General Assembly Notes
Saturday, November 19, 2011 @6 p.m.
Facilitator: Liz
Notetaker: Katya
Stack: Amanda
Review Process
Review Agenda
Visioning Question
Review Previous Meeting Minutes
Working Group Report-Backs
Tabled Items: Nightwatch Proposal from Friday night
New Items: Security
Announcements
Visioning question: Winter strategies and tactics
We broke into two small groups to discuss this question
Report-backs
Group 1:
Need to decide whether we plan on staying here at the Peace and Justice Plaza
Need to look into laws around squatters rights
Looking at gear and health issues
Encampment vs occupation (they might not be the same thing, we might be able to have an occupation without having an encampment)
Taking shifts to maintain Peace and Justice Plaza presence
Need to consult with regular occupiers about what they want
Overnighters don’t regularly come to GA, so their voices might not be heard
Should have Sunday discussion on this issue
Group 2:
Inside vs public park
Winter survival in a park
Craig’s list for donated space
If inside being off grid is important (eg: bicycle generators, and other ways to generate our own electricity)
Close to downtown, visibility is important but not worth risking burn out
Being indoors: could have more people who are driven off by the current site, less drunks, events inside
Finding abandoned or derelict building. Investigate types of occupation tactics that work. What sorts of legal possibilities exist. If we do go into a park. Teepees are very good symbolic and practical possibilities. But word teepee is possibly offensive
Canvas tent village
Review Previous Meeting Minutes
http://occupychapelhill.org/general-assembly-nov-18-minutes
Working Group report backs
Media
Becca: they now have an email address for press contacts. It is on the website.
Will have a revolving PR person for that week. Need a person’s name. That person will rotate weekly. Whenever we send something out, the person of the week will go on the release
Put teach-ins on events section of newspaper.
Ask people if they want to do teach-ins
Events
Heather: Sunday 1-3 discussion of tactics. See listserv for the outline for how it’s done
Mediation
Heather: seems like significant number of people are having a hard time moving beyond constructs of what movement is, and a lot of judgment about sister occupation and Harry’s letter. Judgment is not really a useful way to approach conversation. Part of brain that tricks you into prioritizing what you think over what other people think. Catch yourself and get out of your head and go to your heart.
Candace sent out to the list about what e-prime is, that might be useful to us:
Outreach
Andrew: last week did 3 presentations (1 was panel discussion) at classes. That’s going strong. Have gotten contacts from people. Outreach over there is going strong.
Night Watch
Group has started. See Katya to join. About 10 people on the listserv so far.
Tabled items
Nightwatch proposal
“Individuals who are threatening, make threats to harm occupants or property, are persistently disruptive despite mediation efforts, or are persistently threatening without making specific threats, being inflammatory, provocative to violence, or using hate speech may be ejected from the camp for the night if nightwatch reaches a consensus to eject them. The issue will then be discussed at the next GA, where a decision will be made by consensus over whether or not to extend the ejection.”
Question: What does it mean to eject?
Take steps to exclude from tents and using our resources, include asking them to leave. Anything we can do without actually becoming physically aggressive. Obviously can’t pick someone up and cart them from the property.
Someone indicated they were willing and wanting to do harm to us doesn’t make anyone comfort. Really hard to sleep if you have someone who wants to do harm on property.
Heather: would it be useful to think of if it’s someone you might call police over, but don’t want to?
Ron: there are people we might
Maria: last night we stopped with the proposal because not enough people to vote. Do we have enough people to vote tonight? If we don’t perhaps we should table this.
Mixed response to whether to consensus on this tonight.
Tabled till tomorrow
Vince: if we’ve been going on a 100 % consensus model, if consensus has to be established for ejecting someone, then we can never get consensus because that one person would block their own ejection.
If it’s consensus of nightwatch, just the 2 people, I think it isn’t quite consensus. I think using consensus to describe the 2 people isn’t accurate.
If it’s one of our people being thrown out they might disagree.
If consensus is tabled till tomorrow, should we be discussing now?
Temp ck on a lot 3 more min: agreement
James: clarification on ejection for the night: only requires that people on nightwatch agree.
And permanent removal is consensus of GA. It’s a question of safety vs procedure.
Andrew: regardless of whether we vote now. Who is staying here tonight can we get temp ck on people staying here whether they feel safe for tonight?
Maria: doing 12-4 am nightwatch, feel ok going another night doing things the current way. I don’t know how 4-8 feels.
Stephanie: most problems are between 12-3 am
A problem not really addressed by proposal is people coming in camp at any hour, might have people come in and go into a tent at any hour.
Maria: haven’t we been stopping people?
Louis: also check out supply tent, people go in there
New item
Katya’s concern about being only one at camp for a short time last night.
The lock box
Initial Proposal: Take in onsite donations by putting them into self-addressed, stamped envelopes that will be dropped into the mailbox to be sent to a PO box that we as a group will rent in the post office. The key will be held by someone in finance off site (Steve or Becca).
Question: What is the budget?
Katya is willing to fund stamps and PO box fee to alleviate concerns of having money onsite for at least 6 months. Someone else said that they will be able to fund after that.
Final Proposal: “We will get a post office box (paid for by Katya for 6 months, at which point finance will be rediscussed). When people have a donation they will get a self-addressed, stamped envelope and drop it into a mail box. The key will be held by finance offsite and the box will always be checked by 2 people at a time. One person will be from finance and the other person will rotate.”
Consensus reached!
Maria brought up concern Katya had about being only one here.
People in camp need to know that they shouldn’t be leaving valuables here. If you wouldn’t leave it on the street, you shouldn’t leave it here.
Announcements
Justin: Tuition stuff on campus. Align ourselves in solidarity with them.
Andrew: this Sunday at 7 p.m. at Campus Y is pow-wow of students willing to do it. He knows a lot of students participating.
Justin: request to get a group of students to do a presentation here or a report-back.
Becca: we should send a formal invitation to the Occupy UNC group
Liz: that’s already happened, some people said they didn’t think we have the same interests.
David: they weren’t sure they wanted to occupy.
Justin: regardless of their occupation status, we should still help them.
Meg: related to conversation we just had. Newcomers GA. When new people are invited. I don’t really know when to tell them to come.
Justin: Sundays are our large GA’s. That would probably be a good day.
Heather: concern that they’re coming in the middle of a conversation we’ve been working on. At least in Sunday in GA and newcomers.
Katya: have it be separate.
James: newcomers GA before Sunday’s GA. Maybe 2 p.m.
Meg: I like that idea. First Sunday of every month?
Liz: Bring it up tomorrow
If there are any UNC students here who are interested in an alternative graduation, see Kari
David: reminder march on Monday, leaving police station at 6 p.m. to town council meeting at 7
Justin: Flyleaf Books is hosting a representative from oil and gas industry. Will speak about hydrofracking. Talk is organized by UNC. We’re trying to ask them and call them and ask them not to have this event in their space. It’s on Dec. 7.
Perfect chance for some direct action.
We want to give Flyleaf a chance to not have this event.
Do we plan on going to the next Duke Energy meeting?
Harry said that was for the scientists and experts.
Dustin: Talked with NC WARN will bring some solar panels up there and have a PA run off it.
Mike (from Occupy Raleigh): Raleigh had an all day event for American Indians. Had 100 drummers come. http://ncmuseumofhistory.org/AIHC_2011/index.html
One of American Indians came to GA. This state has one of highest concentrations of Indians.
There are Native American drum circles, and they can train us in how to do that. He suggested we have them during marches
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