working on booking the spot & getting FNB to cater for us. We need point people to organize the logistics for the trip; if OB could use some funds to bus people up, that would help a lot. Mary McCarthy with Climate Action NOW MA is getting people from her organization to come up, and other people in the state are working on coming up. I 'll update you with more info as I get it. And happy New year to you too! Contact: miles....@gmail.com
Below is the link to sign up to reserve a seat on the bus(es) that will take people from Boston to the 1/26 rally & march against the northeast tar sands pipeline in Portland, ME. The bus will leave at 9am (exact location TBA but likely at a Red Line T stop) and will return by 6pm to the same location. The cost is approximately $20 per person (sliding-scale). We will send you the PayPal payment link once it's set up.
For more info about these buses, contact sop...@betterfutureproject.org.
Sign up for the bus here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dGhtcEZjZDY5eHR6dnZrOGl1bkVNc1E6MQ
5. Seeking a Community Organizer for JP NET
Job Opening
The Institute for Policy Studies and the JP New Economy Transition (JP
NET) are *seeking to hire a full-time community organizer*, focused
on engaging the diverse communities within JP and promoting the
transition to a new economy.
The organizer will conduct outreach to Jamaica Plain residents,
coordinate neighborhood events, supervise youth interns, liaise with
community-based groups, mobilize JP NET participants and support
leadership development for volunteer-led initiatives.
I'm hoping you'll help spread the word about this opportunity through
your networks - we're looking at a pretty quick turnaround, with
*applications due January 15th*. * The position description is available
at this link: *
http://jptransition.org/2012/12/17/organizer-job/
<http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=W6l3%2FkiyRRjKCPUgOyM85QbNe7AA5OIY>
Email inquiries should be sent to Samantha at jobs...@gmail.com
<mailto:jobs...@gmail.com>.