Last night at OccupyBoston, it was snowing. So, we decided to assemble in a large open space which is part of the underground access tunnels in our public transportation system.
Dewey Square, the site of our camp, sits next to a significant public transportation station: South Station. This is the view of the building from Dewey Square, where our camp is:
At South Station you can connect to the Red Line on the T, the Silver Line buses, our commuter rail, Amtrak and a commercial bus terminal.
The main station is at street level. But, to enter the T, you must go down two flights of stairs. There is a very large chamber in between the flights. It sits underneath the roadways, with entrances to it from four points of a major intersection. We were able to gather there readily with plenty of space and without blocking any passageways. In fact, the Red Line was not running due to track repairs, so the Transit Police were blocking people from entering those escalator/stairwells, anyway.
We had begun our very peaceful General Assembly, when we were told by police that we could not stay. We took a consensus vote and people were not prepared to face arrest. Plus, we had secured a backup location. So, we peaceably relocated ourselves. Still, the question remains: why can't we peacefully assemble in a public space where we are not deterring anyone else from using the space as they need?
The answer seems to be something we're seeing a lot in the Occupy movement: the definition of public space has changed due to privatization.
According to a 2010 Audit of the South Station 'ground lease':
The MBTA entered into a ground lease with Beacon South Station Associates, a wholly owned entity of Beacon Properties Corporation, on January 28, 1988. The lease in effect created a public-private partnership whereby Beacon South Station Associates would redevelop and manage South Station and generate income. The MBTA’s share of the income is currently used to help offset its transit station operation costs. Beacon South Station Associates financed the renovation of South Station with a $22.5 million loan from Citicorp, supervised the rehabilitation of the building, and provided property management services for the MBTA. Beacon Properties Corporation was acquired by Equity Office Properties Trust in 1997. The Blackstone Group, LP, a large private equity firm, purchased Equity Office Properties Trust in 2007. EOP Operating, LP (EOP), a subsidiary of Equity Office Properties Trust, manages the leased property.
So, while the MBTA owns the property, the entire place has been "leased" to a private firm. A firm which seems to keep being purchased by larger and larger firms. So, is the space public or not?
What we are encountering everywhere are these "public" spaces which we are told are under control of private companies. Those private companies are making the rules about the space can be used. And, since, it is under their control, we are told, that we lose the right assemble unless they agree to it.
What has happened is that, effectively, we have lost all public space to privatization. We have been convinced each time that it is in the best interest of the public, because those private interests can use part of the space to generate income and keep the cost of our public spaces at a minimum to the public. Only, they didn't tell us that one of the costs was our constitutional right to assemble.
How many of our occupations are negotiating with private entities over the right to assemble? And what that assembly can look like? Why is it that the folks in Zucotti Park can't use umbrellas?
And, if these spaces are now controlled by private entities, why are our public dollars paying to police them?
Most importantly, however, do we think that whatever money has been saved is worth the loss of our constitutional rights?
What I am seeing is a chipping away of our civil rights from many directions. Municipal ordinances outweigh the unconditional right to assemble, as stated in our Constitution. There are no qualifying phrases in there. Nothing like, "as long as the politicians are okay with it" or "only when and where the powers that be allow." Warrant-less wiretapping, erosion of Miranda rights, and so many aspects of the Patriot Act.
It feels like a plan. A plan to have the window dressing of civil rights in this document we call our Constitution, when, in reality, the powers that be are denying us our civil rights at every turn so that they can never be challenged.
For me, it is a fundamental aspect of this movement that we fight for actualized civil rights for every human being. Standing up for the right to peacefully assemble in any public space, regardless of who it is "leased" to, is a lynchpin. It has been a purposeful effort to erase our ability to assemble. We saw how blatant that was with the Orwellian "free speech zones". Now, we're seeing that all our public spaces are being sold to the highest bidders, right along with our Constitutional rights.
I'm ready to occupy South Station. I'll be talking to my fellow occupiers to see if we can get a critical mass of people who are prepared to be non-violently non-cooperative and face arrest. I don't know that we'll broadcast when it will happen. But, I'll certainly report of my experiences, if it does.
Meanwhile, we all need to be very vocal about the necessity of public spaces remaining in the public domain and out of the control of private interests. It's a clever way to prevent public assembly: take away all the public spaces. We can't and won't acquiesce to that.