GA Minutes Tue Mar 20 2012

= Minutes for 20 Mar 2012 =

Details
Location: Arlington Street Church and Boston Common Time: 7pm - approx 8:45pm Note taker: Steve

Minutes
It's really nice outside, and someone raises the idea of moving GA out onto the Commons. A few people have reservations about doing this; we go through a consensus process to address those concerns. We watch Bill's video presentation of last weekend's St. Patrick's day parade, and then walk over to Boston Common.

Working Group Announcements
(There may be a few missing -- these are the notes that I have.)

Signs. Bring us stuff, especially poly-cotton blend fabric; if you don't have any, there's a place on Chauncy street that sells it. On Thursday, we'll be outside somewhere on the common.

Queer DA. We meet Friday 8:30 pm at City Place. Please come and help us plan stuff. We're planning a clothing swap for April 1st Dewey Square.

Inreach. Working on Open house. Hand out as many fliers as you can, and get all of your friends to come. Pick a location, and try to keep a flier there for the next two weeks. Inreach, Info, and Interoccupy have merged. Interoccupy holds weekly conference calls, see http://interoccupy.org for more information.

Media WG. We're meeting Wed 7:00 pm at E5.

Medics. A member announced a street medic training being given this weekend in Providence, RI. Later in the GA, she announced that the training was canceled.

Boston Occupier. We have tons of newspapers at E5. Pick up some papers and pass them out. Look for a cubicle filled with newspapers and take some.

Anti-oppression. Our working group is still in operation, but going through a lot of transformations. We meet Saturday nights from 5:00 - 8:00 pm. We've drafted a statement of how our vision of anti-oppression can operate through the Occupy movement.

Safer Spaces. We're doing a lot of collaboration with other working groups.

Occupy UMass Boston. Thanks for the kitchen tent! We plan to continue our occupation through the end of the semester. We have space for events. We hold GAs on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Ideas. We're meeting on Wednesday for part 2 of our calm, thoughtful, and reserved discussion on diversity of tactics. Join us in Room 505, 38 Ash Street, 7:00 pm. (38 ash street is in Chinatown, near the Tufts Medial Center orange line stop).

Safer Spaces. Safer spaces is committed to challenging oppression. Think well of each other. We meet Saturdays 2:00 pm at City Place. At a future DA, we'll host a discussion on how we'd envision our community if we decided to re-occupy. You can find our work at http://groups.occupyboston.org. Click "Safer Spaces" in the list of working groups.

Tactical. We'll have a joint meeting with Safer Spaces on Friday at 4:00 pm on the Cambridge Common.

Individual Announcements
Terrence. From Cambridge television. We're doing a panel discussion one week from tonight, where occupy groups can present their platforms to a Cambridge audience. We'd like to have one representative from each Occupy Boston media group. The panel discussion will take place at 438 Mass Ave, 6:00 pm, next Tuesday. Chris Farrone will moderate.

Tess. I have fliers for April First.

David. There's a May 1st coalition getting together on March 27th, 6:00 pm, and the Chelsea Collaborative. This is a group that's organizing for May 1st.

Rich. Next Monday is the next Occupy Boston forum at Salem State.

Daniel #1. Do you know who Trayvon Martin is? He's a Florida youth who was shot by a 28 year old member of a neighborhood watch group, for "looking suspicious". Tomorrow is a national day of action in response to this event. There's an action at Union Square in NYC. Wear a hoodie in solidarity. Mother Jones has a good article about this event.

Daniel C. I have two loaves of bread -- would anyone like one?

Charlotte. Talked about a book she's been reading: Don't Be Afraid Gringo. It was written years ago, but very applicable to the Occupy Movement.

Terrence. Urged everyone to read about (and consider using) materialistic philosophy (in preference to idealistic philosophy).

Proposals
Daniel C. Attended Radical Organizing conference last weekend, and very interested in doing more with street theater. Proposes that OB spends $100 of its general fund on materials for making a giant puppet. Several people believe this can be funded through OB's tactical action fund. Daniel will try to obtain money from the tactical fund, and withdraws the proposal.

GA ends, a little before 9:00 pm.