General Assemly meeting minutes November 22, 2011 7:15 PM
Facilitating: Kezia
Moderating: Jessica
Stack: Mike
Notes: Kim
K: Brief explanation of meeting process. Brief explanation of proposals, brief explanation of consensus. Point of consensus is not that everyone is completely happy with what we agree on, but that everyone is OK with it.
Get on stack if you are on a working group and have an announcement.
Agricultural Group: we have a hothouse, and we got donations of more flower pots. We are getting more plants growing, including mustard greens. More to come. Looking for donations of potting soil and topsoil.
Direct Action: Today we met to work on putting together a contingency plan in the event that the city attempts to carry out an eviction of the occupation. We came up with five broad suggestions. I will announce them and then we can bring them up as proposals later
- Make a legal contact list and give it out
- Create an immediate response plan
- Hold a news conference on Wednesday here, inviting ministers, lawyers, and the city to show what we are doing here and to proclaim our First Amendment right to be here
- More Propaganda
- A longer term response plan
- Medical: Some things were taken out of the Medical tent. We are asking for donations of band-aids, tape, peroxide, alcohol, stuff like that.
Integrity: We have some new members on integrity, just wantto welcome them. Other than that, no problems, no issues
Information: we need people with access to copiers to make copies for us. Very important.
Food: If each person can come with just one can of food, we can feed all these people.
Anti-Racism: We had a great Decolonizing Thanksgiving teach-in tonight. We are taking a break for Thanksgiving Week from Wedns 5-7, Sat 12-2
Construction: We got some pallets, going to do some construction projects
Labor: There has been a rumor that more tents are coming from unions, but that is not true at present. Labor union is trying to procure a water tank for us and they are planning to do marches with us. (Painters Union and AFL-CIO)
OPEN ANNOUNCEMENTS
A: Mr. Sam Jackson who you have seen around here would like to bring to your attention the shutting down of the housing project, B. W. Cooper. They are shutting it down between the 10th and 13th of December. He would like people to come down and help protest, and he has organized a bus to get people there and back. More information to come.
B: Following the Decolonizing Thanksgiving talk, if anyone would like to get together and organize a demonstration/vigil/something to move toward reconciling the abuses we acted on our indigenous brothers and sisters, stick around and we can meet here after the GA.
C: Today we had Pat Bryant visit the camp, he used to work with Rev. Cheylsworth (sp?) in Alabama, and they donated a ton of signs that we are going to whitewash to make signs for the camp.
WG PROPOSALS
Direct Action: To hold a press conference, as a tactical move, to assert our First Amendment rights before the media before they try to evict us. A group will meet to prepare the statement of the press conference and bring it before the GA for consensus.
(Group agrees, based on temperature check, that this group of people is empowered to prepare the press conference and bring it back to GA)
Sunday 5pm is the next contingency plan meeting.
OPEN PROPOSALS
A: If the city comes to evict us, we need an immediate place to move to. I propose packing up immediately and moving to Lafayette Square if they come to push us out of this park..
Point of Information: At the last GA, it was consensed upon that the standing contingency plan is to peacefully resist the eviction and meet at Jackson Square for a General Assemply at 7 pm the following evening.
B: I think it tactically makes sense to make the contingency plan to meet up the next day, because otherwise what would stop the cops from just following us? And it would be nice to have some time to regroup somewhere safer and consider next steps.
C: What about a building?
K: so it seems like it might be very difficult for us to reach consensus tonight on an immediate plan, and there is already a working group working on this…
D: When we were planning OWS, we created a list of 8 potential places to occupy and handing out the list to people, including a map of the places. So then we could just say “Everybody go to 2,” and everyone could get there easily.
K: So I would recommend that people get together and talk about this tonight after the meeting. Does that sound okay for people?
(yes)
E: A few of us are going out on Thanksgiving day. We will take out trash cans on Bourbon street and dump out the recyclable goods onto sheets, to show people/the city that we demand to have recycling programs in the city. I propose people try to help with this.
F: I think this is great, and your group is already empowered to do this action and the GA does not need to consense on it.
( agreed)
G: I’m visiting from Occupy Ithaca. Coming through the park, I met several groups of people who had no idea there were Gas or when they were being held. So my proposal to to get a member of the Facilitation WG to share information about the GA around the park, and also to have a large schedule available here to share information about group meetings.
K: I think this is something people can be empowered to do.
G: I’ll word it clearer. I propose to appoint a Gatekeeper, which is someone who announces throughout the camp when and where the GA is being held. Facilitation would choose this person and be accountable for this action.
Consensus?
Consensus.
H: If any person or persons associated with Occupy NOLA is found to have committed any unprovoked acts of violence toward any other person or persons, by commission of said act the person has effectively removed themselves from this movement.
Clarifying question: Does this involve property destruction?
H: No. Also, to further clarify, This is making the person accountable for their own actions, this does not call for shunning or condemning, it puts the onus on the individual.
CQ: Is there going to be some kind of committee to enforce this?
H: I left it open just so that we don’t have to consense on something like that. It will be on a case by case basis. This is basically just saying if someone gets hurt, that is not something that is condoned by Occupy NOLA.
CQ: Does this involved violence towards animals?
H: Again, that gets messy, I think we deal with that as it comes up.
CQ: How do we define “unprovoked”?
K: Okay before we get into this, any more Clarifying questions?
Ok, opening stack to concerns. You get 1 minute to give your concern, and you can only get on stack one. There will be a time for amendments after this.
A: My concern is about this proposal in terms of whether it’s relating to our image in the media or if it will be enacted within the camp.
H: I’ll respond to that. It’s a perfect concern. The issue is accountability. If someone is trying to frame something so it looks provoked and they get away with it, that’s a problem. This is a first step, making a media statement, and hopefully we move toward camp accountability.
K: Did you mean this to apply to fights on camp?
H: If there’s enough people agreeing within camp that it was unprovoked, then yes it applies within the camp too.
B: I’d like the statement to at all costs continue to keep the concept of property damage out of it. Past that, Accountability seems to be a primary concern. It is definitely something we need to work out. I don’t want to make another paper tiger, it needs to have teeth.
C: My concern is if anyone, no matter what race or nationality, comes onto the premises…My concern is, watch what you do. We’re all in jeopardy. Keep the alcohol off the premises.
D: If there’s not a mandatory meeting about this, these fights (in the camp) will keep happening. Half the camp doesn’t even know this exists.
E: What next? What are the consequences? You have to curb violence, bullying, etc. There has to be a consequence. That image is not just for this park, it’s for everyone who is walking around the CBD. They’re seeing this: people drunk in the daytime and stuff like this.
F: I thought you brought up a really good point. I witnessed a fight here, where a person who had been in a fight, punched someone in Integrity, punched someone else, someone else tried to videotape it and change the story. Any means we establish to address violence within this space can be manipulated, that’s what I mean, and this doesn’t directly relate to the proposal maybe but we should still discuss it. This is something that has been an ongoing concern for the entire occupation, how to hold accountability for people. I just don’t know if we can work out all those things right now, at the same time that we are dealing with this broad proposal about how we present ourselves.
G: I think one of the least constructive things for movements is to deter supporters, and while I value the messaging of who we want to be a part of this, I think it’s important to remember why.
I: We have been having meeting after meeting after meeting where we have discussed a simple simple concept. Are we a violent group or are we a nonviolent group?
J: I think what we are doing is taking the proposal and twisting it to mean more than it does. All this proposal states is how we are defining ourselves as a movement. How we are going to respond to situations is something that needs to be addressed, but they do not directly pertain to this proposal.
L: Are we standing in solidarity with Wall Street and have they not stated they are nonviolent?
PoI: Occupy Wall Street has never consensed upon being nonviolent.
K: Moving onto amendments. (re-reads the proposal) It does not say that we are going to take any specific action against people who commit these acts, though that can be discussed in future, it just says that that person has effectively removed themselves from the movement.
My amendment is to add at the end: “in order to maintain a safe and productive occupation”
K: is that friendly?
H: yes.
K: out of my facilitator role, I have an amendment I want to add. If we do reach consensus on this. I would like to make a sign to post on site and start talking to people about the fact that we reached consensus on this. That way we can start working toward accountability.
A: Can we make an accountability working group?
H: Point of process. I think that can be delegated to another group, like Integrity, and I’m pretty sure this is not an amendment.
PoI: on the website, there is a working group list with ways to contact secretaries of working groups.
Occupynola.net
B: Slight wording change, to “Safer and more inclusive Occupy NOLA movement”
Proposal:
If any person or persons associated with Occupy NOLA is found to have committed any unprovoked acts of violence toward any other person or persons, by commission of said act the person has effectively removed themselves from this movement, in order to maintain a safer and more inclusive Occupy NOLA movement.
CONSENSUS?
CONSENSUS.
A: I propose we have an emergency blanket and tent drive because of the rain tonight.
B: That’s an issue that can be self-sustained. Just went out on the Livestream. Can someone tweet it? Tents, blankets, tarps.
——begin SOAPBOX————-
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