Ideas working group notes 11/13/2011

Ideas meeting 11/13 – south station

Recap—last meeting was just Andrew Meeting before that @ bar—discussion of how to do public discussion Info about public discussion available on wiki Recap of public discussion—what to do with this information yet?

Linda—What happened w/ the census?

Response- halfway done—tells us whose there, if they’re contributing—fill out a census form, tent number, working group that you were a part of, etc.—there was a campers GA

--Add onto the agenda—potentially discuss GA’s at public discussion -occupy the whitehouse petitions

-topic—listserv problems need to shift to forum-based discussions

marty—propose for a group page, we include a forum—what is the purpose of the listserv? mallory—potentially report backs for forum to be made – email==potentially send out the minutes on the listserv?

Aria—trying to find the minutes on the wiki—good to have them online This is part of a larger issue – how to include online voices?

Martin—media tent is now 100% media/camp work, no facebook/casual use

Marty—there is groups.occupyboston.org – next email, send out the groups info

Aria—three forms- which is which?

Marty—wiki for public info, groups.occupyboston.org for conversation, listserv for private emails. Maybe send out a reminder of the use of the listserv/groups/wiki on a weekly basis?

Mallory volunteers to try to organize listserv issues.

Next topic—OB SUMMIT

At high school cafeteria in Chinatown, 2-6 –ill send out the JPEG of the poster Summit is for facilitating the gathering of ideas, done in “world café” style, with professional facilitators Quicker proposals, less confusion, not-knowing, unbiased Take out the dirty laundry and sort it.

Aria—how are they going to choose the topics?

Alex—questions are already picked—by Maureen, alex, angela, bill, a few others were there—about 8 of us and two moderators

Martin—reclerify what Alex said for Linda

Linda—will we get to see the questions?

Martin—yes.

Eric—6 hours?

Martin—4 hours.

Linda—how many people?

Martin—fire marshall says 250 people. 200 said they’re coming. Fliers @ info.

Next topic – Public Discussion

Potentially discuss GA?

Daniel- come to facilitation, 4 on the weekend, 5 on weekdays, fed reserve plaza.

Martin—a thought on the format of the meeting—open space technology, law of two feet—let people design their conversation—will not be present, at another working group meeting that night—will send out website/blog post about open space tech.

Aria—are we ready to do this tomorrow or not? Values statement—could this be a topic? Response—has been a topic, last discussion.

Tess- potentially occupy the whitehouse.gov could be a topic?

Switch topics—Occupy the whitehouse.gov proposal

Daniel—Obama admin. “we the people” site—can build a petition, with 25k signatures, there is a formal response. We could come up with a solid petition form a national campaign. -could this be for tomorrows public discussion?

Temp check—looks good

--could get more people involved at camp—more to sign the petition -we would draft a list of topics and demands that could be on the petition?

Tess—throw out ideas, then use O.S.T.

Eric—have some data from the values collection—should be short & sweet to get all to agree on it.

Aria—a. I have a lot of data, b. I want something short and simple—disconnect? Eric—maybe top 5 items from the data?

Tess—petition needs to be core values, so many can get behind it

(person at another table chimes in--Naomi)—specific petition with specific demands, couldn’t you lose members?

Tess—potentially a demand of recognition?

Aria—I disagree, if the demands are large & broad, the alienation will not be there.

Daniel- the petition is like a public space, this demand si not all inclusive is one idea. Aria—could it be a sustainable peace time economy?

Eric—the process is we’ll collect ideas for the petition, analyze the data, and build the petition to promote

Daniel—not for tactics yet.—have a meeting tomorrow, write & consent petitions—specific policy proposal. All agree on this being topic for meeting tomorrow.

Tess-who can be here?

Martin, eric can be there.

Marty, charles and Linda leave for independent reasons—

Katherine—how to find which working groups are organizing a list of demands –come to the meetin

next topic—what do we do with this information we’re collecting?

Martin- noah started doing word clouds—useful for general public A way to present ‘why we’re here’ to the public Potentially statement of values?

Values task force proposal

Daniel—describe the values task force-how do we present this to the GA? Value-by-value? Large group of values at once? Go to GA, present “working document”—keeping,maintaining, publicizing the data-one by one

Martin—brilliant idea, to make it more understandable, framing it as a declaration may be better. On the website—list ‘what are the values of occupy boston’

Tess—strongly in support —allow people to see what we are about

Naomi (the voice from outside a few paragraphs ago, has joined the group in conversation while waiting for her bus)—I agree, small school in a suburb, saying it’s a bunch of people complaining about nothing—I don’t think many people on the outside can see your values.

Proposal to try round stack (go around and everyone speaks!)

Mallory—I agree, but what about the way we do it—and in what order?

Martin—try first ten? Do ten by ten? John—come back to me.

Mark—behind the statement of values—maybe one at a time, maybe easier at GA—one statement a week?

Naomi—if you collect a bunch of statements every week?

Katherine—statement of values could be criticized as being vague—very basic policy demands need to be made

Eric—would like values – a list of grievances, policy demands, action items

Katherine—have you considered having a short working list of policy demands.

Daniel – point of information—we haven’t, we can do this next

Eric—it could be whitehouse.gov?

Tess—in response to demands, also could help w discussion.

Katherine—POI—someone working on the FAQ pages, did have list of 5 demands—maybe 3,4, or 5 at the root of our grievances?

Aria—what were they?

Katherine—overturn citizens united, deny corporate personhood...can’t remember

Back to round stack-

Jennifer—there was a statement passed and put on the website—unclear what it was exactly about—vague.

Martin—two distinct things—declaration of values and or demands—our “novelty factor” has worn off00waiting week by week is not prudent—we should not be so timid to fear GA to make our values easier to pass at GA—potentially 10 values a week

Aria—petition -- how to turn values into action – i.e., nonviolence becomes no war, which becomes sustainable peacetime economy; inclusivity becomes horizontal democracy, etc.

Katherine—what is the petition?

John—list of demands from NYC, etc.

Tess-POI—even if its something we just agree on at OB, it will move the list up

Aria—maybe a good idea, 4 groups working to network all the occupations-

Daniel- not talking about tactics, just to come up w/a petition or petitions.

Naomi—question—how do you get information from other occupies? Martin-every modnay night there is a national phone call, also have topic specific phone meetings, one for struggling occupations.

back to round stack

Daniel—Yay! I’m into the idea.

Alex—I think it’s a good idea, still tedious to get through GA—may have to run it through twice.

Marty—lack of solid demands is a strength—harder for us to be co-opted, politicians don’t want to grab hold of a group when they don’t know what the group may do/want—values are very important—liberals are divided by issues, conservatives are values based, more unified. Strong values system is a strength.—we should come up with a list of values that people can stand by.

POI—Martin—witnessed this directly in TX John—our right to exist—the level of compassion—our most valuable thing is just existing here.

Aria—agree with the values statement, large for reaching demands/goals, smaller policy demands.

Eric—story about a heckler—why are you here? The fact that we’re here is what this is about—forum for discussion.

POI—Mallory—we should have the type of values that are difficult to disagree with so many more people can feel connected

Tess—I would also harness the individual GA we’re working with—if we pass one, why not try to pass another in one night?

Naomi—passing demands and getting vague demands passed, having values very good—work backwards, look at potential demands, pick out values that correlate.

Jennier—difference between demands and values

Martin—values are the foundation on which we build our demands.

Daniel- just made a twitter feed for our working group!

Martin—I agree with just existing,--I pay my rent by working for marketing campaings, we are not a novelty, but in the eyes of the public we are.

Naomi—I see what you’re saying about the novelty. Aria—can we come up with the values?

Mallory—explanation of the values task force

Tess—lets not place the values in a particular order

Marty—i am an anarchist and i am nonviolent--anarchists may believe in the destruction of property, some may say this is violence

Aria—nonviolence working group

Naomi—what is “nonviolence”?

Tess-big discussion on that at NV WG Katherine—the weakness of this approach is vagueness.

Aria—people will speak their truth at GA—and we will see.

Katherine begins collecting emails for POLICY TASK FORCE – (to be included, email kburgess.anderson@gmail.com)

End of Meeting