WG/Strategies/Direct Action/Occupy Thanksgiving

Occupy Boston will not disappear by November 24, 2011. The Dewey Square tent city will still be there, and while many people will be indoors watching football and eating turkey, Anonymous will still be out there in the streets.

We are looking to provide Occupy Boston with a good hot meal on Thanksgiving day. It's as simple as that.

Occupy Thanksgiving: November 24, 2011

This Is Why

Dewey Square does not allow any open flames at all, including charcoal cooking. Therefore, we will be holding an outdoor cookout on the morning of Thursday, November 24 (Thanksgiving) at Franklin Park in Dorchester, in the area of the public park that allows outdoor cooking and grilling. You'll be able to set up a grill, dutch oven coal table, or other cooking apparatus. This will be done in the manner of a tailgate party, with little to no permanent setups. Why a cookout? Because having a get-together in order to cook is an incentive to get people to cook, instead of just donating cold food. Also, this location is only 4-5 miles from Dewey Square (about a 15 minute drive), so that when the food is cooked it will still be hot when it's delivered to Dewey Square. Also, cookouts are fun.

This is intended as a one-time informal gathering, and we do not intend to permanently occupy Franklin Park. (If you want to hold another cookout at Franklin Park at some other time, you can make your own plan to do so.)

Location

Franklin Park, Dorchester, Massachusetts. The exact location is just outside the Giraffe Gate entrance of the Franklin Park Zoo, where there are concrete tabletops for cooking and metal barrels marked "Coals" for the disposal of charcoal. Because the zoo is closed due to the holiday, the Giraffe Entrance parking lot (Pierpoint Road and Playstead Road) will be closed and blocked off; you will not be able to park right outside the zoo entrance. Instead, it will be necessary to park in the following manner:

• Set your GPS for 166 Seaver Street, Dorchester, MA.
  • Google Maps location for 166 Seaver Street: [1]
  • Mapquest location for 166 Seaver Street: [2]
• Park across the street from the apartment building, just after the public playground.
• Take your supplies and cooking equipment down the hill, past the playground, to the cooking area outside the zoo entrance.

Time

Thursday, November 24, 2011, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM. In order to take part, simply show up at Franklin Park during these hours, help out, and then go and enjoy your Turkey Day in whatever way you wish. The time you show up depends on what you intend to cook: if you're cooking something quickly (such as stuffing or vegetables), you can arrive by 11:00 to noon, set up, and be done by 1:00 PM. If you're cooking something that takes a long time (such as turkey or ham), you should be sure to arrive early by 9:00 AM or so. The intention is for the cooking to be done by 1:00, so that the food tent can be serving hot food by 1:30 PM.

Basic Plan

1) Show up. You don't have to be there for the entire four hour time; just be there long enough to help cook and transport food to Dewey Square.

2) Bring food to be cooked. Holiday-themed food (turkey, vegetables, stuffing, etc.) is fine and probably preferred, but any available food will be appreciated. This should be different from the usual food donations being provided to the Dewey Square location -- food donations of that sort should be taken directly to Dewey Square and donated to the food tent.

3) Bring transportation. Once the food is cooked, it will need to be transported from the cooking location to Dewey Square.

4) Bring cooking equipment. Obviously not everyone can provide a grill, but we need at least a few. Portable equipment is preferred, so that you can break down your setup when you're finished. The Franklin Park cookout area has concrete tabletops to allow for cooking equipment to be set up. There are metal barrels marked "Coals" especially for disposal of charcoal.

5) Cook the food. Volunteers are needed to cook! If you want to do it all yourself -- bring food and cooking gear, cook your food, and bring your cooked food to Dewey Square -- then please do so. Otherwise, please contribute to one of the other steps listed above (bring food, bring a car/truck, bring cooking equipment, cook the food).

6) When the food is cooked, bring it to Dewey Square. This is why it all needs to be portable, and this is why transportation is needed. Cooked food will need to be transported from the cooking site to Dewey Square, where it will then be donated to the food tent.

Mapquest directions from 166 Seaver Street, Dorchester to 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston: http://mapq.st/uHNUEq

7) Eat the food. This is the good part.  :)

If you plan to cook food at home and bring it to Occupy Boston, take your cooked food directly to Dewey Square and donate it to the food tent. You don't have to bring it to the cooking location first.

Media

To be determined. Add your suggestions here. Flyers publicizing this event will be posted at Dewey Square and Anonymous-friendly locations in Boston.

A .PDF flyer for the Occupy Turkey Day cookout is located here: http://www.modemac.com/occupythanksgiving.pdf

The URL for this page is: http://tinyurl.com/occupythanksgiving

Politics

This page is not intended to conflict or compete with those who are planning a trip to the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth on this day (Indigenous Solidarity and Outreach). The purpose of Occupy Thanksgiving is simply to provide Occupy Boston with a hot holiday meal.  On a related note:  Why we shouldn't celebrate thanksgiving.

Especially in the wake of the Boston Herald's article accusing Occupy Boston of leeching off homeless services [3], Occupy Thanksgiving will show that Occupy Boston does not intend to depend on food banks or other charities who will be working to provide holiday meals to the poor and homeless.