Occupy Central Vermont

All of the New England governors and Eastern Canada premiers are meeting in Burlington this coming Sunday and Monday to discuss “cooperation” around energy resources and other issues. People from throughout the northeast are converging in Burlington to raise a variety of questions about current energy and economic policies.  The schedule includes both a regional and a local Occupy assembly.  More info. is online at btvconvergence.net.  Please join us!!:

Converge on the Conference Schedule of Events!!
Saturday July 28th

People’s Convergence Welcoming Space
9am-9pm UU Church Clarke St. Building (2nd Floor)
The Welcoming Committee has reserved 2 small rooms on the second floor of the Clarke Street Building behind the UU Church as a welcoming space for organizers coming from out of town to get more information about Burlington, ongoing events & have small meetings.

Sunday July 29th

People’s Convergence Welcoming Space
9am-9pm UU Church Clarke St. Building (2nd Floor)
The Welcoming Committee has reserved 2 small rooms on the second floor of the Clarke Street Building behind the UU Church as a welcoming space for organizers coming from out of town to get more information about Burlington, ongoing events & have small meetings.

Descend on the Conference Welcoming March
12 Noon @ City Hall Park
We will rally at City Hall Park at noon and then take to the streets in a spirited march though downtown Burlington with a grand welcoming at the conference center.This will be a mass march for groups and individuals who wish to show the governors, premiers and their corporate sponsors that they won’t be able to push through their greenwashed industrial development agenda without a fight.

Human Oil Spill
2pm @ Battery Park
Join hundreds of people converging in Burlington, VT to make a GIANT HUMAN OIL SPILL at the New England Governor’s Conference!
You’ve probably heard: Oil companies are plotting to ship their TAR SANDS OIL through northern Vermont and New England.
You’ve probably also heard: New England’s governors & Canadian premiers are meeting in late July in Burlington, VT to discuss the future of energy in our region. Right now Tar Sands oil transportation isn’t even on the agenda. Let’s change that.
Wear a black t-shirt & clothing to create an oil spill motif.

Occupy New England Regional Gathering
4pm @ Battery Park
Join Occupiers from across the region in finding common ground around issues affecting our local communities!
In support of the protest of the New England Conference of Governors! While powerful groups of politicians, advisers, lobbyists, investors and venture capitalists meet behind closed doors to plan the future of our region, we’re going to build power where it counts — in the streets!
Gov. , Shumlin of Vermont and Prem. Jean “Padapouf” Charest will be co-hosting Govs. Malloy (CT), Patrick (MA), Lynch (NH), Chafee (RI) and LePage (ME) for a discussion of regional affairs, including the Trailbreaker pipeline, Northern Pass and the supression of peaceful protests in the spirit of the REAL tea partiers and those lost at the Boston Massacre.
The Regional Gathering will be held at 4:00 to keep up momentum after the Opening March and Human Oil Spill. We’ll be planning nonviolent resistence against the Trailbreaker pipeline, Northern Pass and Vermont Yankee, as well as the future of occupation in the New England region.

People’s Convergence Space
5-9pm @ UU Church
Join regional organizers for dinner and sharing experiences with organizing!
5pm: Groups & organizations are welcome to set up information tables to tell their story.
6pm: Community dinner
7pm: Innu First Nations Delegates Speak Out on Hydro-Quebec
Evening presentation on the struggle against the highly controversial Plan Nord, the Romaine dam project, and the impacts of industrial development on Innu communities. Visiting Innu delegates will share stories from the frontlines, and offer possibilities for Vermonters to join in solidarity with their struggle.  Also presenting will be representatives from the Somali Bantu community and Migrant Justice, who will be sharing stories and connecting the dots with Vermont’s own marginalized and impacted communities.

Monday July 30th

People’s Convergence Welcoming Space
9am-3pm UU Church Clarke St. Building (2nd Floor)
The Welcoming Committee has reserved 2 small rooms on the second floor of the Clarke Street Building behind the UU Church as a welcoming space for organizers coming from out of town to get more information about Burlington, ongoing events & have small meetings.

Innu First Nations Delegation Press Conference
9:30am In front of Hilton
Delegation of Innu First Nations organizers are visiting Burlington from Northern Quebec. Come to hear their story of struggle for indigenous rights and resistance to HydroQuebec construction and Plan Nord industrial development  project on their land.

Bread & Puppet Performance
11:30am
Join Bread & Puppet for a performance of political theater across the street from the Hilton (tentative location) as part of Converge on the Conference!

Burlington Occupy General Assembly
12 Noon @ Battery Park
Join Occupiers from across the region in finding common ground around issues affecting our local communities!  This is a great time for folks from out of town to share what they are working on at home.  Contact btvconvergence@gmail.com if you’d like to present or just let facilitator’s know at the GA.

Citizens Bank Picket
4pm @ Citizen’s Bank (College St & St. Paul St)
On April 29th, the Occupy Burlington General Assembly issued its first demand: that Citizens Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of the most bailed out bank in the world (RBS) which had recently settled for $137.5 million after being caught defrauding its low income customers, close its downtown branch and leave our city. To make this demand a reality, the local movement has been maintaining pickets four days per week in front of the branch, waving signs, unfurling banners, handing out literature, and encouraging the bank’s customers to move their patronage to a cooperative, member-owned credit union. If you’d like to learn more about this campaign and help stick it to one of the world’s biggest “Too Big to Fail” banks, join us at the corner of College and St. Paul Streets from 4-5pm. Citizens Bank is Closing!