Occupy Delaware
Meeting Notes
Wednesday Night GA
Spencer Plaza
2012-06-06
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Let’s be blunt: Banking has devolved into an unruly mess.
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Meeting start: 1908 hr
Review of GA process, procedures, and norms.
10-Minute Discussion
Suggested topics:
Civil War cemetery clean-up, volunteer opportunity.
1) National Gathering, only a month away, planning, logistics.
2) Revisiting the concept of Occupy Your Corner, small actions, immediate outreach.
Occupy candidate running for 32d district, Will McVay.
Vote:
1) 13
2) 5
Discussion topic: National Gathering Planning
Transportation? Especially for disabled. Chartering a bus is a good idea.
Delaware delegation so we can organize in Philly and participate together.
Occupy Caravan has been organized, may be running through Wilmington, OccupyCaravan.com, and see if it is/or get it to, run through Wilmington.
There is a basic schedule online, OccupyNationalGathering.com, and there’ll be a press release tomorrow on OccupyDE.org. There’ll be actions, workshops, speakers during the day (Matt Taibbi!) and in the evening there will be the visioning process where the core Occupy values will be developed and discussed.
We’ll put together notes and print them out for people without Internet access.
There will be carpooling, too.
Regarding the list we compiled a couple GAs ago, do we need to act on it?
On the ONG Web page there’s the process mapped out, we’ll need to review the list (print it out) next GA to determine what our contribution will be. The rest is logistics and establishing relationships.
We’ll bring the printed list to the next GA and work on it get the top three or five.
Then the next Wednesday GA we can put together a proposal for the top three issues to take to NG.
REPORT-BACKS
I just got done with a WGMD radio show interview.
Actions
Last Saturday we went to Newark Day and passed out our new flyers. They got a lot of attention, especially the upside-down ones! We were well-received. But we forgot our pots.
We went to the CBTU monthly meeting last weekend, 6th and Madison. The Black Trade Unionists are highly respected, all the politicians show up at their meetings. It’s the place to be.
Was there a particular issue being discussed? Basically they discuss union issues and the politicians look for support from the black and the union communities. We discussed OccupyDE and our actions, and handed out pamphlets.
At Wilmington Rally we had 7 people. We have a sign announcing the GAs, inviting people to attend.
We have completed the script for the action on Flag Day, high noon, at the Chase Bank building. It’s fabulous, it’ll be a lot of fun. We’ll need 10 or more people. It’ll be filmed. We’ll have a practice this Saturday. Make signs, costumes. 1 pm.
There will be an Actions meeting after the GA planning this. See OccupyDE.org for the Occupy Philly video inspiring this.
TMITTKUO
The lawyers were in the discovery negotiation process, and they’ve finalized it. They were going to force us to share email records, but they’ve decided that won’t be needed. Neither will we need to respond to interrogatories, 13 pages of horrible questions. E.g., “Explain your relationship with DACA.” Why would they drag them into this??? We don’t have to do any of this, neither does the city. We can still present information that we find independently. (By end of June.) Newspaper records would be useful, if anybody wants to do that. Are we into amicus briefs yet? We’ll find out.
Media
Phil B, Jen and Mark appeared on Charles Brittingham’s cable ch. 28 show, hosted by John Flaherty. It wasn’t a call-in show. It went well.
Ambushing people with fake antagonistic callers on radio shows does happen, so it’s usually not a good idea to participate in those. They only want you if you’re freaky, show-biz value.
We brought up the idea of using the public access channel for OccupyDE outreach. Maybe there are time slots available down-state.
Resources have been added to the Web site. Check it out.
Outreach
Through the dog-rescue incident I met some Occupy-minded people.
We went to Occupy Philly GA Sunday night, at the Ethical Society. A workshop for value-based consensus, which was very interesting. Occupy Philly may be incorporating it into their GA process. There were interactive exercises, which helped us to focus on our own values and reasons for being there, and finding others with similar values. With whom we worked on a problem to reach consensus on a solution. We were thinking that we would like to put together a GA using this technique, as an experiment. It was affirming, we felt safe, connected to the people we were with, and not scary. It was eye-opening. It was something that got us thinking about values. That was one of the first things we said way back was “check your reasons for being here,” and this process/workshop could help refresh our outlook. And we made some connections in Philly and the people who put it on may do it for us. We have some materials from the workshop, which can be reviewed.
There are a lot of people involved in Occupy Philly but not a lot coming to GA, maybe the opposite of us. They are considering discontinuing the GAs! This workshop was an exploration of how to re-energize their GAs. Values-based consensus is a technique that is used in intentional communities a lot. Voting is minimized, consensus based on commonly understood, agreed-on, values is maximized. There could be a way we could infuse some of that into our GAs to develop and clarify our values. We’ll explore this further.
Would that change the form of proposals? Not necessarily, we’d adapt it to our needs. We’re not saying we should do this, we don’t know enough about it, but it’s interesting. One of the things we liked for the reason for doing this is it keeps coercion, co-optation to a minimum, takes the power struggles out of the process. An individual’s concern becomes the group’s.
Occupy is not an intentional community, it’s extraordinarily open.
We do need some common points of what Occupy DE values, for media purposes. On top of those values we put ideas, demands, goals. Something that can’t be made into a negative sound bite, and that invites people in.
Treasury
Net balance of $515.64 with and additional $270 remaining in the tarp/compliance fund. We’re set up with PayPal for donations.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Greek Festival started yesterday. We should occupy it instead of Shenanigans. I have a 3-car driveway in the neighborhood you’re welcome to use.
Wilmington in Transition, Jim Black, an environmental advocate, will start the discussion before the presentation of Bag It. Free, open 7 pm, Westminster Presb. Church, free parking.
I’ll be on site noon Friday as a counter protest for Stand Up, people protesting at the Federal Courthouse. They posted a warning that this group will protest around the country. They are against women’s rights issues. I’ll be here, just in case.
I invite others to join me in helping to clean up the black Civil War soldiers cemetery, time, date TBA. See web site.
There’s a schmooze the small farmer’s thing Carper will be at, I’ll be there…
PROPOSALS
Proposal 1: The GA allocate up to $30 for the Flag Day action for materials. For markers, sign-making materials, and costumes.
That would take our balance down to about $300, after reimbursement. There’s $110 sitting in PayPal and there’s a pending $500 donation.
We’ll do approval by temperature check. Proposal carried by consensus.
Proposal 2: Reiburse $172 to people who have spent money, for moving pallets, lock for portapotty, balloons for May 5 Occupy Garden outreach. Out of the general fund. Would leave us with $287.
Should some of this money be taken from the tarp/compliance fund? Will we need it? We could always allocate more to the contingency fund. Are we still pursuing fireproof pallets?
Motion that we take the appropriate money from the contingent fund. Seconded.
Passed by consensus.
Re-stated: We reimburse $9.50 for balloons from the general fund and the remainder from the contingency/compliance fund.
Passed by consensus.
Meeting adjourned 2024 hr.
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