On 5 April 2021 during our biweekly chapter meeting our discussion focused on the upcoming event Social Activism for Social Justice (SA4SJ). We have been planning this event for some time and have now decided that the event will be structured into 2 parallel sessions: one focused on unionizing/organizing in the workplace, and one focused…
Author: Luca
Meeting Summary Jan 25th 2021
We started the meeting with introductions and a basic overview of the meeting structure. Followed by a note on the value of writing summaries after the meeting. Next there was an update on the Big Blue Button video hosting platform as an alternative to zoom. It has better security features and corporate practices and is…
Meeting Summary, June 17th 2020
Our meeting started with a discussion of current efforts to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter and associated movements and what other initiatives we could undertake. National SftP has been holding calls and is currently collecting input on possible initiatives. The recording of the most recent national call is here. We discussed responses to the…
STEM in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter Rally
Wed. June 10th, 3:30pm, Albany St + Main St, (near MIT/Broad/ Kendal Square T stop) Followed by march to Boston City Hall to join rally from Nubian Square. Details here Please join the STEM community in a rally to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter and related movements across the country. We will have a short…
Statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter and related movements across the country
Science, as organized and practiced today, is an endeavor that exhibits extreme bias. The makeup of the scientific workforce does not reflect the racial makeup of our society; black people are wildly underrepresented, with a particularly egregious underrepresentation of black women. This is unjust, both as a violation of equality of opportunity, and because science…
Meeting Summary, May 6th 2020
Welcome: We have two new members! We introduced ourselves and everyone conveyed that their reason for getting involved in SftP was their deep interest in both science and radical politics. Report-back on climate strike: Our climate strike involvement was essentially scuttled by the coronavirus epidemic. Report-back about national and local COVID-19 activities: We heard about…
Statement on COVID-19 Pandemic
The following is a statement about the COVID-19 pandemic from the National organization of SFTP. It was initially posted here. SftP Statement on COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 Pandemic has generated multiple crises across healthcare, economic, and social systems in the…
Meeting Summary, April 8th 2020
Welcome: We have a new member! We introduced ourself and checked that everybody is physically and emotionally healthy during this challenging time. Meeting virtually using zoom: We discussed the recent reports regarding the lack of security and encryption of the video conferencing platform “zoom”. We decided that, moving forward, we will implement password protection for all…
Meeting Summary, Feb 26 2020
Planning the “Radical Science Fair”: Members reported back on the groups and potential venues they’d reached out to after last meeting regarding a “Radical Science Fair” to be hosted in Late April or Early May. Since labor organizing and environmental justice will only be part of the themes of the event, we decided it was…
COVID-19 Pandemic Response
The spread of COVID-19 is now considered a global pandemic. In the United States, the particulars of how the disease spreads (long and contagious incubation period when infected individuals do not show symptoms), combined with a delayed response to presumptive cases, has made it infeasible to “contain” the outbreak by tracing and quarantining all of…