[mrg-announce] MRGRA Announcements

[Eli Beckerman]

Contents:
1. MRGRA Meeting this Sunday 5/25
2. Talk to People! -- GRP Public Policy Questions
3. March for CORI Refrom Thurs 5/22
4. Music for Liberation - Benefit for NE Climate Confluence Fri 5/23
5. Organizing Meeting for NE Climate Confluence 5/29
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Next MRGRA Potluck/Meeting - Sunday 5/25 @ annie's house
(32 andrew st) 12 - 3pm

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Talk to People! -- GRP Public Policy Questions

"The name of the game is to talk to people.

 If you don't talk to people, you can't get started."
                - Cesar Chavez

We've discovered a great reason to talk to people.  It involves putting a
PUBLIC POLICY QUESTION on the November ballot.  When you do this, you have a

excellent excuse to get out on the street and talk to people, to hand out
information at candidate nights,  and to write letters to the editor.  You
will make new friends and discover new allies who will work with you in the

long haul.  And the passage of the question will give you a solid basis for
talking to your state representative about their obligation to respond to
the will of the voters.

To promote the use of public policy questions, the Massachusetts

Green-Rainbow Party formed an ADVISORY BALLOT WORKING GROUP (ABWG).  The
ABWG is now working to create a menu of three or four questions from which
one can be selected to be put on the ballot in selected House or Senate

districts across Massachusetts.  The ABWG is writing "how-to" materials for
volunteers, helping finalize the wording of questions,  recruiting other
nonprofit organizations to help,  and organizing district action groups.

Among the QUESTION TOPICS that we are actively pursuing are global warming,
health care, instant runoff voting, and predatory lending.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!  We need GRP members who will join the ABWG and help
launch the efforts in the districts.  The ABWG is responsible for developing

the text for each possible question. The ABWG has been meeting via one-hour
weekly telecons, and the next telecon is scheduled for this Tuesday at 8
PM.   New members are welcome.  We also need people (and local

organizations) who will help us get a question on the ballot in their own
district. June is going to be a critical month in which we will get out on
the street and collect petition signatures in each involved district.

Our ballot questions are addressing critical issues that urgently need
action.  If you're willing to help in any way - from joining the ABWG to
collecting a dozen petition signatures in your district - then please WRITE

US as soon as possible.  Your response can make the difference in whether a
question appears on the ballot in your district.

Please let us hear from you by sending your name,  telephone number, and
email address to jandrews166 at gmail.com.
<http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/announcements>

Many thanks!

- John Andrews
(for the Advisory Ballot Working Group)

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THE WALK TO FREEDOM for CORI REFORM!

Thursday, May 22nd @ 10am

Bunker Hill Community College, Charlestown
Orange Line T-Stop: "Community College"

JOIN us on Thursday, May 22nd for the final leg of the Walk to Freedom.
This Sunday (5/18), dozens from Ex-prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for

Community Advancement (EPOCA) will began a 5 day walk from Worcester to
Boston to raise momentum for CORI reform.

MEET us on May 22nd at Bunker Hill Community College to welcome the
walkers and to add force in the final leg to the State House.

Day of Action: Thursday (5/22)

10am - Gather at Bunker Hill Community College
11am - Begin March to the State House
2pm - Rally and Press Conference on the State House Steps
3:30pm - Visit Legislators to Deliver Our Message

Even after the Governor's Executive Order on the CORI, our criminal
record system continues to sabotage our communities. Unemployment is high
and we are barely hanging on.  Join the movement for CORI reform.

The time for change is now!

--
To join the Walk to Freedom from Worcester, call EPOCA at (508) 410 7676 or
visit www.exprisoners.org

To help mobilize from Charlestown to  the State House, call the Boston

Workers Alliance at (617) 427-8108 or email info at
bostonworkersalliance.org
<http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/announcements>

--
The CORI Reform Demands:

1)    Remove the criminal record question ("the box") from all job

applications.
2)    Only check CORI for sensitive positions
3)    If a CORI is used, only check as the last step in the hiring process
4)    Reduce the waiting period to seal a felony to 7 years and misdemeanors

after 3
5)    Automatically seal dismissed and not guilty and keep from employers
and housing gatekeepers

Call the Chairmen of the Joint Judiciary Committee today:

Rep. Chair Eugene O'Flaherty (D - Chelsea Charlestown): 617-722-2396

Sen. Chair Robert Creedon (D - Brockton): (617) 722-1200

Please express our demands above, and tell them why you support CORI Reform
Now!

----
May 22nd The March Route
Bunker Hill Community College ==> The State House

1) Start southeast on Rutherford Ave toward Prison Point Bridge - .2 mi
2) Rutherford Ave. becomes New Rutherford Ave. - .5 mi
3) New Rutherford Ave becomes N. Washington St. - .4 mi
4) Turn slight right onto surface Rd. - .1 mi.

5) Turn right onto New Chardon St. - .3 mi.
6) Turn Left onto Cambridge St. - .3 mi.
7) Turn Slight Right onto Tremont Street - .2 mi.
8) Turn Right onto Park St. - .1 mi.
9) End at 24 Beacon St., The State House

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MUSIC for LIBERATION! a Benefit for the Northeast Climate Confluence

Friday MAY 23, 2008, 6:00pm – 10:00pm, ALL Ages Show!
1486 Dorchester Ave - right across from Fields Corner Red Line T stop
$7-15 Sliding Scale Donation - no one turned away for lack of funds

Join us for the music and the message of:
HUMANWINE
EVAN GREER of Riot-Folk, THE PAPERDOLLS, ADELAIDE, BAMBUU WAZA, AMATUL &
NATEBOX

Proceeds to support The Northeast Climate Confluence – a critical social
& environmental justice gathering this summer to strengthen relationships
within our region, organize to serve the needs of our community, and
decrease
dependency on institutions & systems that are killing our planet.
http://www.climateconfluence.org

We also support the Bail Fund for activists protesting the
Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul this election season.

-------------------------------------------------

>Hi Bill,
> It's been nice seeing you at the follow-up meetings for the Struggle for
>the Land conference. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. I
>wanted to send you the invitation below for the local Green Rainbow Party
to
>send a representative to the Boston Confluence Planning Meeting on May 29th
>at the Community Church. Thanks for passing it along!
>
>Lana also mentioned that you were involved in a publication called "The
>Bridge?" I'd love to write something about the Confluence for the paper if
>that's possible. Let me know!
>
>In solidarity,
>-Evan Greer
>978-852-6457
>
>As a group that does important work for justice in the Boston-area, we are
>excited to invite you to a meeting that will strengthen our organizing in
>Boston and begin plans for sending a contingent to the Northeast Climate
>Confluence, a critical social/environmental justice gathering happening
this
>Summer in High Falls, NY.
>
>THE DETAILS:
>
>Northeast Climate Confluence
>Boston Local Planning Meeting
>Thursday, May 29th, 7:00pm
>At the Community Church of Boston
>565 Boylston Street, Copley Square
>
>PURPOSE OF THE PLANNING MEETING:
>This meeting will bring together a wide variety of Boston-based social and
>environmental justice organizations to plan for how we can support each
>other's work, and ensure that everyone from Boston who wants to go to the
>Climate Confluence in July is able to.
>The Confluence is only as strong as the groups it empowers, and we hope
that
>your group can send a representative to the meeting to learn more about
this
>gathering, let us know what your ideas, needs, and concerns are, and how we
>can make this event useful to the important organizing that you are already
>doing locally.
>
>Please RSVP! Let us know how many people from your group can come to the
>meeting, and if there are other groups you think we should contact!
>E-mail: evan at riotfolk.org or call 978-852-6457
>
>WHAT IS THE CONFLUENCE?
>
>Confluence: a mixing of different streams or weather patterns that flow
>together and become stronger, resulting in a series of storms.
>
>The Northeast Climate Confluence is a week-long gathering of movements,
>groups, and individuals to strategize for action, strengthen our
>relationships, and share ideas and skills. The same system that wages a
>daily war on our communities is poised to destroy our very life blood: the
>earth, the water, our food, and our culture. The power to stop this
>destruction already flows through our roots, and by combining our knowledge
>and energy we will create real solutions and decrease our dependence on the
>institutions that are attacking the planet and all life.
>
>At the confluence we will slow down, take the time to learn from each
other,
>and prepare for the action that we all know we must take. The confluence is
>not the end-goal of our organizing, it is the beginning. It is calm before
>the storms.
>
>Climate Change is about more than just carbon in the atmosphere. It
directly
>affects people's lives. The communities hardest hit by climate disasters
are
>already the most impacted by the injustice that causes environmental
>devastation: indigenous people, women, LGBTQ folk, people of color, youth,
>elders, people with disabilities, and the working class.
>
>People of all ages and backgrounds will have something to offer to the
>confluence! Young people will play a particularly important role during the
>Youth Track, a set of workshops organized by and for youth to empower them
>to make positive change in their communities and the world. Childcare for
>younger children will also be provided and parents are encouraged to come.
>
>There will be workshops, performances, trainings and strategy sessions
about
>the issues affecting our communities and our planet from prisons and police
>brutality to food sovereignty, healthcare, and disaster relief. Together we
>will plan a day of direct action in coordination with similar gatherings
>around the world.
>
>More information is available at www.climateconfluence.org, please get in
>touch and we can send you materials for outreach, literature about the
Youth
>Track, and more!