February 2006 - Issue 9

Hey—we’ve got an office!

We are happy to report two wonderful events: (1) the election of the first ever Green-Rainbow Party member, Luc Schuster, to the Cambridge school committee, and (2) the opening of the Mystic River Green-Rainbow Action (MRGRA) office at 186 Hampshire Street (rear) near Inman Square.

Defending abortion rights—on the street

Anti-abortionists verbally abuse, videotape, and physically harass anyone trying to enter our clinics. They prevent women from receiving healthcare, threaten clinic staff, assault patients, and vandalize offices. Our first pro-choice clinic action outside Planned Parenthood in Allston was on an ordinary weekend in August. Now we come on the second Saturday of every month, when the abortion opponents make a show of force.

Tasty Diner Returns to Harvard Square

You slog along Mass Avenue toward the center of the Square. At Holyoke Center, the snow-confounded shouts are becoming sharp and insistent. Around the corner of JFK Street, there is the gaunt preacher with a Rudy Vallee megaphone, churning the blizzard with his own steaming howls, in a Harvard Square apparently deserted but, in fact, crowded with familiar spirits.

From New Orleans

Steve Iskovitz is in New Orleans helping with Katrina relief efforts. He is sending us reports of his experiences there.

New guy on the school committee says politics isn’t just for the experts

Luc Schuster knew it was time. He knew that Cambridge's public schools were hemorrhaging students—losing 7 percent of the school population just this past year.

War budgets threaten progress on mental health rights

As both a consumer and current student of Human Services, I was searching for answers to the "human needs" funding crisis. I inadvertently stumbled onto a flyer calling for ending the Iraqi war and to instead fund programs that will essentially enhance human lives by fulfilling the U.S. population’s human needs. It raises the question that: "How many more billions will be looted from vital social needs such as jobs, health care, and social security?"

Emergency Communities

Aside from helping the locals, in our own way, to move back here, for better or worse, we are building something. It's not this particular camp, so much as the organization, and general idea, of Emergency Communities.

Chuck Turner: On confronting the three evils

Speech given at the "Retracing Our Steps" Rally, October 30th, 2005

Venezuela dispatches

Eli Beckerman has traveled to Venezuela for the World Social Forum. His blog for the trip is called Viaje al otro mundo.

“I’m gonna do it!”

"I’m gonna do it!!" Those were the words that came out of Luc Schuster’s mouth on an evening in early June when he decided he would be a candidate for Cambridge School Committee.

Bhopal’s message: reject bioterror lab

"Human beings may lie, but the trees that never bore leaves since the night of December 2nd, 1984 would not," says a 65-year-old man in Bhopal, India. He was exposed to a lethal gas leak from the Union Carbide (UC) pesticide factory 21 years ago. He has been breathless and unable to work ever since.

Richard Williams, US political prisoner, 1947-2005

Richard Williams, born in Beverly, lived in Somerville where he worked at the New England Free Press before going underground with the Jonathan Jackson Brigade, which carried out actions against corporations trading with Apartheid South Africa. Jaan Laaman and Ray Luc Levasseur were Richard Williams’ comrades in the Jonathan Jackson Brigade. Jamila is Ray’s partner. Levasseur was released from prison last year.

Feds block Boston police testimony; ACLU joins Picariello legal defense team

Associate Justice Paul K. Leary was annoyed. "Oh, this is a zoo. I want these people out of the courtroom and a guard at the door."

Cities moving police headquarters away from cores

City manager of Cambridge, mayor of Somerville, and town manager of Watertown are all bent on getting their police headquarters out of their population centers—fast.

Why is this man walking in the street?

One unintended consequence of using bricks on sidewalks is to create a barrier.

How the Co-op elects its Board

An abridged version of this article appears in the street edition of the Bridge.

New Orleans evictions spark protest against Boston landlord

Tenants rights activists are protesting the eviction of people in Louisiana by a notorious Boston landlord.

‘Radical’ changes in housing programs— should we worry?

In Cambridge, Moving To Work has almost nothing to do with getting a job, and Rent Simplification is not all that simple. Cambridge is one of 32 U.S. cities where federally subsidized public housing is being operated under a federal pilot program called Moving To Work.

Mystic River Green-Rainbow statement in support of Chuck Turner

MRGRA letter to the Boston Globe in support of Chuck Turner

Cambridge Housing Authority seeks right to outsource labor

Local 122 President Paul Cannon got up at a crowded public hearing recently and addressed the Cambridge Housing Authority (CHA) executive director.

Bush declares war on global cooling

Haliburton awarded no-bid 10 year contract to take earth’s temperature; VP Cheney insists he won't make a f*#%ing penny

Somerville Divestment Project

Members of the Somerville Divestment Project (SDP) met early in January to plan another year of activities aimed at getting Israel Bonds out of Somerville’s retirement fund portfolio.

Drug lobbyists train cops in “tolerance for the mentally ill”

In the name of tolerance, corporations train local police.

Mayor Reeves and the politics of real estate

This is Ken Reeves’ third time being mayor of Cambridge. The first two times, he lived in a rent controlled apartment.

Goodbye, Blessed Sacrament

Cambridgeport neighbors were jittery when the Archdiocese closed Blessed Sacrament Parish and put its property out to bid.

Boston mosque construction opposed by David Project

It is customary for other countries to maintain embassies and consulates in large cities in the US. But in Boston, Israel also has two unique, nationally known organizations working especially for its interests. They are CAMERA—the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America—and the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership.

My sustainable bedroom

My bedroom is now basically off-grid.

Mass. Labor Notes

Globe outsources maintenance — Kendall Square Cinema goes union — Northwest mechanics strike — Hotel boycott called off — Springfield wage freeze illegal — Privatization in Springfield — Still no contract for state nurses — Education, East Bridgewater style — New Balance using sweatshops? — Right to organize going to ballot? — SEIU mergers — Thousands rally for workers rights