Boston Human Rights: Ideas and Action Conference

July 31, 2008
At the Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA
9:00-5:30

Program:

Welcome

The Leading Rogue State: Individual Rights?
Jean Lynch (disabled)
Rubén Rumbaut (migrants)
Tanya Golash Boza (migrants)
Dave Brunsma and Dave Overfelt (housing rights)
Brian Gran (youth)
Respondent: Ty de Pass
Presider: Alberto Moncada

The Leading Rogue State: Collective Rights?
John Barnshaw (water)
Mark Frezzo (democracy)
Rodney Coates (culture)
Judith Blau (trade)
Respondent: Grace Ross
Presider: Alberto Moncada

Human Rights Cities
Shula Koenig, PDHRE: The People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning

Roundtable Discussions: Social Identity?
Gender, Youth, Immigration, and Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transsexual identities

Roundtable Discussions: Social Policy?
Health, Environment and Food, Peace and War, Labor, and Housing

Closing Remarks


Register Online:
www.bostonhumanrights.org

Sponsors include: Mass Global Action, Mass-Care, Open Media Boston,
Boston College Department of Sociology, Boston College Center for Human
Rights and International Justice, Sociologists without Borders, Society
for the Study of Social Problems, and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.

Contact: info@bostonhumanrights.org

Hunger Strike @ Harvard over low wages

Students at Harvard are on the 9th day of a hunger strike to protest against the comparatively low wages that security guards who work at the university receive. Two protesters have been hospitalized as a result of the hunger strike. University officials refuse to meet with the students and state that they are in no position to intervene in labor contracts between workers and Allied, the sub-contracted company who employs the security guards.

Some of you are or have been involved in similar labor struggles at Tufts (also see this) between OneSource and the janitorial staff. This story is depressingly familiar.

What you can do:

1) Get Informed

2) Sign the Petition

Protect Marriage Equality in Mass

The date of the next Constitutional Convention has been set for June 14, 2007 - which means that in the next 5 weeks, we have a lot of work to do!
The legislature opened the Constitutional Convention today at 1pm and, as expected, recessed a few minutes later until June 14th. In the next 5 weeks, we need your help as we all work together to protect marriage equality in Massachusetts. Here are some ways you can get involved:

1) Contact your legislators: Let them know you think it is wrong to vote on rights and ask them to work to defeat this discriminatory amendment.

2) Talk to your friends and family: Use our new interactive map to see which of your friends and family live in target districts, and then ask them to contact their legislator.

3) Write a letter to your local paper : Use our easy LTE tool to draft your letter and email it directly to your local paper. May 17th is the third anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts, which is a wonderful thing to celebrate in your letter!

We've got just 5 weeks left to defeat the discriminatory, anti-gay amendment before it reaches the ballot. The time to get involved is now. If you would like to volunteer or want to learn more about how you can get involved, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Cari Bohm, at (617) 878-2366 or CariBohm@MassEquality.org.

Sincerely,
Marc Solomon
Campaign Director
massequality.org