GA Minutes Tue Mar 06 2012

Minutes for 06 Mar 2012

Details

Location: Arlington Street Church
Time: 19:00 --
Note taker: Steve

Caveats

I only have notes for the Working Group and Individual announcement portions of the GA. If you have a more complete set of notes, then please feel free to add to this document. (You can also feel free to replace these notes with your own.)

Working Group Announcements

Spokescouncil. There's a spokescouncil meeting tomorrow night at E5 19:00. There are also spokes council meetings Sunday nights at 20:30, at the Community Church of Boston (following the SAA).

FAWG. We currently have a freeze on working group stipends, which went into effect in January. Back in January, we had agreed to revisit the stipend freeze on March 6th. We'll have a proposal about this later tonight.

Outreach. There's a radical organizing conference taking place on March 17th. It's a day of skill sharing, etc.

Queer DA. We're planning stuff. Our Mar 4th action has been postponed until this Saturday. If you'd like to learn more, come to our working group meeting this Friday 20:30 at City Place.

Non-Violence. Non-violence is both a tactic and a way of life. We're sponsoring the March 19th gathering at the community church of Boston. Ed Rodman is one of the speakers.

Ideas. We're having a discussion on Diversity of Tactics, this Wed night 19:00 -- 21:00 at 38 Ash Street, Room 505.

Safer Spaces. Meeting Saturday 17:30 at this church (but not in this room). We've been meeting with other working groups to build proposals. Also, there's a training session this Saturday from 14:00 - 17:00 at the Community Church of Boston. These activities are an important preparation for the upcoming spring, since Occupy Boston is planning to have lots of actions in the springtime.

Inreach. We're working on planning for the April 2nd open house. Trying to design more posters, and figure out how to organize the interior of St. Pauls for the gathering. We're looking for planning ideas. For example, what could we give people at the gathering (buttons, screen prints). If new people come to the community gathering, how could we get them involved right away?

OBIT. Holding a series of tech days; the first one will be Sunday 14:00--16:30 at E5. This week, we'll discuss the wiki, and Secure (encrypted) mail. UPDATE: OBIT was unable to secure space for the teach in, so this event is postponed.

Occupy MBTA. Meet Friday 18:30 - 20:00 at SEIU 615. We're doing stuff just about every day. Trying to get momentum for a national day of transportation action on April 4th.

SAA. During our last meeting, we recorded a video of Charlie and the MTA. Please come to our next meeting; Sunday 17:00 at Community Church of Boston.

BofA. A few of us were on a conference call with members of Occupy Wall Street. This spring, we're planning to ramp up protests against Bank of America. breakbofa@lists.occupyboston.org

Food. There's a lot of food tonight; it's a feast night. Please take some home with you. We're also looking for new working group members.

Radio. Our next meeting is Wed. 18:00 - 20:00 at E5. Radio is a great medium for getting your ideas out, so bring your program ideas. We also meet on Friday from 19:00-21:00 at City place.

Individual Announcements

Mike. Several visitors from Occupy Delaware came to Saturday's GA. Also, the G8 summit has been moved from Chicago to Camp David; I think that's something of a victory for the Occupy Movement. The NATO summit will still be held in Chicago. There's a NATO demonstration being orgranized for May 19th (?).

David. A group of people in my community get together once a month to do yoga. We're getting togther Sunday at 16:30. We meet at an old Firehouse on Summer St., Near Maverick station. We're also organizing popular assemblies in my neighborhood, using Spain's popular assembly model. Trying to organize the community for May day.

Brett. Socializing for Justice will hold a meeting on Wed. Mar 14th at 18:30. The meeting will feature Occupy Boston. This is a good opportunity to meet and talk to new people. Send Brett an email if you're planning to go. (There will be a $5 cover charge).

Charolette. There's a Purin Party tomorrow, 20:00--22:30, 45 Danforth St, JP. Costumes required.

(Part two, from GA_Minutes_Tues_Mar_6_2012.txt)

Q: Question

C: Concern

A: Answer

Safer Spaces Proposal Discussion

Q:What part of the proposal are we passing?

Q:Is there a definition of oppression?

A:No

Q:Im confused about proposal. A lot of it makes sense. Is the proposal that "these are the guidelines that we should follow"?

A:This is an agreement that this community does adhere to the statements in the proposal, that we hold all of these things valuable, and we will use them to prevent harm. Its not "Don't Rules"

Q: Do you as the people presenting this document endorse this language as individuals outside of the safer spaces group?

A: Yes, this proposal is like the statement that an ally makes. "I make this commitment to care about anti-oppression". The question of what this proposal does is answered by the fact that it will continue to be co-created. And, more community agreements are in order. This is a good starting point.

Q: How do we decide who counts as harmed?

A: Self-Determination, you let the people who have been harmed determine the situation. The last part of this proposal addresses that question.

Q: Is it possible that we can turn this into a song and sing it together?

A: [laughter] - Someone starts signing

Q: Does this address people who say that folks are making false accusations of being harmed. And what about the people that are not in this room who are affected by this proposal?

A: Where do we go from here? Amendments. I felt that I should bring this tonight. I received positive feedback to bringing this here tonight. That statement of Autonomy - speak with us not for us - got a really positive response coming over from OWS to OB. This is a living document. Tomorrow, or instance, someone could propose to rewrite it

Quorum Check: Passed

5 minute break-outs