Occupy Wall Street Bus Trip Stops in Pioneer Valley
From a Western Mass Jobs with Justice press release:
On Wednesday February 1 Occupy Wall Street (OWS) activists will arrive in Northampton as part of a regional movement building tour that will visit 16 cities throughout the Northeast. The goals of the road trip are to form solidarity within the Occupy Movement, foster a culture of listening and build capacity for a strong emergence in the Spring.In each city activities are being organized in conjunction with local occupy groups to share skills, reflect on the movement to date and plan for the future. The schedule of events for the Northampton visit include a film screening of Occupy documentary shorts at the Academy of Music, a rally and march, a Western Mass General Assembly and to round out the two-day affair, a dance party at Haymarket Cafe. See below for the full schedule of events.
OWS activists who will be visiting Northampton are active in a diverse cross section of Occupy Wall Street working groups including En Espanol, Facilitation, Kitchen, Vision & Goals, Live Stream, Feminist Bloc, People of Color, Movement Building, and Direct Action. These are but a few of the working groups at OWS, for a full list visit www.nycga.net. Skill Shares and Trainings with these and other local organizers will take place on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the first of which is a Facilitation Training on Wednesday February 1 at 3pm at First Churches, downtown Northampton. This training will address the ways in which the Occupy Movement has used consensus-based decision making to facilitate all their meetings including General Assemblies which have been seen in communities here in Western Massachusetts and across the world. The trainings on Thursday may include social media, direct action, anti-oppression and movement-building strategies. For updates on the schedule of trainings and locations visit www.occupynorthampton.org.
The OWS bus is currently in Boston where they recently helped allies at Occupy Umass Boston defend against being evicted from their encampment, one of few that remain in the U.S. This past weekend, on Sunday January 30, OWS helped to coordinate a national day of action in solidarity with Occupy Oakland who experienced police brutality on Saturday as they attempted to reclaim a vacant building to use as a community center. Nationally coordinated days of actions have played a key role in the Occupy Movement, we can expect more of this kind of activity in the coming months as there have been calls made for re-occupation in the Spring, a General Strike on May 1 and actions at the G8 Summit in Chicago in May. This bus trip and the continued actions and communications between Occupy groups regionally and nationally is an indicator that the Occupy Movement is alive and well despite the Winter weather and evictions that forced many Occupy encampments out of city squares in the past six months.
The Western Mass General Assembly (GA) will to discuss the further growth of the Occupy Movement nationally and here in the Valley. It will take place on Thursday February 2 at 6:30pm immediately following a march in downtown Northampton. The Western Mass GA is an opportunity for people to come together to share their visions for the future of the Occupy Movement, discuss organizing capacity, inter-occupy alliances and regional movement building. As with all Occupy meetings and events this GA is open to the public. People who have not participated in local Occupy activities to date are strongly encouraged to attend.
Updates and details on the schedule of events are at www.occupynorthampton.org.
OccuBus Schedule for Northampton Visit
Wednesday February 1
Noon: OccuBus arrives from Boston: Welcomed by Valley OccuTrip Working Group
3pm: Facilitation Training at First Churches
6pm: Occupy Cinema and Panel Discussion: The Academy of Music
Thursday February 2
Morning: Skill Share/Training (Haymarket and other locations TBA)
4pm: Rally & March begins at Pulaski Park
6:30pm: Western Mass General Assembly (location TBD)
10pm: Occupy the Dance Floor with DJs Sojorner and Ahmed Samy with special guests. Haymarket Cafe
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
