Post by kim on Jan 22, 2012 19:04:03 GMT -7
Agenda & Minutes to GA of 01/22/2012
~25 people in attendance
Agenda
Review of Process.
I. Announcements
II. Working group reports
III. Proposals
1. State aloud/Scribe
2. Clarifications/questions
3. Concerns
4. Resolution
IV. Other Business
V. Confirm date/time/place of next meetings
VI. Evaluation of Meeting
VII. Adjournment: Discussion & Soapbox
Minutes
I. Announcements
a. Received email from organizer of Birmingham AL Occupy the Courts rally, he’s working on a Move to Amend action. Proposed a project be undertaken by move to amend, with responses from congress members posted. Will likely engage with them, and keep us informed.
b. Events posted on calendar. First Friday 5-7 Free Speech corner, “Montana has a Chance to Lead” the theme.
c. Big green tent freed from the detention center on Tuesday, after it dries it will go into storage. Items can be claimed from Casey or Ray. More stuff also reclaimed from county, propane burners etc. Tables not located, if anyone knows where the tables ended up please let Casey or Ray know.
d. Money in Politics Tuesday Forum, 6pm at Union Hall. Open public forum. Be aware of time conflict: State of the Union address the same day at 7pm.
e. Josh/Bozeman working to set up alternative banking system. Will be here on Feb 4 &5, for anyone who wants to meet with him about this [check the proboards].
II. Working Group Reports
1. May Day: Still getting going, will send out a notice soon.
2. Union Working Group: Meeting on Thursdays at the union hall basement. Mark out of town, generally meeting at 5pm.
3. Communications group: Meetings on Monday at 5:30 pm at the Break. Discussed Occupy Congress letters, and about the tent forever. Media contacts about upcoming events, KVOA, Missoulian. Arrange interviews with Brandon when he gets back, as well as covering the Occupy the Congress rally. KPAX wanted an interview. Upcoming: Foreclosure defense and consensus communications.
4. Direct Action: Meet at 4:30 Saturdays at the Break. Next week will have an action instead of a meeting. Continuing First Friday presence. Supreme Court decision provides a good ground for action. Build presence for the summer.
5. Foreclosure Defense Group: Meetings Sundays at 12:00 noon at the Break. (not present)
6. Move to Amend working group: Thanks for all the support, lots of familiar faces, crowd estimated at 125 people. Supreme Court crowd was estimated at 200 people. Will be in discussion in the coming weeks about how to move forward. No meeting scheduled as of yet. POI: Coalitions forming around the issues important as well.
7. Facilitation: Meeting at 1:00pm on Sundays prior to each GA. Everyone welcome, more facilitators needs to keep the process democratic! Skeleton crew meeting for facilitation! Please come share in those duties. Multiple roles, keeping stack, facilitating, door-keeper, scribe etc. Join and add your voice to the process. POI: Getting support from all so facilitators don’t have to do it. POI: thousands of years of delegating authority, might take more than a couple months to learn a new system.
8. Finance: Meeting at 6pm on Fridays, Break Espresso. Wepay.com account is closed, liability too great for the person named on the bank account receiving the money. Approx $19 in the account will converted to cash and held for OM use. Donations of cash still can be taken, checks for Occupy Missoula can be written to a member of the finance group to be cashed and stored as cash. Will be buried in backyards all over Missoula. Ongoing plans to find a way to incorporate Occupy Missoula for legal and financial protection. Good discussion, for now ad hoc organization until after the strategy & vision session, then we can determine how to proceed with organization. 501(c )4 seems like best option, but will wait until after strategy session. Question: Do you have some source of financial advisor to help with the process? Only Kim, someone with more experience welcome to be kidnapped and dragged to finance meeting at 6pm at the Break. John will continue to talk to local businesses about Occupy support, building a database. Since we will mostly just need money for printing costs in the immediate future, we will open an account at Denny’s Copy Shop
9. Consensus Group: Meets on Wednesdays at 7pm in Union Hall basement. No meeting Wednesday due to snow. Moving forward with developing a proposal with functions of the general assembly and establishing principles.
10. Strategic Planning Working Group: Instead of the foreclosure defense meeting this week, they planned to talk about organizing around specific campaigns to educate ourselves and the public about topics in depth. Steven has a list of names for planning a “strategic retreat” to plan for the coming year.
11. Educational Working Group: Transition town handbook is done, those people are going to see screening of Carbon Nation at the library. Free school class suspended for now, until the next class begins.
12. NOTE: Everyone is encouraged to get involved in a, some, dozens, of working groups./ It’s vital that everyone gets involved in the strategy session to figure out where to go from here!/ Someone other than move to amend had a way to deal with the corporate personhood issue-congress has control of the jurisdiction of the supreme court/how are we connected to the rest of Occupy in the nation?/Interoccupy is a website connecting movements, Brandon most involved in that. Occupy Olympia calling for a national Occupy gathering on February 18 & 19th, to discuss organization and overall structure. Will send some people to that for learning/sharing.
13. Encampment working group: Raised $145, spent $145. Also put in more. Police came in on Tuesday morning at 6am sharp, by 7:30 had the camp cleared out to the ground. Sheriff called that “this is your wake-up call from the Missoula county police. Gather your personal possessions and move out. Have coffee and donuts outside for you.” Next thing said was an order to his crew to “get their signs.” Inside, they gathered personal possessions, and went to try to retrieve more but got only coffee and big pot, plus blankets and quilts, for the many people who would be in the streets that night. Need to really talk and really listen. Sitting and talking for hours will not save the world. Gear seized by deputies not returned to some. Refuge for people removed. POP: Soapbox. Trailer pulled up on lawn, and filled. Larry said he would return the tent to the GA. Helping Jimmy. Camp is over, so end of that working group. Will reorganize under another name, not sure what yet. Elite running Missoula looking out for their own lives and careers. POI: Melissa & Charles are working on some really good things, Charles is emotional and didn’t get to say what they are doing but working towards becoming a working group. POI: Proposal that did not come out is around having the Good Food store budget left go to the meals and preparation around Food Not Bombs, to prepare a good meal for the folks that were helping down there. Gazebo gate to the “public space” is locked again so it is closed to the houseless.
[NOTE: A discussion of the Good Food account proposal followed the break] Questions: How much & where did it come from? ~$185, don’t know exactly where, or from whom. Is there anyone who donated that would be upset that if it were given to the encampment working group? Unlikely, as most was put there because of the encampment. Was any given to go to the GA? No, given to the cause./Seems it was given to OM and therefore OM can decide where it goes./Keep some, in case it’s needed, and give the rest?/Ok to keep $30 or something./Propose we give the account to them. Give them all the money that is there now, and anything going forward is for GA actions. /Let them keep the account and change the name to the working group account, we can open another/open another account where money for our events can go to./[discussion of how to keep things clear going forward]/Consensus: Existing balance will be given to Houseless/Homeless Occupy Group, Casey will talk to Good Food Store to see about setting up multiple accounts.
II. Proposals
A. Statement of Proposals – Scribed:
a. Proposal: None
B. Prioritization of Proposals: N/A
III. Discussion of Proposals:
Proposal 1: N/A
IV. Other Business: Discussion
a. Reduce number of formal GAs and change Sunday time slot to working group planning
b. What’s up with website?
c. Brainstorming strategy
A. Reduce number of GAs: Go to every other week instead of once a month for GAs/agree, but discussion was to still meet every Sunday, breaking off in to groups to do work. /Rather see twice a month, but when they meet should be left up to the workgroups./glad to go through this because was confused about the coordination between the groups and communication, makes sense to have the groups working together but formalize it more, scheduling can be tough otherwise with meetings scattered all over the week. More time dedicated to groups. How to get involved not clear, for new people especially/supportive of this in the context it’s in, split working groups into multiple time slots during Sunday so people can be involved in multiple groups/switching up the GAs good, setting up discussion topics ahead of time helpful for we can read up on and learn about the subjects, e.g. decide at this meeting what the topics will be next week./foreclosure group brought a proposal last week to consolidate our actions so that direct actions are under a cohesive unit focused on one action/Alternative way to go about the same thing is to designate a time before or after the working group meeting- have a spokesman attend, one person from each workgroup designated to meet for a half hour before each GA./Workgroups but maybe a GA not a good idea /Still meet every Sunday, just as committed to attending as if it were a GA/even if a working group doesn’t have something specific to work on, still meet to hash out ideas and next steps, work group breakouts great but also just discussion/this new format is forming on it’s own, but if a working group doesn’t have anything to do just jump in with another one, plenty to do/suggestion that providing time every other week will give us an opportunity to get together for signs & art, creative projects more fun with a bunch of people/could we try breaking out today?/Q: What are our principles, what are we aiming for, what is the construct for that?/A: A proposal will be presented from the consensus group for discussion soon./twice a month GAs with discussion and workgroups meetings every other week appears to be the general consensus, can be presented as a future proposal.
B. Website wonderland: Occupymissoula.org was always owned by John, and was set up to redirect people to occupymissoula.wordpress.com. Now it is redirecting to another website, Revenge of the Big Green Tent.com. Amusing, but not to those who have given up a lot of time on developing the website. To go to our regular website, go to occupymissoula.wordpress.com. Not much to be done about it, and no reason to spend much time talking about it. No information lost, just not being redirected. Occupymissoula@gmail.com will send out an announcement to the group letting them know. Is “.com” available? Checking now. Has Jim made an effort to optimize our site, rather than the .org, so it rises to the top of search engines? Also check on “.net.”
C. Brainstorming Strategy: One idea of how to get more people involved is to have contact info and a group description on each group listed on the website, so someone can click on the group and get all the information and get involved. Ties into outreach, how to get more people to participate/How do you start a new working group? What outreach exists to put the message out there about who the groups are? Process is: Check if someone is already working on something similar, if not, start it, come to the general assembly, find people to join/start a newsletter to communicate what is going on with Occupy to the community/start a public relations group/Establish a more formalized way to interact with other occupy groups, especially those here in Montana./In this first session, no need to all agree, just throw out ideas, freedom to just get creative ideas out there and we go through them later to determine what is feasible—go around the circle once, then again. First circle of suggestions: Tuesday discussion on money and the elections: money and elections a the root of all evil, root of the occupy movement. Worldwide problem. Great direction to focus on. Putting out a direct action idea means you need to run with it! Someone needs to stand up and lead./ Money and politics source of all evil, regarding environment, if elected leaders didn’t have to raise obscene amount of money they wouldn’t be beholden to those that give it to them./ Exciting to part of this right now in the brainstorming stage, grad student at U studying social movements. A lot of work has been done around social movements. Volunteer to help facilitate social movement discussion, so that we aren’t “reinventing the wheel.” /Doing less, but bigger things rather than a bunch of small things. Learn to work together. Not let smaller things cause fragmentation. Occupy has changed the way we think about capitalism and the people that are pulling the strings. Better to do 2 big things than 50 little ones per year./ Trying to get people involved. Students have an offshoot of this called Occupy the Oval. “Volunteer time” at the U allows people to sign up to get involved, maybe its already being done? Outreach the main thing, bring in more people./Work within the framework of the existing government, working for change. Educate ourselves but also elected officials. Forum once or twice a year and invite them, to let them know and help them understand what we are working on, and where we stand. Those running for office as well, so we can learn what they stand for and tell them what we stand for./Coalition building. People from all different walks of life know what the issues are. Important to move forward as a whole state. How to reach out to people? Reach out to coalitions that are out there: labor, ag, tea party, etc. Also kids and families. In the spring make it possible for them to attend. Spring get big again, with a renewed focus on finance for doing actions./POP: Working group report to be heard. Very important, ok to go back to reports for this report? Concern: allow the rest of the room to finish going around? Short report. Yes, Consensed [see working groups reports, #13]/ 5 minute break to process this? Yes, Consensed
---------------- 5 minutes -----------------------------
[Continue brainstorming session]
We need to hold elected officials accountable for undemocratic actions (e.g. rubberstamping issues with a great amount of opposition, to whom do they feel accountable?). Engage in a constructive dialog. Ways other than feet stomping to hold representatives accountable to democratic process./Continue working on our group and realize we will have adversity ad conflict, remain strong and work on the things we needs to work on. Plan and organize some more real direct action. Some of what is going on in the country is effective some is not. Pay attention to petitions, reform, etc., but get out there and show dedication. Learn about effective ways to do it./Look at big campaign issues and national issues, and how we can make change here locally that will effect wider change, and what Occupy is looking at, consolidate on what we find important. Streamline information in more user friendly manner, e.g. creating events on the facebook page rather than just sending out status updates so it is more organized./ Not normally politically active so this is the first time motivated to so, and find this lacking a sense of easiness, playfulness and creativity-Fun! Be mindful that creating togetherness and bringing people in doesn’t have to be in such concrete ways. Bake sale, potluck, party, casual & lighter atmosphere. Not so heavy and serious all the time. Makes it hard to get involved. Also, been thinking about the concept of “we are the 99%.” Asking myself at each juncture, is this for the 99%? Making decisions based on a collectively agreed upon bottom line./ Engaging elected officials in dialog. Establish 5-10 views that we find important and ask elected officials their views on them, so people can see how views align with Occupy’s./Agree that positive feedback cycles are important. Positive experiences & behavioral changes. Engage with people and occupy our conversations, for specific, constructive results. Concrete actions, not necessarily GA sanctioned but a way of thinking that affects every day action./ Outreach and the need for it. The Internet is a powerful tool for drawing busy people in. Advocate for a list of work groups and when, where, how to join online be posted everywhere./ How personally process the situation: Occupy Missoula got involved in issues that are really not Occupy’s focus. Churches have taken a beating from the “death culture,” national consensus is that people should suit the jobs, we’re here to fill the economy, and “you don’t have the skills to work” is accepted. Churches no longer have the outreach. Big beating to progressive movement. Two conclusions: 1, look at the dark side, empire has struck back. And 2, we are in a position that the group can understand what happened, join with the religious of this town, including Quakers, Catholics. Many appear to be a political matter rather than a religious one, but think to the service oriented aspects of these groups. Take an active interest in those groups efforts at outreach. Looking at strategy, look at what we are already good at. Pick particular issues and put energy to that. Look at our own difference but also in larger global perspective. Where can we see our own focus best applied; we are obviously interested in all the heavy stuff, but where to focus? Many empires have died, if it happens to us we’ll be in good company./ Education, looking at the bigger picture./Second the education; free school has improved relationships, haven’t been a part of the general assemblies much, but education is at the heart of the matter to take on systematic issues./ To increase participation drag friends along to meetings like this. Coming here and just being part of it is great first step/Idea for the playfulness and for outreach also. Puppet in another city used to make political statement. Hold a big performance in a park, extra costumes so public can join. Colorful, fun. Get schools involved in making the costumes./Emphasis on education and fun! Share what we’ve learned and processed to the public in a way that is fun and thoughtful. Creating beauty in the world!/Emphasize education again, recruiting, bring in more people. As someone involved in labor and politics, suggest we stop working on individual things. Walter’s action put a face on us. Media pointed out that the rally was a face of Occupy, and showed post office concerns in the photo as well. Coalitions locally and nationally. Investigate Interoccupy. Community Benefits Coalition-city gearing up to give away the Fox Theater site. CBC formed to ensure it is only given away with conditions that make sure Missoula will have some good jobs out of it at least.
V. Confirm date/time/place of next assemblies: Set time and date of next: 2pm at Union Hall. Facilitation group meets at 1pm
Sunday: Union Hall 2pm
Tuesday: Forum, 6 pm, Money & Politics Discussion at Union Hall banquet room.
Friday , Occupy the Oval: No representative present
VI. Evaluation of Meeting (Not done).
VII. Adjournment 4:56pm.
~25 people in attendance
Agenda
Review of Process.
I. Announcements
II. Working group reports
1. Communication
2. Direct Action
3. Foreclosure Defense
4. Move to Amend
5. Facilitation
6. Finance
7. Occupy the Oval
8. New Groups? –none
9. Encampment
III. Proposals
1. State aloud/Scribe
2. Clarifications/questions
3. Concerns
4. Resolution
IV. Other Business
V. Confirm date/time/place of next meetings
VI. Evaluation of Meeting
VII. Adjournment: Discussion & Soapbox
Minutes
I. Announcements
a. Received email from organizer of Birmingham AL Occupy the Courts rally, he’s working on a Move to Amend action. Proposed a project be undertaken by move to amend, with responses from congress members posted. Will likely engage with them, and keep us informed.
b. Events posted on calendar. First Friday 5-7 Free Speech corner, “Montana has a Chance to Lead” the theme.
c. Big green tent freed from the detention center on Tuesday, after it dries it will go into storage. Items can be claimed from Casey or Ray. More stuff also reclaimed from county, propane burners etc. Tables not located, if anyone knows where the tables ended up please let Casey or Ray know.
d. Money in Politics Tuesday Forum, 6pm at Union Hall. Open public forum. Be aware of time conflict: State of the Union address the same day at 7pm.
e. Josh/Bozeman working to set up alternative banking system. Will be here on Feb 4 &5, for anyone who wants to meet with him about this [check the proboards].
II. Working Group Reports
1. May Day: Still getting going, will send out a notice soon.
2. Union Working Group: Meeting on Thursdays at the union hall basement. Mark out of town, generally meeting at 5pm.
3. Communications group: Meetings on Monday at 5:30 pm at the Break. Discussed Occupy Congress letters, and about the tent forever. Media contacts about upcoming events, KVOA, Missoulian. Arrange interviews with Brandon when he gets back, as well as covering the Occupy the Congress rally. KPAX wanted an interview. Upcoming: Foreclosure defense and consensus communications.
4. Direct Action: Meet at 4:30 Saturdays at the Break. Next week will have an action instead of a meeting. Continuing First Friday presence. Supreme Court decision provides a good ground for action. Build presence for the summer.
5. Foreclosure Defense Group: Meetings Sundays at 12:00 noon at the Break. (not present)
6. Move to Amend working group: Thanks for all the support, lots of familiar faces, crowd estimated at 125 people. Supreme Court crowd was estimated at 200 people. Will be in discussion in the coming weeks about how to move forward. No meeting scheduled as of yet. POI: Coalitions forming around the issues important as well.
7. Facilitation: Meeting at 1:00pm on Sundays prior to each GA. Everyone welcome, more facilitators needs to keep the process democratic! Skeleton crew meeting for facilitation! Please come share in those duties. Multiple roles, keeping stack, facilitating, door-keeper, scribe etc. Join and add your voice to the process. POI: Getting support from all so facilitators don’t have to do it. POI: thousands of years of delegating authority, might take more than a couple months to learn a new system.
8. Finance: Meeting at 6pm on Fridays, Break Espresso. Wepay.com account is closed, liability too great for the person named on the bank account receiving the money. Approx $19 in the account will converted to cash and held for OM use. Donations of cash still can be taken, checks for Occupy Missoula can be written to a member of the finance group to be cashed and stored as cash. Will be buried in backyards all over Missoula. Ongoing plans to find a way to incorporate Occupy Missoula for legal and financial protection. Good discussion, for now ad hoc organization until after the strategy & vision session, then we can determine how to proceed with organization. 501(c )4 seems like best option, but will wait until after strategy session. Question: Do you have some source of financial advisor to help with the process? Only Kim, someone with more experience welcome to be kidnapped and dragged to finance meeting at 6pm at the Break. John will continue to talk to local businesses about Occupy support, building a database. Since we will mostly just need money for printing costs in the immediate future, we will open an account at Denny’s Copy Shop
9. Consensus Group: Meets on Wednesdays at 7pm in Union Hall basement. No meeting Wednesday due to snow. Moving forward with developing a proposal with functions of the general assembly and establishing principles.
10. Strategic Planning Working Group: Instead of the foreclosure defense meeting this week, they planned to talk about organizing around specific campaigns to educate ourselves and the public about topics in depth. Steven has a list of names for planning a “strategic retreat” to plan for the coming year.
11. Educational Working Group: Transition town handbook is done, those people are going to see screening of Carbon Nation at the library. Free school class suspended for now, until the next class begins.
12. NOTE: Everyone is encouraged to get involved in a, some, dozens, of working groups./ It’s vital that everyone gets involved in the strategy session to figure out where to go from here!/ Someone other than move to amend had a way to deal with the corporate personhood issue-congress has control of the jurisdiction of the supreme court/how are we connected to the rest of Occupy in the nation?/Interoccupy is a website connecting movements, Brandon most involved in that. Occupy Olympia calling for a national Occupy gathering on February 18 & 19th, to discuss organization and overall structure. Will send some people to that for learning/sharing.
13. Encampment working group: Raised $145, spent $145. Also put in more. Police came in on Tuesday morning at 6am sharp, by 7:30 had the camp cleared out to the ground. Sheriff called that “this is your wake-up call from the Missoula county police. Gather your personal possessions and move out. Have coffee and donuts outside for you.” Next thing said was an order to his crew to “get their signs.” Inside, they gathered personal possessions, and went to try to retrieve more but got only coffee and big pot, plus blankets and quilts, for the many people who would be in the streets that night. Need to really talk and really listen. Sitting and talking for hours will not save the world. Gear seized by deputies not returned to some. Refuge for people removed. POP: Soapbox. Trailer pulled up on lawn, and filled. Larry said he would return the tent to the GA. Helping Jimmy. Camp is over, so end of that working group. Will reorganize under another name, not sure what yet. Elite running Missoula looking out for their own lives and careers. POI: Melissa & Charles are working on some really good things, Charles is emotional and didn’t get to say what they are doing but working towards becoming a working group. POI: Proposal that did not come out is around having the Good Food store budget left go to the meals and preparation around Food Not Bombs, to prepare a good meal for the folks that were helping down there. Gazebo gate to the “public space” is locked again so it is closed to the houseless.
[NOTE: A discussion of the Good Food account proposal followed the break] Questions: How much & where did it come from? ~$185, don’t know exactly where, or from whom. Is there anyone who donated that would be upset that if it were given to the encampment working group? Unlikely, as most was put there because of the encampment. Was any given to go to the GA? No, given to the cause./Seems it was given to OM and therefore OM can decide where it goes./Keep some, in case it’s needed, and give the rest?/Ok to keep $30 or something./Propose we give the account to them. Give them all the money that is there now, and anything going forward is for GA actions. /Let them keep the account and change the name to the working group account, we can open another/open another account where money for our events can go to./[discussion of how to keep things clear going forward]/Consensus: Existing balance will be given to Houseless/Homeless Occupy Group, Casey will talk to Good Food Store to see about setting up multiple accounts.
II. Proposals
A. Statement of Proposals – Scribed:
a. Proposal: None
B. Prioritization of Proposals: N/A
III. Discussion of Proposals:
Proposal 1: N/A
IV. Other Business: Discussion
a. Reduce number of formal GAs and change Sunday time slot to working group planning
b. What’s up with website?
c. Brainstorming strategy
A. Reduce number of GAs: Go to every other week instead of once a month for GAs/agree, but discussion was to still meet every Sunday, breaking off in to groups to do work. /Rather see twice a month, but when they meet should be left up to the workgroups./glad to go through this because was confused about the coordination between the groups and communication, makes sense to have the groups working together but formalize it more, scheduling can be tough otherwise with meetings scattered all over the week. More time dedicated to groups. How to get involved not clear, for new people especially/supportive of this in the context it’s in, split working groups into multiple time slots during Sunday so people can be involved in multiple groups/switching up the GAs good, setting up discussion topics ahead of time helpful for we can read up on and learn about the subjects, e.g. decide at this meeting what the topics will be next week./foreclosure group brought a proposal last week to consolidate our actions so that direct actions are under a cohesive unit focused on one action/Alternative way to go about the same thing is to designate a time before or after the working group meeting- have a spokesman attend, one person from each workgroup designated to meet for a half hour before each GA./Workgroups but maybe a GA not a good idea /Still meet every Sunday, just as committed to attending as if it were a GA/even if a working group doesn’t have something specific to work on, still meet to hash out ideas and next steps, work group breakouts great but also just discussion/this new format is forming on it’s own, but if a working group doesn’t have anything to do just jump in with another one, plenty to do/suggestion that providing time every other week will give us an opportunity to get together for signs & art, creative projects more fun with a bunch of people/could we try breaking out today?/Q: What are our principles, what are we aiming for, what is the construct for that?/A: A proposal will be presented from the consensus group for discussion soon./twice a month GAs with discussion and workgroups meetings every other week appears to be the general consensus, can be presented as a future proposal.
B. Website wonderland: Occupymissoula.org was always owned by John, and was set up to redirect people to occupymissoula.wordpress.com. Now it is redirecting to another website, Revenge of the Big Green Tent.com. Amusing, but not to those who have given up a lot of time on developing the website. To go to our regular website, go to occupymissoula.wordpress.com. Not much to be done about it, and no reason to spend much time talking about it. No information lost, just not being redirected. Occupymissoula@gmail.com will send out an announcement to the group letting them know. Is “.com” available? Checking now. Has Jim made an effort to optimize our site, rather than the .org, so it rises to the top of search engines? Also check on “.net.”
C. Brainstorming Strategy: One idea of how to get more people involved is to have contact info and a group description on each group listed on the website, so someone can click on the group and get all the information and get involved. Ties into outreach, how to get more people to participate/How do you start a new working group? What outreach exists to put the message out there about who the groups are? Process is: Check if someone is already working on something similar, if not, start it, come to the general assembly, find people to join/start a newsletter to communicate what is going on with Occupy to the community/start a public relations group/Establish a more formalized way to interact with other occupy groups, especially those here in Montana./In this first session, no need to all agree, just throw out ideas, freedom to just get creative ideas out there and we go through them later to determine what is feasible—go around the circle once, then again. First circle of suggestions: Tuesday discussion on money and the elections: money and elections a the root of all evil, root of the occupy movement. Worldwide problem. Great direction to focus on. Putting out a direct action idea means you need to run with it! Someone needs to stand up and lead./ Money and politics source of all evil, regarding environment, if elected leaders didn’t have to raise obscene amount of money they wouldn’t be beholden to those that give it to them./ Exciting to part of this right now in the brainstorming stage, grad student at U studying social movements. A lot of work has been done around social movements. Volunteer to help facilitate social movement discussion, so that we aren’t “reinventing the wheel.” /Doing less, but bigger things rather than a bunch of small things. Learn to work together. Not let smaller things cause fragmentation. Occupy has changed the way we think about capitalism and the people that are pulling the strings. Better to do 2 big things than 50 little ones per year./ Trying to get people involved. Students have an offshoot of this called Occupy the Oval. “Volunteer time” at the U allows people to sign up to get involved, maybe its already being done? Outreach the main thing, bring in more people./Work within the framework of the existing government, working for change. Educate ourselves but also elected officials. Forum once or twice a year and invite them, to let them know and help them understand what we are working on, and where we stand. Those running for office as well, so we can learn what they stand for and tell them what we stand for./Coalition building. People from all different walks of life know what the issues are. Important to move forward as a whole state. How to reach out to people? Reach out to coalitions that are out there: labor, ag, tea party, etc. Also kids and families. In the spring make it possible for them to attend. Spring get big again, with a renewed focus on finance for doing actions./POP: Working group report to be heard. Very important, ok to go back to reports for this report? Concern: allow the rest of the room to finish going around? Short report. Yes, Consensed [see working groups reports, #13]/ 5 minute break to process this? Yes, Consensed
---------------- 5 minutes -----------------------------
[Continue brainstorming session]
We need to hold elected officials accountable for undemocratic actions (e.g. rubberstamping issues with a great amount of opposition, to whom do they feel accountable?). Engage in a constructive dialog. Ways other than feet stomping to hold representatives accountable to democratic process./Continue working on our group and realize we will have adversity ad conflict, remain strong and work on the things we needs to work on. Plan and organize some more real direct action. Some of what is going on in the country is effective some is not. Pay attention to petitions, reform, etc., but get out there and show dedication. Learn about effective ways to do it./Look at big campaign issues and national issues, and how we can make change here locally that will effect wider change, and what Occupy is looking at, consolidate on what we find important. Streamline information in more user friendly manner, e.g. creating events on the facebook page rather than just sending out status updates so it is more organized./ Not normally politically active so this is the first time motivated to so, and find this lacking a sense of easiness, playfulness and creativity-Fun! Be mindful that creating togetherness and bringing people in doesn’t have to be in such concrete ways. Bake sale, potluck, party, casual & lighter atmosphere. Not so heavy and serious all the time. Makes it hard to get involved. Also, been thinking about the concept of “we are the 99%.” Asking myself at each juncture, is this for the 99%? Making decisions based on a collectively agreed upon bottom line./ Engaging elected officials in dialog. Establish 5-10 views that we find important and ask elected officials their views on them, so people can see how views align with Occupy’s./Agree that positive feedback cycles are important. Positive experiences & behavioral changes. Engage with people and occupy our conversations, for specific, constructive results. Concrete actions, not necessarily GA sanctioned but a way of thinking that affects every day action./ Outreach and the need for it. The Internet is a powerful tool for drawing busy people in. Advocate for a list of work groups and when, where, how to join online be posted everywhere./ How personally process the situation: Occupy Missoula got involved in issues that are really not Occupy’s focus. Churches have taken a beating from the “death culture,” national consensus is that people should suit the jobs, we’re here to fill the economy, and “you don’t have the skills to work” is accepted. Churches no longer have the outreach. Big beating to progressive movement. Two conclusions: 1, look at the dark side, empire has struck back. And 2, we are in a position that the group can understand what happened, join with the religious of this town, including Quakers, Catholics. Many appear to be a political matter rather than a religious one, but think to the service oriented aspects of these groups. Take an active interest in those groups efforts at outreach. Looking at strategy, look at what we are already good at. Pick particular issues and put energy to that. Look at our own difference but also in larger global perspective. Where can we see our own focus best applied; we are obviously interested in all the heavy stuff, but where to focus? Many empires have died, if it happens to us we’ll be in good company./ Education, looking at the bigger picture./Second the education; free school has improved relationships, haven’t been a part of the general assemblies much, but education is at the heart of the matter to take on systematic issues./ To increase participation drag friends along to meetings like this. Coming here and just being part of it is great first step/Idea for the playfulness and for outreach also. Puppet in another city used to make political statement. Hold a big performance in a park, extra costumes so public can join. Colorful, fun. Get schools involved in making the costumes./Emphasis on education and fun! Share what we’ve learned and processed to the public in a way that is fun and thoughtful. Creating beauty in the world!/Emphasize education again, recruiting, bring in more people. As someone involved in labor and politics, suggest we stop working on individual things. Walter’s action put a face on us. Media pointed out that the rally was a face of Occupy, and showed post office concerns in the photo as well. Coalitions locally and nationally. Investigate Interoccupy. Community Benefits Coalition-city gearing up to give away the Fox Theater site. CBC formed to ensure it is only given away with conditions that make sure Missoula will have some good jobs out of it at least.
V. Confirm date/time/place of next assemblies: Set time and date of next: 2pm at Union Hall. Facilitation group meets at 1pm
Sunday: Union Hall 2pm
Tuesday: Forum, 6 pm, Money & Politics Discussion at Union Hall banquet room.
Friday , Occupy the Oval: No representative present
VI. Evaluation of Meeting (Not done).
VII. Adjournment 4:56pm.