The First Sacco & Vanzetti Commemoration Parade, Forest Hills 2006

These are pictures of the first S&V Parade, which took place in Jamaica Plain on Sunday, August 27, 2006. People gathered under the rain at the Stony Brook Park for a rally. The speakers included mostly young people who either read poems, the writing of Sacco and Vanzetti from prison, or presented reports on their own struggles. The Boston May Day Coalition contributed Jesse Diaz, an immigrant rights leader from Los Angeles, who made the connections between repression of immigrants in the days of Sacco and Vanzetti and now. Jesse was one of the organizers of the successful May Day demonstration in Los Angeles, which gathered more than half a million people demanding immigrant rights. The parade went through Jamaica Plain to end at the Forest Hills Cemetery, where the bodies of Sacco and Vanzetti were cremated after their execution in 1927.

To see the pictures click here.


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TEXT OF THE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

Boston: Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Parade

The First Annual, Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Parade! Boston, Ma. Sunday, August 27th, 2006, 1pm. Stand up against the oppression of immigrants and anarchists.

Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were two Italian immigrants who came to the United States in 1908 in search of a better life in a free society. After years of working hard at modest jobs for little pay, they were wrongfully accused of murder and robbery, arrested, imprisoned, and executed. Though they had evidence to prove thier innocence, they were the victims of a witch hunt because they were anarchists and immigrants. Sacco and Vanzetti died because they lived in a country and time where immigrants and radicals faced brutal political repression.

If we look around, the same is true today. Just this year, the United States attempted to make all 12 million undocumented immigrants, currently residing and working in the United States into felons, along with all those who support them or offer them humanitarian aid. The government continues their attacks on immigrant rights, sending troops to the Mexican border, and making it harder and harder for immigrants to hold jobs and support their families. Starting last winter, the same government cracked down on anarchists and other radicals working to stop the destruction of the environment. Since then, the FBI has violently arrested over 20 activists across the country, and over 40 people were indicted to Grand Juries where their constitutional rights are suspended.

This August we will come together to remember the tragic history of Boston's past and to mourn victims of state repression. More importantly, however, we will celebrate the creation of a united movement that will stand firmly together to resist political, racial, sexual, social, environmental and economic oppression. We will have conversations and educate each other about the injustices we suffer and the dreams we hold dear to our hearts. We will work together to secure the rights, freedoms, and livelihoods of all people, as well as stand firm against the continued destruction of the environment.

Therefore, we are calling all of those individuals, organizations, unions, and communities concerned with political repression and dedicated to freedom and liberty, to the first annual Sacco and Vanzetti Memorial Parade. Join us on Sunday, August 27th, at 1 pm at the field outside of the Stony Brook T-Stop on the Orange Line. There we will share food, art, music, literature, stories, and speeches, before taking off on a festive parade towards the Forest Hills Cemetery, where Sacco and Vanzetti were cremated.

If you are interested in helping to organize this event, we would love all participation and input! Here is a lists of ways you can participate (though other ideas are welcome)

-distributing fliers in your neighborhood, at your local café, community center, library or bookstore

-helping with translations (fliers, pamphlets and speeches)

-participate in educational street theatre in the week leading up to the parade

-help us make (or create your own) art, music, food, literature, puppets, costumes etc for the parade

-talk to your fellow workers, your local union, your neighbors, your local immigration centers etc. about these issues and invite them to the parade. To get involved, or for more information, please email Jake at
trenchesfullofpoets@riseup.net, or visit our website

http://neanarchistsummit.org/.

Hope to see you at the parade!
In love and solidarity,
-BAAM Boston