GA Minutes Tues Nov 22, 2011

These are the notes from the Occupy Boston General Assembly these are taken to the best of the note takers ability (Ethan H.) they are not a direct transcript, where things could not be heard or understood dash marks are used (--) 7:41 85 people in attendance introductions of roles welcome to occupy boston going over of hand signs announcements: **facilitators accountability working group confusion about getting funds we have made it easier 857 417 7872 email a new address to get funds [mailto:obwg.fundingrequests@gmail.com obwg.fundingrequests@gmail.com] to make process easier does not skip the filling out a form process question and answer we can not call 24/7 **part two to FAWG announcement some members have been sued by paul carnes and cidney cheryll there is a flyer circulating from paul and cidney that is anti F.A.W.G.        these persons will try to         next meeting 6pm wednesday in south station **outreach working group all the good work that the working groups are doing they are doing things two fold needs mission and vision from working groups needs actions from working groups going to make a working doccument of accompolishements to understand what each other are doing &ldquo;was blown away by how good we are&rdquo; this is needed for court! very important don&rsquo;t want a list of working groups want a list of what each wg is working on   make it really public  on web site and with community works at [mailto:rita@brandice.edu rita@brandice.edu]  phone (857) 204-5653 internal working doccument and sharing and educating mic check site called groups.occupyboston.org every group has or should have a space on that site where we can tell everyone what we are doing mic check on the wiki working groups have posted some extra things i also suggest that you send an email to all working groups requesting this care and comfort: Zoe ensures or attempts to ensure the relative care and comfort for the activists involved in the movement develope a place to relax legal Ben one of the attourneys representing OB   **Update** temp restraining order was obtained further hearing on december 1st mediation has not gone anywhere the city said no to tents they must go   that was the long and short of it    they did come forward they showed up and did what court wanted we don&rsquo;t know what the mediatior will tell the judge but we look reasonable infront of the judge we say tyhat the statute delegating authority to the greenway is unconstutional for the sake of argument it&rsquo;s protected speech-- the proctected speech is being here-- there is no ample alternative-- second announcement had brief discussion about what we may have one live wittness 5 affadavids worried about giving out our legal strategie judge asked for photos submitted on december 1st tuesday at noon is the deadline for submitting things recognizing that this is the model for how society should work we passed a well thought out proposal last week affadavids last sunday in legal tent we may be dropping occupy boston as a plantif and have just individuals **media occupy boston sunday 2pm to 5pm develope comprehensive media proposal (?) occupy sacramento sends out press releases every day we need to bring public opinion back two large flower beds are being moved tomorrow morning on wednesday about 8 oclock we have the food tent!!! it has been felt and touched woo woo within the week we will have on site ***writers caucus Kevin 7pm wednesday nights at south station workshop sat at 3 meet at ghandi [mailto:writers@occupyboston.org writers@occupyboston.org] **non violence working group buenos noches good evening mi nombre Jorge this friday non violence workshop with john....   in the quaker tradition 10am till 12 in fed plaza meet at ghandi and walk to south station in the event of a camp shut down on the day after the raid or shutdown if there have been arrests we will meet 815 at the brook new martin court house to show solidarity with them during their areignment 7pm at the boston common band stand hold general assembly what steps we will take follow **signs WE NEED HELP AT THE SIGN TENT! person was out of town for a week and things were stolen *food is the relation between people we have a wonderful management structure but the dishes aren&rsquo;t getting done WE HAVE DIVISION OF LABOR PROBLEMS you&rsquo;re not too good to do dishes if one has a dish scrape it off first before placing it in the bin if it is placed into the water the water spoils faster please help and please follow the rules ***campers ga   proposal for tomorrow about how the camp is structured wednesday at 11am ***Facilitation we are having a GA on thursday on thanksgiving on that day we will decide on what to be talked about it could be an open stack for things we are thankful for turn up if you&rsquo;re around!! show your support! ** sherry the houseless and allies comunity working group wants this working group monday wed friday 6pm south station have been discussing drafting a document and proposal for the homeless to be given to gov. patrick and mayor menino want the housless to come to the meeting [mailto:cherie.l.king@gmail.com cherie.l.king@gmail.com] PLEASE EMAIL FOR MORE INFO **faith and spirituality remind everyone at the top of main street there is a tent avialable for everyone to   relax and stay rooted in love if you have anythin gyou want to teach of share let us know 10pm 12pm cosmic zen session [mailto:spiritual@occupyboston.org spiritual@occupyboston.org] **acts of random kindness people from occupy boston will go and do random acts of kindness some people have jobs and famalies and can&rsquo;t get away we can do something little for them if you&rsquo;re interested find Alex [mailto:occupythemindboston@yahoo.com occupythemindboston@yahoo.com] **Library and Safety eric working on de escalation method one on one method solidarity from oakland and uc berkley !!!! have been shot at and have perminant hearing loss from the events at our ga that we learned that egypt has shown solidarity with them tuition raised 89% within the UC system ***tod from info tent will be showing solidarity with philly as he travels there in the coming week ****occupy worster has been given a place to stay -- occupy LA received an offer to decamp -- 10,000 feet of office space a farm and housing for the homeless meeting in copley square at 1pm december 3rd there is a planing meeting this meeting 26 west street at 5 pm second floor **spirituality things moight be awarre that we are having some problems so -- thee problems involve issues with the food tent -- evictions -- and the broader comversation about racism and sexism -- they have been having a detrimental effect on the community-- many of the people are standing in front of you are white (talking about the large group that has assembled on the stage) many cases these broader conversations have spiraled out of controll -- i don&rsquo;t know if this is the forum to address them-- we need to not let them happen in private mic check there are clear issues -- of racist conversations happening in our comunity -- we are hurting each other -- we are hurting ourselves -- we have the potential to take these things-- groups of anti racist white groups-- of people of color-- have been talking over and over but it wil take us to iunderstand --- this is pivotal to our work -- this is not dividing out work-- this is our hope as groups of individuals --that we van be accountable to those most affected by systems of white supremicy-- that these people will take a look at how thios comes out ---in our personal relationships---it iw sithout doubt-- white supremicy---is a part of all the other types of supremicy that we need to talk about mic check are wr going to have an open and honest discussion around tonight about an hour ago i talked to jamahl craqford he expressed to me that he had hoped we would discussed if we want to adress it here we need to address it here and with concern for those people ---everyone here taking accountability for yourselves if we choose a time to have this conversation within the next 7 days will you come *temp check most in agreement** i think it&rsquo;s fantastic that we have decided to talk about this the important thing is that if we want december 3rd to be succesful we need to tlak about this asap i want to propose that we have this discussion tonight they&rsquo;re goijg to let you know what is going on   hi gues i&rsquo;m courtney from outreach community alot of people here know about the racial tension that has been happenng there have been some issues here at camp women of color have felt uncomfortable emails have been sent that are inappropriate white allies need to speak up about this they are here standing as revolutionaries if you have racial tensions that needs to be talked about on t   my name is mec i have been asked to speak from my heart i may cry i still lnow what i;m talking about anyone who believes that talking about race willl divide us --is mistaken those divisions came in with us in this movement i&rsquo;m really honselty want to do that i want to give everything are you with me ?? (responce eys) we are a communoity that resembles the world before we can hange or liberate it   we have to awknolege that opression has always defeated every revolutionary movement we are not exempt from that we carry the aspirations to change this world we carry thie (things) that most impacts marganalized groups alos effects white people --internalized white supremacy keeps us from ourselves i won&rsquo;t use mic check not seeing color will make the problem go away? not seeing color is a form of denial if i act like i don&rsquo;t see that this brother is black and beautiful and likely to go to prison then i am deniedi don&rsquo;t want you to act like i&rsquo;m not a lesbian i want you to treat me no different because of it   who i am as a person is different than who i am as a person if we just act like we&rsquo;re smooth when we see black people that will make it ok   need to make a distinction between old fashioned bigotry and the things that are institutionalized in society if a duck is a duck then call it a duck we have not been able to learn how to call it a duck sometimes my intent doess not match our impact we hear people that make claims that racism going on   then the backlash is that OOOOOH NO IT&rsquo;S NOT! there is arrogance in that white people trying to tell people that it&rsquo;s not going on   what i want to do is try to have conversations about how we perpetuate racism without meaning to    the structures and systems (need to make sure that they are not) maintaining the status quo i&rsquo; can we please hear from people of color equal to white alli voices are you sure? because we&#39;ve got some shit to say--- ,y brothers and sisters and other folks here do not have any issue with it --- brothers we stand here tonight as allies ---allies don&#39;t mean that we are here only to help when we look at the founding of our nation ---people came together they saw needs--to solve needs we got instititions--those institutions were created by people who look like me   it is the most difficult culture to see---not something we do as individuals --it&rsquo;s not about an interpersonal peice--what i see happening here--those same systems are being created here in subtle please stay tuned to the next few days *we are finished with announcements 9:04pm announcement it&rsquo;s going to rain this evening be aware of that going over hand signals chris brings proposal to ga through the --- working group reading of the proposal --- the idea of right now is to try to get a concensus -- we have to have a city council sponsopr--- that will take a little time -- Q: could you clarify the relationship between menino and the city council A menino is separate from the city council this is an appeal to the city council Q who do you have in mind for a city councelor A we need to get concensus on this proposal then we will think about who can sponsor it   thinking about the who seems non productive POINTS OF INFORMATION appeal for all people present at the GA to be involved Don&rsquo;t be scurrred point of information the language in this proposal has gone through camp to many individuals and working groups it is a relatively short proposal given all the things that are included People are discussing now...   more of the factions that occupy boston is representing aren&rsquo;t represented here Concern: this is a little bit of POI and a little bit of concern-- the legal team did not approve edit or revise this doccument -- the legal support team of occupyboston has no position on this (proposal) call for strong concerns or objections now moving on to statements of support SS: even if this fails we will find out who is a supporter and who is not SS: i support this-- i see it as a part of our diversity of tactics--this one seems worthwile to me-- SS: this is not a statement of support of dissagreement-- what i do know is that the image of occupy boston within a lot of people in city hall is that occupy boston is not representative of their communities and that needs to be addressed SS i think that this is an imperfect doccument--but it is so good that it puts us in a position--doing all things that will show respect for city counelors---i think we should just pass it   SS: i am a resident of the city of boston i just voted for the city council members---i support this --- if you need residents who support this -- and to go --i will support this and go    SS: the first time i aw this purposal i said dear god no-- because that objection has not been brought i want to bring it--i thiink that a diversity of tactics means just that 0 supproting this purposal -- does in no way compromises those people who are concerned with working with the state asking for amendments A: i purpose that we do a what is it called a survey and collect signatures from boston residents who support this purposal *called a petition* A someone on twitter wanted underemployment to be added the proposers are going to get a chance to re write their proposal hearing from medical 5 stethiscopes $75 ear thermometer needed $38 pulse ox (gives a pulse and blood oxygen level) other items noted $211.57 including shipping second thing some of our vests did not come in and we will need to re order the vests Clarifying questions: CC what is a pulse ox   it takes the blood ox level and give a pulse CC can we not just get more covers when we first started we had 6 stethiscopes and they have gone down to one we will have a sign in check out list for the new stethiscopes proposal is the same as when it was read however not taking in 30 more dollars to cover possible shipping and handling charges and the rest will go back to FAWG re stating the proposal brought by Chris and Outreach proposal goes through a second process with no new amendments proposal passes! Go on ot the wiki email occupy boston outreach group about how to get involved Now up we have a winterization proposal Please save the boxes of joe! This was proposed two weeks ago but there was not quorum For one thousand dollars to build the tiny house on wheels we have gotten 1000 from firedog lake to help build these the iron workers and carpenters unions are involved with building these they are built on bicycle trailers so they can be eaisly moved want to make an appeal for this 1000 grant that would be matched there is a build out date on the 29th up to 1000 to build 8-10 trailers monies to be refunded with the proof of reciepts taking clarifying questions CC can you make it for more than one person yes depends on how cozy CC are you conc CC are you concerned about BPD stopping you from them from coming in   or if they confiscate them Yes there is some risk but they are mobile and the risk is low. If there is some reason we have to leave we can take them with if we do it all at once that will be best CC do we know of any liscence or building codes that prevent this kind of st   CC have we gotten ahold of critical mass to see if they are interested in being involved with bringing them in    Yes we have thought of that POINTS OF INFORMATION POI The houses are structurally sound they are ---they look rather comfortable --i think it would servet he camp very well CC? are they ventelated and safe to sleep in   I have slept in them and did not feel dizzy but they may be inproved STRONG CONCERNS OR OBJECTIONS Concern the cioty will use this as a quote unquote safety concern if they are not fire proof or ventelated to say that we are trying to build houses here Concern I have a concern that may be unfounded given that I came in halfway into the conversation--what we are approaching in the next couple of weeks having to deal with the injunction --- have we clarified that with the lawyers yet ---about constructing and bringing in those beautiful smalll houses -- Response - i have not but will talk to a lawyer about this STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT SS I think these houses can provide a good strategy---we an take these to another spot and build occupations around the city SS i am going to piggy back--little houses work --amazing gettaway supplies--occupy everywhere until we meet at the common SS i am building one for myself SS i think this could bennifit occupy boston and everywhere else as a model=--- this is amazing SS george washington your firrst president said &ldquo;you will do whatever you want you&rdquo; you want to camp here,,, you camp here he was elected by 100% only to be president SS the little house on the greenway it writes itself AMENDMENTS I would suggest that you write in the proposal that you will find a way to fairly distribute these houses and how to get them into there A i agree with what he said and I have an ideas. those who want one should help build one A we should provide malliable skimatics to campers so that they can source their own materials so that campers can build their own materials for free A i suggest we come up with an awesome name that does not refer to them as houses A If we are giving halt the money from our communal pot then we should figure out a way to hare them for communal housing to those who want to stay a couple nights A i would say we should research a way to properly ventelate the homes A I suggest occubagos (kind of like winnebagos?) A please hear this as the hurmor that i intend to share what color are you thinking? i think we should paint them multi color RESTATING i propose up to 1000 dollars to be funded to build to augment the 1000 dollars to increase the number of occubagos between 16-20 i am not the czar of occubegos the group here is funding them and should decide who gets them 2-4 should be set aside for guest houses design improvements will be included will be taking design improvements it will be doccumented as a how to guide made avialable in the library how to distribute the ones now include that the winterizing group will discuss how to distribute them probably on saturday IMPUT WANTED/NEEDED CLARIFYING QUESTIONS CC I know we&rsquo;re not supposed to use wood is there wood involved These will be premade items and will probably pass the concern of wood being brought in   and yes I will talk to the lawyer POINTS OF INFORMATION POI Technically acording to the city we aren&rsquo;t even allowed to be here STRONG CONCERNS OR OBJECTIONS STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT this is awesome ARE THERE ANY BLOCKS Now moving on   thank you to the ideas working group PROPOSAL PASSES! note we are 40 people in attendence proposal by the ideas working group this monday november 28th Ideas working group will be meeting to discuss wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/ideas_group_values_data proposal by the ideas working group questions regading the words left out and also why justice is not in the group. concerns about key values that other groups hold are not include. groups have been struggling to have their values heard - this list could alienate them. two sers of values missing:  anit-opression, racial justice and gender justice;  comm=unity history of strength and resistence. stories in boston must be honored here. proposer answers concerns: this list is meant to be a living document approved by the GA as a primer to take this back and build the document on the list. Outreach to opressed groups was not done as much as it should have been. This list reflects idess of a lot of people. List is a condensing multiple ways of expressing our values. Certain words were grabbed. Just proposing words that might be useful. GA interrupted by camper

- These notes were copied from this Google doc:

GA Minutes (1/2)