GA Minutes Tues Nov 15, 2011: Difference between revisions
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[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nwrQnJJhwx7B9kwiKSU-_VIsSKUlF5iE0vTDUnEH-dc/edit | Talking has been happening for not quite an hour so far. We have discussed feelings about the crackdowns at occupy boston. | ||
Robin: text Occupyboston to 443322 so that you can get a text message alerting you to what the news is. Text occupyboston to the number 443322. This text message service is for very serious emergencies, not like “Hey, we need tents, hey it’s raining.” | |||
If you were already on the list, you are still on the list. | |||
Facilitator: We’re going to break into six groups for a half hour. All of these are immediate response/long term strategy (in the event of crisis). | |||
There will be six groups, with one facilitator per group. Please join the group you most want to join. | |||
If there are camping occupiers here, we’d love if there was at least one camper in each of the six groups. The first group will--who’s the facilitator out there--Eli. Eli’s got his hand up. THis group is immediate response for Outreach and Media. Eli will be next to the sign tent. | |||
The next group is for strategies, approaches, nonviolence, direct action, possessions for when the cops come. Anasstassia will be with the strategy-when cops come. THis will be at the plaza. | |||
3: Immediate Response: Legal--for during and after an eviction. Alex will be the facilitator for this. Meet him on the stage. | |||
4: Immediate Response: after the crackdown, our first GA, prison, bail, etc. Meet David for this. David is going in front of the Fed (where the facilitators usually meet). | |||
5: Long term strategy post-crackdown: retaking Dewey, logistics for this. See Alison for this. SHe’ll be close to the library tent. THis is Alison. | |||
6: Immediate Response: Medical, during and after the crackdown/eviction/disruption of our space. Meet Matt at the front of the stage for this. | |||
CQ; Please repeat the groups. | |||
Facilitator repeats the groups. Friendly notetaker dgoesn’t retranscribe this. | |||
The groups are winding down. It’s now 8:40. We’re getting ready to report out. | |||
Facilitator: We’re reconvening, move back in and take a seat. e need to hear all of your voices. We’re going to do share-outs, and each group will have five minutes to share out what it is they talked about in their particular group. THen before we end the evening we will spend some time on what we will do with all of this. | |||
Group 1: Immediate Response, Outreach and Media. | |||
We obviously need to create a really strong comm network. One thing that’s coming up is a phone tree. I call 5 people and they each call 5 people and it grows exponentially and then we can reach a third of the state. We need to think multiplatform--twitter, facebook, human contacts, everything. We need human to human info sharing for good relationships. ALso, flyers. We have strategic plans that may include sending out the battle cry to everyone and people coming in from their various points and pasting flyers up along their commute to alert folks to what’s going on. | |||
Eli: we also talked about equipment. We need to get as many cheap cameras in the hands of occupiers as possible. We need to be aware of battery loss; there’s a great enercell battery pack for the iPhone. We didn’t finihs our conversation and we need a more comprehensive strategy for this emergency; we shared emails and we want to keep the conversation going. We took really good notes and we’re going to get them up on the wiki. | |||
When we are doing livestreaming please know that everything you say will be broadcasted to the world. Try to keep it accurate, reporting the events as they happened as a human recorder and reporter. | |||
One more thing: an emergency control center at E5 where ppl with AV and social media experience could run off to really quickly, so they could do up to the minute media work as it needs done. | |||
Group 2: Immediate response, strategy, for when the cops come. | |||
Facilitator Angela is offering to sing another song. | |||
Facilitator is reminding us: please stay through the end, as this is such an important process. We’re going to consent on a place where we can meet after a crackdown--even if the crackdown is tonight. It’s really important, it’s critical that we make that decision tonight, so please stick around through the process. | |||
Group 2 rep: We looked at what we should do on the evening that THings happen. We talked about an early warning system to let ppl know if we’re in trouble. We talked about flags at the site, phone trees, we need to coordinate people to take action. We talked about having some folks who won’t be arrested who can get valuable things out so they won’t be destroyed (like they were at OWS). We want to be efficient so that people who do not want to be arrested do not get arrested. We like the phone tree. We want to invite working groups specifically to meet and plan strategies. We want civil disobedience training ASAP. It was suggested that DA would be an appropriate.... people who are not sleeping here … we are concerned about civil safety and civil disobedience training. So we’ll repeat emails...Wall street...workers and students come down if possible and we want to hear them ASAP if it happens tonight at 3am what will hapen. (Sorry, interruptions.) | |||
Please bring your video cameras and film film film everything; we want to record what happens. We are nonviolent; ultimately, we cannot fight them violently, we can just let them arrest us. And we want to have key contacts from labor and other groups; it would be nice to get specific people in the groups to mobilize their people quickly, so we can get people down here and get streaming out to get people to see what’s going on. And Anasstassia: there’s one thing I’m missing, what is it? | |||
Anasstasia: Having all phones on... | |||
Group : ANd make sure you have your phone on loud, all night, if you’re on a phone tree. | |||
Anasstasia: So if there is a crackdown tonight, as a GA, we need to find out what we want to do. In our group when we discussed it it was clear that if they come we do want to defend the camp to the best of our personal and social ability. SO no one is saying I will do this or not; this is a general proposal that if stuff goes down tonight, we are proposing that we do try to keep Dewey Square. So that is the proposal that is on the table and we are going to put that through consensus and we’ll decide whether we consent to it or not incase it comes tonight. | |||
Facilitator: Next group up is Immediate Response, Legal. | |||
IR Legal: OK, so...we had a meeting on what to do before, after, during a police action and preemptive actions we can take. TO increase our preparedness: legal WG announcements at GA educating people about bail options, incl the bail fund. ANother thing: distribute the NLG phone number to write on your arm before any actions. You can call them if you get arrested. We’ve ben doing this stuff but we want to ramp it up. The NLG number is: 617-227-7335. (This is mic checked and verified by lots of people.) (Varseek is what it spells on your phone...617-VAR-SEEK.) | |||
Civil disobedience training is next on the list. OWS members speak of this; we want to do more training from legal or wherever and just increase the amt of training we do and perhaps get some WGs doing that. | |||
Once people get arrested we can overburden the system by turning down plea bargains and other tactics like that. | |||
POI: Last time there were mass arrests, the NLG didn’t bail anyone out. | |||
POI: At this time NLG has lots of money available. RIght now in a safe location to bail people out. | |||
IR Legal: Legal WG confirms this; basically we want to make the bail fund more accessible. Legal observer training: the folks in green hats are legal observers. The NLG offers training to become a legal observer and we recomend that we start doing that training here at camp. Disseminating literature, like flyers, that help you know your rights and what to do when you are arrested, and helping you to know what your options are once you are arrested. Also, using the text message system earlier to call for emergency donations to bail fund if we need it. ALso, having a talk from Legal on what services NLG can offer to us so that we can take advantage of these services if we need. Also exploring options in other options, like amicus curae--which is being a friend to other legal actions [ed note: no, friend of the court--think amicus curae brief] ALso we need to make sure we know where people are taken when they are arrested because that was a problem last time. | |||
Group: Immediate Response AFTER the crackdown. | |||
IR Postcrackdown, Desiree speaking: The people, united | |||
Crowd: will never be defeated. | |||
(Repeating. THis is cool!) | |||
IR Postcrackdown--Desiree: So first, where do we meet after a raid. The next day we would meet at court -- generally it’s all in one jurisdiction, so what if we met at Boston Municipal court the next morning. 2: In regards to bail, we came up with a buddy system; everybody at camp partners with someone offsite who is the ir bail buddy; the bail buddy bails you out after the raid. FAWG general fund, legal bail fund--the general fund requires GA consensus, but in a worst case scenario--like if there’s 200 people who need bail and we don’t have enough in the bail fund--we’d like FAWG and legal and us to vote on making it automatic. | |||
FAWG rep: it is automatic, no need to vote, it’s taken care of. | |||
IR Postcrackdown, Desiree: 3, to have GA at 7pm the next day at the Common. (I.e. the day after the crackdown.) | |||
Facilitation: Now you’ve heard what we’re going to be consenting on later; we’ll go through the proposal in the usual consensus process later, please stay. Horizontal democracy takes a long time. It takes longer but hopefully it sticks better. | |||
IR Medical eand Personal Items: It was a very small group but we came up with some good ideas. If we have time (like an hour) we’ll get personal possessions out and inventory stuff beforehand. We need to know from ppl what they want taken out of here; what is important to you and what you want to get out of here. Then a separate census/inventory for every WG, what the working groups really need taken out in the event of a raid. THen, determine a location; where can the stuff be carted temporarily to be retrieved at a later date. We discussed the option of cargo bikes so we could get stuff out of here quickly, and volunteers to ride the bikes out if we have time to get out. As far as Medical: they might gas from three sides inward, and so we want to get simple doctor masks for every tent; it’s a viable solution. Earplugs for sound cannons. Brainstorm to get pamphlets out on tactics to protect yourself. ALso, people designated to help folks who can’t easily get out of camp themselves (i.e. disabled) so they can get out quickly and easily. | |||
Facilitator: Long term strategy after the crackdown is next. ALso a word about ourselves dring the crackdown. Try not to have earrings, necklaces, scarves around you because they can be used to grab you; we’re going to try to make a list of these suggestions. If you’re wearing contacts and you know it’s about to happen; contacts are bad and can cause permanent eye damage if you are tear gassed or pepper sprayed. | |||
Long term strategy rep: One of the first things is the idea that if Dewey was taken they would erect fences; do we try to scale the fences or pick a second site. We then talked about neighborhood committees--occupy JP, occupy somerville, etc., more important in the case of a crackdown and also as it gets colder. We need a definitive day after plan, like maybe a march 48 hours later, and then we put out a location for the march. If we have the numbers, we could fragment into different groups and use civil disobedience and go and occupy other areas and disrupt life for everyone. For this we need more numbers; we have resources within Labor Outreach and lots of Unions supporting us, which we need to utilize. In other occupations, when there have been evictions, the numbers pick up and we can get the unions’ help. We also discussed--do we need to occupy a single site if we’re ejected from this one or can we scout things out in different places. Dewey is the heart and soul of things here, not only because we’re here but also because we’re raising money to restore the greneway. Occupy Harvard had a huge turnout, and could also be an option not only for people but also for storage, donation, allies. THis goes for other university/college occupations too. We talked a lot about nonviolent civil disobedience; we talked about the “way bigger picture” not just in the days following this but also in the longer term; we don’t have the answers yet, but we want to bring this up. | |||
Facilitator Angela: We’ve done good. We did real good. I know the cops are always listening to us one way or another; let them know how prepared we are. OK. What we’re now going to do is give a moment or two or three to share things that are very essential that we may have overlooked. Please raise your hand if you have only those kinds of points. | |||
Greg from FAWG: I want to clarify the relationship on money. There is a legal fund with $12000 in it. There is a general fund with around $40,000. If a thousand people get arrested at fifty bucks each that pretty much taps us out. The legal fund is set aside for legal shit. If people need money from the general fund for legal purposes, we need to run it through consensus. THat’s all. | |||
Facilitator Angela: That can be done quickly, I imagine. OK, more essential points we may have overlooked. | |||
Point: Have we acknowledged we need to livestream another breakup? | |||
Point: In terms of coverage if any of us know someone with access to any of these buildings that would be excellent to set up. | |||
Point: If I’m not mistaken the NLG last time was more of a voicemail people called to tell them that this many number of people were arrested and these were their names. That being said it would be important if we had a team of multiple people who people can call in case they get arrested so they can disperse throughout the different jails and bail out those people. | |||
Point: I want to make sure that part of our discussion is how we can grown and expand. The future of any crackdown’s response will be dependent on our size whether it’s the day, week, or month after. I think that November 17 this Thursday at 4 pm, should be billed as hugely as possible in the context of a potential crackdown of our movement. | |||
Facilitator: are there people who can talk about that? | |||
Point: Has there been any discussion of a long term response that would involve moving people to washington DC? | |||
Facilitator: Not aware of that. I’d encourage you to keep looking to see if you can find an answer. Could anyone help with this? | |||
Eden: Interoccupy comms--get on the mailing list. | |||
POI: … you can sometimes bail yourself out if you have bail in your pocket. Minimum bail is $40, so keep your cash in your pocket to get bailed out more efficiently. | |||
POI: Note takers are having trouble getting those. (Oh, good, there’s more than one.) | |||
POI: NLG now has a 24 hour staffed hotline. | |||
POI: I think it is important that those who are being consciously arrested are willing to face the facts that they will be charged, and should not accept any bargain, to stand in solidarity, with those who are arrested, because if people take the bargain, it isolats those who do not, and makes their case much more difficult, and kind of negates the point of being arrested. | |||
Point: Two quick suggestions regarding arrests. Other occupy movements have done mic checks asking those being arrested what are their full names and they are documenting that on paper so they have an official list. Second point: livestreams, we can and should have many and many of us can upload video from our phones and put it on Youtube or anywhere else. It is equally effective, maybe more so. | |||
Point: It is important to not upload videos of arrests immediately after they happen assuming people will not take the bargains because they could be detrimental to these people’s cases. | |||
Point: I cannot reiterate the importance of building … for November 17 for the labor march that’s happening at 4pm. We’ve seen across the country in different occupy movements that the first battle to save Zuccotti Park (NY) when labor mobilized their numbers. Oakland, with 15000 people shut down the fifth largest port in the country and the police couldn’t touch us. And they can go out and tear thousands of books at Zuccotti and a judge can dismiss our basic civil liberties, and it’s so important for us to be able to show them that we are growing and mobilizing more people. | |||
Facilitator Angela: I am an onsite occupier and I am very concerned that I don’t see many campers here. If you are an onsite occupier please ID yourself. [Not many.] We have a campers GA tomorrow morning and we should cover that here as well. THis idea of the buddy system, I can’t stress it enough. There are people who have all their stuff here; people who don’t have outside contacts; people who don’t have resources. We can deepen our awareness for us onsite; some of us are homeless, some of us are not. THis is real, thank you for listening. | |||
Point: Due to the recent conversation I have to ask you if you are so afraid of being arrested then why are you here? Civil disobedience is as simple as marching. Which you can be arrested for. So why is this being brought up. ...PC crap... | |||
Facilitator: We are taking direct questions at this point to clarify what the group delegates discussed. We’re also taking points of information--facts. | |||
Point: Every time we go out to march we could all be arrested. Everyone acknowledge that. | |||
Facilitator: Now we need to hear and consent on the proposal for what we do immediately following an eviction or disruption of our presence here. We need to move to the proposal process now concerning this specifically. David, or anyone on legal... | |||
Facilitator Angela: First, an all hell out mic check to bring other onsite occupiers to GA now--hi there out in the tents, we’re about to make some decisions about what happens if and when the cops do a crackdown. Please come forward, this most affects us who live here. You will then have a voice in making these decisions. We will give a few minutes to get you out here. Thanks. | |||
Greg from FAWG: Come to GA! Come to GA! Come to GA! | |||
Facilitator Jorge: We will now hear the proposal. | |||
Proposal from Legal: If this camp is torn down tonight, two things ill happen tomorrow. 1. If possible, go to the courthouse where people who have been arrested will be arraigned. Last time it was the New Chardon Courthouse, four blocks that way. 2. At 7pm the day after, we will convene a GA at the gazebo/bandstand/grandstand at the Boston Common. We know the police will know--they’re listening now. They will always know where we will be. We will assemble peacefully and speak at that GA about what came up about what happened the night before. At that GA we will make serious decisions about what happens next--reoccupying, etc. | |||
Call for Clarifying Questions (CQs). | |||
Facilitators and crowd are reviewing the hand signals. Clarifying Questions (CQ), POI (facts), amendments, points of process (POP), happy, middle, and sad fingers, blocks. | |||
CQ: Where is the courthouse and what time do we get there? | |||
It opens at 9am. | |||
Response: New Chardon Courthouse is a few blocks down Atlantic Ave, on the corner of New CHardon and Washington Street. It’s the brand new courthouse built down there; if you hit the Fleet Center you’ve gone too far. It’s right by the Haymarket T, called the Brook Courthouse. | |||
POI: Show up at 9:30 because people are arraigned at 10. There’s nothing you want to se more than your people waiting for you when you’re about to be arraigned. | |||
CQ: What’s your reasoning about waiting until the day after to make a decision as to what we do after they evict us? | |||
Response: Proposal was to have a GA at 7pm the next day; obviously campers will have to have procedures in place; we need to reconvene as a whole group the next day. | |||
Lots of remarks from the people. | |||
CQ: Why can’t we make the contingency plan now? | |||
Fac Jorge: We are going to hear a restatement. | |||
Proposal clarifies: We aren’t ruling out what happens during. We’re talking about what to do the next day. We thought that we could definitely know we are going to reconvene the next day. | |||
CQ: Why did we decide that this is the courthouse to go to? There are a lot of courthouses in Boston, why couldn’t they just drag us to Dudley, West Roxbury, etc. What if we chose the wrong courthouse? | |||
Response: I don’t know, but everyone arrested last time was arraigned at this courthouse. | |||
CQ: THat might be a bad idea because we could go to any courthouse, and if they know we’re all going to convene at a given courthouse they’ll just send arrested people there. | |||
Response: COurts work for specific purposes--criminal courts, municipal courts, etc. But Legal can clarify where to go and maybe we’ll get a text notifying us which courthouse to go to. | |||
CQ: Just wondering what happens to the direct response (process)? | |||
Process Monitor: Direct response hand sign is a sign sometimes used in ad hoc discussions but not formal consensus. | |||
CQ: Inform safety...working at night...so we have a sneak attack if they’re coming. | |||
CQ: Am I correct in understanding your proposal that all you’re saying is 9am, occupy boston will go to a court or number of courts that people will be arraigned at, and secondly, that at 7pm we meet on Boston Common to have a GA? | |||
Proposer: Correct. THat’s all our proposal was. | |||
Now points of information--facts. | |||
POI: Boston Municipal COurt is in the same building as suffolk probate and family court, at 24 new chardon street at the corner of merrimack and new chardon and congress, next to the Haymarket T. Where people wil lbe called to court is based on jurisdiction of where they are arrested. They might be able to move us but we won’t be able to answer that tonight. | |||
POI: When people were arrested at Zuccotti journalists within the camp reported that various officers referred to Zuccotti and what was going on there as a frozen zone. No one knew what this was but it was something only used when there is a terrorist threat. I don’t know if this is true but it seems to change the game a little. | |||
POI: Friends of mine in Zuccotti park were good enough to furnish me with photographs of police in counterrerrorism outfits, logos identifying them as counterterrorist units were photographs and published online. | |||
Proposer: If you are charged with a federal crime, you might also be brought to the federal courthouse. THat’s the only other court you would be brought to. | |||
POI: It seems like the rapid comms system we were discussing would make it possible to reroute people to different sites if needed. | |||
Fac Process Monitor: That sounds like an awesome amendment. | |||
Fac Jorge: Please stay here to vote and consent upon this critical issue. | |||
Any strong objections? | |||
Any statements of support? | |||
Support: I strongly support this proposal beccause last time it was a hot mess. I was up all night and theruse last time it was ridiculous. We need to pass this so we all know what to do when this comes. (Anastasia) | |||
Support: I was arrested on Columbus Day. It was a hot mess. I’d like to not be a hot mess. I like this proposal. It has a semblance of organization. We will meet at 9 and then at 7. Sounds like a plan. | |||
SUpport: I support the second part. People all over the state and NE know Boston COmmon as an activist site of all kinds, so our numbers will be high. | |||
Amendments? | |||
Amendments: I’d like to amend that our comms system be used to reroute people if it is needed. | |||
Amendment: I’d like to add a jail solidarity. Some of us .. may not be in court at that time. It’s really nice after spending the night in jail to see friendly spaces. ANd coffee and solidarity. That would be awesome. | |||
Amendment: Rather than state a specific courthouse we state a specific location at an earlier time to meet, because by 8am we will know which specific courthouse or courthouses to send people. | |||
Amendment: Is it possible to add an alternate site in the case that … put something up around the Common? (If they barricade the Common, I think.) | |||
Chant: Tell me what democracy looks like; this is what democracy looks like. | |||
JohnFord: Constipated clusterfuck | |||
Chant: This is what democracy looks like, in Spanish. Led by Facilitator Jorge. | |||
Fac Angela: If we get to Saturday, there is a summit, 2-6 on Saturdayhe quincy community school down the street. This will be a time for conversation. I know GA can be frustrating because it doesn’t allow for conversation that we might want. We’ll have small tables, so 6 or so people will be in small groups, so you can really have your voice heard. November 19, 2-6, OB summit at the Quincy COmmunity School. | |||
Fac Jorge: Please stay and move back in. The proposal is just being amended right now. It was Angela’s birthday yesterday. (We are now singing Happy Birthday. Transcriber note: I love Occupy Boston.) | |||
Fac Angela: Thank you. I’m going to make a proposal to Social to have a birthday party for everyone whose birthday is in the month, each month. | |||
Fac Jorge: The proposal will now be restated. | |||
Proposal: We don’t think that an alternate site is a good idea because it might give them a reason to block off the Common if we have somewhere else. It would be hard to block the COmmon. If they block the COmmon we’ll go on the streets, and if they block the streets we’ll go somewhere else. We will find somewhere to go and the media will follow us because we will be a force to be reckoned with. We can make a decision on the spot if the Common doesn’t work. If we’re a big enough group they will have to deal with US, we won’t have to deal with them. With respect to meeting at one place rather than at the courthouse, we will know where ppl will be arraigned right away. When you arrested you get paperwork and you are told where you will be arraigned. Unless the charges are federal we will go to New CHardon. But if they change it somehow we can put this out via text. Remember this is not a two minute process; each person is arraigned individually, so we can get there eventually. We may not need a statement of solidarity- | |||
Prev Amendment: It wasn’t about a statement of solidarity it was about jail solidarity. We wanted to add the idea of going to the actual jail. | |||
Proposal: The only problem there is that that is multiple locations. I don’t know that we’re going to include that in this proposal but it can be part of a different proposal. So the proposal is: | |||
the day after this camp is ejected: | |||
1. We go to the courthouse at 9am to show support to arrested people | |||
2. We hold a GA at 7pm on the Common. | |||
We can get more detailed when this happens but we need to know that this happens. | |||
And back through the process! | |||
CQ: What time in the morning at the courthouse, 9? | |||
Proposal: Yes, 9 will give us enough time to get through metal detectors and get into the courthouse. | |||
POIs? | |||
POI Alex P.: First POI is a contradiction to the point that when you get arrested you get paperwork and know what’s happening; that’s false. 2. … they hold people as a group separate from criminals, book you one at a time, put you back in the group, and you don’t know anything. So the plan needs to take this into consideration. The second POI is contradicting the point that people who are arraigned go one at a time. After the raid arraignments were made in groups, a number at a time, up to 7, so my personal experience with being arrested, I would say, that going to the jail, is NOT a good idea, because when we were arrested, we werea at 9 different jails across the city. Going to the courthouse should be the only suggestion. | |||
Other POIs? | |||
POI Anasstasia: Since the proposal is not about jail, but about the court and then meeting at 7 for GA, let’s focus on that. THe really important thing is that people who didn’t get arrested knew the jail and courthouse locations by 3am after 1am arrests. | |||
Any objections? | |||
Support? | |||
Support: I finally spoke to my wife today. They didn’t get charged for trespassing...they got charged with a felony but plea bargained down to trespassing...if they see tents and food you will be charged with a felony...they took down NYC, where they started... | |||
Support: This is a great idea, let’s just do it. (Referencing the proposal.) | |||
Amendments? | |||
Amendment: I’d like to suggest based on the facts that her story suggested an arraignment could happen more quickly than we think, that we do plan to meet at the courthouse a little early in case we need to go somewhere else. Let’s meet at 8 or 8:15. | |||
Fac Jorge: Now we need to talk about blocks; if this proposal will cause you to walk away from this movement; if it poses a mortal danger to this movement, then block it. | |||
Proposal restated: Meet at the courthouse at 8:15am now to give us extra time, meet at 7pm at the Common bandstand for GA, all this happens the day after the arrests/disruption. | |||
Fac Jorge: [Explaining blocks and how you do them] I see no blocks. Let’s move to consent. Now we will go through the consensus process. We need 75%. | |||
Facilitator: This isn’t voting, it’s consensus. If you can live with this proposal, raise one hand. If you can’t, don’t raise your hand. THis isn’t a temp check. If we see consensus we will verify with you that you see consensus. If you acknowledge it then we have consented. | |||
Restating the proposal: On the day after the camp is raided and taken down, we will meet at 8:15 at thw courthouse where people are being arraigned to support them. Then at 7pm we will meet at the Common at the bandstand to hold a general assembly. That’s all, just meeting at two places. | |||
Fac Angela: Okay, if you can live with this proposal then raise one hand high above your head. Please look around. Do you see 75% consensus? | |||
Fac Angela: WE HAVE REACHED CONSENSUS. | |||
Tell me what democracy looks like? | |||
This is what democracy looks like! | |||
Fac Jorge: If you were in one of the working groups please exchange information; these are ideas that will continue to be worked upon as we go forward. We will continue to work on this. | |||
Emergency proposal from Bill from Medical: We have licensed EMTs, we want to be wearing EMT vests when this goes down. What we need is 5 EMT vests, 2 sets of pen lights, masks, chest pads. We need $262 for this so that when the EMTs come here on site, they recognize us here as EMTs. We need a bag valve mask in case people pass out or stop breathing; this is a medical supply. I want to order this tonight so we can get it in a couple days. | |||
Fac Angela: So this is a proposal. First, clarifying questions. | |||
CQ: Has Medical spent $100 last week and this week? | |||
Medical: We’ve only spent $45 total ever; everything we have has ben donated so far. THis is a one time thing. | |||
POP: It is true that working groups receive $100 a week to begin with. This doesn’t seem urgent given that. | |||
Greg from FAWG (Finance): I know how this works. WGs get up to $100 a week, there is a process for that. THat money doesn’t roll over if you don’t spend it. If you have an expense over $100 it needs to be consented upon. | |||
Fac Angela: Does anyone have concerns? | |||
Point: I just want to say that the gypsy squad has been working in the community nonstop and we have not been recognized or given any kind of funds. Anything I have or my tentmates have I bought with my own money. So, if I am a working group you approve of and I’m supposed to get the $100, give it to medical. (Effecitvely, support.) | |||
There is a small conflict over the use of point of process perceived as an act against a gypsy squad member. | |||
Anasstasia: You need to surround the person and not talk to them when someone disrupts the GA. | |||
Gypsy: I am a working group... | |||
There is much shouting which the transcriber cannot hear between the PRocess Monitor Facilitator and the Gypsy Squad member who spoke earlier. This is persisting for above 3 minutes. | |||
Fac Angela: Your willingness to contribute is really appreciated. I think we can quickly go through consensus on this. First, temp check on this to see wherher we can go through a decision. | |||
(Yes, high temperature--lots of happy fingers.) | |||
Call for consensus. 75% consensus achieved. This is passed! | |||
Medical: Thank you! | |||
Various people: THank you, Medical! | |||
Fac Angela: The onsite occupiers GA is at 11 or 11:30, not 10am tomorrow. This is a corrective to what I said earlier. | |||
Fac Jorge leads “Show me what democracy looks like/This is what democracy looks like.” Fantastic job of horizontal democracy tonight with those two proposals. | |||
Fac Jorge; We have an emergency GA tomorrow; it will deal with most of tonight’s “regular business,” the announcements from WGs, proposals, individual announcements and proposals, etc. So please be here at 7pm tomorrow night, Wednesday, for GA. | |||
Fac Jorge: So if they come tonight, will we defend the park? Will we defend the square? Always and everywhere! Folks, thank you for coming tonight, thank you for doing the work of horizontal democracy. Remember the 4pm Thursday march right here, heading to the Charlestown bridge on north Washington street and heading back to Dewey Square. As always, you are welcome to come up here for open mic (sans an actual microphone). | |||
Lots of voices thanking Facilitators Jorge and Angela! | |||
And one very kind voice thanking the friendly transcriber and livestream folks. Thank you, Mr. bodyguard/coordinator/message carrier of awesomeness. You are awesome. | |||
And we’re out! | |||
-- | |||
Cut and pasted from [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nwrQnJJhwx7B9kwiKSU-_VIsSKUlF5iE0vTDUnEH-dc/edit here] |
Revision as of 11:45, 21 November 2011
Talking has been happening for not quite an hour so far. We have discussed feelings about the crackdowns at occupy boston.
Robin: text Occupyboston to 443322 so that you can get a text message alerting you to what the news is. Text occupyboston to the number 443322. This text message service is for very serious emergencies, not like “Hey, we need tents, hey it’s raining.”
If you were already on the list, you are still on the list.
Facilitator: We’re going to break into six groups for a half hour. All of these are immediate response/long term strategy (in the event of crisis). There will be six groups, with one facilitator per group. Please join the group you most want to join.
If there are camping occupiers here, we’d love if there was at least one camper in each of the six groups. The first group will--who’s the facilitator out there--Eli. Eli’s got his hand up. THis group is immediate response for Outreach and Media. Eli will be next to the sign tent.
The next group is for strategies, approaches, nonviolence, direct action, possessions for when the cops come. Anasstassia will be with the strategy-when cops come. THis will be at the plaza.
3: Immediate Response: Legal--for during and after an eviction. Alex will be the facilitator for this. Meet him on the stage.
4: Immediate Response: after the crackdown, our first GA, prison, bail, etc. Meet David for this. David is going in front of the Fed (where the facilitators usually meet).
5: Long term strategy post-crackdown: retaking Dewey, logistics for this. See Alison for this. SHe’ll be close to the library tent. THis is Alison.
6: Immediate Response: Medical, during and after the crackdown/eviction/disruption of our space. Meet Matt at the front of the stage for this.
CQ; Please repeat the groups.
Facilitator repeats the groups. Friendly notetaker dgoesn’t retranscribe this.
The groups are winding down. It’s now 8:40. We’re getting ready to report out.
Facilitator: We’re reconvening, move back in and take a seat. e need to hear all of your voices. We’re going to do share-outs, and each group will have five minutes to share out what it is they talked about in their particular group. THen before we end the evening we will spend some time on what we will do with all of this.
Group 1: Immediate Response, Outreach and Media. We obviously need to create a really strong comm network. One thing that’s coming up is a phone tree. I call 5 people and they each call 5 people and it grows exponentially and then we can reach a third of the state. We need to think multiplatform--twitter, facebook, human contacts, everything. We need human to human info sharing for good relationships. ALso, flyers. We have strategic plans that may include sending out the battle cry to everyone and people coming in from their various points and pasting flyers up along their commute to alert folks to what’s going on.
Eli: we also talked about equipment. We need to get as many cheap cameras in the hands of occupiers as possible. We need to be aware of battery loss; there’s a great enercell battery pack for the iPhone. We didn’t finihs our conversation and we need a more comprehensive strategy for this emergency; we shared emails and we want to keep the conversation going. We took really good notes and we’re going to get them up on the wiki.
When we are doing livestreaming please know that everything you say will be broadcasted to the world. Try to keep it accurate, reporting the events as they happened as a human recorder and reporter.
One more thing: an emergency control center at E5 where ppl with AV and social media experience could run off to really quickly, so they could do up to the minute media work as it needs done.
Group 2: Immediate response, strategy, for when the cops come.
Facilitator Angela is offering to sing another song.
Facilitator is reminding us: please stay through the end, as this is such an important process. We’re going to consent on a place where we can meet after a crackdown--even if the crackdown is tonight. It’s really important, it’s critical that we make that decision tonight, so please stick around through the process.
Group 2 rep: We looked at what we should do on the evening that THings happen. We talked about an early warning system to let ppl know if we’re in trouble. We talked about flags at the site, phone trees, we need to coordinate people to take action. We talked about having some folks who won’t be arrested who can get valuable things out so they won’t be destroyed (like they were at OWS). We want to be efficient so that people who do not want to be arrested do not get arrested. We like the phone tree. We want to invite working groups specifically to meet and plan strategies. We want civil disobedience training ASAP. It was suggested that DA would be an appropriate.... people who are not sleeping here … we are concerned about civil safety and civil disobedience training. So we’ll repeat emails...Wall street...workers and students come down if possible and we want to hear them ASAP if it happens tonight at 3am what will hapen. (Sorry, interruptions.) Please bring your video cameras and film film film everything; we want to record what happens. We are nonviolent; ultimately, we cannot fight them violently, we can just let them arrest us. And we want to have key contacts from labor and other groups; it would be nice to get specific people in the groups to mobilize their people quickly, so we can get people down here and get streaming out to get people to see what’s going on. And Anasstassia: there’s one thing I’m missing, what is it?
Anasstasia: Having all phones on...
Group : ANd make sure you have your phone on loud, all night, if you’re on a phone tree.
Anasstasia: So if there is a crackdown tonight, as a GA, we need to find out what we want to do. In our group when we discussed it it was clear that if they come we do want to defend the camp to the best of our personal and social ability. SO no one is saying I will do this or not; this is a general proposal that if stuff goes down tonight, we are proposing that we do try to keep Dewey Square. So that is the proposal that is on the table and we are going to put that through consensus and we’ll decide whether we consent to it or not incase it comes tonight.
Facilitator: Next group up is Immediate Response, Legal.
IR Legal: OK, so...we had a meeting on what to do before, after, during a police action and preemptive actions we can take. TO increase our preparedness: legal WG announcements at GA educating people about bail options, incl the bail fund. ANother thing: distribute the NLG phone number to write on your arm before any actions. You can call them if you get arrested. We’ve ben doing this stuff but we want to ramp it up. The NLG number is: 617-227-7335. (This is mic checked and verified by lots of people.) (Varseek is what it spells on your phone...617-VAR-SEEK.) Civil disobedience training is next on the list. OWS members speak of this; we want to do more training from legal or wherever and just increase the amt of training we do and perhaps get some WGs doing that. Once people get arrested we can overburden the system by turning down plea bargains and other tactics like that.
POI: Last time there were mass arrests, the NLG didn’t bail anyone out.
POI: At this time NLG has lots of money available. RIght now in a safe location to bail people out.
IR Legal: Legal WG confirms this; basically we want to make the bail fund more accessible. Legal observer training: the folks in green hats are legal observers. The NLG offers training to become a legal observer and we recomend that we start doing that training here at camp. Disseminating literature, like flyers, that help you know your rights and what to do when you are arrested, and helping you to know what your options are once you are arrested. Also, using the text message system earlier to call for emergency donations to bail fund if we need it. ALso, having a talk from Legal on what services NLG can offer to us so that we can take advantage of these services if we need. Also exploring options in other options, like amicus curae--which is being a friend to other legal actions [ed note: no, friend of the court--think amicus curae brief] ALso we need to make sure we know where people are taken when they are arrested because that was a problem last time.
Group: Immediate Response AFTER the crackdown.
IR Postcrackdown, Desiree speaking: The people, united Crowd: will never be defeated. (Repeating. THis is cool!)
IR Postcrackdown--Desiree: So first, where do we meet after a raid. The next day we would meet at court -- generally it’s all in one jurisdiction, so what if we met at Boston Municipal court the next morning. 2: In regards to bail, we came up with a buddy system; everybody at camp partners with someone offsite who is the ir bail buddy; the bail buddy bails you out after the raid. FAWG general fund, legal bail fund--the general fund requires GA consensus, but in a worst case scenario--like if there’s 200 people who need bail and we don’t have enough in the bail fund--we’d like FAWG and legal and us to vote on making it automatic.
FAWG rep: it is automatic, no need to vote, it’s taken care of.
IR Postcrackdown, Desiree: 3, to have GA at 7pm the next day at the Common. (I.e. the day after the crackdown.)
Facilitation: Now you’ve heard what we’re going to be consenting on later; we’ll go through the proposal in the usual consensus process later, please stay. Horizontal democracy takes a long time. It takes longer but hopefully it sticks better.
IR Medical eand Personal Items: It was a very small group but we came up with some good ideas. If we have time (like an hour) we’ll get personal possessions out and inventory stuff beforehand. We need to know from ppl what they want taken out of here; what is important to you and what you want to get out of here. Then a separate census/inventory for every WG, what the working groups really need taken out in the event of a raid. THen, determine a location; where can the stuff be carted temporarily to be retrieved at a later date. We discussed the option of cargo bikes so we could get stuff out of here quickly, and volunteers to ride the bikes out if we have time to get out. As far as Medical: they might gas from three sides inward, and so we want to get simple doctor masks for every tent; it’s a viable solution. Earplugs for sound cannons. Brainstorm to get pamphlets out on tactics to protect yourself. ALso, people designated to help folks who can’t easily get out of camp themselves (i.e. disabled) so they can get out quickly and easily.
Facilitator: Long term strategy after the crackdown is next. ALso a word about ourselves dring the crackdown. Try not to have earrings, necklaces, scarves around you because they can be used to grab you; we’re going to try to make a list of these suggestions. If you’re wearing contacts and you know it’s about to happen; contacts are bad and can cause permanent eye damage if you are tear gassed or pepper sprayed.
Long term strategy rep: One of the first things is the idea that if Dewey was taken they would erect fences; do we try to scale the fences or pick a second site. We then talked about neighborhood committees--occupy JP, occupy somerville, etc., more important in the case of a crackdown and also as it gets colder. We need a definitive day after plan, like maybe a march 48 hours later, and then we put out a location for the march. If we have the numbers, we could fragment into different groups and use civil disobedience and go and occupy other areas and disrupt life for everyone. For this we need more numbers; we have resources within Labor Outreach and lots of Unions supporting us, which we need to utilize. In other occupations, when there have been evictions, the numbers pick up and we can get the unions’ help. We also discussed--do we need to occupy a single site if we’re ejected from this one or can we scout things out in different places. Dewey is the heart and soul of things here, not only because we’re here but also because we’re raising money to restore the greneway. Occupy Harvard had a huge turnout, and could also be an option not only for people but also for storage, donation, allies. THis goes for other university/college occupations too. We talked a lot about nonviolent civil disobedience; we talked about the “way bigger picture” not just in the days following this but also in the longer term; we don’t have the answers yet, but we want to bring this up.
Facilitator Angela: We’ve done good. We did real good. I know the cops are always listening to us one way or another; let them know how prepared we are. OK. What we’re now going to do is give a moment or two or three to share things that are very essential that we may have overlooked. Please raise your hand if you have only those kinds of points.
Greg from FAWG: I want to clarify the relationship on money. There is a legal fund with $12000 in it. There is a general fund with around $40,000. If a thousand people get arrested at fifty bucks each that pretty much taps us out. The legal fund is set aside for legal shit. If people need money from the general fund for legal purposes, we need to run it through consensus. THat’s all.
Facilitator Angela: That can be done quickly, I imagine. OK, more essential points we may have overlooked.
Point: Have we acknowledged we need to livestream another breakup?
Point: In terms of coverage if any of us know someone with access to any of these buildings that would be excellent to set up.
Point: If I’m not mistaken the NLG last time was more of a voicemail people called to tell them that this many number of people were arrested and these were their names. That being said it would be important if we had a team of multiple people who people can call in case they get arrested so they can disperse throughout the different jails and bail out those people.
Point: I want to make sure that part of our discussion is how we can grown and expand. The future of any crackdown’s response will be dependent on our size whether it’s the day, week, or month after. I think that November 17 this Thursday at 4 pm, should be billed as hugely as possible in the context of a potential crackdown of our movement.
Facilitator: are there people who can talk about that?
Point: Has there been any discussion of a long term response that would involve moving people to washington DC?
Facilitator: Not aware of that. I’d encourage you to keep looking to see if you can find an answer. Could anyone help with this?
Eden: Interoccupy comms--get on the mailing list.
POI: … you can sometimes bail yourself out if you have bail in your pocket. Minimum bail is $40, so keep your cash in your pocket to get bailed out more efficiently.
POI: Note takers are having trouble getting those. (Oh, good, there’s more than one.)
POI: NLG now has a 24 hour staffed hotline.
POI: I think it is important that those who are being consciously arrested are willing to face the facts that they will be charged, and should not accept any bargain, to stand in solidarity, with those who are arrested, because if people take the bargain, it isolats those who do not, and makes their case much more difficult, and kind of negates the point of being arrested.
Point: Two quick suggestions regarding arrests. Other occupy movements have done mic checks asking those being arrested what are their full names and they are documenting that on paper so they have an official list. Second point: livestreams, we can and should have many and many of us can upload video from our phones and put it on Youtube or anywhere else. It is equally effective, maybe more so.
Point: It is important to not upload videos of arrests immediately after they happen assuming people will not take the bargains because they could be detrimental to these people’s cases.
Point: I cannot reiterate the importance of building … for November 17 for the labor march that’s happening at 4pm. We’ve seen across the country in different occupy movements that the first battle to save Zuccotti Park (NY) when labor mobilized their numbers. Oakland, with 15000 people shut down the fifth largest port in the country and the police couldn’t touch us. And they can go out and tear thousands of books at Zuccotti and a judge can dismiss our basic civil liberties, and it’s so important for us to be able to show them that we are growing and mobilizing more people.
Facilitator Angela: I am an onsite occupier and I am very concerned that I don’t see many campers here. If you are an onsite occupier please ID yourself. [Not many.] We have a campers GA tomorrow morning and we should cover that here as well. THis idea of the buddy system, I can’t stress it enough. There are people who have all their stuff here; people who don’t have outside contacts; people who don’t have resources. We can deepen our awareness for us onsite; some of us are homeless, some of us are not. THis is real, thank you for listening.
Point: Due to the recent conversation I have to ask you if you are so afraid of being arrested then why are you here? Civil disobedience is as simple as marching. Which you can be arrested for. So why is this being brought up. ...PC crap...
Facilitator: We are taking direct questions at this point to clarify what the group delegates discussed. We’re also taking points of information--facts.
Point: Every time we go out to march we could all be arrested. Everyone acknowledge that.
Facilitator: Now we need to hear and consent on the proposal for what we do immediately following an eviction or disruption of our presence here. We need to move to the proposal process now concerning this specifically. David, or anyone on legal...
Facilitator Angela: First, an all hell out mic check to bring other onsite occupiers to GA now--hi there out in the tents, we’re about to make some decisions about what happens if and when the cops do a crackdown. Please come forward, this most affects us who live here. You will then have a voice in making these decisions. We will give a few minutes to get you out here. Thanks.
Greg from FAWG: Come to GA! Come to GA! Come to GA!
Facilitator Jorge: We will now hear the proposal.
Proposal from Legal: If this camp is torn down tonight, two things ill happen tomorrow. 1. If possible, go to the courthouse where people who have been arrested will be arraigned. Last time it was the New Chardon Courthouse, four blocks that way. 2. At 7pm the day after, we will convene a GA at the gazebo/bandstand/grandstand at the Boston Common. We know the police will know--they’re listening now. They will always know where we will be. We will assemble peacefully and speak at that GA about what came up about what happened the night before. At that GA we will make serious decisions about what happens next--reoccupying, etc.
Call for Clarifying Questions (CQs).
Facilitators and crowd are reviewing the hand signals. Clarifying Questions (CQ), POI (facts), amendments, points of process (POP), happy, middle, and sad fingers, blocks.
CQ: Where is the courthouse and what time do we get there?
It opens at 9am.
Response: New Chardon Courthouse is a few blocks down Atlantic Ave, on the corner of New CHardon and Washington Street. It’s the brand new courthouse built down there; if you hit the Fleet Center you’ve gone too far. It’s right by the Haymarket T, called the Brook Courthouse.
POI: Show up at 9:30 because people are arraigned at 10. There’s nothing you want to se more than your people waiting for you when you’re about to be arraigned.
CQ: What’s your reasoning about waiting until the day after to make a decision as to what we do after they evict us?
Response: Proposal was to have a GA at 7pm the next day; obviously campers will have to have procedures in place; we need to reconvene as a whole group the next day.
Lots of remarks from the people.
CQ: Why can’t we make the contingency plan now?
Fac Jorge: We are going to hear a restatement.
Proposal clarifies: We aren’t ruling out what happens during. We’re talking about what to do the next day. We thought that we could definitely know we are going to reconvene the next day.
CQ: Why did we decide that this is the courthouse to go to? There are a lot of courthouses in Boston, why couldn’t they just drag us to Dudley, West Roxbury, etc. What if we chose the wrong courthouse?
Response: I don’t know, but everyone arrested last time was arraigned at this courthouse.
CQ: THat might be a bad idea because we could go to any courthouse, and if they know we’re all going to convene at a given courthouse they’ll just send arrested people there.
Response: COurts work for specific purposes--criminal courts, municipal courts, etc. But Legal can clarify where to go and maybe we’ll get a text notifying us which courthouse to go to.
CQ: Just wondering what happens to the direct response (process)?
Process Monitor: Direct response hand sign is a sign sometimes used in ad hoc discussions but not formal consensus.
CQ: Inform safety...working at night...so we have a sneak attack if they’re coming.
CQ: Am I correct in understanding your proposal that all you’re saying is 9am, occupy boston will go to a court or number of courts that people will be arraigned at, and secondly, that at 7pm we meet on Boston Common to have a GA?
Proposer: Correct. THat’s all our proposal was.
Now points of information--facts.
POI: Boston Municipal COurt is in the same building as suffolk probate and family court, at 24 new chardon street at the corner of merrimack and new chardon and congress, next to the Haymarket T. Where people wil lbe called to court is based on jurisdiction of where they are arrested. They might be able to move us but we won’t be able to answer that tonight.
POI: When people were arrested at Zuccotti journalists within the camp reported that various officers referred to Zuccotti and what was going on there as a frozen zone. No one knew what this was but it was something only used when there is a terrorist threat. I don’t know if this is true but it seems to change the game a little.
POI: Friends of mine in Zuccotti park were good enough to furnish me with photographs of police in counterrerrorism outfits, logos identifying them as counterterrorist units were photographs and published online.
Proposer: If you are charged with a federal crime, you might also be brought to the federal courthouse. THat’s the only other court you would be brought to.
POI: It seems like the rapid comms system we were discussing would make it possible to reroute people to different sites if needed.
Fac Process Monitor: That sounds like an awesome amendment.
Fac Jorge: Please stay here to vote and consent upon this critical issue.
Any strong objections?
Any statements of support?
Support: I strongly support this proposal beccause last time it was a hot mess. I was up all night and theruse last time it was ridiculous. We need to pass this so we all know what to do when this comes. (Anastasia)
Support: I was arrested on Columbus Day. It was a hot mess. I’d like to not be a hot mess. I like this proposal. It has a semblance of organization. We will meet at 9 and then at 7. Sounds like a plan.
SUpport: I support the second part. People all over the state and NE know Boston COmmon as an activist site of all kinds, so our numbers will be high.
Amendments?
Amendments: I’d like to amend that our comms system be used to reroute people if it is needed.
Amendment: I’d like to add a jail solidarity. Some of us .. may not be in court at that time. It’s really nice after spending the night in jail to see friendly spaces. ANd coffee and solidarity. That would be awesome.
Amendment: Rather than state a specific courthouse we state a specific location at an earlier time to meet, because by 8am we will know which specific courthouse or courthouses to send people.
Amendment: Is it possible to add an alternate site in the case that … put something up around the Common? (If they barricade the Common, I think.)
Chant: Tell me what democracy looks like; this is what democracy looks like. JohnFord: Constipated clusterfuck
Chant: This is what democracy looks like, in Spanish. Led by Facilitator Jorge.
Fac Angela: If we get to Saturday, there is a summit, 2-6 on Saturdayhe quincy community school down the street. This will be a time for conversation. I know GA can be frustrating because it doesn’t allow for conversation that we might want. We’ll have small tables, so 6 or so people will be in small groups, so you can really have your voice heard. November 19, 2-6, OB summit at the Quincy COmmunity School.
Fac Jorge: Please stay and move back in. The proposal is just being amended right now. It was Angela’s birthday yesterday. (We are now singing Happy Birthday. Transcriber note: I love Occupy Boston.)
Fac Angela: Thank you. I’m going to make a proposal to Social to have a birthday party for everyone whose birthday is in the month, each month.
Fac Jorge: The proposal will now be restated.
Proposal: We don’t think that an alternate site is a good idea because it might give them a reason to block off the Common if we have somewhere else. It would be hard to block the COmmon. If they block the COmmon we’ll go on the streets, and if they block the streets we’ll go somewhere else. We will find somewhere to go and the media will follow us because we will be a force to be reckoned with. We can make a decision on the spot if the Common doesn’t work. If we’re a big enough group they will have to deal with US, we won’t have to deal with them. With respect to meeting at one place rather than at the courthouse, we will know where ppl will be arraigned right away. When you arrested you get paperwork and you are told where you will be arraigned. Unless the charges are federal we will go to New CHardon. But if they change it somehow we can put this out via text. Remember this is not a two minute process; each person is arraigned individually, so we can get there eventually. We may not need a statement of solidarity-
Prev Amendment: It wasn’t about a statement of solidarity it was about jail solidarity. We wanted to add the idea of going to the actual jail.
Proposal: The only problem there is that that is multiple locations. I don’t know that we’re going to include that in this proposal but it can be part of a different proposal. So the proposal is: the day after this camp is ejected: 1. We go to the courthouse at 9am to show support to arrested people 2. We hold a GA at 7pm on the Common. We can get more detailed when this happens but we need to know that this happens.
And back through the process!
CQ: What time in the morning at the courthouse, 9?
Proposal: Yes, 9 will give us enough time to get through metal detectors and get into the courthouse.
POIs?
POI Alex P.: First POI is a contradiction to the point that when you get arrested you get paperwork and know what’s happening; that’s false. 2. … they hold people as a group separate from criminals, book you one at a time, put you back in the group, and you don’t know anything. So the plan needs to take this into consideration. The second POI is contradicting the point that people who are arraigned go one at a time. After the raid arraignments were made in groups, a number at a time, up to 7, so my personal experience with being arrested, I would say, that going to the jail, is NOT a good idea, because when we were arrested, we werea at 9 different jails across the city. Going to the courthouse should be the only suggestion.
Other POIs?
POI Anasstasia: Since the proposal is not about jail, but about the court and then meeting at 7 for GA, let’s focus on that. THe really important thing is that people who didn’t get arrested knew the jail and courthouse locations by 3am after 1am arrests.
Any objections?
Support?
Support: I finally spoke to my wife today. They didn’t get charged for trespassing...they got charged with a felony but plea bargained down to trespassing...if they see tents and food you will be charged with a felony...they took down NYC, where they started...
Support: This is a great idea, let’s just do it. (Referencing the proposal.)
Amendments?
Amendment: I’d like to suggest based on the facts that her story suggested an arraignment could happen more quickly than we think, that we do plan to meet at the courthouse a little early in case we need to go somewhere else. Let’s meet at 8 or 8:15.
Fac Jorge: Now we need to talk about blocks; if this proposal will cause you to walk away from this movement; if it poses a mortal danger to this movement, then block it.
Proposal restated: Meet at the courthouse at 8:15am now to give us extra time, meet at 7pm at the Common bandstand for GA, all this happens the day after the arrests/disruption.
Fac Jorge: [Explaining blocks and how you do them] I see no blocks. Let’s move to consent. Now we will go through the consensus process. We need 75%.
Facilitator: This isn’t voting, it’s consensus. If you can live with this proposal, raise one hand. If you can’t, don’t raise your hand. THis isn’t a temp check. If we see consensus we will verify with you that you see consensus. If you acknowledge it then we have consented.
Restating the proposal: On the day after the camp is raided and taken down, we will meet at 8:15 at thw courthouse where people are being arraigned to support them. Then at 7pm we will meet at the Common at the bandstand to hold a general assembly. That’s all, just meeting at two places.
Fac Angela: Okay, if you can live with this proposal then raise one hand high above your head. Please look around. Do you see 75% consensus?
Fac Angela: WE HAVE REACHED CONSENSUS.
Tell me what democracy looks like? This is what democracy looks like!
Fac Jorge: If you were in one of the working groups please exchange information; these are ideas that will continue to be worked upon as we go forward. We will continue to work on this.
Emergency proposal from Bill from Medical: We have licensed EMTs, we want to be wearing EMT vests when this goes down. What we need is 5 EMT vests, 2 sets of pen lights, masks, chest pads. We need $262 for this so that when the EMTs come here on site, they recognize us here as EMTs. We need a bag valve mask in case people pass out or stop breathing; this is a medical supply. I want to order this tonight so we can get it in a couple days.
Fac Angela: So this is a proposal. First, clarifying questions.
CQ: Has Medical spent $100 last week and this week?
Medical: We’ve only spent $45 total ever; everything we have has ben donated so far. THis is a one time thing.
POP: It is true that working groups receive $100 a week to begin with. This doesn’t seem urgent given that.
Greg from FAWG (Finance): I know how this works. WGs get up to $100 a week, there is a process for that. THat money doesn’t roll over if you don’t spend it. If you have an expense over $100 it needs to be consented upon.
Fac Angela: Does anyone have concerns?
Point: I just want to say that the gypsy squad has been working in the community nonstop and we have not been recognized or given any kind of funds. Anything I have or my tentmates have I bought with my own money. So, if I am a working group you approve of and I’m supposed to get the $100, give it to medical. (Effecitvely, support.)
There is a small conflict over the use of point of process perceived as an act against a gypsy squad member.
Anasstasia: You need to surround the person and not talk to them when someone disrupts the GA.
Gypsy: I am a working group...
There is much shouting which the transcriber cannot hear between the PRocess Monitor Facilitator and the Gypsy Squad member who spoke earlier. This is persisting for above 3 minutes.
Fac Angela: Your willingness to contribute is really appreciated. I think we can quickly go through consensus on this. First, temp check on this to see wherher we can go through a decision.
(Yes, high temperature--lots of happy fingers.)
Call for consensus. 75% consensus achieved. This is passed!
Medical: Thank you!
Various people: THank you, Medical!
Fac Angela: The onsite occupiers GA is at 11 or 11:30, not 10am tomorrow. This is a corrective to what I said earlier.
Fac Jorge leads “Show me what democracy looks like/This is what democracy looks like.” Fantastic job of horizontal democracy tonight with those two proposals.
Fac Jorge; We have an emergency GA tomorrow; it will deal with most of tonight’s “regular business,” the announcements from WGs, proposals, individual announcements and proposals, etc. So please be here at 7pm tomorrow night, Wednesday, for GA.
Fac Jorge: So if they come tonight, will we defend the park? Will we defend the square? Always and everywhere! Folks, thank you for coming tonight, thank you for doing the work of horizontal democracy. Remember the 4pm Thursday march right here, heading to the Charlestown bridge on north Washington street and heading back to Dewey Square. As always, you are welcome to come up here for open mic (sans an actual microphone).
Lots of voices thanking Facilitators Jorge and Angela!
And one very kind voice thanking the friendly transcriber and livestream folks. Thank you, Mr. bodyguard/coordinator/message carrier of awesomeness. You are awesome.
And we’re out!
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Cut and pasted from here