[PAST] Sacco and Vanzetti Third Annual March and Rally

On Saturday, August 23rd, Boston remembered the 81st anniversary of the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrants and committed anarchists whose trial is widely regarded as one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in American history. Calling attention to the continued repression of immigrants and radicals, the Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society (SVCS) gathered in Copley Square at 1PM, followed by a march to the North End at 3PM, which concluded with a rally at 5PM at the Paul Revere Mall, 416 Hanover Street featuring a number of speakers, including Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner, Pasqualino Colombaro, Dorotea Manuela, and Molly Adelstein.

Councilor Turner presented the SVCS with an official proclamation passed by the Boston City Council declaring August 23, 2008 Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Day in the City of Boston. To see the resolution click here.

The march also counted with the distinguished participation of the Emperor Norton Stationary Marching Band, which contributed beautiful music to the march.

For the third year in a row, the SVCS sought to bring public attention to the wrongful execution of the two Italian immigrant workers in 1927. We invoke our local history not only to remember Sacco and Vanzetti, but also to demonstrate how little has changed in the 81 years following their execution. Nationalist fearmongering and the repression of dissidents is as prevalent today as it was during the Red Scare in the early 20th century. The way in which immigrants workers are rounded up, detained and deported today under the pretext of a War on Terror, a War on Drugs or securing our borders, is eerily similar to the Palmer Raids targeting immigrants in the 1920s. And while the overwhelming majority of developed nations have abolished the death penalty, the retention of capital punishment in the United States keeps the U.S. in alarmingly poor company with other countries notorious for human rights abuses.