Somerville Resident Joins May Day Rally for Workers' Rights

Occupy Boston's May Day strike is expected to gain steam as the day goes on.

Mark Hanley, a progressive artist from Somerville, was among the nearly 100 Occupy protesters huddled under Trinity Church in Boston Tuesday to prepare for a International Workers' Day march to Government Center. Hanley held a large banner declaring "Decolonize," which, together with a counterpart banner reading, "To Liberate," was planned to be laid on the steps of City Hall. "I wish it wasn't raining," Hanley said. He's been participating in May Day protests for the past six or seven years, and worker rights for immigrants have been his focus. What Occupiers lacked in numbers on the rainy day they made up for in enthusiasm. "We're really trying to be advocates for workers rights," said Steve Revilak, an Arlington resident who took the …

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Somerville Protesters Sing 'M.T.A.' Before Occupy Boston Rally [VIDEO]

The 1949 campaign song protesting fare hikes in Boston is suddenly relevant again.

Members of Occupy Somerville gathered at Davis Square Station Monday afternoon before riding downtown for an Occupy Boston rally to protest planned fare hikes and service cuts on the MBTA. Before heading into Copley Square for the rally, the Somerville protesters dusted off one of Boston's favorite songs: "M.T.A.," commonly known as "Charlie on the M.T.A." The song was created in 1949 to promote the mayoral campaign of Progressive Party candidate Walter O'Brien, and it was originally written to protest fare hikes on the MTA, the MBTA's predecessor.  Nearly 63 years later, the song maintains much of its relevance. In fact Somerville Occupiers changed just one line, a reference to O'Brien's campaign, before singing the song. They also wrote …

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Today: Occupy Somerville Red Line Ride in Davis Square

Members of Occupy Somerville will "ride the rails" Monday afternoon to oppose fare hikes and service cuts on the MBTA.

Occupy Somerville is taking to the subway Monday afternoon. The group, which formed in December as a spin-off of the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Boston movements, will meet at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Davis Square Station and then ride the T into Boston to join other Boston-area Occupy groups for a rally and public hearing. The Somerville group, along with others, plans to rally against proposed fare hikes and service cuts on the MBTA. Somerville Occupiers will ride the Red Line into Boston for a mass rally in Copley Square. After the rally, Occupiers will attend a 6 p.m. public hearing about the MBTA's proposals at Boston Public Library.

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Occupy Somerville Demonstrators Meet, Discuss Next Steps [Video]

With no camps planned, Occupy Somerville represents an effort to channel the Occupy movement's energy into political and community organization.

  It you're expecting members of the Occupy movement to pitch their tents in Davis Square and stay for the winter, don't hold your breath. Participants in the Occupy Somerville initiative held a general assembly in the square's Statue Park Wednesday night, and the overall consensus was the group needs to focus its time and energy working on issues it deems important—increasing the amount of affordable housing in the city, fighting against home foreclosures, working to make public transportation more accessible and improving labor standards, for instance. "With all the enthusiasm and energy I see in this movement, I can't think of a bigger waste of it than to see it stuck in one park when it could be out on the streets affecting change," …

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Poll: What Happens Now For Occupy Boston?

Tell us what you hope will happen by taking the poll. Tell us what you think will happen in the comment section.

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VIDEO: Occupy Somerville Group Rallies At Bank of America Branch

Members of the Occupy movement in Somerville marched to the local branch to close their accounts Saturday.

  The Occupy movement came to Somerville Saturday morning: Residents, college students, union organizers and others gathered in Davis Square for a rally against Bank of America, which has a branch in the neighborhood. After the rally, the crowd, accompanied by a marching band, walked to the Highland Avenue branch of the bank, where about five people intended to close their accounts. When they arrived, they discovered the bank had locked its doors and lowered the interior security grating.  However, after a brief discussion with the branch manager, those in the group who wanted to close their Bank of America accounts were admitted and allowed to conduct the business without problems, according to Rand Wilson, an organizer of the rally who …

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VIDEO: Somerville Couple Exchanges Vows During Occupy Rally

Also, no raid on Occupy Boston site —for now. Police tell protesters they have at least another night in Dewey Park, despite violating a trespassing notice issued Thursday.

Thursday night, as members of the Occupy Boston movement braced for a potential confrontation with police in Boston's Dewey Square – a confrontation that didn't occur, it turns out – protesters had an unusual reason to celebrate. Two members of the crowd, Aaron Spagnolo, 33, and Nanore Barsoumian, 28, decided to hold an impromptu vow exchange with one of the chaplains of Occupy Boston. The couple, from Somerville, had been engaged for a year. “You know, we kept taking about it, every time there's a protest or something like this – 'why don't we just get married in the middle of it?'” Spagnolo joked. “...Well, the chaplain is here, and I said, 'what the heck, let's just do it.'” “(We) will never forget,” Spagnolo later tweeted. “I couldn't …

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Occupy Movement Coming to Somerville

A rally is planned for Davis Square on Dec. 10. As part of the rally, some residents will close their Bank of America accounts.

  The following information was sent by Rand Wilson: Occupy Wall Street movement spreads to Somerville as residents vow to close accounts at Bank of America branch in Davis Sq.  Kick off rally against corporate greed set for Sat. Dec. 10 at 11:00 am  Local residents will rally to reign in corporate greed and address growing inequality in Somerville and the United States. The rally will be in Davis Sq at 11:00 am on Dec. 10, 2011.  Participants will show their support for fundamental changes to our economic and political systems for a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits of the few. Occupy Somerville is inspired by the larger occupy movement that originated in New York. The group is comprised of diverse range of …

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Rand Wilson

5:06 pm on Friday, December 9, 2011

Wow. Go get 'em Guy!   more ›

Week in Review: Top Stories This Week

WEEK IN REVIEW: Occupy Boston, Liquor Licenses

Also, a Jeopardy champion from Somerville and construction on the East Somerville Community School will resume.

Occupy Boston Occupy Boston protests, connected to similar Occupy Wall Street protests in Manhattan and in other cities around the country, resulted in a series of arrests early Tuesday morning. About 70 students from Tufts University marched into Boston Monday to participate in the protests. Boston Police arrested about 142 people, including 12 people from Somerville. Somerville resident spends seven days as Jeopardy champion Joon Pahk, a 32-year-old Somerville resident and Harvard physics instructor, spent seven days as a champion on Jeopardy, the popular television quiz show. His reign as champion came to an end this week. Pahk won $201,000 on the show. East Somerville Community School moves ahead The city will move ahead with …

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Chris Orchard

1:29 pm on Monday, October 17, 2011

Hey Ron, Above comment deleted. Also, if you look at the bottom of this Boston Herald article (http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1372483&format=&page=2&listingType=Loc#articleFull) there's a PDF of all the people arrested. I was interested to see that, of the Somerville people arrested, there seemed to be a wide range of ages represented.   more ›