GA Minutes Tue Mar 05 2013 - Revision history

Srevilak: /* Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp */ one more correction from Joan

2013-03-11T01:22:55Z

Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp: one more correction from Joan

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:22, 10 March 2013
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	solidarity - that toothpaste has not gone back into the tube.		solidarity - that toothpaste has not gone back into the tube.

	Joan. ~~My friend~~ died a few days ago. ~~She~~ was acknowledged by people		Joan. Stephane Hessel, a French resistance fighter
			who wrote little book called "We are
			Outraged" died a few days ago. He was acknowledged by people
	who planned the occupation of Washington DC, long before Adbusters		who planned the occupation of Washington DC, long before Adbusters
	came up with the idea. ~~Stephane Hessel, a French resistance fighter~~		came up with the idea.
	~~wrote little book called "We are~~		There's a universal feeling about this. Occupy Washington
	~~Outraged".~~ There's a universal feeling about this. Occupy Washington
	DC was planned in DC because of the austerity budgets. I've been		DC was planned in DC because of the austerity budgets. I've been
	involved in a lot of these different groups. Anti-war, pro-union, all		involved in a lot of these different groups. Anti-war, pro-union, all

Srevilak: /* Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp */ Corrections from Joan, re Stephane Hessel

2013-03-10T14:39:26Z

Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp: Corrections from Joan, re Stephane Hessel

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:39, 10 March 2013
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	Joan. My friend died a few days ago. She was acknowledged by people		Joan. My friend died a few days ago. She was acknowledged by people
	who planned the occupation of Washington DC, long before Adbusters		who planned the occupation of Washington DC, long before Adbusters
	came up with the idea. ~~She~~ wrote little book called "we are		came up with the idea. Stephane Hessel, a French resistance fighter
	~~outraged~~". There's a universal feeling about this. Occupy Washington		wrote little book called "We are
			Outraged". There's a universal feeling about this. Occupy Washington
	DC was planned in DC because of the austerity budgets. I've been		DC was planned in DC because of the austerity budgets. I've been
	involved in a lot of these different groups. Anti-war, pro-union, all		involved in a lot of these different groups. Anti-war, pro-union, all

Srevilak: /* Summary */

2013-03-08T00:35:33Z

Summary

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:35, 7 March 2013
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	accomplishments. We also passed two proposals in the consent bucket:		accomplishments. We also passed two proposals in the consent bucket:

	* Reschedule the March 17 GA to Tuesday March 19 (to avoid a time conflict with the St. Patrick's Day Parade)		* Reschedule the March 17 GA to Tuesday March 19 7pm (to avoid a time conflict with the St. Patrick's Day Parade)

	* To take the cots we have in storage, and donate them to the Harvard Homeless shelter.		* To take the cots we have in storage, and donate them to the Harvard Homeless shelter.


	== Announcements ==		== Announcements ==

Srevilak: /* Proposals */ add links to original written copies of proposals

2013-03-08T00:34:44Z

Proposals: add links to original written copies of proposals

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:34, 7 March 2013
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	pass in the consent bucket.		pass in the consent bucket.

	'''Proposal 1'''. Steve. Our next scheduled GA is Tuesday March		'''Proposal 1'''. ([[Media:Proposal-20130305-reschedule.pdf\|Proposal-20130305-reschedule.pdf]]) Steve. Our next scheduled GA is Tuesday March
	17. That's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade. I propose we		17. That's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade. I propose we
	reschedule the GA, so that folks are free to march with Veterans for		reschedule the GA, so that folks are free to march with Veterans for
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	TBD		TBD

	'''Proposal'''. 2 Bil. I propose that cots in storage be donated to		'''Proposal 2''' ([[Media:Proposal-20130305-cots.pdf\|Proposal-20130305-cots.pdf]]) Bil. I propose that cots in storage be donated to
	the Harvard Homeless shelter. The idea came from Bobbi.		the Harvard Homeless shelter. The idea came from Bobbi.

Line 85:		Line 85:
	Proposal Passes		Proposal Passes

	Proposal 3 Bil. I propose that we have the kitchen tent stored with		'''Proposal 3''' ([[Media:Proposal-20130305-tent.pdf\|Proposal-20130305-tent.pdf]]) Bil. I propose that we have the kitchen tent stored with
	John Ford.		John Ford.

Srevilak: /* Proposals */

2013-03-08T00:31:57Z

Proposals

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:31, 7 March 2013
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	pass in the consent bucket.		pass in the consent bucket.

	'''Proposal 1'''. Steve. Our next ~~schedule~~ GA is Tuesday March		'''Proposal 1'''. Steve. Our next scheduled GA is Tuesday March
	17. That's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade. I propose we		17. That's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade. I propose we
	reschedule the GA, so that folks are free to march with Veterans for		reschedule the GA, so that folks are free to march with Veterans for
Line 106:		Line 106:

	Proposal comes out of the consent bucket.		Proposal comes out of the consent bucket.


	== Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp ==		== Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp ==

Srevilak: /* Details */

2013-03-08T00:31:28Z

Details

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:31, 7 March 2013
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	Time: 7 - 9:25pm <br/>		Time: 7 - 9:25pm <br/>
	Facilitators: Carolyn and Larry <br>		Facilitators: Carolyn and Larry <br>
	Note taker: ~~@@yourname@@~~<br/>		Note taker: Steve<br/>

	Around 14--15 people attending.		Around 14--15 people attending.

Srevilak: initial revision

2013-03-08T00:30:25Z

initial revision

New page

= Minutes for 5 March 2013 =

== Details ==
Location: Community Church <br/>
Time: 7 - 9:25pm <br/>
Facilitators: Carolyn and Larry <br>
Note taker: @@yourname@@<br/>

Around 14--15 people attending.

== Summary ==

The meeting centered around a discussion of Occupy Boston
accomplishments. We also passed two proposals in the consent bucket:

* Reschedule the March 17 GA to Tuesday March 19 (to avoid a time conflict with the St. Patrick's Day Parade)

* To take the cots we have in storage, and donate them to the Harvard Homeless shelter.

== Announcements ==

'''Larry'''. Have you heard about the new T proposals? They're even worse
than the last ones. They've put out two options: a 30% fare increase,
or 15% fare increase and no weekend service.

'''Dana''' (Strike Debt). All roads of evil go to the 1%. You can start by
looking at banks, or start by looking at debt. We're planning a
kickoff event 2-5pm on Sat. April 6th, on student loan debt. Somebody
set up a Facebook event, but it's erroneously listed as
1:00-1:05pm. Our next organizing meeting is Monday, 7pm at City Place.

There's a Strike Debt event at Salem State University on
Wednesday. Last night, I got together with Noah McKenna to make some
T-shirts. We made about 10 of them. (Dana gives the shirts to Rich, to
take to the Salem State University event.)

'''Maurice'''. I videotaped George Caffentzis's talk, and put four
clips up on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/maurice11

'''Carolyn'''. George talked about trying to organize a regional
strike debt movement. That would be incredible for us. I'll do what I
can to support this.

'''Steve''' (FAWG). Joe, Kendra, David Knuten and I met with UFE last
night. A few months ago, we started working with UFE, to get a fiscal
sponsorship agreement together, but that effort fell off the radar for
a while. We're trying to get the Fiscal sponsorship rolling again.

== Proposals ==

Tonight's meeting will focus on a discussion of post-Dewey
accomplishments. Accordingly, we'll only entertain proposals that can
pass in the consent bucket.

'''Proposal 1'''. Steve. Our next schedule GA is Tuesday March
17. That's the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade. I propose we
reschedule the GA, so that folks are free to march with Veterans for
Peace.

When would reschedule for?

Tuesday, March 19th.

Carlos suggests rescheduling for this Sunday.

There seems to be a preference for Tuesday.

Proposal Passes. GA rescheduled for Tuesday March 19th 7pm, location
TBD

'''Proposal'''. 2 Bil. I propose that cots in storage be donated to
the Harvard Homeless shelter. The idea came from Bobbi.

Carlos. I don't agree with giving the cots away. We might need them
later.

Carolyn. We already decided that we were giving them away, but we
didn't decide who we were giving them to.

Carlos. Where is the transparency? How do we know where this is going?

Carolyn. It's on the web site, in the minutes.

Proposal Passes

Proposal 3 Bil. I propose that we have the kitchen tent stored with
John Ford.

Carolyn. I'd like to pull that out of the consent bucket.

Proposal comes out of the consent bucket.

'''Maurice'''. I propose we have a moment of silence for Hugo Chavez,
who died earlier today.

We take a moment of silence.

'''Proposal 4'''. Carlos. I propose we ask for a grant, to promote
work on economic inequality. And an educational campaign. Demand that
the government reduce inequality, rather than expand it. We'll need
$10,000, or what we can afford. I like the money that you give to the
NLG. I don't know about the money you gave to the Occupier.

Rich. I'd like to take this out of the bucket.

Proposal comes out of the consent bucket.

== Discussion: What We've Accomplished Since the Camp ==

Carolyn. I hope we can take turns facilitating, so that everyone can
participate in this discussion. It's been a long time since we looked
back and tried to see what we've accomplished. This could be an
opportunity to discuss what we've done right, wrong, and what we could
have done better.

Rich. I'd like to suggest a structure, for putting things into categories:
* Sustaining Occupy Boston as an organization
* Campaigns and actions
* Getting our ideas out
* Connecting to other movements.
This is just a suggestion, nothing more.

Larry. I've been thinking about this a lot. The law took away our
visibility at camp. Comparing now to then, it's hard to avoid the
conclusion that we're just another fringe element in the political
scene. I wonder how we can revive the unique excitement that we
created. To a certain degree, events made us. People were excited that
people got out in the streets and said "things are screwed up". Is
there any way we can think of to tap back into that? We've done some
great work. Occupy MBTA got very positive reception on the trains. As
time goes on, we're losing that unique capacity we had.

Dana. The genesis of the movement happened after the Wall Street
bailout. That was a public example of how uncontrolled greed could
break the financial system. The trillions to spent to restore the
financial system went to the people who wrecked it. It spawned a
movement, but we're not sure what that movement was about. To me it
was an acknowledgment that our political leftright spectrum was not
sufficient to deal with that problem. The tea party acknowledged that
it was a bogus spectrum. Since the spectrum didn't satisfy the urgency
of the movement in history, people wanted to step outside. A public
display of discontent. Eventually, the camps were destroyed by that
left-right spectrum. After the camp, it's not clear that we had a
goal. It's clear what the strategy was, but it's not clear what the
movement was about. After camps, people moved into other organizing
and other groups. We've been successful by sustaining and
diversifying. You could say "splintering", but I'll say
"diversifying", because that's more positive.

Raj. Dana, your ideas stimulated so many thoughts. Once we had wake-up
call to banks, ponzi schemes, bailouts, we realized that this
transcended politics. We realized we're reaching a point of
unsustainability the trust of our democracy. Post 2015, if we haven't
solved any of these issues, new topics will develop beyond
poverty. Like climate refugees. I'm trying to draw a parallel between
international pieces and our domestic inequalities. What key issues
can we anticipate being the hot buttons?

Rich. What was initially apparent that made this a movement was the
blatancy of economic inequality and the role of private sector. I
think we're splintering rather than spreading out. Today, the stock
market hit an all time record high, and unemployment is still at
8%. There are two different worlds here. There's a story in globe
about a group called Occupy the SEC. I was in Hong Kong last
week. They're planning to tell their government that if the government
is not responsive to certain demands, then the people will occupy
their city hall. In China, there was filtered coverage of this, and
people were really confused about it. That's some of the ways our
occupy ideas have gotten out.

Joe. When I think about time lines and the relationship to the
financial crisis, I remember George Caffentzis saying there was a real
lag. Adbusters proposed a mass action. That proposal coincided with
developments in new social media tools, which made it even more
exciting. In this city, it looks like there's a shrinkage, but the
connections are still around. We can affect Hong Kong just by rumors
of what we're doing. I'd like us to be more visible in this city. I'd
like us to be some little group with a small set of ideas that are
taken seriously. As far as class issues in the city, it's a city where
inequality is deeply entrenched. I'd like a way to bring attention
attention to inequality in this city.

Carolyn. We started with a space. We started holding a space. The
darling of the press was desperate for stories about us. Lots of
stories focused on mutual aid, and that vanished. Despite that and the
demoralizations, we've hung on to do a lot of interesting projects. I
went back on the web site, and there's an unbelievable amount of stuff
there. We haven't done a lot of coverage of our events, or strategic
thinking of how to go further. That was such a tremendous loss, of
something that wasn't sustainable. A lot of people had no long-term
vision, and they left when the action died down. We can take advantage
of events, but we can't create action without events. But there are
many things we can do in the interim.

Larry. The thing that impressed me about the camp was the way we could
have these huge marches almost on a daily basis. People were really
interested in what we were doing. In November, all kinds of people
were coming to us. Because we lost the camp, those things were
severed. We don't have the opportunity to generate these big
spontaneous marches, and we don't have connection with average
person. I don't know how to re-create that.

Raj. I have a question for the group, about what Joe said about
concealed inequality. Wall street was about wall street. What was the
image, the set of values, the face of Occupy Boston when it began?

Larry. A lot of the original organizers were very influenced by people
in New York.

Dana. Yea, it was a group of people who had been in NYC, and wanted to
do the same thing here. Noam Chomsky spoke at Dewey Square, and he
was very sanguine. The said "The most important thing is that you've
met. If you sustain these bonds, then you can form a movement that can
change things". Occupy Sandy was helped by a network of associations
from Occupy Wall Street. That network is clearly still
there. Sustaining connections with each other is an accomplishment.

Joe. Sustaining Occupy Boston in the city. We've made a transition;
we've resized ourselves. We have fewer arguments about money. We've
found a new structure where we live with fewer spectacular
events. Sustaining what we have won't make it in to the paper. Some
arguments have been really really difficult. If different groups keep
in touch and work with each other, then we can still do things. We
don't want to have a moment of embarrassment. Put things in
perspective and continue. The movement is worldwide.

Carlos. How about the next movement, the lawyer's having a fundraiser
ball on March 15. Can I get a free ticket to go? Can some of us get
access? Since we gave them 5600 dollars, to I get to go?

Bil. For me, occupy was all about the idea that the system is broken,
and let's fix it. There are lots of examples of how things are
broken. That's the fundamental concept that brought me here. I was a
computational scientist two years ago, and now I go around the street
yelling my head off. I've gone to to NH, to Portland, to the RNC and
DNC. All of these things have made me a far more effective
activist. It's a huge wonderful thing that occupy happened.

Currently, taxes are my example of how the system is unfair. I'm
working on something where people can "build their own tax
system". One of my big things is talking to people who aren't us. I'm
in the toastmasters, so I get to visit clubs, and talk about anything
I want to. And I'll do that. I've gone to greater Boston tea party
rallies. Everyone agrees with the fundamental values: racism, war is
bad, the tax system is all messed up. We have different solutions but
we all see the same problems. Any time we get our faces in the paper,
this is a good thing. 20-30 of us in a room won't change things. But
by talking to people, we build masses and we can change things. I'd
like everyone to see that the system is totally screwed and
unfair. Most people don't want welfare. They want to work.

Derek. I raised my hand when Larry was speaking, re: there wasn't a
space to go. That's seemed like an issue when our camp dissolved. A
bookstore (in North Carolina) opened their doors to us, and let us
meet there. People though that when camp was gone, then so was
occupy. The best thing was also the worst thing. It's excellent to get
everyone in the same room, but we haven't learned to work
together. The answers weren't already there; we needed to work at
them. People would push each other away. A core group became so
fundamental that it was alienating to others.

How many people were at North Carolina encampment?

There were 50-100 tents. Within the first two weeks, the homeless
population came in. Some occupiers were receptive to them, and it was
really great. Others said "we can't be a welfare group". That
basically led us to disband the camp - we thought we could be more
effective organizers without having a camp. It almost didn't dawn on
people to look for a second space.

Steve. I got involved because of the financial crisis. I saw all these
people speaking out against the banks, and I thought it was great. It
was terribly exciting. In October 2011, I took part in my first
protest march; I never knew how empowering that could feel. Occupy has
been a learning experience for me, and that's really what's kept me
involved. Whether it's new skills, pieces of history, new ideas, or
just different viewpoints. I'll stay involved as long as I feel like
I'm learning new things. Sure, we've had our moments of contention,
but those have also been some of the most interesting moments.

Bobbi. I was just thrilled that occupy happened. I felt in alone;
what's wrong with people, why aren't they questioning authority? I
felt validated. I'd like to throw in a word about the homeless. The
government set us up by infiltration, and putting the elements
there. There was constant noise from buildings, cars. We couldn't
think. I do feel that the homeless population was challenging, but it
taught us a lot. It taught us about the layers and the underbelly of
society. A lot of these college kids, myself, my family, never knew
this existed. Who knew how this happened? It taught a lot of
people. We got smack dab in our face, injustice all over the
place. There were so many existing organizations, who were miffed when
Occupy showed up and stole the show. We managed to get involved. I'm
proud of us. We got a lot of shit done.

Kendra. A lot of what we learned was how to be better organized, and
prioritized. We tried to take on too many issues, and that felt
chaotic. We've gotten better at conflict resolution. It's resulted in
smaller groups, but you can be more effective when working with
smaller group of people. You're less effective when you're
fighting. The police sent homeless people into camps, and 80% of our
time was spent dealing with fights. But their presence showed what
could happen if the tides turned. I left camp three weeks before the
eviction, but continued working with different groups. At a point, we
put together resources for the homeless, and there's lots of resources
in the community. Once there was more conflict than collaboration, it
was time to decentralize. It's obvious that camp couldn't have stayed
forever. We did connect with people that were like-minded. Conflict
creeps back in from time to time, but we keep our blinders on and set
out.

Dana. I'm finding this conversation fascinating. But I think we're
getting off the topic of accomplishments.

Maurice. We had our fifteen minutes of fame, and we accomplished a
lot. We made homeland security pay attention; that's an
accomplishment. They didn't get rid of us, they just slowed our
momentum. We should get together, for a second wind.

Rich. Accomplishments are a combination of organizing and chance. In
Montreal, there were 100,000 people in street over tuition, but our
student debt has no publicity. It helps when the government creates
the stir. We're still trying to figure out what might spark things
off. That's not in our control. Noam Chomsky said "It's a good thing
they didn't ask me to set up a camp. I would have said `worst idea
ever"'. There's been a campaign to destroy our organization, and the
government destroy things well.

Larry. I agree with Rich; we're not the creators of our own
destiny. Events make our movement popular. We have to wait for them,
but we can anticipate and be ready to come together when the next one
happens. It's imperative for organizations to keep doing things like
Strike Debt. Foreclosures are becoming moot because banks are under
pressure to ease up, at least for now. The next time events allow for
something big, people will recognize us. We need to try to anticipate,
to see what's coming, and be out there for people to see almost before
it happens.

Carolyn. To keep going, it's important that we see what we have. I see
us as waiting to catch a wave. Since the camp, we've had
campaigns. While we had the camp, we did not have sustained organized
campaigns. We were much more focused on keeping the camp going, as a
model community. Bank Action, Occupy Monsanto are forward-looking
accomplishments. We have ideas about how to develop something bigger
than march fatigue. We can do things that aren't just one-shot
events. Some of the one-shot events were good, but we can try to take
on larger things where we work together and build to something more
powerful. One big think we got a lot of publicity from was PAX
Centurion. I think that was something that other occupiers picked up
on.

Bil. A very short version of the PAX Centurion story; other people
noticed that letters, articles had gone into the newsletter for the
Boston Police Patrolman's Association. Some really racist stuff. We
had a meeting, and I wrote a letter to the cops. The editor published
my note and a scathing reply. That's all I did. Independently, other
people went to the newsletter's sponsors, and a bunch of sponsors
pulled out. It got quite a bit of press. The Boston Minority Police
Patrolman's Association got into it. It was totally disparate people
doing things.

Kendra. I'm from Detroit, and my parents were union organizers. For
the most part, there was a mandate that we didn't march. We organized
and educated. They were involved in shutting down the Dodge plant
because unions were segregated. Occupy Wall Street wasn't a starting
point, nor was Tahrir square. There are a lot of examples of people
deciding to stand up and take care of themselves. That's the
accomplishment - to see that carry forward. A bunch of people in Egypt
got arrested for doing the Harlem shake. Now, everyone is coming out
into the streets and doing it.

Rich. in terms of accomplishments and waves, on thing that struck me
was Yo Soy 132. There were a small number of us, and almost an equal
number of cops. A small number of people with a sign that said
"occupy" brought in a lot of police officers. That's an
accomplishment. Occupy MBTA wasn't as successful as we wanted it to
be. 600 people in the state capital isn't bad, but that ain't
Wisconsin. Many organizations chipped in, and we got less draconian
cuts. As Larry said, they're going to do the same thing again this
year. It might be a 4 foot wave rather than a 20 foot wave, but we'd
be amiss to ignore it.

Joe. After the pressure came off, the MBTA came back with proposals to
increase fares and cut service. The fact that there are so many cops
and so few occupiers can work to our advantage. The fact that we're a
little odd makes us unique. Almost every labor group starts by putting
"international" in front of their name, with aspiration of being an
international phenomenon. But we're really doing something
international. We should take advantage of our opportunity. If the
MBTA is going to come back with draconian cuts, then Occupy MBTA
should come back. Today, the DOW reached it's highest point since
2007. That's also a wave that could be ridden. Some people have
recovered, but many have not.

Joan. Yes, the DOW went up, but so did the number of homeless. People
understood that this is about inequality. inequality has not changed.

Dana. When camps were still happening, there was an open letter from
Tahrir square. One of great accomplishments of occupy was it's
international nature. People here identified with people that were
being exploited in other countries. That's the whole idea of "workers
of the world unite". I have a paragraph of the letter from Tahrir:
"Our only advice is to keep going and continue; don't stop ... take
pleasure in what your doing. It should be easy, even fun. We are in
solidarity with you, and we love you for what you're doing". That
level of connection is an enormously powerful thing. When people
can't see their reflection in the world, they feel like they're not
alive. The capitalist media want's to say this is over. But this
solidarity - that toothpaste has not gone back into the tube.

Joan. My friend died a few days ago. She was acknowledged by people
who planned the occupation of Washington DC, long before Adbusters
came up with the idea. She wrote little book called "we are
outraged". There's a universal feeling about this. Occupy Washington
DC was planned in DC because of the austerity budgets. I've been
involved in a lot of these different groups. Anti-war, pro-union, all
in one place. Union guys said, "we've never heard of this mic check
thing, but we like it". "We never thought of storming the CEO's
office, but we like it". In DC, people speak of "the movement" as a
civil resistance movement. They've been doing protests in DC for
years. People I know have been going to DC and getting arrested for
years. 20 people arrested at wells fargo. 100 people arrested for
protesting drones. All this week.

Carolyn. I'm not tired of all marches. I'm just tired of the ones that
wandered around Downtown Crossing without any real purpose.

Joan. Some people like marches, some people like meetings. Everyone
has different abilities. My specialty is chanting!

Bobbi. I'm just glowing again. I feel as though occupy created a
discourse in the country. People couldn't quite put their finger on
what was wrong. But shit was wrong. I feel as though occupy got people
talking, discussing shit. I find myself frustrated: people saying
"what did occupy do". Was it just a camp with a bunch of homeless
people? My blood pressure goes up. We created discourse, with each
other and with people walking by. What do you say, in a condensed
amount of time, to people that think you're wasting your time?

Raj. I was inspired by Kendra, Dana, Joan's remarks. There's a fear
factor for young girls in Pakistan, willing to die from torture,
rape. They've overcome their fear factors. Why now? Why not 10 years
from now? If we can rediscover this, than we can get beyond our fear
factor.

Larry. Night before camp was taking down, I was struggling with myself
about being arrested. If I were arrested, I would have lost my jobs. A
lot of people are paralyzed by that kind of fear. How do we get beyond
that?

Rich. I teach political science, and I've seen a change in attitudes
in my students. In the past, 80% thought of the US as egalitarian and
20% thought of it as elitist. Now 80% see the US as an elitist
country. People recognize the word occupy, and want to know what it
was about. In the prior 15 years, that curiosity was not there. We
still have to figure out what to do about it. Some people may not be
active, but this had reverberated. We reached a lot of people who
normally don't do this sort of stuff at all.

Bil. One of the most beautiful things I've felt was some of our
chanting and singing. We take a few minutes to break for a group
chant.
:One. We are the people
:Two. We are united
:Three. This occupation is not leaving.

Carolyn. A bunch of us marched in the Honk parade, with the wonderful
superman costumes that Dana and Julia made. People were thrilled to
see us; they were excited to see that occupy was still around. We need
to find a way to pick up on that.

Joan. The word "occupy" on a banner has become something of a
universal language.

Joe. I've seen that too. Kids would watch our meetings and see what we
were doing, and get interested. Maybe we could take old idea - have a
parade every week or two, and bring in as many groups as possible. How
to put roots in Boston? Freedom trail? We could do something along the
lines of an inequality tour of Boston. Parade, but tap into the idea
that we're tourists. Tap in to people's curiosity.

Derek. I tried to make it to the police brutality march. I followed
the march in my car, with my NC plate that said MIC CHECK, and a bass
drum in my back seat.

Steve. Some of my fondest memories involve marching around singing "I
really like the cops".

Rich. I'd like to do one non-analytical thing. Base on what Larry said
about MBTA, it might be nice to see if we can we can get in touch with
Occupy MBTA members; see if we can start resparking that movement.

Derek. One of things I came here for was regarding the cots. Can
someone give Bobbi that info?

Bobbi. Can they be delivered?

Joe and Bil: yes.

Bobbi. Bags in the storage space should go to a homeless shelter
too. The women there always need bags to carry their stuff around.

GA ends at 9:25.

[[Category:GA Minutes]]