By Satenik Karapetyan — 10/5/11
The Occupy Boston movement is growing. The Massachusetts Nurses Association is just one of many unions across the state that is standing in solidarity with the demonstrators. Busloads of nurses arrived in Boston’s Dewey Square, chanting “Tax Wall Street to heal America.” Their message was heard loudly and clearly when they shouted “Corporate greed has got to go.”
Cheers erupted throughout the hundreds who crowded to hear Donna Kelly-Williams speak. Williams is the president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association. She told the protestors that “We’re here for our Take Back Main Street campaign because this is affecting every human being…all of the human beings that we take care of as nurses. It’s critically important that we take back America and restore it to the Main Street and to the ideals that we have and are owed to us, and no longer can we continue to have Wall Street reap all of the benefits on the backs of the workers in this country.”
The nurses are hoping their involvement will raise awareness of the proposed “Main Street Contract for America” which pushes for increased corporate taxes to pay for social welfare programs. The contract pushes for jobs at living wages, guaranteed healthcare not based on ability to pay, being able to retire in dignity and access to quality public education.
“The nurses of America want Wall Street to be held accountable for the crimes they have created against the working people of America. We’re here because soup kitchens and homeless shelters should not be the fastest growing business in America,” said Williams. “Wall Street got bailed out, Main Street got left out.”
Nurses all over the nation are getting involved. This morning the president of National Nurses United was in New York while nurses also protested in Washington D.C. and San Francisco.
Here in Boston, Dr. Cornel West joined the protest. The Princeton professor and prominent civil rights activist took the microphone and got the crowd reved up. He preached about how the nationwide movement is a pure American occupation and is keeping the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr. alive. “This is a Democratic awakening, inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East,” he said. “This is what democracy looks like.”
The movement began in New York City and quickly spread nationwide to other cities. Occupy Boston is a peaceful protest in favor of the end of corporate greed and corruption. The protestors have been camping out in Boston’s Dewey Square for 6 days. They have pitched tents and don’t plan to leave until policy-makers and business leaders pay attention to their issues.
Many more unions, including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, are expected to show their support in the coming days.