[Street] Media Strategy: Reframing the Picture of OB
Bruce Ehrlich
brucehrl at gmail.com
Sat Nov 26 13:03:50 EST 2011
Aria - Yes to all. After I sent this I also noticed the incorrect use of
-ism vs. ity. I'm sure there document could use other edits and
improvements as well. Just getting it started here.
Bruce
On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 9:38 AM, Aria Littlhous <aria at littlhous.net> wrote:
> Could there be something on the website that allows "visitors" to become
> "allies"...like a function for forming affinity groups that then attend
> demonstrations? Can we integrate the values of dissent and participation
> into this vision? And, unless your intention is to invite zombies (fine
> with me) please check your definition of spiritualism, vs spirituality.
>
> On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 8:54 AM, Bruce Ehrlich <occupybruce at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> In anticipation of Sunday's media strategy summit, I submit the below
>> idea for consideration. It's my attempt to reframe Occupy Boston not as an
>> intrusion into the city but as an intrinsic part of the Boston experience.
>> -- Bruce
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>> *REFRAMING THE PICTURE OF OCCUPY BOSTON*
>>
>> *A Proposal for Long-Term Occupation*
>>
>>
>>
>> *The people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible
>> right to institute government and to reform, alter, or totally change the
>> same when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
>> -- *Samuel Adams**
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *The [Rose Kennedy Greenway] shall be treated as a public park and as a
>> traditional open public forum without limiting the right of free speech –
>> *M.G.L Chapter 306
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *The Conservancy works to ensure that the Greenway is a thriving and
>> welcoming public amenity that is open to all.* -- Guiding Principles for
>> use of the Rose Kennedy Greenway
>>
>>
>>
>> The Freedom Trail celebrates the history of Boston’s early revolutionary
>> era. But our nation’s founders, including Samuel Adams, understood that
>> the protection of our liberties and freedoms would be an ongoing process.
>> Occupy Boston fills the need, in 2011, for a new movement of Americans to
>> reclaim their democracy.
>>
>>
>>
>> Situated within the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Occupy Boston also realizes
>> the original vision of the Greenway, which was to include a series of civic
>> buildings such as a botanical Garden Under Glass, a Boston history museum,
>> and a cultural center. While those earlier plans have floundered, Occupy
>> Boston has succeed in creating a new kind of civic space that brings
>> vibrant activity to the Greenway and serves as contemporary manifestation
>> of Boston’s revolutionary spirit.
>>
>>
>>
>> Visitors can travel to Plimoth Plantation or Sturbridge Village to see
>> how history was lived in early America. Occupy Boston has become a new
>> destination for families, unions, churches and school groups, who are eager
>> to learn how Americans are still creating their history and how to
>> participate in it.
>>
>>
>> Yet all of this is at risk because the City of Boston has resisted
>> attempts by Occupy Boston to bring more durable structures and other needed
>> health and safety improvements to the site.
>>
>>
>>
>> Occupy Boston strives to create an improved facility, one that would
>> enhance the health and safety of the resident occupiers, provide an
>> improved experience for visitors to the site, and better meet the needs of
>> nearby businesses, workers and residents. This would require the
>> installation of winter tents, semi-permanent structures, and some minor
>> infrastructure improvements (primarily electricity, water and waste
>> systems). The City of Boston has routinely allowed similar improvements
>> for entertainment and sporting events such as Peter Pan, the Enchanted
>> Village, and The Boston Marathon. Occupy Boston, an organized expression
>> of public participation in American democracy, deserves no less. Occupy
>> Boston has already most of the funding that would be required to finance
>> the proposed improvements.
>>
>>
>>
>> Occupy Boston’s Garden of Democracy consists primarily of a tent city
>> that houses the key functions of this new political movement, including:
>> food, information, general assembly, media, medical, library, logistics,
>> spiritualism, and housing. A greenhouse that will be constructed on the
>> site of the current garden will extend the growing season year round and
>> serve as an educational center for sustainable food production – Dewey
>> Square will finally have a Garden Under Glass.
>>
>>
>>
>> New structures containing the above activities will enable Occupy Boston
>> to better accommodate the needs of visitors and schoolchildren, while
>> enhancing the day-to-day functioning of the site for its primary political
>> purposes. Visitors will: gain hands-on experience in the use of new
>> social media to communicate social and political ideas; be able to connect
>> and communicate directly with other occupations and social movements around
>> the nation and the globe; observe and participate in the horizontal
>> democracy of the General Assembly, a contemporary analogue of the
>> traditional New England town meeting; and have an opportunity to spend
>> several night as an occupier in one of the tents set-aside for overnight
>> visitors.
>>
>>
>> Occupy Boston's Garden of Democracy is an innovative making history
>> experience where visitors are encouraged to envision the future of America
>> -- There's nothing quite like it!
>>
>>
>>
>> *Media components*
>>
>>
>>
>> Occupy Boston website: add a Visitors Page link to the top banner on the
>> home page.
>>
>>
>>
>> Informational articles and advertisements for publications targeted to
>> church, labor, civic, and educational groups.
>>
>>
>>
>> Letters-to-the editor of the Globe, Herald, and community papers that
>> describe the positive experience of visiting Occupy Boston.
>>
>>
>>
>> Op-ed articles supporting Occupy Boston written by sympathetic civic
>> leaders and opinion makers.
>>
>>
>>
>> Outreach/Visitor brochures distributed to church and schools groups,
>> unions, etc., inviting these groups to visit the Occupy Boston and
>> otherwise participate in the movement.
>>
>>
>>
>> Visitor guides to be distributed at the Info Tent.
>>
>>
>>
>> Occupy Boston Teachers Guide – a bibliography and collection of materials
>> about the financial crisis, economic inequality, the influence of money in
>> politics, the 99% movement in the United States, and how to get involved.
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> 'A coalition is not a family. It's not where you feel comfortable or where
> you go to see people you like; it's where your boundaries are tested. It's
> where you get work done." Barbara Smith, African American feminist
>
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