WG/Strategies/Anti-Oppression/Minutes/Oct 30 2011

Anti-Oppression Working Group

Meeting Notes - October 30, 2011

Community Change Inc

 

Agenda

Check-in (10)

• Chose scribe, note taker, time watcher, etc
• Go around: name, oops & ouch moment

Cathy, Michelle, Irene, Carolina, Stacia, Zoe, Nicole, Meck, Maureen, Chris, Ester, Susie H, Bhavin, Michael M.

Ground rules & discussion (30)

1. Step up, Step back

• Facilitators can help w/ this
• Its hard work

2. Active listening

• Actively engaging with speaker: nodding, affirmative gestures
• Don’t multi-task while someone else is speaking
• Possible: not raising hand until someone else is finished speaking

3. Allow Space for disagreement

4. Don’t blame/ shame/ attack

5. Speak for yourself, Use I statements

6. Progressive Stack & Diversity of facilitation techniques

• Have people who self-identify with marginalized groups put higher on the stack
• EX: people of color, woman, trans, queer, …
• ALSO, can put people who have talked a lot lower on stack … Facilitators
• Discuss this ahead of time so it is not on facilitator to decide how to manage

7. Practice ‘both/ and’ thinking not just ‘either/ or’

• more than 1 reality exists
• EX: should we go to gov. and beg/ ask for stuff or create our own world…  actually both are possible
• be mindful of ‘neither/ nor’ possibility
• EX: glass half full, half empty?  One could also say: glass is partly full of water and partly full of air

8. Oops, Ouch, What’s up with that? (& positive hand gestures)

• What’s up with that?:  if something may be an ouch, this is an option that asks for clarification and can open up discussion

Create toolbox:

• ethics of groundrules
• specific practices and ideas that we have used/ going to use to diversify facilitation techniques
• WHO WOULD LIKE TO WORK ON THIS?

Not going to include 1.  Assume best intentions

• might not leave room for disscussion

 

Working Group Updates (15)

Women’s Caucus

• currently a space for females
• purpose
• creating a process: discussion about how we are going to decide things
• 100 listening; 15-40 in meetings
• being visible at camp & accountable in decision making

Occupy the Hood

• No update on internal discussion
• In email: Occupy the Hood would like to ask people to endorse electoral candidates
• Questions about relationship between Occupy Boston and Occupy the Hood
• is it an event or a working group?
• it looks like it is an ongoing group
• Centrally controlled group, mainly around Jamal Crawford
• Term has roots in NY (Malcolm X … Center)

Anarchist Caucus

• Concern expressed over people always wearing masks…
• it is a tactic that may loose its effectiveness
• people wearing masks may not identify as anarchists
• hierarchies in media group
• Moving to other spaces
• privately owned or foreclosed spaces
• legality of these things

People of Color

• to ally with Occupy the Hood or not?
• have had 4 meetings
• working towards statement of purpose
• homelessness issue

Community Organization group

• Monday meetings in the past
• Next meeting Tuesday November 1
• Purpose of group: possibly moving in direction of becoming more action-oriented

Still being discussed

Statements of purpose

• formed to be the group to work on an Anti-Oppression statement of purpose
• take ‘skeleton’ of ideas they have come up with, and discuss them with other groups.
• have Saturday and Sunday meetings in the future
• once Statement of Purpose is completed, the group plans to dissolve

Transparency Group

• from emails: having meeting Tuesday (we think)
• trying to figure out regular meeting times for groups and possibly posting them somewhere else

Queer/ Trans Caucus

• working on putting up Anti-Oppression signs up around camp
• this group is meeting now…  Can anyone fill in?

Allies against racism, White Allies

• Question over the existence of group

Occupy Racism conference call

• anti-racism work at occupations
• messy at most other occupations … but everyone is doing work!
• developing email/ resource sharing page
• wants to stay connected to Anti-Oppression group

National conference call:  Action about Foreclosures

• Occupy folks and community groups
• Two calls so far
• City Life has been on this call
• Seems that people are using City Life model without talking to City Life first
• Possible Day of Action Nov. 21, 22, 23
• national calls about coordinating actions…
• possibility of elite group arising that
• how do people find out about these calls?

Youth Group  

Choosing Direction (30)

• 4 broad categories of what this group could be …. ??
• Network group
• increase transparency of anti-oppression group
• increase visibility of work being done (by many groups) around anti-oppression
• empower accountability at camp
• offer AO training & facilitation
• offer a safe space
• Coordinate between AO working groups (internal) and reach out to other groups (external)
• what can we do for anti-oppression now?
• doing actions we think are needed
• posting anti-oppression ground rules on your tent
• there is a Protest-Chaplan group
• are we going to ‘put out fires’ at camp?
• hopes that Safety group does not mirror oppressive ways of this country’s police force
• leadership in dealing with urgent issues as well as developing long term strategy... as a group, we want to do both
• we are meeting people and creating relationships throughout this process

Message for Reps (20)

Choosing Reps (5)

Closing Out (10)  Go-Round of thoughts

• there are real emotions at stake
• learning from these meetings and shaping interactions
• here to contribute b/c I cannot be on the ground that much
• questions about if groups will stay together after this;  not feeling excited about doing task-oriented stuff at occupy, but want to work towards it
• made a lot of connections, hope to keep them over time
• oil-can with dynamite flying through space…  will not last forever in this form
• grateful for this group as a space for reflection; movement moment: need to deal with fast-paced work here
• commitment to this, very involved in on the ground work and it is tiring but I am going to continue
• urgency.. need to not worry about outcomes and just do my work
• we have won so much already! Claim our victories, reflection time, and take care of each other
• I appreciate that this group exists.  ?s over long term strategy
• Learning space, want to contribute
• gentle entry into this movement

Next meeting: Saturday 10/5