#OccupyBoston: a beginner's guide by a beginner

who is this all about? all of us.

Occupy Wall Street doesn't need a manifesto; the message is as clear as a bell:

Wall St. broke the economy, badly; we're all still suffering for it.

Wall St never got held responsible for it, and now they're using their power and their money to stop us from fixing the mess.

They broke the economy and then they ate the political system.

So not only do we have a broken economy, we do not have a way to fix the broken economy.

--Rachel Maddow on her 10/12/11 show(lead-in to interview with Ron Suskind)

Some quick notes of my personal observations/thoughts about Occupy Boston, with a specific eye toward orienting anyone who hasn't been down to Occupy Boston yet. I've not been to the Occupy site too much; I went for the first time during the day on Oct. 11 and during the evening General Assembly on Oct. 12 for about an hour from 8-9PM. [UPDATE: I've added a separate new post on Occupy, re: the political implications] [UPDATE: another Needhamite writes a great piece on #Occupy, with lots of orientation for the Occupy Beginner.] 

Take my notes and interpretation as my own limited perspective and observations. I am looking forward to going out to Occupy Boston more, including to show support, participate and talk to the people who are there.

Lay of the Land

I first visited Occupy the day after Mayor Menino ordered police to drive protesters/occupiers away from a new section of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. 100 people were arrested. Many of those who were NOT arrested were, on Thu., away at the courthouse to help the people who were in custody post bail. So it was not as crowded with people as I imagine it would have been on a different day.

I was impressed by the organization, not simply of the tents themselves (which were orderly and kempt), but also with the "stations" for various functions like "Information" and "Logistics" and "First Aid" and even a "Library" (see full photostream on Flickr at link above)

Occupy vol./participant sorting thru donated medical supplies

At the INFORMATION and OUTREACH tent, there were lists of links/email addresses to get to plugged in, to get involved, volunteer, etc.

How to Help Out

Each tent station has continually updated white boards about their immediate needs. My understanding is that these needs are also continually updated on the Occupy Boston website (look on the right side of page near bottom; "Needs" link). Occupiers are also tweeting their immediate needs under the hashtages #NeedsOfTheOccupiers + #OccupyBoston.

Anyone going into Boston to visit/participate at Occupy can check needs and bring some supplies if you're so inclined.

Once there, you can go to the Logistics tent (or just ask someone who's there) to ask about their priority volunteer tasks at the moment. You can also grab a sign from the Sign Tent and do some visibility.

I'm going to try to find some fixed times in my schedule to go and pitch in. Wouldn't it be great to bring a Suburbs team semi-routinely?

SUBURBANITES FOR OCCUPY BOSTON

RELATED: 

http://howtooccupy.org/2011/11/04/resources-for-small-town-occupations/

INEVITABLE PROBLEMS:
http://blog.thephoenix.com/BLOGS/phlog/archive/2011/11/08/occupy-boston-s-idle-douchebag-safety-issue.aspx