New England fightback conference will target banks, Wall Street

Activists from around New England will gather Feb. 28 at the union hall of the Boston School Bus Drivers, United Steelworkers Local 8751, for a conference on the economic crisis and how to fight back. The event is being hosted by USW 8751.

In addition to the union, other endorsers of the conference include African-American Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner; Prof. Tony Van Der Meer; Women’s Fightback Network; International Action Center; Bishop Filipe Teixeira; Rev. Franklin Hobbes of Heal Our Land; Miya X of Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST); Stonewall Warriors; and many others.

Chuck Turner will address the conference, which will also hear from Larry Holmes, a national coordinator of the Bail Out the People Movement. A strong delegation will be participating from the Rhode Island Peoples Assembly in Providence, including members of DARE and the George Wiley Center. Students and youth from the Boston Youth Organizing Project plan to attend, as well as workers from Harvard University who are fighting back against layoffs there.

The conference comes at a time when workers are under attack in Boston, around the state and throughout New England. Massachusetts has a $1.5 billion dollar deficit. Gov. Deval Patrick has announced round after round of budget cuts and layoffs and has said he will direct federal bailout money to private developers instead of local communities and people’s programs.

In Boston, the mayor used his State of the City address to demand city workers take a wage freeze in addition to layoffs. Meanwhile, the school department announced a budget proposal calling for 15 percent cuts and dismantling desegregation in public schools. This will be done by eliminating school bus routes and drastically reducing access to equal, quality education for children in the African-American and other oppressed communities.

The conference will project a fightback on all these fronts, as well as continue the struggle by the Women’s Fightback Network and the Heat and Light Campaign to demand an economic state of emergency, and to fight foreclosures, evictions and utility shutoffs. Participants will discuss mobilizing throughout New England for the April 3-4 March on Wall Street being organized by the national Bail Out the People Movement.

The Feb. 28 conference is being organized by Bail Out the People Movement, Boston. It will start at 1 p.m. at the USW Local 8751 hall, 25 Colgate Rd., Roslindale, Mass. To endorse, send an e-mail to [email protected]. For information on the conference and the ongoing fightback, go to bopm-boston.blogspot.com or call 617-522-6626.