Yesterday
was the first birthday of the Occupy movement and despite the rain and
cold many of us met up to celebrate Occupy Boston on the steps of the
State House. Rita Monestersky- Sebastian (eating cake with me at left), one of the sustaining pillars
of the Occupy Boston movement, had concocted a work of art in the person
of a sheet cake with a complete mural of the Occupy encampment. People
brought food and maintained a picnic feeling despite the rain dripping
off their noses.
There were a slew of people who spoke, using Mic Check, mostly men and mostly about economic and environmental issues. I was glad that Palestine came up twice, including an announcement by a woman from Code Pink that AIPAC was holding its conference in Boston soon and people were organizing to tell them to piss off. A number of people talked about the elections, about how limited the choices, how undependable the electoral system, but how necessary it was to vote. They had a variety of reasons – from the balance in the Senate to the make-up of the Supreme Court.
It was grand to be back in the company of Boston’s occupiers, but I was disappointed that no matter how many spoke, no matter how many mentioned the unnecessary wars, including the attack on the working class, no one mentioned the War on Women. Zilch. Nada. Why didn’t I? Well, I’ve been doing that for about 45 years and it gets tired. I want to see others do it – including the men with their long laundry lists of injustices – all righteous – that has a gaping hole where two of the primary targets of the right wing should be: women and queers.
After a couple of hours, two percussionists began a beat, the demonstrators called out chants, and off they marched to Dewey Square. We slipped away at that point and strolled back to the car through a verdant, luscious Boston Gardens, the weeping willows sparkling over the pond. I have been a political activist for 50 years. Fifty years. And I still have to schlep around in the rain fighting the same fights.
Photo credits: Barry Hock
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