10/24 Occupy New Orleans General Assembly Minutes
First Nyah explained the process we are using, then we jumped into it:
WORKING GROUP REPORT BACKS
Agriculture
sprouts have started to form
Food
call out for volunteers
needs: more donated food
Construction
material has been acquired for a stage
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Recycling of political signs
after the voting day, volunteers collected some of the copious signage for us to paint over and reuse for protest signs
Protest of Public Foreclosure Auction
Thursday at 1pm
Protest of Fence Building Under the Bridge
Friday at 8am
Recycling Initiative/fund raiser
Begin collecting aluminum cans separately for cash
WORKING GROUP PROPOSALS
Integrity: Adoption of Shunning (Ignoring) Trouble Makers
friendly amendment: shun actions NOT individuals
accepted!
Proposal tabled for further discussion outside GA
Facilitation: Formalization of Working Groups and Adoption of “Working Group Charter”
Working Group Charter establishes:
Group Name, Mission Statement, Meeting Time, Meeting Location, Secretary Name, Secretary Phone #, Secretary E-mail Address, and Approval by GA
For existing working groups: many working group members are not active and earlier groups seem to be debunked.
Consensus!
POI Charter is available on google groups, from Jason, or physically at GA and must be proposed at a GA at the Working Group Proposal time
Facilitation: No General Assembly on Wednesday
Consensus!
Let’s use Wednesday for organized fun time. Call out for music and entertainment or direct actions
Integrity: Individuals representing Occupy New Orleans
No one individual may solicit funds or speak to the media on behalf of the group, unless they are accompanied by 2 other people
Concerns raised were that often media comes and no one offers to speak to them = missed opportunities for outreach
Clarification: offer “I cannot speak for the group” “there are no leaders” but use good judgment for your individual statements
Consensus! (reached after two rounds of dissenting votes)
Food: Reusable dishware, no more disposable
Reusable dishware is available, individuals are encouraged to take personal responsibility for a dish and utensil, food group will no longer provide one-time use paper, styrofoam, or cheap plastics (unless they can be washed numerous times and reused) dishware
Consensus!
OPEN COMMENTS
Outreach to online occupation, including Occupy movements in other cities and localities, the 99% charter was mention, but is not loved/attached to
Call out: volunteers to do outreach at letter carriers union, tomorrow morning 10 am meet at Gravier St. side of park, ride offered
Hotline offered: individual can set up a hotline phone number that will either call numerous phones at once or not call any phones but allow many phone numbers to access voicemail messages
Contribution box with a key, but only one key. No accounting work group members at GA to pass off key to. GA should vote at a later date who will keep the key, or working group will discuss.
