[Street] meeting today, location Transportation Building
Joseph Ramsey
jgramsey at gmail.com
Mon Jan 16 14:59:29 EST 2012
Thanks again, Katie, for keeping things in focus:
*On #2, re: Message*: I agree that it would be a very good idea, and very
much in the spirit of Occupy Boston, to focus on building public awarenesss
(and opposition/outrage) about the history here, especially the political
decisions and restructuring, like "Forward Funding" from 2000, that set up
the MBTA for the current crisis, and in fact for perpetual and escalating,
financial crisis. And also to highlight the profits being made off this
debt crunch by various finance capitalist institutions in the city.
*Towards that end* we could really use a *"Why is the T in crisis
anyway?"*sort of articlel/eaflet/pamphlet. IN ADDITION TO, the broader
"
*Occupy/Defend the T from attack"* type stuff.
*At the same time*, I think we can and should help to show people how these
sorts of funding cuts and rate hikes may be seen as part of a longer
range effort to privatize public services, altogether. What does this look
like: Basically 1% serving politicians and financiers work together to
starve a public program of services until its social support erodes, (think
about what is happening in public education) then they sell the public the
"solution" of privatization (think: charter schools!).
*The union T-worker* I spoke with yesterday is convinced that these cuts
are a prelude to privatizing various T services. There's big money to be
made by capitalists in going this route, albeit at the expense of T riders
and workers alike!
*In terms of key messaging points*: The fact that around 30 cents of every
dollars the T spends goes to pay interest on its (privately held) debts,
and the fact that most of this debt came from the Big Dig (which benefits
mainly car-drivers, and their employers) and was unceremoniousy dumped on
the T in 2000, both need to be exposed. I think Occupy Boston could do
some really creative stuff to help bring out these points. Also we should
bring out the fact that a sales tax is both an unreliable, and a a
*regressive* way to fund a needed social service. We can and should--in
the spirit of Occupy--bring in the 99%/1% language here. "Chop from the
top!" "Make the rich who have profited from this system pay for its
maintenance, etc!" Whether we make specific policy demands is a
separate--and debatable-- question.
I* wouldn't want us to be so policy focused* that we lose the opportunity
to raise, continually and creatively, the BIG picture symbols and ideas:
"We are the 99%" etc. The fundamental question that I want to continually
raise, in this and every campaign is:
*"Why, when we (the 99%) are the vast majority and hold so much potential
power, should we tolerate a state of affairs where the vast majority of
social wealth--wealth that we create!-- is controlled by a tiny fraction of
the population (the 1%), and where this minority gets to set the political
agenda about what is "realistic" and what is "necessary," at our expense!"*
Best,
Joe
On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 1:48 PM, Katie Gradowski <katie at occupyboston.org>wrote:
> Hey all!
>
> I can't go to any more meetings until I get shit done, but I have some
> notes from last night on Occupy the T.
>
> Emailed to street, which is having a meeting tonight at 5, AND to the
> newly formed "occupy the T" list (which might want to go to the street
> meeting tonight to touch base on next steps). To recap: here are some
> of the big questions that remain after the two action summits.....
>
> 1. *Coalition-building within and beyond OB* -- There seems to be loose
> consensus that whether or not we specifically work with other groups, we
> need to coordinate with them and make sure we're not compromising wider
> actions that are in the works. Also seems to be a lot of interest, but
> not a lot of forward direction beyond street from other working group.
> Given that -- and given that street doesn't have capacity to
> single-handedly build campaign within OB, it might make sense to build our
> actions around this larger coalition, rather than other groups within OB
>
> 2. * Staying on message! (and figuring out what our message is)* -
> Gunner (of media - also planned many successful campaigns outside of OB)
> suggested that we target message directly to the banks and debt, rather
> than just calling out the cuts -- that the OB-specific critique should be
> on forward funding and the role of banks in manufacturing the T crisis. I
> couldn't agree more. I also think we need to do some educating within OB
> (writing up a well-researched blog post on the debt issue, hosting a
> teach-in in preparation for actions) to really make sure we're on message
> and on the issues.
>
> 3. *Building awareness within OB: * To make all this happen, we need
> to make sure we're on point and on the issues -- and have meetings be
> forward-leaning, towards actions and organization. To start building that
> campaign, we need to let people know exactly what the issues are! Tyson
> offered to spearhead blog post - anyone want to help? (I can, but am also
> quickly getting swamped) Next step: teach-in with FSU? (can we bring
> in someone from SATC or ACE? thoughts on this?).
>
> 4. * Next steps. * Do we have a point person who is designated to work
> with ACE + T Rider's Union + Somerville groups? It seems like this can
> mostly be at a small scale, with one or two people going to the relevant
> meetings and checking back. There IS a campaign here, whether we're
> central to it or not, and it's important to map out exactly what our place
> is within that story and work to support it.
>
> Much of the conversation last night focused around message and
> coalition-building, with the assumption that tactics and actions will
> emerge out of that. I can't take on a whole lot around this at the
> moment, but am happy to help where I can! Please let me know how the
> meeting goes -- if those who have been more involved can check in on next
> steps, that would also be helpful.
>
> All best, thanks!
>
> Katie
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 8:12 AM, Ben Janos <ben at occupyboston.org> wrote:
>
>> Hey y'all,
>>
>> We're meeting at 5 today. SEIU 615 (where I am working on getting a
>> regular meeting space) is not open today to celebrate MLK Day. So, we'll
>> meet in the Food Court at the Transportation Building. The agenda right now
>> is pretty open, but I reckon we'll talk about Occupy the T and anything
>> else you folks want. Suggestions for Agenda Topics?
>>
>> In Solidarity,
>> Ben
>>
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>
>
> --
> Due to the present financial situation, the light at the end of the tunnel
> will be switched off to save on electrical costs until further notice.
>
>
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