New England fightback conference will target banks, Wall Street
By Frank Neisser
Boston
Feb 18, 2009
Activists from around New England will gather Feb. 28 at the union hall of
the Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers Local 8751, for a conference
on the economic crisis and how to fight back. The event is being hosted by USW
8751.
In addition to the union, other endorsers of the conference include
African-American Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner; Prof. Tony Van Der Meer;
Women’s Fightback Network; International Action Center; Bishop Filipe
Teixeira; Rev. Franklin Hobbes of Heal Our Land; Miya X of Fight Imperialism,
Stand Together (FIST); Stonewall Warriors; and many others.
Chuck Turner will address the conference, which will also hear from Larry
Holmes, a national coordinator of the Bail Out the People Movement. A strong
delegation will be participating from the Rhode Island Peoples Assembly in
Providence, including members of DARE and the George Wiley Center. Students and
youth from the Boston Youth Organizing Project plan to attend, as well as
workers from Harvard University who are fighting back against layoffs
there.
The conference comes at a time when workers are under attack in Boston,
around the state and throughout New England. Massachusetts has a $1.5 billion
dollar deficit. Gov. Deval Patrick has announced round after round of budget
cuts and layoffs and has said he will direct federal bailout money to private
developers instead of local communities and people’s programs.
In Boston, the mayor used his State of the City address to demand city
workers take a wage freeze in addition to layoffs. Meanwhile, the school
department announced a budget proposal calling for 15 percent cuts and
dismantling desegregation in public schools. This will be done by eliminating
school bus routes and drastically reducing access to equal, quality education
for children in the African-American and other oppressed communities.
The conference will project a fightback on all these fronts, as well as
continue the struggle by the Women’s Fightback Network and the Heat and
Light Campaign to demand an economic state of emergency, and to fight
foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs. Participants will discuss
mobilizing throughout New England for the April 3-4 March on Wall Street being
organized by the national Bail Out the People Movement.
The Feb. 28 conference is being organized by Bail Out the People Movement,
Boston. It will start at 1 p.m. at the USW Local 8751 hall, 25 Colgate Rd.,
Roslindale, Mass. To endorse, send an e-mail to bopmboston@gmail.com. For
information on the conference and the ongoing fightback, go to
bopm-boston.blogspot.com or call 617-522-6626.
