Saturday, December 17, 2023
Location: Cesar Chavez Plaza
Facilitator: David
Stack: Kathy
Minutes: Alex
Livestream: None
I. Introduction
II. Committee/Working Group
Tiffany - Non Violent Communication Committee
Non Violent Communication teach-ins are now going to be on Saturdays.
Tiffany - Facilitation working group
Facilitation workshops will be on Saturdays.
Tiffany - Co-ordination Committee
One liaison from each committee meets every Monday. If you are part of a committee or working group, please have a representative at these meetings.
Fago - Canvassing
Fago showed Kim the areas he canvassed. Gave fliers to the Lavender library and some local shops and restaurants.
Fago - Food
Fago talked to Kurt, showed him the trailer, Kurt said he would reorganize the trailer sometime this week. Kurt and Nathan are looking into carts to help load and unload the trailer.
III. Old Business
Jenny Barei from the Legal Committee made a motion to endorse & participate in Occupy the Courts:
Motion - To endorse & participate in Occupy the Courts
"Motion to endorse & participate in Occupy the Courts on January 20th, 2012 at the Federal Courthouse to mark the 2nd Anniversary of the Citizens United ruling. Idea was started by MovetoAmend.org"
The action would help overturn Citizens United or establish a Constitutional Amendment to declare person only as a living person.
There were no objections or concerns with the motion.
A vote was taken:
For: 8
Against: 0
The motion was adopted unanimously.
IV. New Business
Tiffany Clark of the Facilitation Working Group made two motions. These motions and the reasons for them are slightly edited, in language and order, from how they were originally presented at the GA for clarity purposes. Motion 1:
Motion 1 – GA Days, Times, Quorum:
1) a) Hold GAs on Wednesdays and Saturdays (not Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, or Sundays).
Why?
- People’s major request, when we have asked what they’d like to see change re the GAs, is to reduce the number of them (and change the times).
- To the extent people have extra energy to put in on "off GA" days, we could add movies, teach-ins, group discussions, committee/working group meetings, and the like. Several have already expressed interest in hosting teach-ins and movies. And we’ll soon have a bike generator on site to power the latter.
- Having more variety may actually leave more people excited about and wanting to join and keep active in the movement. An increased variety of offerings, may appeal to wider variety of tastes and interests.
- To the extent alternative events don't end up happening as much as some would like, as Sara Beth puts it, we may want to look at this as a marathon, not a sprint. That is, we may want to focus on conserving, not burning out, those people we currently have during these winter months, as we await re-enforcements we expect in spring. We have a limited number of facilitators, and they are burning out a bit, as are committee and working group folks who tell themselves they “should” be making it to every GA, on top of everything else they're doing.
- Many people either can’t make it to as many as we have, or don’t see the purpose in having as many as we have, so in fact don’t make it (we typically have about 1/15th of all committees and working groups represented at our GAs).
- Since this is a body that makes major decisions for the movement, we might want to have as many people at each one as possible.
- More committees and working group liasons may be more likely to come to the few GAs we have. This could meet more needs with each GA (i.e., “quality v. quantity”).
- Many at first suggested Wed, Sat, and Sun, but since have realized that virtually no one comes to our Sunday GAs, and people are concerned about other days for other reasons.
- Because of the autonomous actions we have accepted as part of our structure (via the OWS guidelines we passed, and April's "grievances list" motion that passed), the only new/old business we have coming before our GAs are requests for endorsements from outside groups; requests for endorsements for particular, big OS events; and, periodically, movement-wide motions (like this motion). These are few and far between, and typically planned well enough in advance to easily be accommodated by 2 GAs per week, in our experience.
- We can address urgent items with our emergency new business option, as we do now.
- Hundreds of other Occupy cities already meet 3 or fewer times per week, and more and more Occupies are realizing what we are realizing and reducing the number of GAs they have.
- Sara Beth's research leads her to conclude even once a week would be plenty, and twice a week would be belt and suspenders, especially given all of the above.
1) b) Require a quorum of 10 (not including the facilitator) to vote on items of old business (not to hold a GA, or vote on emergency items of new business, or any other items).
Why?
- To ensure as many voices as possible are heard in processing motions, which may in some cases profoundly affect the entire movement.
1) c) Change weekday GA time to 6 pm.
Why?
- To allow people to participate who otherwise want to and simply can't get there in time after work (often these are people who REALLY want to participate, and HELP - like Ricky with the Livestream).
- Fego and De, with the Hospitality/Food Working Group, believe we may be able to fit dinner in BEFORE the GA starts, if it starts later. This might help people remain calm and focused for the GA.
1) d) Change weekend GA time to 4 pm.
Why?
- Since most don't work on Saturdays 9-5, most can get there by 4 pm.
- More people tend to be at the park at 4 pm on Saturdays then are there by 5:30 pm.
- Why not get people done with the GA before getting hungry for dinner, when we can?
- Why not finish before dark, when we can?
- Some at first suggested 2 pm. Then people began to see a problem with that, related to those scheduling daytime events and teach-ins. Because we can't predict when GAs will end, when does one schedule a teach-in or other event? 3 pm? Then the next at 4 pm? The problem is, then, if the GA goes until 3:30 or 4 pm, those events are impacted, and people are discombobulated and scrambling. Folks have been thinking it would be easier to deal with an uncertain GA end time right before dinner, as dinner starting time is usually flexible. And, aside from dinner, usually the next nightly event that occurs on any given Saturday has a 7 pm start time (like 2nd Saturday marches and movies, etc.). And, with our GA consensus building process as it works now, no GA that starts at 4 pm is likely to go on until past 7 pm.
Motion 2 - Motion to skip the General Assemblies on the 24th and 31st.
2) Motion 2: To skip the General Assemblies that would otherwise be scheduled for Saturday, December 24, 2011, and Saturday, December 31, 2011.
Why?
- To give a rest to facilitators, and others, on these two holidays.
- To leave room for festive events to be planned instead, for those interested.
There were no concerns or objections to placing the motion on old business for the General Assembly on Wednesday December 18th.
A vote was taken to place Motion 1 on Wednesday the 18's agenda:
For: 9
Against: 0
Unanimous decision.
A vote was taken to place Motion 2 on Wednesday the 18's agenda:
For: 9
Against: 0
Unanimous decision.
V. Guest Speakers - No Guest Speakers.
VI Announcements
Kim and Fago encouraged people to canvass the community. Talk to Fago for tips and advice. People should outreach to the LGBTQ community. Fago particularly encouraged people to canvass any local businesses you personally patron. We try to keep canvassing fliers at the Information Booth, but you can also talk to Brother Carter or Fago about getting fliers.
Kim is selling jewelry and all proceeds will go to Occupy.
VII Soapbox
Kim met with the people from the Lavender Library, and found interest in posting editorial pieces in the Outward Magazine about Occupy. People should considering writing pieces about occupy and talking to Kim about publishing them in Outward Magazine, and/or elsewhere.