Community Corner
Reading 99 Percent Gears Up For Rally
The Reading 99 percent will be sending a contingent to the "Occupy the Courts" protest this Friday at the John J. Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston.
The Reading 99 percent group met earlier this month and finalized plans for their involvement in the “Occupy the Courts” protest this Friday at the John J. Moakley Federal Courthouse in South Boston.
Beginning at 12:30 p.m., the action will go until 1:30 p.m. and will feature speakers and entertainment.
The group from Reading that is participating will be organizing carpooling, sign making and related activities. Anyone interested in participating should contact John Lippitt (jlippitt@verizon.net) or Karen Richard (krichard3@verizon.net).
Find out what's happening in Readingwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This Saturday, the second anniversary of Citizens United, there will be a conference with workshops on a variety of topics, including the controversial ruling and efforts to overturn it. This event will be held at Suffolk University's Donahue Hall betweem 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Additionally, following the "Occupy the Courts" action, there will be teach-in/summit at St. Paul's Cathedral at 138 Tremont St. from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Featured speakers will include State Rep. Cory Atkins, State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Dr. Lawrence Lessig, Grace Ross and others.
The rally will call for the overturning of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that allows corporations and unions to contribute unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns by deeming them “persons” and giving them freedom of speech rights under the constitution. The protest is part of a national initiative spearheaded by Move to Amend, in collaboration with Common Cause, the Occupy Movement and various other groups.
Find out what's happening in Readingwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Also discussed were the group’s plans to try and get an article on the warrant at Town Meeting calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and establish that corporations are not people, and, therefore, not entitled to the protection of free speech. This will require the approval of the Board of Selectmen, and, as such, will probably remain in the discussion phase at least until after fiscal year 2013 budget talks are over in February.
