Strike Debt Meeting - 25 Feb 2013
25 Feb 2013 Strike Debt Meeting
(I arrive late; I'd double-booked myself between FAWG and Strike Debt. I joined the Strike Debt meeting during a planning discussion about April 6th)
April 6th Planning
Food. We still need to contact Food Not Bombs. (Kendra?)
Musicians. We have three acts lined up: Licious, a DJ/VJ duo that Dana knows, and Rick Berlin. We might not get Rick Berlin's full band, and we'll have to ask him how their name should appear on the bill.
Video. Steve talked with Maurice Morales, re: video-recording the event. Maurice agreed. Maurice asked about lighting in the Middle east. Steve told him the club was generally dim. Maurice may want to shoot in black and white; it's easier to adjust the lighting that way. Ultimately, we'd like to have something on YouTube, that we can link from occupyboston.org.
Testimonies. We'll probably stick to a small number of personal stories. Perhaps four. We haven't found speakers yet; we'll try to nail this down at the next meeting.
Skits. Joe is working on a few short (2-3 minute) skits.
We discuss the overall shape of the event. We'd previously decided on three sections:
- How did we get here
- Where are we now
- What can we do now (or, where can we go from here)
There's rough agreement for ending on a positive note ("what can we do now"); we're still debating order for the beginning and middle of the event.
Dana's invited author Dan Clawson to speak. His presentation probably belongs in the "How did we get here" section.
Bankruptcy laws were put in place to aid commerce. Bankruptcy laws were altered specifically to exempt student loans. There's a group of senators who may introduce legislation to reverse this.
"There are several possible futures. Come work with us, and you can influence the future."
Part of April 6th should focus on bringing people into the movement, and getting them involved as debt strike activists.
We've invited OWS strike debt organizers to talk during the "what can we do now" section. That's inspiration and how to move forward.
Will there be tabling at the event? We're working on it. We've approached Dollars and Sense, and we're waiting to hear back from them. Are there other organizations who might be interested in tabling?
There's a twelve-step program called Debtors Anonymous. We could approach them, but we should learn more about their organization first.
What other outreach options do we have?
We can hand out copies of the Debt Resisters Operations Manual.
The April 6th event is supposed to be focused on Student Debt. But we could try to link different groups of debtors together.
Next Meeting
Let's schedule our next meeting for March 11th, 7pm at Community Church.