GA Minutes Tues Oct 18 2011

=GA Oct 18th 2011 Evening=

Source:
 * http://occupyboston.wikispaces.com/file/view/GA_Minutes_Oct_18_2011_Evening.txt
 * [[Media:GA_Minutes_Oct_18_2011_Evening.txt|GA_Minutes_Oct_18_2011_Evening.txt]]

Summary
Native Solidary Group reads UAINE's response to Occupy Boston's Statement of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples (endorsed Oct. 8) --GA tables Direct Action's proposal to rent a charter bus for traveling to other Occupy cities --GA tables proposal for Occupy Boston color (blue, and purple discussed, both tabled) --GA tables individual proposal for Mission Statement of Occupy Boston. --Media Working Group meeting (all can attend) 9pm tomorrow (Wednesday 10/20) --Noam Chomsky will speak on SATURDAY (not Wednesday) see occupyboston.org. --Thursday night (time TBA, see Media releases) Roxbury event: Hibernian Hall event celebrating Roxbury organizing -- The Asheville (NC) Tranzmission Prison Project is doing a tour and has agreed to do a workshop for occupyboston folk. They would like to do this workshop at 2pm on Saturday the 22nd and meet at the Gandhi statue. At this point, there is limit to the amount of people who can attend.

Detailed Minutes
Facilitators - B., Steven

[reads Facilitation statement]

Dan - stack manager

Bee: we have what's called progressive stack, we push you up in stack if you have been historically marginalized,

if you are from an underrepresented group.

Steven and B.: hand signs

Justin - timekeeper

Ethan etc - Floor aides

DA proposal (Labor!): I'm here as a proxy for DA, they asked me to talk about their proposal, I don't have it written down. we would like to rent a charter bus, to travel to --

Point of process - the proposal has to be written, it's difficult to process like this

[GA decides to try it]

5min discussion

DA - ... other occupations, not too far, probably NY or Worcester.

CQ - how much is it going to cost? can we use community resources? How much is it going to be accounted

for in the Finances Working Group? \

DA - we don't know, we just wanted to vet it, etc.

POP - proposals time is not for vetting, they are for proposing things. this is not a proposal, this is a thought.

DA - withdraws proposal

INDIV PROPOSALS

Aria - make the blue color for our marches, rallies, etc. Blue is a serene color, in the psychology of color. Also blue represents the oceans the atmosphere, a neutral color.

5min discussion in twos about whether there are CQs, etc.

CQ - blue is identified iwth the democratic party, but i like idea of color in general

CQ - why can't we just choose whatever color we want?

Aria - i think that we always have a right to do whatever we want. but for example New York always wear blue, and it threads the movement together.

CQ - are you talking about armbands like in the uprising in Iran? or are you talking about motifs and stuff?

A - i'm Persian, and this idea arises out of my activism here in Boston. the color could be a pin, a ribbon, a band.

Cq - can you consider having a symbol for the occupation as opposed to color. Like a logo

A - very little, honestly. symbols are easier to misconstrue than a color - think about the Communist fist of power, etc.

Cq - 99 percent - there's your logo

Steven - is that a clarifying question? we're only taking cq's now

Cq's - have you thought about winter clothes not being colorful? have you thought about colors being associated with gangs

B - last call for clarifying questions. points of information.

--choosing the democratic color may alienate 50% of the 99

--you can still express yourself in different shades of color

--theres a gentlemen whos passing out purple armbands and colors explaining that they represent the movement, a mix of red white and blue

--we've had a problem in the past with the gang symbols,and we changed our GA hand signals because of that

--a single color is too vague, that's why people are afraid that it will be associated with other things

B - strong concerns or objections.

-- there are artists here that could come up with a cool logo

-- i feel very strongly that differnces and varieties are more important, so we need to have a more nontraditional way of finding unity, rather than ratifying one color. i think we need to be creative about the identity of our movement

B - support

--i like the idea of standing with our revolutionary brothers and sisters who have adopted a color. this round of revolutions began in Iran with a sea of green. many of us changed our facebook, twitter etc to green, it was a nice way to show support

--there's nothing more American than indigo

-- it also symbolizes slavery and the dying of cotton

B - amendments

--i'd like to throw out orange as a color. it has no connotation and it's bright and obnoxious just like we are

--this is a leaderless movement, i think we should choose black

--i think that wiht our individual styles and spirits, we should be able to have an armband to accessorize being able to wear whatever

--having the american flag as a mosaic to represent the mosaic that we are

--we should use green!

--i suggest that we choose a symbol and a color and we use whichever we want

--it's a good idea to use two different colors. i agree with the color orange, lets spice it up with yellow

--i think we could even have a colorless symbol, i think the spirit o this movement is looking beyond color.

--purple is all the american flag colors together,

--lets make this a three-step vote - one color, two colors, or symbols

--purple. and the peace-symbol was a great thing for 60s

--would you be willing to have other people involved with you?

POP that's not an amendment it's a suggestion

--i think the purple 99% is the way to go.

--i'd like to note that orange will align us with the gators, i came from occupy orlando

POP

A - ok, there's a color issue, a symbol issue, and the mosaic issue. i will work on the symbol issue and the mosaic issue but i don't wanna rush it. can we get a temp check on the last two - symbol, mosaic. i was prepared that a lot of colors, can we get a temp check on 3 colors - blue, green and purple temp check passes purple

A - i propose purple

Steven - can i get a temp check on moving process along

strong concern - i'm worried that doing the color takes away from the class issue of the movement

strong concern - purple is the color of monarchy

-- i just find symbolism to be hollow, it diverts attention from the larger purpose and ideology, it becomes too easy for anyone to latch on the movement

-- i have a concern that i don't know how things will look like. i discussed this with Aria, but i don't think it's thought out

-- i think the 99 percent involves everyone, and choosing a color will demarcate supporters and nonsupporters

-- i think we've shown tonight that colors are very polarizing.

-- i am brown, and i am very proud to be brown. very proud proud to be brown. however i don't think that brown will be the color of this movement, the colors of this movement are the rainbow

-- there are many proposals here, i think next step is to form a working group

POP he doesn't need to do that at this point

support - i'd like to propose a simple sign,a purple patch or something, it would spark a conversation, etc.

support - i work in the suburbs and there are a lot of people who aren't ever gonna come down here, and would like to have a way to show support interference

POP - we agreed that when the interference happens, members of the GA should surround the person silently, if they feel comfortable, and we can go on with the GA interference

A - i'm not going to change the proposal. i'd like to incorporate purple into the movement. objections

-- i feel very strongly that the differences and opinions are more important and unifying in a nontraditional way. i think the idea of a color is not going to work.

POP - can i remind everyone what a principled block is, it's a block where the blocker believes accepting the proposal is a detriment to the movement, and the blocker will consider no longer being part of it

we will first vote on whether the block is principled

B- just raise one hand per person, if this is a principled block.

[not considered a principled block]

-- we already have a symbol nationally recognized in the media, it's 99percent we should go with it.

B - let's vote if -that's- a principled block

[not a block to GA]

[GA trying to figure out if there are 75/]

proposal tabled

Angela - i'd like to use people's mike

someone - it would take to long

POP - weve allowed people to use it it's ok

Angela - let me give a background to my proposal. the other day we had anti-racism workshop, and figured out it's hard to get representation and hard to move around here, especially as a person with physical disability. can we propose an ad-hoc group to fix the walkway,

to make sure that we get supplies and group that we need.

POP - that's not a proposal, you can simply gather the people to form a group

Angela - ok, could i finish by saying that if you're interested in helping meet me, meet me where i'm sitting.

B - next proposal

Brian W. - i'm really inspired by everybody here. i think there are a lot of operatives from the white house and the government that want to co-opt this movement, the two corporate movements want to co-opt us. we came out here with radical tactics came to occupy in financial district. we need to give voice to the people whose voice was taken away.

[reads proposal of what sounds like a declaration or mission statement]

5 min discussion

cq - is there a working group for demands?

Brian - yes and no, there have various groups that started and didn't get anywhere...

cq - have you put this draft on the wiki page?

Brian - yes and tried to discuss this

Cq - how diverse was the group of people that produced this documents?

Brian - i produced this document, it comes out of my conversattions etc with various people, if you've been around this camp a while, i've probably talked to you etc

cq - what are you going to do about the homeless community [interference]

cq - just to clarify is this proposed to be the official list for occupy boston

brian - if it's ratified, yes, it will be a statement of demands for OB

cq - what are you going to do about this?

POI - we have two groups SPP and Ideas, they are working together and separately, in some ways. In past GAs, it's been proposed to talk to other people working on these kind of documents

POI - i know an incredible amount about economics and history, i'd like to be consulted before anything is ratified

POP - this is not a POI, it's an offer of help

--sorry, i dont understand process yet

Steven - it's ok, none of us do

B. - do we have quorum?

[decision not to have quorum]

WORKING GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS

Media (Alex) - we are having a media meeting tomorrow to address issues that we've been having about image and internal communicationat 9pm tomorrow.

FSU - Noam Chomsky at 6pm

Women's Caucus - we have conflict resolution and crisis resolution-trained social workers

Faith - [list of events available on calendar at occupyboston.com]. reads United American Indians of New England (UAINE)'s response to already-ratified statement of Solidarity with Indigenous People. We fully support the right of OB to expand, and invite them to share in our day of mourning on Nov 24..." see occupyboston.com

INDIVIDUAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

on Saturday the Prisoners Project is going to do a Prisoner's Reality workshop at 2pm, that conflicts with the Civil Disobedience Workshop (sorry!!!)

Red Sun press - we are a cooperatively-run press that's been operating since 1924, we would like to express our solidarity with OB.

Thursday night Roxbury, Hibernian Hall an event sharing and celebrating the successful organizing that people in Roxbury fought to prevent urban renewal (wiping out the neighborhood) to bring I-128 through Boston over 30 years ago. I will post more information through media.