Sunday, Feb 19 2012 Notes

Groups present: The Naughty Nelsons, Media, Facilitation, FAB, D.A., Chateau, Queer Direct Action, Robin facilitating and taking stack, Sarah taking notes. Started ~9:00PM.

Chateau: Should change rules about who can spoke etc.

QDA: The more rigidity, the harder it would be to execute the Spokes

DA: Let’s get started and talk about #M17. Where did we leave off last week?

QDA: The last time, Spokes talked about process the entire time and afterword.

Chateau: Has anyone thought about #M17?

QDA: No, but something sweet for the 4th

DA: It’s a day of action, so maybe we should start with framework and an agenda for the day.

Media: Should we set an agenda with time constraints? Proposal that we do.

Robin: Anthony will be timekeeper! Go ahead and set the agenda, and I’ll write it down.

Ideas for agenda: Strategic goal for the day, framework for actions, where things should be, working groups that should be involved in this.

Facilitation: If we’re talking about which groups should be involved, should we be strategizing?

Agenda

• Strategic Goals
• Where
• Framework
• Outreach/ WGs to Bring in

Discussing time management for this agenda.

FAB: Maybe we should just know we’re not going to cover everything, or should we try to cover everything?

Facilitation: Probably know we’re not going to cover everything. Goals and framework will probably evolve over the next few meetings. Time limits then...

QDA: 15 minutes each brings us to 10:30

Chateau: We don’t have to stay to these time constraints if we don’t feel like it.

Strategic Goals

QDA: Encouraging non participation in global finance. Morgan Stanley?

DA: Try to tie our campaigns together. EX. Occupy the T, ATM actions

TNN: Aim to shut the city down

FAB: Frame it in terms of Occupy & Occupy Boston, what we’ve done and what we hope to do.

Facilitation: Agree with Nelson...

Media: If we want high visibility, we’re going to be competing with a lot of St. Patty’s Day

FAB: May 1st is general strike, so as far as shutting down the city, keep that in mind

QDA: In terms of finance. Divide between S. Boston and Financial District an interesting place to act.

Facilitation: St. PD stuff is happening the 18th

TNN: Evacuation Day is also 17th.

Facilitation: What happens on Evacuation Day?

QDA: Not much. Some people have the day off. It would be cool to have a lot of people get out of city.

Chateau: Wordplay with “Evacuation Day.”

DA: Savin Hill would be a cool place to have an action

QDA: Image of British people driven out of city an interesting “Evacuation Day” framework

Media: Like Evacuation Day idea, British/colonial powers. Maybe not evacuate all of Boston, but places that are symbolic.

DA: Highlight Boston landmarks and freedom trail.

FAB: Confirmed, the St. Paddy’s parade and VFP parade on Sunday M18, won’t be conflicting

Media: Want to make sure we’re in a spot that attracts attention. High visibility action(s).

TNN: Tie into the American Revolution

Media: Things and people who are colonizing our lives.

Facilitation: Revolution as much anti-British as anti-corporate.

Media:Evacuation Day came after a seige of Boston. Tie into idea that this is the end of a siege that’s taking us out of our physical spaces.

DA: Building momentum into re-occuping & be public about that! Don’t re-occupy that day but put in a statement to the media saying we might... or something.

Media: Leprechauns extremely important for any St. Patty’s Day action, so let’s integrate that. OOH or pots of gold!!

Chateau: Let’s talk to our WGs before we actually formalize anything RE: ideas.

Media: Finalize plans based on those conversations.

Where

FAB: Freedom Trail, Quincy Market/Fanoueil Hall

TNN: Commons

DA: Dorchester Heights (historical context of Evacuation Day and Washington...look more into detail)

Media: See what else is going on in the city and what we can insert ourselves into, or what we can avoid.

Facilitation: Can we wait on this discussion before we figure out what to do?

Media: Should we table the where and talk about ideas or, clarification?

Facilitation: Yeah, all of the above

FAB: Come up with where ideas and then take them back to our WGs.

TNN: I guess we can tentatively say it will happen in the city of Boston and move on

DA: Createa tentative list of wheres.

Media: 5 minutes on wheres and then move onto ideas.

QDA: Hit some good places on Freedom Trail

TNN: Stay on this topic until 9:45 and call it good.

Broke into groups to chat w/spoke about what we want to say

DA: Worry about livestreaming and Tweeting in terms of action planning

FAB: Echoing that concern and wanting to maintain an element of surprise in our actions

Media: Don’t just turn it on and off but be strategic about when we’re livestreaming. What about notes? Should we consider this a transparent space and have those discussions elsewhere.

FAB: We can appropriate time at the end of the meeting when we can share things we don’t livestream

Chateau: Details should be done in affinity groups

TNN: Can shut off audio on livestream

DA: Also potential of using things against someone in court

Media: Reserve time at the end to have sensitive conversations.

Framework

QDA: I think we discussed framework a lot in Goals already

DA: Scheduling of events. How these events can be structured together.

TNN: Evacuate your money day

Facilitation: History lessons on anti-corporate of the revolution and experience of being drawn into a revolution. Adding info boards on Freedom Trail.

Media: Having some sort of GA on that day since it is a GA. Modify it so it’s more first-timer friendly.

Facilitation: Facilitation would be happy to lend its services for a GA like that.

TNN: Check to see if Freedom Trail is doing anything. Do our own radical tours. Have a GA at Fanoueil Hall. (Building in front of Quincy Market)

FAB: Isn’t that closed for renovation?

DA: Focus on Evacuation Day, lunch, then St. Paddy’s Day

Chateau: How deep should we go into tactics

DA: A broad view, or outline of actions and time and how they connect so we can kind of plug thing in.

FAB: Discussion of whether we want things simultaneously in different places or...

Chateau: Throughout the day a lot of smaller actions

TNN: Set up a three pronged schedule: Maybe a brunch, lunch, then dinner kind of thing. DIY kinda thing.

DA: Have groups on opposite ends of the freedom trail and then come together.

TNN: Bunker Hill.

DA: That is so far away.

QDA: Across Charlestown, that’s so crazy, like four miles.

Media: Marches don’t really stand out anymore so maybe we should do the historical tours and lessons.

TNN: Want to take off the table the march idea. Consensus on dismissing TNN’s idea of a march

Facilitation: Going to require research for this

Media: Radicalized street tours. Going to need an ad-hoc group to research this stuff.

Radio: Inviting public to come on alternative freedom tour.

(oops, missed some comments because of technical difficulties)

FAB: CASA is thinking of doing something similar. E.g., a ghost tour that ends at the place of death (banks).

Tactical: Cool idea: delegate to our strong points, people who are presentable and konwledge. Along the way where each group fits in they can do a re-enactment at each site.

Temperature check on staying on the framework discussion (we’ve been on that over 15 minutes). Do not have consensus on moving on. Do not have consensus on staying on the topic, either.

Tactical: to try to wrap this up, can we make a proposal that we’ll bring to our WGs and bring to the next spokes, that we’ll do the Radical Freedom Trail.

The Naughty Nelsons: let’s focus on other radical figures, not just the same old assholes.

FAB: concern that specific details should not be discussed on the livestream.

The Naughty Nelsons: can we make sure this is an agenda item for the next spokescouncil.

Tactical: that we bring back and ratify in our WGs that this Radical Freedom Trail is one action that we’re interested in doing, and make this an agenda item at the next spokescouncil meeting. (we reached consensus on this)

Media: that we also bring back to our WGs that we have some sort of assembly in lieeu of a GA that we have on that day. (we reached consensus on this too)

10:15 PM (taking a temperature check on staying with agenda item 4, outreach. no consensus)

(temperature check on turning off the livestream/tweeting and move on to sensitive topics. no consensus)

(proposal that we talk about outreach in working groups. consensus on that reached)

(temperature check on talking about which WGs to bring in. consensus reached so we’re moving to that topic)

Outreach

The Naughty Nelsons: we should bring it up to the GAs. we should probably talk to CASA as well; don’t want to step on their toes. Should try to have Outreach and Info here.

FAB: Medic, Food, Legal, and Decolonize Boston.

Tactical: Labor Outreach Commitee

Media: Streets

The Naughty Nelsons: the vets, peace action working group, occupy the jobs.

Facilitation: Library group

Media:Info/Inreach memeber in media; we can talk to them.

Tactical: we still have an internal comm working group (inreach) who might be very helpful.

The Naughty Nelsons: Interoccupy (note that Farhad is in the room). Media can create the event on the calendar?

Tactical: jokingly, make Farhad do everything.

Chateau: can we get a digest or the notes to use when talking to WGs we’re outreaching too?

Tactical: can we make sure that someone publishes the notes online, so the rest of the WGs can see and discuss.

10:25 PM. Consensus on ending the meeting.