suren's blog

As we reach out to our friends and neighbors seeking assurance that everyone is safe, Mass. Global Action and encuentro5 express our shock and grief at the horrific bombing visited upon our city. We reject this act of violence and remain steadfast in seeking the peaceful resolution of all conflicts.

Resources

• Housing to offer?
• Google People Finder
• Boston Hotline (may help locate friends/family): 617-635-4500

Thanks to Doug Greene for helping organize this event under the auspices of the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture. Visit the event description here.

Thanks to Doug Greene for helping organize this event under the auspices of the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture (together with Mass. Global Action and the Downtown Workers Center and for recording this video. Visit the event description here.

Friday, June 22nd, 2012, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.  Occupy Boston Information & Technology (OBIT) is proud to present a consensus building tool focused on accessing direct democracy and using technology to influence political outcomes at the state and federal levels.

While many carry beliefs that electoral politics are tainted by corrupt practices and big money Super PACS, there are others who still believe that it is important that voters leverage their power through actively challenging their elected officials to speak for the people

On June 22 we will look at the various ways that technology is being used to impact true democratic practices and get more people involved in the drafting and revision of proposed legislation.

Thanks to Doug Greene for organizing this event under the auspices of the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture and recording this video.

Dorotea Manuela from the Boston May Day Committee and a comrade kick off the poster-making session for this Tuesday's May Day actions.

Bill McKibben addresses the Global Teach In from DMC/MGA/e5 on Vimeo.

View Global Teach-In in a larger map

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012, 12 noon - 4:00 p.m. - The Global Teach-In will take place simultaneously in seven countries and multiple cities. This interactive and participatory event will include discussions by experts, grassroots activists and citizens at large concerned about developing solutions to policy problems and creating alternative institutions.  

Featuring - Gar Alperovitz, Ellen Brown, Pamela Brown, Nicholas Caleb, Colin Hines, Oscar Kjellberg, Bill McKibben

From Boston: Aaron Tanaka (Boston Workers Alliance) and Paul Shannon (Majority Agenda Project)

Austria: Vienna - Canada: Kelowna, British Columbia; Toronto, Ontario - South Africa: Durban - Sweden: Stockholm - United Kingdom: Birmingham, England; Edinburgh, Scotland; London, England - United States Ann Arbor, Michigan; Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; Boston, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont; Chicago, Illinois; Madison, Wisconsin; New York, New York; Olympia, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Washington, DC - Venezuela: Caracas

RSVP: On Facebook

Thanks to Doug Greene for shooting this video.

Carl Finamore on the Arab Spring

Friday, March 23rd, 2012, 6:00 p.m. Carl Finamore, a leading journalist will present a first hand report about Egypt since the beginning of the revolution.

The revolution one year ago toppled the Israeli-American backed dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak. But Mubarak has been replaced by an American-Israeli backed military dictatorship. This regime is openly hostile to the rights of women, to the desires of youth oppositionists, and to the needs of millions of impoverished workers – all evidence the basic issues remain unresolved, just as the basic power structure remains intact.

An Evening with Gamelyn Oduardo - A Strike Organizer

Saturday, March 17th, 2012, 7:30 p.m. Join us for an evening with Gamelyn Oduardo. Last spring, students at the University of Puerto Rico waged a militant, ten-month strike fending off devastating cuts, tuition hikes, and privatization schemes. As a strike leader and law student, Oduardo served on the student coordinating committee for the strike at the Rio Piedras campus in the united effort to defend students against the attacks on public education. He is coming to share his experiences and draw from the Boston occupy movement as we defend our rights and communities. 

Friday, February 3, 2012, 5:00 p.m. El Movimiento hosts a screening of "Knowledge is Power: The Black Power Mixtape, 1967-1975." For more information and to plug in, contact Fernando, fjrodriguez787 [at] gmail [dot] com or call 857-222-9203. $5.00 suggested donation. See full page (click on title above) for a short preview.

Thursday, February 9, 2012, 7:00 p.m. Author, activist and BC sociologist Charlie Derber speaks to his most recent book, Marx's Chost: Midnight Conversations on Changing the World. He will be joined by Alexandra Pineros Shields, Brian Kwoba and Genevieve Butler. From the publisher: An American sociologist (Derber) travels to London's Highgate cemetery, where Karl Marx is buried. A surprise encounter with Marx's ghost, which reveals insights into the great revolutionary’s personality and biography, leads to a night-long conversation between Derber and the ghost on important issues of the day: the economic crisis, globalization; climate change, war, racism, left- and right-wing politics, the future of capitalism, new economic models emerging in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, and revolutionary activism by citizens in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya—even Wisconsin. The ghost reconsiders his theories as he speaks eloquently about American labor, environmental, peace, social justice, civil rights, immigrant, and gender and anti-racist struggles. Their engrossing, funny, and provocative conversation, interrupted by appearances from ghosts such as John Maynard Keynes, offers a new vision of the stunning relevance and tragic flaws of the historical Marx, who now reveals a surprising Great Transition to a transformed future. Watch this space for a review coming soon!

Sunday, January 14, 2012, 1:00 p.m. Raed Jarrar is an Iraqi-Palestinian architect, blogger and political analyst who was in Iraq during the U.S. invasion in 2003 and has recentlyreturned from another trip. He is a former AFSC and Peace Action staff person who provided constant briefings to peace activists throughout the war as well as working with Congressman Delahunt's office to develop opposition to the war in Congress.  He collected his and his family's blog posts into The Iraq War Blog, An Iraqi Family's Inside View of the First Year of the Occupation, published as a book in 2008.

This event is organized by OCCUPY BOSTON - FREE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY

Friday, January 20, 2012, 6:00 p.m. Join Immanuel Ness and Elaine Bernard for a panel discussion on From Occupy to Workers Control sponsored by the Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series and hosted by encuentro 5.

The Occupy Movement is taking new and exciting steps as it continues to reshape political possibilities (such as reclaiming foreclosed homes).

The discussion of how to organize a society that represents the interests and aspirations of the 99% is a debate that is being held across Occupy sites. What would it mean to really take the Occupy Movement into the workplace? Into the heart of the economic system itself? And how to do it?

All of those invited to speak at this event contributed to a recent Haymarket Book "Ours to Master and to Own."