¡ Whatever it takes: For as long as it takes !

Unite Here! Local 26 has been negotiating a new contract with Harvard. They held a rally in February to kick off negotiations. Yesterday they summoned the community to a second rally at First Parish just outside The Yard.

The leadership of UniteHere! Local 35 came up from Yale:

At Yale, the service and maintenance staff , the clerical and technical workers, and the Graduate Empoyees and Students are affiliated with Unite Here! [Local 35, Local 34, GESO].  Bob Proto [above],  President of Local 35, described the contract that resulted from 11 strikes. Two of the many features he mentioned -a  no layoffs clause and 100% paid health insurance. He was well received.

GESO has yet to win recognition from the administration. Their recent report: “Yale Inc: The Corporate Model in Higher Education” describes in detail the conditions that have led them to form a union. It’s a nationwide problem. The trends described had already begun when I was in graduate school at CCNY in the ’70’s. The idea of graduate student unions surfaced from time to time. We didn’t have the cojones. This bunch together with help from Local 35 will prevail.

State Representative Alice Wolf spoke in support.

Brian Lang, President of Unite-Here Local 26 [Harvard] with State Representative Alice Wolf.  Bob Proto, President of Unite-Here Local 35 [Yale] behind them.

There was a very strong showing of student support mobilized by the Student Labor Action Movement.

There were mystery musicians waiting …

… to lead us through the Yard…

…to the Holyoke Center

The mystery musicians were the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society.

One of my favorite GOAT*’s, Mary Curtin wasn’t there. 🙁

*the Good Ones are All Taken.

It’s big and lit up.

It’s on a barge on the river.

It’s programmable. The yellow pods are another installation which should be on tonight.

Last night, walking along the Charles near MIT, I got a preview of the light installation portion of the Festivel of Art + Science + Technology. The main event is tonight and tomorrow night.

Jochai Benkler at “WikiLeaks and the Law” New York Law

March 21, 2011

I went to a conference in NYC on Monday; Wikileaks and the Law. The panel is described at;

http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/next-pdfleaks-event-wikileaks-and-law-monday-march-21

Benkler’s remarks were based a paper on his website.  I first heard of this via a tweet from Wikileaks which pointed to an article in Forbes.  Benkler’s paper is 66 pages long. If  you’re lazy or busy you’re allowed to rely on my self-serving analysis [to appear]. The short answer to the title No/No, No/No.

Geoffrey Stone made the assessment that the Pentagon Papers, even though 3 years old, nonetheless did harm. Revealing that the US had made secret deals to help with Viet Nam compromised the ability of the Gummint to make secret deals in the future. His remark is at 1:31:53 in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb_P5Kzg4X8

I questioned his assessment at 1:45:55

I’m curious to hear your reaction, but I will present this information in hopefully more managable form in a blog post in the next day or two. Y’all come back now, hear?

1) David Harvey: The Enigma of Capital

MIT Anthropology is sponsoring a talk by David Harvey, author of The Condition of Postmodernity and professor in the Program in Anthropology at the City University of New York, examines the latest financial crisis and the complexities of global capital flow from a Marxist perspective.

Date: Friday, March 4, 2011
Time: 3:30pm–5:30pm
Location:  35-225

Open to the public.

My post of his comments on the bank bailout in 2008, “Dung Deal: Déjà Vu All Over Again.”

2) This weekend the Program on the Study of Capitalism is having their annual student conference.

The library is closing now. I’ll elaborate when I get to a new hotspot.

¡ Whatever it takes: For as long as it takes !

Harvard’s cooks and supporters gather at the Holyoke Center to shoutout to Administration.

Harvard’s cooks are revving up to negotiate a new contract with Harvard Administration.  The cooks are members of the Hotel, Entertainment, and Restaurant Employees Union – Local 26. The Union gathered to let Harvard Administrators know that despite the years of machination to bust the Unions at Harvard, H.E.R.E. is not cowed. They’re asking, ¿ Where’s the beef ?

But seriously folks, they’re asking, “Where’s the respect that we as all workers deserve?”

The Union gathered first at First Parish across the street from President Drew’s office.

H.E.R.E. Local 26 negotiating team for Harvard. Feb 24, 2011

The Union was joined by community supporters not the least of which is the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement.

Harvard SLAM at H.E.R.E. kickoff. Feb. 24, 2011

Richard Engel of NBC reporting on the Rachel Maddow Show, says ProDemocracy demonstrators have been concentrated in the middle of Tahrir Square. Pro Mubarik forces fired on them from the Northeast. Some Pro Mubarik   have thrown Molotov cocktails at the Pro Democracy protestors.  The Mubarik supporters have been driven out of Tahrir Square.

Anjali Kamat¹ of Democracy Now!  joined Sharif Abdel Kouddous in Cairo Tuesday and has been tweeting from there.

Tuesday Feb 2, 2011 [A sampling in chronological order. Anjali’s tweets ‘anjucomet’ are shown with no header. Retweets begin with the original tweeter.]

oh the counterrevolution might get ugly here in #egypt. very sad.

Rpts that pro-Mubarak protesters paid 50 Egyptian pounds ($US 8.50) to show up. Plenty of incentive when people are starving#jan25 #egypt

#Mubarak‘s thugs are destroying the inspiring solidarity and camaraderie at Tahrir square here in #Cairo with violence.

bloodshed escalates as military stands back & watches #Mubarak‘s thugs create absolute chaos. i’m in local newspaper office around corner.

evanchill Evan Hill  retweeted by anjucomet
I can’t believe that yesterday I was watching girls scrawl protest signs with markers in a jubilant Tahrir, and now it’s a war zone. So sad.

3arabawy Hossam عمو حس retweeted by anjucomet
Mubarak’s thugs r now throwing molotov cocktails on the Egyptian museum. Our civilization will b turn to ashes by Obama’s allies#Jan25

last night #tahrir square felt like a carnival, now its
the site of carnage, a possible massacre. ppl r devastated and furious with#Mubarak

Wednesday 2/3/2011

About 9:AM EST; 4 PM Cairo; 5 PM Makkah

Pro-Mubarakites keep throwing some kind of firebombs at anti-Mubarak groups, who respond with rocks and slingshots #jan25

The molotov cocktails keep coming #jan25 #egypt

About 11 AM EST; 6 PM Cairo; 7 PM Makkah

the mood inside tahrir square is getting very tense with the number of pro-govt infiltrators on the rise & growing hostility to journalists

About 5:30 PM EST; 12:30 AM Cairo; 01:30 AM Makkah

staggering compilation of journalists and media people attacked / detained / harassed in #Egypt: http://is.gd/WWmxGV [5:00 PM EST 2/3/11]

5:50 PM EST

my report from #Egypt in today’s edition of The Hindu:http://is.gd/xiL4g6

Rachel Maddow has “The Counterrevolution will be Tweeted.”

¹Anjali is from south India, but she has lived in Egypt as well as Jordan.

Sharif Abdel Kouddous has posted another blog post on the Democracy Now! website.

In the second day of defiance of a military curfew, more than 150,000 protesters packed into Tahrir Square Sunday to call on President Hosni Mubarak to step down. The mood was celebratory and victorious. For most, it was not a question of if, but when, Mubarak would leave.

He’ll be reporting live from Cairo on Monday’s Democracy Now! (broad/web)cast.  Livestreaming at 8:00 AM EST.

Democracy Now! Senior Producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous arrived in his native Cairo this morning at about 9:00 AM.  He was met by his cousin and went directly to Tahrir Square which was full of protestors.  People had gotten up on the tanks, but came down for sunset prayers. You can see it all at

http://twitter.com/#!/sharifkouddous

Live From the Eqyptian Revolution

Sharif has published a longer piece on the main Democracy Now! website:

Cairo, Egypt—I grew up in Egypt. I spent half my life here. But Saturday, when my plane from JFK airport touched down in Cairo, I arrived in a different country than the one I had known all my life. This is not Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt anymore and, regardless of what happens, it will never be again.

The piece is cross posted on The Nation.

From Boston UNAC¹ via United for Justice with Peace and the Community Church of Boston:

A Forum
STEPHANIE WEINER , Chicago antiwar/solidarity activist subpoenaed for grand jury re: false aiding terrorism charges

CHUCK TURNER, Roxbury community activist & City Councillor targeted by FBI

NANCY MURRAY, Director, Bill of Rights Education Project, American
Civil Liberties Union of Mass.

LAILA MURAD, Tarek Mehanna Support Committee. Mehanna targeted by FBI when he
refused to spy on Muslim community and now in solitary confinement

When:  Friday, December 17, 2010, 7:30 pm
Where:  First Parish Church • 3 Church St, Harvard Square • Cambridge

On September 24, the FBI raided seven Chicago and Minneapolis homes of
well-known anti-war and international solidarity activists. Their ranks included
a number of trade unionists. Also raided was the office of the Minneapolis –
St. Paul based Anti-War Committee.

The FBI took computer hard drives, cell phones, documents, newspapers and
children’s artwork. They took 28 boxes out of one Chicago home, including a
framed photo of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shaking hands with Malcolm
X. The FBI subpoenaed 14 activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan to
testify at a grand jury. According to the FBI, the goal of the raids was to show
material support for terrorism charges. It is outrageous! The U.S. government is
trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism.
These people have done nothing wrong. They have given money to no one. Their
freedom is at stake.

We all need to join together as the government repression continues and
expands.  This is an attack on our movement.  Go to ww.stopfbi.net  for
latest information.   These are antiwar and social justice activists and
people who have been involved in international solidarity efforts, around
Colombia and Palestine.

¹I’m too old to keep track of all the factions of the left with coalescing,  fissioning, and purging.  Still my heart is on the left.

Vigil to defend the Henry family– from Steve Meacham

Monday, Dec. 13, 6:30 pm

24 Upton St., Cambridge (near Central Sq.)

(runs between Magazine and Pleasant Sts. , about 6 blocks from Central Sq. toward Charles River)

This property has been with the Henry family for over 50 years! It is currently occupied by Nancy Henry (the mom – 76 years old) and Bobby (her son).

The full story on the unofficial CLVU blog.

More than a year after being fired by Boston-area Hyatts, the Hyatt 100 is still going strong. Join them on Dec 13 for a holiday leaflet of the meeting planners annual gala–a group of folks we want to make sure know about the Hyatt Boycott! Dress for winter and/or in your favorite holiday clothes. Join us at 5:00 pm at the Dartmouth entrance of the Boston Public Library

Wikileaks, which has released a quarter of a million documents embarrasing  U.S. and ally governments, was “partially offline” this morning. At about 1 PM today, Wikileaks tweeted: WikiLeaks now available at http://wikileaks.de/ http://wikileaks.fi/ http://wikileaks.nl/ As of 2:33 PM Eastern Standard Time [USA1] these links are all still alive. On Democracy Now! this morning, Juan Gonzalez announced that Wikileaks was “offline.” He said that Wikileaks was only available through a “string of digits …” The inaccurate part of his statement has been redacted to protect the guilty.

What had happened, Wikileaks tweeted about 1 AM Friday Dec 3, 2010:

WikiLeaks,org domain killed by US everydns.net after claimed mass attacks KEEP US STRONG https://donations.datacell.com/

At about 4 AM:

WIKILEAKS: Free speech has a number: http://88.80.13.160

And shortly after:

WikiLeaks moves to Switzerland http://wikileaks.ch

This Domain Name also apparently went off line, but as of this writing [4:33 PM EST 12/3/2010] is online.

A Domain Name Server translates the words “wikileaks.org” into a “string of digits” sometimes called a ‘quad’ because there are actually four groups of digits separated by periods. The formal name for this is an Internet Protocol or IP address.  The IP address is what the routers on the net actually use to direct messages to the right place. Without translation the words don’t do anything. The specific kind of attack was the same as the earlier attack when Wikileaks was on Amazon’s servers:

WikiLeaks servers at Amazon ousted. Free speech the land of the free–fine our $ are now spent to employ people in Europe.Wed Dec 01 2010 14:50:43 (Eastern Standard Time) via web

They moved from their Swedish host Bahnhof AB to Amazon because:

We are currently under another DDOS attack.Tue Nov 30 2010 07:04:49 (Eastern Standard Time) via web

DDOS attack now exceeding 10 Gigabits a second.Tue Nov 30 2010 09:06:00 (Eastern Standard Time) via web

DDOS is Distributed Denial of Service an attack where many different computers [Distributed] are used to direct traffic to a single target overloading it [Denial of Service.] Amazon’s Wikileaks Takedown has been reported and analyzed by Berkoblogger Hal Roberts.

The Library of Congress has confirmed to Talking Points Memo, that they are in fact blocking Wikileaks.

¹All subsequent times will be Eastern Standard Time [USA] unless otherwise noted.

²

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918…

… an armistice was signed between the Allies and Germany.

It was the end of fighting on the Western Front of The Great War. The War to end All Wars was essentially over. The following year President Woodrow Wilson declared November 11, Armistice Day. But there was another great war in Europe. In it’s wake, the first one became World War I. In 1954, President Eisenhower, ‘repurposed’ the holiday into Veteran’s Day.

I have never served in the military, but I have spent most of my adult life marching. This year, Pat Scanlon, speaking and performing his music at the Community Church of Boston, invited us to march with the Veterans for Peace, Boston Chapter proudly known as the Smedley D. Butler Brigade.

Pat said, “We’re marching behind the street sweepers again.”

All the other veterans were in front of the Emergency Medical Special Operations Unit. One veteran from Community Church[below right] is recovering from recent heart surgery. He said he might not go the full route.

We followed the rest of the parade past the State House.

Some of the Veterans for Peace are also members of Code Pink and the Raging Grannies.

We then split off to go the Sam Adams Park.  I have pictures from there too. Come back later. But for now:

John C went the distance.

More on an antiwar vet Mime, poetry from Langston Hughes, Paul Atwood from the Joiner Center at Umass Mandela.

Chuck Turner after verdict. Supporter Ed Childs [left], H.E.R.E. and Harvard,
looks on. Lawyer Barry Wilson [behind], takes a question from the press.

Near noon of the second day of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict – guilty on all counts. Sentencing is scheduled for January 25. In talking to the press, Chuck Turner was in generally good spirits. His lawyer, Barry Wilson, was sarcastic about the process and outcome, but confident that Chuck is ready for what is coming.  Most visibly concerned, was supporter Ed Childs, Shop Steward of Local 26 Hotel Entertainment and Restaurant Employees and cook for Adams House, Harvard.

His sweatshirt says, “Never Surrender.”

Closing arguments were this morning. Judge Woodlock instructed the jury. Among his instructions:

• Knowing. If Chuck said something untrue, did he know at the time that it was untrue?
• Deliberation. Judge Woodlock instructed the jurors to only deliberate when all twelve jurors are present. No caucuses.
• No discussion out of class.

He let them go by noon and admonished them not to deliberate during lunch. Mid afternoon, litigants were called in for a question from the jury. “Please define ‘material’.”

While we were waiting for the jury I asked Chuck to “refresh my recollection” of his discussion of the Bhagavad Gita with the press the previous day. He explained Karma Yoga, the act of doing one’s duty without concern for the results. I asked him how he discovered the Bhagavad Gita. He could not recall. I reassured him that no negative consequences would attach. But as the discussion continued with fellow Community Church of Boston member John, Chuck pulled a well worn copy of the Gita from his inner coat pocket. I’m not a well traveled Unitarian-Universalist, but it seemed like a Universalist moment. I believe Chuck.

At ten minutes to five, litigants were recalled to say goodnight to the jury. Figure four hours of deliberation without a verdict.

In the tenth day of the Federal corruption trial of Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, the evidentary phase ended.  In principle, the facts are in. But this trial has shown just how fluid the boundary between fact and interpretation can be – especially in the hands of lawyers. The ambiguity is most pronounced when trying to “prove” motive.

There were lots of small points disputed.  Chuck did or didn’t call somebody, but emailed them instead.  As far as I could see there were only three undisputed facts of any importance.

1. Chuck affirmed his Oath of Office of Boston City Councilor by signing the City’s Registry.
2. Chuck wrote an order to schedule a hearing about liquor licenses in his district.
3. Chuck  canceled the hearing.

1. The Oath: Assistant US Attorney John T. McNeil showed that page of the registry to several witness who took the stand and asked them to identify Chuck’s signature.  I don’t see that there was much question of fact on that point.  My interpretation is that attorney McNeil was engaged in a psychological gambit.  “This is a solemn oath. To violate it is a serious crime. You much convict!”  This emotional logic leaves out one very important step: “Do the facts show that he committed a crime?”

2. The Hearing: Chuck says that he scheduled the hearing to look at the whole question of liquor licenses in his district. McNeil claims that it was for one and only one license  for cooperating witness Ronald Wilburn. This is the single act that is supposed to have been the swag for Wilburn.  Chuck’s lawyer Barry Wilson established that the city government’s licensing board is not the final authority in granting liquor licenses.  Their decisions must be approved by the state ABCC.

3. Cancellation: A number of politicians asked Chuck to cancel the hearing. There was a home rule petition for more liquor licenses at the Statehouse at the time. McNeil claimed that the cancellation proves that the hearing was only about the one license for Wilburn. Chuck says it was about more licenses for the district which might well include Wilburn.

So while it’s highly questionable whether the tape shows  a bribe took place, it’s also highly questionable whether any action was taken that was favorable to Wilburn’s license that is significantly greater than a general interest in promoting commerce in the district.

My friends at the Community Church of Boston tell me that the corruption trial of Chuck Turner has entered a critical phase. The “Cooperting Witness” who initially said Chuck had given him a bribe then told the newspapers otherwise, was on the stand again today. The Boston Herald had problems with his previous testimony: “Trial tipping in Chuck Turner’s favor.” I heard the end of his testimony today. It was full of non recollections and inconsistencies.   Chuck Turner insists he will testify. The cours is about guilty vs. not guilty. Chuck says he is innocent. That is not the same as not guilty. His lawyer, Barry Wilson had no comment about putting Chuck on the stand.

The trial continues tomorrow.

Moakley Federal Court House: Boston waterfront in the Seaport District on Fan Pier.  Take the Silver Line from South Station one stop. The session starts at 9:00 AM.

Chuck Turner is the 2007 winner of the Community Church of Boston Sacco and Vanzetti Social Justice Award .

SIGACT:  Contraction of  SIGnificant ACTion – military report of field operations. The main Wikileaks webpage reports the release. However, the links to ‘Diary Dig’ and ‘War Logs’ often give an “Overload” Message.  ‘War Logs’ recommends creating a login account, but it seems to be unable to process my request at the moment. The Twitter Feed, however, is working.

A Creative Commons licensed analyis of the logs appears at Iraq War Logs.

As with the 90,000+ documents about U.S. military operations in Afghanistan released in July, Wikileaks gave advance access to the documents to The New York Times, the German magazine Der Spiegel, and the british newspaper The Guardian.  The French newspaper Le Monde,  Swedish Television, and  Al Jazeera have coverage.

Harvard’s Nieman Foundation has a  look at the War Against Wikileaks resulting from the Afghan documents. They have links to pieces of the story with the most complete account from Nadim Kobeissi

Update 10/24 from Wikileaks Twitter Feed: FULL WikiLeaks press conference now available (video) http://cs.pn/b8Ee3n

.

My new friend, Virginia Pratt,  argues

It’s Time to Recall the Sub-prime Loans

The Bankers Are Coming! the Bankers Are Coming!

City Life/Urbana Vida member in a twelve foot ‘banker’ puppet.

The American Banking Association began their annual meeting in Boston yesterday. Their theme? “History Happens Here, Be A Part of It” A coalition of social justice groups called on local activists to join in greeting them:  Jobs With Justice | National People’s Action | Northwest Federation of Community Organizations | Alliance to Develop Power | City Life/ Vida Urbana | Pico National Network | Massachusetts Communities Action Network | New England United for Justice | ACCE¹ | SEIU. The coalition had a somewhat different theme:

Be A Part of Making History: Demand Big Bankers Fix the Foreclosure Crisis and Keep Their Hands Off Our Homes!

These are the same bankers who crashed the economy — costing over 8 million jobs — and are foreclosing on our homes. Over 5 million homes have already been lost! Now, these Bankers are under investigation for snatching homes they cannot prove they own!

If that is not bad enough, they just announced that they will pay their top executives an all-time record of nearly $150 billion this year! Enough is Enough!

We Demand the Bankers Fix the Foreclosure Crisis which will help get our economy moving by committing to:

• Freeze foreclosures in all 50 states
• Keep Families in their homes through real mortgage modification including principle reduction and cutting interest rates to current market levels.

Like Paul Revere — the alarm has been sounded and we need your help getting our message through!

*_TAKE ACTION_*

I joined them on Sunday, Oct 17 at 4 PM in Copley Square:

I went with some new friends from my new church, the  Community Church Boston. I ran into two old friends from Dorchester People for Peace.

Old friends: Jeff [Trabajos con Justica] and Denise from Dorchester People for Peace.
New Friends: David and Old Mick[Freeze Foreclosure Now!]

I had to leave early to guard the library.  I don’t know how much larger the gathering got. And I could not march with them to the Hynes Convention Center.  But …

Another Chance to Make History

Tuesday, Oct. 19: Gather at 4 PM, Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston St.

¹My apologies to ACCE,  but I could not unambiguously determine a URI for them.

Aaron Swartz cofounder of Demand Progress [WikiMedia Foundation]

Bill S. 3804 currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee would require internet service providers to block a domain if the court determines that copyright infringing material is  “central to the activity of the Internet site”.  As of now,  a site like YouTube is in compliance with law if they remove infringing material when it is brought to their attention. Under they new law, they could be banned if a single copyright holder can convince the court that the total of all material of all copyright holders is “central to the activity of the Internet site”.

Havard Center for Ethics Fellow Aaron Swartz together with Democratic Rhode Island State Representative David Segal have founded Demand Progress which has taken on lobbying against S. 3804 as its first campaign. Their site has a petition against the bill. The site also has a petition urging President Obama to look for a substantial upgrade in replacing the Late Larry Summers.¹

The current director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics is Lawrence Lessig of Creative Commons fame.  Lessig is also part of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society^2,3, but to my knowledge, they have yet to weigh in on this bill.

¹To those of you new to the guy by the door, this nomenclature comes from asking the question, “Is there life after being the President of Harvard?”

²In the interest of full disclosure, the guy by the door is hosted by The Berkman Center.

³My apology to another member of the Berkman Center, Professor Charles Ogletree whom I heard testify at the commutation hearing for Arnie King.  Arnie is a great story, I need a bit more time to finish the piece.

Democracy Now reported FBI Raids Homes of Antiwar and Pro-Palestinian Activists in Chicago and Minneapolis.

Boston May Day Coalition called for ACTION: MON SEPT 27 4:00-6:00 PM JFK Federal Building.

Amy Goodman interviewed former FBI special agent Coleen Rowley, the woman who blew the whistle on FBI incompetence leading up to 9/11.

A few days after the raids in her hometown of Minneapolis, she told me, “This is not the first time that you’ve seen this Orwellian turn of the war on terror onto domestic peace groups and social justice groups … we had that begin very quickly after 9/11, and there were Office of Legal Counsel opinions that said the First Amendment no longer controls the war on terror.”

Amy also mentions FBI surveillance of activists groups including Green Peace. To my young friend campaigning for them in Harvard Square, I offer a link to the ACLU of Massachusetts website. The woman with the lovely white hair above is Nancy Murray from ACLU. The eye candy with the moustache and hat on the extreme left is Geoff Karens of the Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.

Amy’s column, “FBI Raids and the Criminalization of Dissent“.

NO NIEMOLLERS!

Associated Press writer Julie Page reports.

Caren Bohan and Ross Colvin of Reuters weigh in.

I’m working on the ‘Welcome Home’ party.

The initial report of the announcement from the Crimson.

The Crimson followed up with discussion of the role that Harvard’s tenure rules may have played in Summers’ decision.

The Obama administration emphasized Harvard’s policy in its announcement that Summers would resign his post, but many critics publicly wondered whether the University could not have made an exception for someone of Summers’ stature.

Translation: No, we’re not unhappy with him or he with us. It’s just that Harvard tenure is just too good to lose. Re-translation: No nuthin’ wrong here.

This same discussion came up when N. Gregory Mankiw returned to Harvard Economics after serving as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors. At one time, Chair of CEA was the highest ranking economics position in the White House. Recent news coverage makes it appear that the position Summers held, Director of the National Economics Council is now the highest.

I thought he was talking about somebody’s mother, but ¡Ya basta! ‘means roughly ‘Enough is enough! Offered by local singer-songwriter Evan Greer to a rally for fired Harvard worker Joan Frankel,  it energized the first labor action of the new term.

I could say more, but there was a lot of  ‘alternative media’ coverage. I’ll link it as it appears.

Jason Pramas has a nice slideshow and report of the rally at Open Media Boston.

Not exactly Mainstream Media, but not real ‘Alternative Media’:

Tara Merrigan of the Crimson has a text report.

I am remiss in reporting the last labor action of the last term. The Harvard Student Labor Action Movement had a “Walk with Workers” which had a “Bread and Roses” theme. It was covered by the Crimson, but I can show you more pictures :).