Category: Meeting Minutes

General Assembly
Location: Glenwood Coffee & Books
Date: 4 December 2011
Start time: 4:00PM
End time: 6:00PM-ish

Facilitator: Trish
Stack keeper: Mo
Time keeper: unknown
Note taker: Andrew Saulters: saulters@gmail.com

Number of participants: 30 & not recorded

Working Groups Represented

• Anti-death penalty: Julie (no contact information collected)
• Anti-oppression: Val (warren.valerie@gmail.com)
• Duke Energy: Val (warren.valerie@gmail.com)
• Education and Enrichment: Isabel (no contact information collected)
• Home foreclosure: Todd (toddafwarren@gmail.com)
• OEAADI: Mo (mokessler@yahoo.com)
• Port closure solidarity: James (artteacher33@yahoo.com)
• Un/der/employment: Amanda (ajhuber89@gmail.com)

Agenda:

1. Welcome / Ground Rules
2. Announcements
3. Proposals
4. Discussion
5. Reflection

Announcements:

JAMES called for those in attendance to add their names and contact information to the Rapid Communication Email list, which is a large email group that will allow instant communication within Occupy Greensboro. He called for help in putting together the list and soliciting information from people outside the General Assembly. To contact him about joining the list, write to artteacher33@yahoo.com

JULIE announced a meeting of the Anti-Death Penalty Working Group: 4:00 PM on Saturday, 10 December, at Glenwood Coffee & Books.

DAVE announced that the NCAE boycott of Art Pope’s discount businesses, with which the General Assembly consented to stand in solidarity (see notes, Friday, 2 December), began in March 2011 and is ongoing.

TODD announced a call-in to AG Roy Cooper aimed at pressuring him to declare a moratorium on foreclosures in NC and to reject a settlement currently underway with big banks. The meeting will be on Tuesday, 3:00-5:00, at Glenwood Coffee & Books. It is part of a national day of action for Occupy Homes. After and during the call-in, there will be a robot-suit-making session in preparation for a robo-signing demonstration at AG Cooper’s office.

VAL announced that a video is in the works for people to voice their dissent with the Duke Energy rate hikes.

ED announced an AFL-CIO protest at Howard Coble’s office (2102 N. Elm Street Suite B) in support of continuing unemployment compensation. 11:30AM, Thursday, 8 December.

JANE announced a prayer meeting to take place at Government Plaza on 11 December, from 1:00PM to 1:15. The group will pray for a stay on foreclosures and reflect on the moral effect of foreclosing on families during the holiday season.

BEN announced an upcoming step in the effort to protest tuition increases: a conference call at 9PM on Tuesday, 6 December, to discuss organization. The UNC system will vote on proposed tuition increases on 10 February 2012. Contact Ben at benjaminlassiter@yahoo.com for more information.

ANDREW announced the Employment March coming up on Saturday, 10 December. It will leave the downtown library at 11:30AM and end at Government Plaza, where a rally will follow.

JAMES announced that west coast occupations have chosen 12 December to stage a complete closure of all west coast ports and said an action in solidarity was in the works in Greensboro.

MO called for writers and artists to submit to the Democrazine with work about the movement or the people in it. She announced that writers in Carbondale, IL had responded to a call for submissions on the Occupy Poetry website and were preparing work for the zine.

VAL announced the next Anti-Oppression Working Group meeting: Wednesday, 7 December, at 7:00PM in Glenwood Coffee & Books. She noted that the first meeting, at which participants got to knew one another and started discussion on oppression, had occurred before Friday’s GA.

ISABEL announced the next Education and Enrichment Working Group meeting: 12:30PM, Tuesday, 6 December, at Glenwood Coffee & Books. The group is preparing a number of teach-ins for January 2012.

DAVE announced the first General Assembly Process Discussion had occurred just before the meeting. The conversation will continue at 5:30 on Tuesday, 6 December.

AL noted that we have six different meetings scheduled for Tuesday, but ever since the tents came down, the press has been saying there’s no Occupy Greensboro. Go figure, he says.

Proposals:

The only proposal was a demonstration in cooperation with the AFL-CIO at Howard Coble’s office.

A ten-minute time limit for discussion was set by consensus before discussion of the proposal.

ED proposed officially supporting the AFL-CIO’s protest at Howard Coble’s office in favor of extending unemployment benefits. The demonstration will happen at 11:30AM at Coble’s office (2102 N. Elm Street). Coble is the 6th district representative with many working-class constituents. ED said that although he frequently votes with the Republican party, there’s some chance a show of public concern could change his vote. The AFL-CIO doesn’t have many protests, so this action is a step forward for them.

MARSH voiced his support for the proposal. LYNN asked if anyone was organizing the protest within Occupy Greensboro. ED clarified that he was asking for an official statement of support from Occupy Greensboro for the AFL-CIO’s demonstration. MICHAEL expressed his support for endorsing the protest, as it would start the process of getting connected with the community on unemployment-related actions. TODD put the Coble protest in context with the NCAE boycott, noting it looked like a sea change was underway. JAMES noted that ED seemed to be asking for “boots on the ground” at the protest and pointed out that the rapid communication list would be helpful in making this protest a success if it were more built up. AL suggested that a carpool from the bookstore or some other location could help get people there.

TRISH asked for a clarification of what Ed meant by “formal support” in his proposal. ED clarified that formal support could take the form of a letter in support to the labor union. ISABEL suggested that the protest could easily be advertised on Facebook and asked to add that action to the motion as a friendly amendment. MARK asked if the AFL-CIO was an enabler of the Democratic Party in the same way Move-On.org is. ED answered that it is not.

TRISH asked for consensus on the proposal to express formal support of the march, encourage attendance, and set up a carpool to assist people in getting there. The general assembly unanimously consented to the proposal.

Proposals that reached consensus:

The General Assembly consented to formally support the AFL-CIO’s demonstration, to encourage participation in it within Occupy Greensboro, and to set up a carpool to facilitate travel to Howard Coble’s office.

Notes/Miscellaneous:

EVERYONE SHOULD SPEAK ONCE BEFORE ANYONE SPEAKS TWICE.
After TRISH reviewed the ground rules of the meeting, ED mentioned that at a previous meeting it was proposed that before anyone can talk twice in a meeting, everyone ought to have talked once. This idea was brought to the general assembly for application in the meeting. It was approved by consensus.

DISCUSSION POINTS.
Much of the meeting was given to discussion of two items: the un(der)employment march on Saturday, 10 December, and the National Defense Appropriation bill presently under consideration in Congress.

TRISH asked to set aside twenty minutes for discussion of the un(der)employment march, forty minutes for discussion of the defense bill, and the rest of the meeting following that for reflection on the meeting itself.

EMPLOYMENT MARCH.
MARIKAY asked if there could be a clarification of what will be going on to make the march happen and suggested modeling it on the first march in October, including providing for marshalls to direct the march. JOHN said there will be a carpool group set up to get people to the launch point for the march. Permission to use Government Plaza has been granted. There is a plan for a rally upon arriving at the Plaza. ED noted that notifying the police department is not necessary, though they have been notified. The march will go from the library to Friendly Avenue, from Friendly Avenue to Greene Street, down Greene Street to the Plaza. Speakers will include people from the AFL-CIO, and a young man from Smith Homes who will speak on how to build community-concerned businesses. There will be Open Space discussions. TODD suggested that anyone who wants to launch an Open Space discussion on Saturday should prepare for leading a discussion that day in order to facillitate progress on it.

MICHAEL asked what kind of publicity is being done for the march. AMANDA said she is working with Sanctuary House and a couple of radio stations. There is also a Facebook notification for the event. The open space discussions at the event will be set up to lead to discussions after the event, later in the week within the community. There will also be a brief information flyer on unemployment distributed at the march. MARK said he could bring a flyer to WQFS. ED said people frequently talk about the gloom-and-doom of unemployment, but the speakers at the rally are being asked to talk about ways the community can be proactive in building new businesses to help people and the community.

ALEX asked for clarification on the day of the Coble action. ED said it was Thursday. ALEX asked if we could march to Coble’s office on Saturday. ED clarified that the Occupy Greensboro march was planned before the Coble protest, and he wasn’t sure how to integrate them further. MARSH asked if Occupy Greensboro could request support from the AFL-CIO. AMANDA clarified that the march will focus on a vision for the future; it is not so much about unemployment or underemployment. She noted that sign-language and Spanish translators will be at the event. ISABEL asked if the march had been announced on Facebook.

TRISH asked for more discussion in the remaining five minutes of the discussion time. JAMES asked for clarification about where the two different Facebook pages are. ALEX said there is a Facebook discussion group, a Facebook page, and a Facebook community group. DAVE said it would probably be better to search for them on Facebook than seek post the actual addresses of the pages.

TRISH asked for further discussion. Discussion on the un(der)employment march was concluded.

NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL.
TRISH asked for CHRISTINE to give an introduction to the NDA bill. CHRISTINE said there has been a media blackout on the discussion and passage of the bill, which abolishes due process on the pretext of any form of threat of terrorism. She pointed out that the bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support, and few among the general population were aware of its passage. JOHN said that, like CHRISTINE, he had received a form letter from Kay Hagan explaining her support for the bill; he had received no response from Richard Burr. He said so many people, when notified of stunning challenges to their civil liberties, just express apathy. He is glad for a place where people are opposed to it actively.

TRISH abdicated her role as facilitator to MO in order to speak on the NDA bill, which will be a concern in the civil rights working group she was in the process of forming. She said it is important for Burr and Hagan to be able to go nowhere without getting micchecked or picketed; they need to always know there are people opposed to it. MARK said we need to find a way to challenge the law, asking if anyone had contacts in the ACLU or any other organization that could do this.

MICHAEL said the National Defense Bill was a fascist outgrowth of an empire with only one option left to maintain power: militarization. He argued that Occupy actions anywhere could eventually be policed under this law and called for a discussion on this topic. ED outlined three next steps in response to the bill: we must dig deeply into the bill and its process of formation; we must develop an information campaign to tell people about it; and we must do something about the bill. He argued that the climate on the streets has a big influence on whether legal challenges to the bill will be effective, and public knowledge of the bill is necessary to influence the public. CHRISTINE said the ACLU is working against the bill. She argued it is important to remember that the loyalties of known parties are to the parties themselves, not to the people they purport to serve. Highlighting the need to channel the power of the people, she proposed the creation of a party out of the Occupy movement. JAMES voiced support for MICHAEL’s comment on the bill and pointed out that the Occupy Marines Facebook was where he first found information on the bill. He praised the Occupy Marines Facebook page for the timeliness and accuracy of its information. JANE said she has always thought that to operate in Greensboro is to operate in a vaccuum; when she found out about the NDA, she couldn’t believe it, and checked with other sources. She cited Glen Greenwald’s acticles on Salon.com as a useful resource on starting to read about the NDA. She asked for input on who was aware of the NDA before the General Assembly. Most people at the meeting raised their hands. ANDREW said that he has seen people who are professedly apathetic get indignant at this bill and encouraged those present to encourage their friends’ anger when they show it. MARIKAY said that Hagan cited the creeping influence of al Qaeda as her reason for supporting the bill. She said the bill will not just affect different ethnic groups, but all of us. JULIE said the bill is an effort to silence dissent and
cited the mayoral collaboration to crackdown on Occupy encampments as a precursor to it. She pointed out that every time the Powers That Be have acted against the Occupy movement, it has grown the movement. ISABEL said there is a feeling in the air that we really can do something, when usually there is a feeling that stuff just sucks. She noted that the only way things have ever gotten better historically is when people get together to make change. She highlighted the Declaration of the Occupation of DC as mentioning that we have all experienced oppression, even though those types of oppression have not been the same for everyone. MO urged everyone to keep in communication with one another and have each other’s backs. She does not think the emergence of this NDA is a coincidence following the emergence of Occupy. She mentioned Occupy Congress, an effort to get people to Washington, DC on 17 January.

AL pointed out that the General Assembly took consensus on waiting to speak a second time before others who had not spoken spoke. MO said she hadn’t been taking people off the stack; she had taken it as an internal suggestion for all present. ED said he suggested it so that people who hadn’t spoken could be moved to the front of the stack.

TODD noted that Republican strategists had begun lamenting the effect of the Occupy movement on how people view capitalism. He observed that social networking allowed many people to get around the media blockout, but he cautioned everyone not to rely on Facebook and Twitter. He asked if there was a way to be more creative and effective in spreading word about news like this. DAVE wondered if anyone on the incoming city counsel could get Greensboro to opt out of participation in the bill. BEN called on people to support groups vulnerable to oppression already, and he said the bill reminded him of the past repression of progressive movements. He called on us to rise to this occasion. CHRISTINE announced that the UN has determined the freedom of speech rights of Occupiers are being abused. She said that just as there are other oppressed groups we could support, we should look to express solidarity internationally, because businesses have “Occupied the world” and hastened its ruin. She called for a big general strike over the NDA. ED called for a near-term action: an investigation of who voted for it and who brought it forward. He echoed the need to look at the act in terms of historical efforts of oppression and stressed the need to distribute information about it. TRISH noted that this is the concern of the civil rights working group, which would meet after the General Assembly. MICHAEL noted that the movement started out of anger with the 1%. While the 1% certainly has everyone else “by the necks,” the more successful the movement becomes, the more power it has. He said that a different system would involve just toppling the 1%; it would require getting those who apathetically follow the 1% to stop supporting them. He called on those assembled to think about how to reach out to people who are not part of the 1% in order to work against apathetic support for the 1%. He connected doing this to keeping the General Assembly effective. ALEX asked for input on creating pirate radio stations, small ones that play short recorded messages. He asked if robo-dialers are illegal for political speech. TRISH clarified that they are not illegal for political calls. ALEX suggested robo-dialers as a method of getting the message out.

TRISH asked if people wanted to continue discussion with the remaining five minutes of discussion time for the topic. MO asked for people who hadn’t spoken about the topic to speak. AL identified that some of the greatest obstacles to change are attachment to one’s own privileges and perogatives. He called on all assembled to compare our sacrifices to those made in the Arab Spring and ask ourselves how we stand.

NEGO expressed gratitude for a change in the meeting time to 4:00. She spoke about all of the money dropped into Miami in the late nineties to militarize it in opposition to protests against free-market capitalism.

TRISH suggested the group begin reflection on the meeting. Discussion on the NDA was concluded.

REFLECTION ON MEETING.
MICHAEL praised the General Assembly meeting and the General Assembly-oriented meeting before it and called for more discussion on how to improve the GA process so it could be better integrated into the community. DAVE echoed MICHAEL’s praise for the meeting and noted that this was the second meeting in a row in which only one proposal had been raised. He said that a process seemed to be developing by which proposals are fleshed-out before they arrive at the General Assembly and highlighted the number of things in the works for the coming months. MARIKAY praised the time change of the meeting. LYNN voiced appreciation for being able to discuss the NDA and was glad to see the small number of proposals on the agenda. ALEX highlighted two positive developments in the GA: discussion in the GA and reflection on the meetings. He praised the way the meeting process seems poised to change itself as needed. ISABEL said she has been uplifted by attending a person-to-person, decision-making meeting; she observed that many people expressing frustration on the Facebook page are people who cannot come or have opted not to come. She called on those assembled to develop ways to get those people who comment on the internet but don’t come to come. ANDREW praised the way the process does not have a directing force, or a “god,” and urged everyone to strike down such a thing if they ever saw it developing within the process. JAMES said the information he has can help get people on Facebook to the General Assembly. AL called for reflection on why we feel good about the meeting; he suggested that the democratic process itself could be what promotes the healthy feeling after a good meeting. MARK said there was a great need to do more than talk and called on those assembled to take action. ED said people had been questioning whether Occupy Greensboro was doing what it needed to do, but he can’t remember any period in which there have been more direct actions at work in the city. He says he would say he loves us all, but he decided to restrain himself. MO thanked CHRISTINE for bringing something new to the group on her first visit and said she appreciated everyone at the GA for proving yet again that Occupy Greensboro is not directed by an exclusive group within Occupy Greensboro but by OGSO itself.

FINAL ANNOUNCEMENTS.
EMILY made an announcement, suggesting people send an email to Ed Finley (finley@ncuc.net) opposing the Duke Energy rate hike. She asked for people who would like to make a statement against the Duke Energy rate hike to meet with her after the meeting. DAVE asked for people to get in touch with Valerie if they are interested in getting involved with non-violent direct action discussion and training. MAX announced the benefit show for Occupy Greensboro on 7 December at The Blind Tiger at 7:30 PM. DAVE announced that the General Assembly raised $37, which ED will deposit with the Beloved Community Center.

Next Meeting:

Todd volunteered to facilitate Tuesday’s meeting. Dave volunteered for stack, and Ian to take notes. Amanda volunteered to keep time.

General Assembly, 29 November, 2011, 6pm-8:30 PM Glenwood Coffee and Books

Facilitator and stack keeper chosen as first order of business

Facilitator: Lamar
Stack Keeper: John K.

# of Participants:

approx. 20

Not recorded

Agenda:

-review of groundrules
           -suggestion: Once you speak once please want until all others who wish to speak have done so before placing yourself back on stack [agreed to]

-Announcements
-Working Group and other report backs
-Proposals
-Reflection

Announcements:

1) We are establishing an extensive email and phone contact list to be used to send action alerts and other mass announcements. This list will be used _only_ as a tool for announcing actions, upcoming events, major news, etc. (i.e. it will not be a discussion list).  All are encouraged to provide their contact info and urge two friends/family/etc. to sign up, who should in turn ask two additional folks to sign up….etc.  The goal is to increase the web of contact exponentially. 
email artteacher33@yahoo.com to sign up yourself and/or have others sign up

2) Sunday, 4 December there will be a GA from 4-6PM at Glenwood Coffee and Books.  From 3-4 PM, Dave will bottomline a discussion of General Assembly process.  The discussion will include a comparison of OGSO’s processes and those of other groups.  All are encouraged to bring their thoughts and ideas. 

3) Mo K. participated in a nationwide direct action conference call among occupy groups.  See Mo is you would like the minutes.  Some key points:
               -6 December-call for a national day of action focused on foreclosure
              -Call for national action surrounding Global Human Rights day
              -discussion included the possibility of an “Occupy Congress” action to be held upon the re-convening of Congress
               -“Night of One Million Tents”: all encouraged to include tents as part of holiday displays

4) The “Zine” group has met several times and plans to meet Tuesdays around 4pm at Glenwood Coffee and Books.  The first issue is being put together and SUBMISSIONS ARE REQUESTED!  Submissions need not have “Occupy” as their explicit topic/content; the Zine aims to present artistic work of any kind. 

5) Dave and Mo will travel to Charlotte on Wednesday, 30 November to sit in on an Occupy Charlotte General Assembly

6) Occupy Winston Salem holding a protest action surrouding the visit of the CEO of Wells Fargo at an event sponsored by Duke Energy at the Winston-Salem Convention Center on Wednesday, 30 November.  Begins at 10:20 AM with high point at 1:00 PM.  see occupywinstonsalem.org

7)Unemployment/Underemployment/Employment March: scheduled for Saturday, 10 December.  Members of organized labor and Occupy have agreed to speak; important topic, how _we_ (not the 1% or corporations) can create jobs.  Next meeting of this group is Thursday, 1 December at 3:30 PM, Glenwood Coffee and Books.

8)The Foreclosure working group will meet at 7:30 PM Thursday, 1 December.

9)On Monday several attended the most recent hearing on the proposed Duke Energy rate increase.  Many groups in opposition to the increase attended.  ***A lively discussion ensued upon this annoucement.  Discussion included reflection on the possibility of various forms of resistance to Duke’s monopoly, the politics of alternative energies, etc.  The possibility of forming a working group around this topic was broached, but a working group was not officially formed.***

-Proposal (Erin [in absentia] and Alex): request to use the time scheduled for a General Assembly on Sunday, 4 December for a discussion about the General Assembly Process (topics to include: how do people feel about the process?; do you feel empowered at GA’s?; welcome to participate?; do GA’s create an intimidating environment?; etc.). 

Discussion focused around the need to use Sunday for a full GA, as this time is most accessible to the most people (e.g. many interested in participating in the GA process cannot attend weeknight meetings).  Discussion concluded with suggestion that all interested in discussing GA processes should attend a discussion group from 3-4 PM before the GA on Sunday, 1 December (Dave will bottomline; see Announcements above).  

No proposals reached consensus.

Notetaker contact info:

Jeremy S.   jrmschott@gmail.com

Final 15 minutes were dedicated to reflection on the evenings General Assembly.  Reflections were positive and focused on the ways that the General Assembly process and other Occupy actions have created spaces for open and authentic dialogue.  Attendees mutually encouraged each other to maintain this ethos. 

Next General Assembly meeting: Friday, 2 December 6:30-8:30 PM, Glenwood Coffee and Books

General Assembly
Glenwood Coffee and Books
Friday, November 25, 2011
6:30-8:45pm

Ed Whitfield facilitated.
Mark took stack.
No timekeeper.
No childcare necessary.

# of Participants: approx. 25

Meeting was not recorded

Working Groups present:

Jane Parker (janeorsusieparker@yahoo.com) and Dave Reed both spoke about the Foreclosure group.
There will be a meeting of the foreclosure group at 8pm on Thursday (12/1) at 8pm at Glenwood Coffee and Books.
There may be a need to meet sooner, because Occupy Wall Street is calling for a day of action on December 6th to stop foreclosures: “Occupy Wall Street Goes Home.”  This is coming up quickly.
Jane raised the concern that the Foreclosure Group needs a time separate from Fund 4 Democratic Communities (Dave added that this was because the F4DC had been meeting with the foreclosure group, but they also have things particular to their organization that they need to meet about).  There was a brief discussion on location and time, but it was pointed out that the group itself might need to make that decision outside of the GA process.
Dave reported that the group had a good visit with someone who tried a loan modification 5 times.
They haven’t decided how to move forward yet.
Dave got in touch with someone working on a national coalition around foreclosure.  They have a new website: Occupyourhomes.org, where people facing foreclosure can solicit aid, and some have already put in requests.

Kevin Smith reported that he and Bobbie Sonner (bobbie.sonner@gmail.com) are working on a video about foreclosures, and have put together a draft for the script.  Would appreciate feedback, fact checkers, etc.

Agenda:

1. Messy meeting this Sunday?
2. Cakalak would like to discuss maybe changing Sunday meeting times
3. 12/4 Sunday meeting: open discussion about GA structure
4. One Sunday discussion of democratic safe space (raised by tiffany in one of her proposals): what does that mean to people?
5. Getting in touch with charlotte

Announcements:

Audrey announced that there had been a Really, Really Free Market earlier that day, and though it was unfortunately smaller than in previous years.  Julia Kimmel added that it had not been officially organized until Sunday, so there was not much time for advertising, but there was still a pretty good turnout.

Dave Reed announced that he and Mo Kessler will be going to the Charlotte General Assembly on Monday, to check it out.

Someone announced that there will be an “occupy congress” event, which will include a tent representing each state with info on it about how many foreclosures, etc. have happened in that state.

Proposals:

Proposals with consensus are below.  There was a proposal about the 12/4 meeting being about GA structure, which was withdrawn because of the need for further information about what that meeting might look like.

There were also some proposals which did not pass which had to do with how to structure Sunday meetings in the future.

Proposals that reached consensus:

1. Next Sunday (11/27) will be a “messy” political meeting, as proposed by Michael Roberto.

2. Sunday 12/4 will be a GA (unless a discussion is proposed and approved in place of the GA), from 4pm to 6pm, with the time change so that Cakalak Thunder will be able to attend without changing their practice time.  Proposed by Al Brilliant, and part of his proposal was that we would do this “in appreciation for Cakalak Thunder.”

3. Beyond the 11/27 meeting being a discussion with a decided topic, and the 12/4 meeting having a time change, we don’t feel comfortable, as a small group, making plans for Sundays further in the future.

4.  We read and approved the minutes from the last General Assembly.

Notetaker info:

Julia Kimmel
juliamkimmel@gmail.com
336-340-5036

Notes:

some of the reflections:

we won’t decide the future of the world tonight
towards the end we seemed in a rush to make decisions
the quaker consensus process is long–alex justis is gathering more info about it
no direct democracy in greensboro like this, nice to have this space
we’ve talked about our process, which is very important
we’ve been able to laugh
these meetings are like breathing–pulling things together and opening things up

Next Meeting:

Discussion meeting Sunday 2-5 pm.

Facilitator will be Kathe Latham.

Next General Assembly Tuesday 6:30 pm.
We did not choose facilitators, stack keeper, etc.
We didn’t keep a parking lot of ideas, but one agenda item that did not get addressed was Audrey’s idea: “One Sunday discussion of democratic safe space (raised by tiffany in one of her proposals): what does that mean to people?”

Sunday Open Discussion
Location: Glenwood Coffee & Books
Date: 27 November 2011
Start time: 2:10 PM
End time: 5:10 PM

Facilitator: Kathe
Keeper of time: None
Taker of notes: Andrew
Keeper of stack: Terl, with Laura filling in
Provider of childcare: None
Note taker of main themes in conversation: Julia

# of Participants: 20ish

Much of this meeting was recorded (audio only) by Derick, a journalism student at Elon University, for use in a class project and possibly for inclusion in a radio broadcast.

No working group report-backs were made during this meeting.

Agenda:

1. Purpose of meeting
2. Review wall from visioning meeting of 20 November
3. Rules. Derick’s request
4. What do you want to get out of meeting?
5. Michael’s proposal

Announcements:

DUKE ENERGY MEETING: Emily announced a press conference and rally concerning Duke Energy’s proposed rate hike. The event is to begin at 11:45 AM, Monday, 28 November, at the Dobbs Building (430 N Salisbury St) in Raleigh. The Duke Energy hearing begins at 1:00 PM. A group will carpool from Chapel Hill from the UNC university mall at 10:45 AM.

UNEMPLOYMENT WORKING GROUP: Ed announced a meeting of the unemployment working group on Monday, 28 November, from 3:00 to 5:00 at Glenwood Coffee & Books.

“REPRESENTING DEMOCRACY” PRESENTATIONS: Bobbie announced that Ed’s “Representing Democracy” class will make their group presentations on Friday, 2 December, at 6:30 PM and Saturday, 3 December, at 9:00 AM. Both sessions will be held in the General Classroom Building at NC A&T.

SINGERS: John put out a call for one baritone and one mezzo-soprano.

Proposals:

PROPOSAL TO RECORD MEETING: The only proposal raised for consensus was Derick’s proposal to record audio of the meeting for use in a journalism project on the Occupy movement. Only three minutes of audio would be used. He would not make internal edits of sentences, as per the rules of the Elon journalism program. He would make interrupt “paragraphs” of speech only to clarify what was said. Recording would be interrupted if anyone wished to make a comment off the record. There would be a possibility that parts of the recording could be broadcast on the radio.

DISCUSSION OF RECORDING PROPOSAL: Andrew commented that the general assembly has a history of consenting to similar proposals. Dave asked what the recording would be used for, and Derick clarified that it would be used for a class presentation and possibly also in a radio broadcast. Ed noted the general assembly has allowed recordings like this before. Al noted that the spirit of the movement asks one to be a servant of the community–to give more than one takes–but the recording proposal seems to take more than it gives. Ed responded that the proposal does serve the community by bringing the movement to people who might not have come into contact with it otherwise. Julia expressed discomfort at having a messy political discussion broadcast, at which point Derick said he would be open to the group’s input on what to record and what not to record. Dave asked Derick to be cautious about what editorial guarantees he made, and noted that messier meetings than the one planned for the day had been recorded before. Greg asked if Derick would tell people whom he planned to quote; Derick said he would ask for the contact information of people he planned to quote. Greg reinforced that he knows there is a worry about what is said getting back to the people who say it. Michael said that no one could ask to proof a journalist’s work and argued that if anyone anyone regrets what he or she says, the responsibility lies with the speaker, saying the group should not attempt to control the process out of fear. Kathe identified the group had come to consensus on allowing the meeting to be recorded, and Derick commenced recording.

Proposals that reached consensus:

Above.

Notetaker info:

Andrew Saulters: saulters@gmail.com

Notes:

[Most of this meeting was given to free discussion of the movement’s organization. The notes below attempt to track the main points offered by each speaker in that discussion.]

KATHE announced that today’s meeting is a general, open meeting. She noted that the last meeting was a discussion of how the group is organized, how it could be organized. At that meeting, it was suggested today’s meeting could involve an open discussion of what the group is. She asked the group to break into pairs to discuss what each person wants out of the meeting.

[PAIR DISCUSSION for a couple of minutes.]

# KATHE asked for those assembled to share what they want from the meeting.
# DAVE: a better idea of what other people want.
# ERIC seconded Dave.
# CAROL: a discussion of more of the items on the wall from the visioning meeting of Sunday, 20 November.
# AL: ways to maintain the importance of each person’s personal reasons for involvement while acting collectively.
# ED: other people’s ideas on what the group is trying to do.
# LAURA: open discussion of direction.
# TERL: discussion of the relation of the local movement to the national one.
# WAYNE: Occupy Greensboro and the National Health Plan.
# DERICK: consent to record the meeting as part of a journalism class project. He identified himself as an Elon journalism student reporting on the Occupy movement.
# ANDREW: an idea of where others want the movement to go.
# GREG: information on how to lead a teach-in on the environment that first surfaced as a suggestion at the visioning meeting of Sunday, 13 November. He also expressed interest in arriving at changeable but well-articulated core principles.
# MICHAEL: open discussion of the group’s politics in preparation for “moving to the next level.” He expressed confusion about meeting organization and what happens from one meeting to the next: who speaks for the group? how informed is the group? He argued there is a need for group education. He said he was looking for a way into the next area of development of Occupy Greensboro.
# JOHN: to integrate, after careful consideration, his interests for Occupy Greensboro into the planning of its direction. He also expressed a desire for clarification.
# BOBBIE: ways to start larger-scale conversation.
# JULIA: discussion about structure, agreement points within the group, and concerns of newcomers wishing to get involved.
# KAY: ways to progress in the fight against Duke Power and improvements to the Social Security system.
# JANE praised the democratic process and said she sees many possibilities in it, with more to come.
# DERICK raised his proposal to record the meeting.

[See the “Proposals” section for discussion of this proposal. The assembly passed it after discussion.]

# KATHE asked Michael to start discussion on group politics and organization.

[For easier reading, remarks from the general discussion are recorded in paraphrase, except where double quotations are used.]

# MICHAEL: The meeting agenda asks for the group to begin by looking at the wall of notes from the previous Sunday’s visioning meeting. The wall is hard to summarize, but some things speak out: the strength of the movement and its effort to resist tendency to to quash the individual in the face of the collective. Two negative things stick out. One is frustration–“Where do we go from here?” He says there’s a lack of a coherent, workable structure. People from 15 October march are not here; how do we get them back? The second negative thing is an uncertainty on how the group can work together with its members’ different beliefs and levels of education about those beliefs. We need internal education that is not exclusionary. How will the group move forward?
# GREG: What about working groups? How can we contact them?
# AL: occupygreensboro.org has the names of all the working groups.
# ISABEL: Though the format has changed, the information is still under the “Connect & Get Involved” link of the web site.
# LAURA: There’s a blog on occupygreensboro.org, but no one is using it. That might be a more useful way than Facebook of conducting internet discussion. Facebook is confusing.
# ED: Minutes are posted on Facebook and occupygreensboro.org.
# MICHAEL: I can’t find minutes on Facebook.
# JOHN: You have to look for Facebook minutes, but they’re there.
# TERL: Usually, I find the concrete information is at occupygreensboro.org.
# ISABEL: The enrichment working group is preparing a number of sessions each month, starting January 2012. One will be an orientation to the practices and procedures of Occupy Greensboro. Where to find information online could be covered in one.
# AL: People seem to have been wondering since the start of Occupy Wall Street what the whole thing is about. After the Holocaust, many German exiles said they never saw it coming; many among the German people said they didn’t know it was happening. It seems when people ask “What are you about?” they really already know and the question is just rhetorical. They know what is happening. We shouldn’t have to educate the public on what we are doing.
# DAVE: A lot of people suggest we need to get ‘the middle,’ but really that’s just something motivated by a broken binary. [To Michael:] We’ve only been at it for ten weeks; we’ve created a pretty good structure that we’re revising, and there’s lots of discussion about it. If we’re frustrated now about structure, remember that we’ve not really been at it long.
# ED: In the fifties and sixties, movements moved forward because the government was ridiculed into taking action. Now people are looking at capitalism and saying it’s lost the argument even though it hasn’t lost power. The more people who can apply thought and imagination to what’s better than this broken system, without feeling excluded from discussion by having to have specific viewpoint [e.g., ‘capitalist,’ ‘anti-capitalist,’ ‘socialist,’ &c.], the better the discussion will be.
# WAYNE: Denial is powerful, and some people have money invested in the success of Wall Street [e.g., retirees with 401k’s, people with stock investments]. We need to work really hard to hear everybody’s ideas.
# MICHAEL: Where we are at ten weeks is frustrating. “If one of us [e.g., Dave and Michael] leaves the group, the movement is not what we say it is.” The letter to the editor in the paper that said ‘almost everyone in Occupy Greensboro is okay with capitalism’ was not accurate, and it feels like red-baiting. That indicates the group is not okay.
# DAVE: Not even sure who that letter is, and didn’t read the letter as red-baiting, though it seemed clumsy. Don’t think Occupy Greensboro is a “socialist,” “anarchist,” or “capitalist” effort. The group is at a developmental point. Hopefully the group will develop a process that is specific and tangible and more important than any particular outcome.
# KATHE: Dave has been deeply involved and connected, but new people may be more confused about Occupy Greensboro. What Al said about how people look the other way is more troubling. It might be denial, but they might just need an opening to participate. Openness is good because it allows newcomers to feel valued. What Michael is saying about being more effective is important.
# ISABEL: The letter to the editor is concerning. It might be helpful to write a letter to the editor that clarifies the political perspectives in the group but avoids speaking for it. Someone could talk to the writer of the letter to clarify perspectives of the group. We are, perhaps, like the blindfolded people in the story about the blindfolded people and the elephant: no one here has a sense of the whole group. But we can move toward knowing it. Also: we are trained to be consumers, not producers or creators. We may begin thinking of Occupy Greensboro as something that was produced by others for us to consume.
# AL: We need to cut people slack. That’s one of the ground rules. The author of the letter did a bad thing, but we should cut her slack. If it isn’t addressed, though, it could be a worse thing. It’s a great thing we don’t have leaders. With regard to the people who were with us on 15 October: we don’t need to be responsible for attracting them back. From talking with people who marched but haven’t come back, it seems they feel they are still part of the movement and are comfortable with their level of involvement.
# GREG: We need to be multi-racial and multi-generational. We need to reach out to citizens and non-citizens and bring in translators. We can’t just wait for this happen. We need a mechanism for doing this. Can we look to Outreach for this?
# JANE: We are putting out a newspaper ad, Eric and myself and someone else, for something that is not officially Occupy-related. It is for a prayer meeting in Government Plaza on 11 December from 1:00 to 1:15 in the afternoon. It will focus on the ramifications of foreclosing on homes in the holiday season, and it moves the issue from an economic framework to a moral one. The Attorney General of North Carolina has the power to stay foreclosures. Perhaps we can spread support for these issues to the religious community.
# KAY: The reasons for going without leadership are well-known, but without leadership granted by group consensus, it seems inevitable that people are going to make statements on their own.
# ED: Since Occupy Wall Street started, conversation has shifted from deficits to corruption and income disparity. We did that. We did it without leadership and with only a vague slogan: ‘We are the 99%.’ We need to find a space that’s big enough to talk about what we support. Labels we have now [e.g., ‘capitalist,’ ‘socialist,’ &c.] are not well-understood enough to be useful.
# MARY KAY: I could call the author of the letter. Could someone else write a letter in response? Also: We need to go to where people are to work with them; we can’t just wait for them to come to us.
# MICHAEL: We should cut the author some slack. But we should prevent that sort of thing from happening–we can do this by getting together to talk about what these ‘-isms’ mean. The solution isn’t to create another ‘-ism’; rather it is to create a system that works. We need to keep ourselves in touch with political science and avoid establishing a democracy based on learned ignorance.
# KATHE: Could we have a few moments of silence to allow people to collect their thoughts? Also, the most frequent speakers to this point have been men.

[A FEW MOMENTS OF SILENCE followed.]

# BOBBIE: We aren’t interested in creating labels. We can create new ways to discuss things.
# JULIA: I know the letter writer and can identify where she’s coming from. It could help us to study ‘-isms’ as part of the work of Occupy Greensboro; at some point, can we unpack the ways we have each been affected by capitalism?
# JOHN: “There are no new words,” but that doesn’t limit our arrangement of them. Also: Let us remember that we continually gather influences, but we rarely lose them.
# JULIE: We need to go where the people who we want to include are; this involves more actions. The unemployment action targets something that affects a disproportionate number of African Americans. We need to take on sexism, like with the upcoming slutwalk. Thinking about these issues and others related to them can get people who are presently outside involved.
# LAURA: Action is an important way for people to get into a movement. So many of our actions are dissatisfying–they involve petitioning a system we don’t believe in for change. Can we create a society within a society? Our organization seems so often to be the way white people do things…
# ED: [Call for time-out.] This isn’t the way white people do things. Also: It’s weird, troubling, and kind of offensive that we keep talking about how we need more black people, but no one talks to black people to get them here. Can the people who are worried about the number of black people here bring their black friends next time? Also: Can we discuss our endorsement of the slutwalk? Members of Cakalak Thunder voted not to take part in it over concern about the role played in it by the commodification of women’s bodies.
# CAROL: [To Ed.] Is it assumed that people here only associate with people of their own ethnic groups?
# ED: No. But those who want more black folks at these meetings ought to bring in their black friends. I was not assuming that. There was no assumption of that.
# KATHE: Can we get a call for final stack and reflect on how the residue of this meeting might be incorporated in the next meeting?
# JOSQUIN: Race is a non-issue. We have empathy and that binds us together as humans. We should stop categorizing ourselves.
# ISABEL: Some black women have expressed concern at being left out or ignored by comments in meetings and on Facebook. How will we move forward toward the clarity necessary to do work? There is no separation between “general issues” and “specific issues,” though some people have expressed disinterest in getting involved in things like discrimination and immigration issues because they are too specific. I stand for those subjected to institutional racism in hope they will stand for me in what affects me particularly. We need shared language for talking about the problems of the “whole 99%,” which include issues of race, gender, immigration, and others.
# MICHAEL: I tried to bring 3 white and 3 black friends. They didn’t show, except for one, who was already here. The 99% has no special interests. This has been a discussion I had hoped we’d have. We want to reach greater clarity and bring in people we’d like to see here. It’s the responsibility of others to come, but it’s our responsibility to do what we can to get them here. It’s a problem of making an open, democratic organizational structure that can lead to what we want.
# GREG: We need a better mix of citizen and non-citizen, but how do we do it? We need to be able to “access mechanisms” for addressing immigration.
# KATHE: Can we all look at trends Julia has identified and create proposals or a summary for the next general assembly?
# AL: No proposals to general assembly; that’s not something that seems to fit this meeting. A summary, sure.
# KATHE: Can we reflect and continue?
# EMILY: We need to strengthen communication among groups and allow for a stronger identification of groups. Would like to speak with people about proposals addressing the organization of the general assembly. Many people have been speaking about this recently.
# JULIA: We will carpool to an immigration protest in Charlotte from Glenwood Coffee & Books at 1:45 PM, Tuesday, 29 November.
# JOHN: Can we get a report-back?
# JULIA: Sure.
# JOSQUIN: Outreach should be more aggressive. I can offer my language and graphic arts abilities. Propaganda is a tool, and if it allows us to get into the minds of those we’re trying to reach, we should consider it.
# AL: From observing the wall of comments out of last Sunday’s meeting and scanning Facebook, there seem to be four basic emotions: concern, outrage, hope and faith. These seem to have been the unifying factors up to now, but they will not necessarily be the ones that unify us in the future. We will experience changes. What we have done is satisfactory, but we cannot be merely satisfied. One thing we’re no so good at is being confused, with admitting that we lack answers. A lot of us don’t know a whole lot–we need to become comfortable with not knowing a lot. We need to see connections among issues we’ve brought up. We want this to snowball. Also: let’s remember that some of us are left-brained and some of us are right-brained. Right-brained people want organization but are frustrated by the necessary free-flow of this process; left-brained people want free organization but are frustrated by the tendency of others to create direction.
# JOSQUIN: We need to be comfortable with giving up the idea of what we know, of knowing something. We need to embrace social justice as a concern of this movement.
# ISABEL: Looking at the wall of last week’s reflections, we seem to be putting forward different paths toward truth. I tend less toward scientific paths than taking a stand.
# MICHAEL: I’m not trying to forward ideological dispositions. In two weeks, I’d like to feel more comfortable than now. Can organization proposals come forward quicker than slower? Also: it seems the super-committee failed because it doesn’t know what it is doing. That’s a good sign: the 1% is falling apart. Greensboro will see changes in the time to come, and I’d like to see Occupy Greensboro as a cohesive part of those.
# ANDREW: “Every completed sentence runs the risk of being ideological,” so to some degree being ideological is not worth getting worried about. Ideology is a virus, sure, but it’s one that we have no matter what. It’s in language, no matter what we do. We can’t rid ourselves of it, but we can deal with it.
# JOSQUIN: It seems the 1% knows exactly what they are doing.
# ED: The opposite of a profound truth is also, frequently, a profound truth. There’s a lot we can do better. If we are satisfied, we cannot be complacent. If you are driven by frustration, stay frustrated. If you are driven by optimism, stay optimistic. We should be content and strive to do more. We should appreciate who’s here as we attempt to bring in new people.
# KATHE: We will look at Julia’s notes and post pictures of them to the internet.
# MICHAEL: Will the concerns of this meeting continue into the general assembly meetings to come?
# ED: This conversation can’t be undone in the minds of those present, and it can’t be placed in the minds of those absent.
# JULIA: Can we leave the residue from this meeting up in public? Also, to accommodate the schedules of those who can’t make weekday meetings, can we move a proposal-oriented general assembly to Sunday?
# DAVE: Actually, Sundays aren’t always non-decision-making meetings. I would support making Sunday’s meeting a decision-making meeting.
# ISABEL: When will the discussion of general assembly format come? Also, friends in NYC say they have two general assemblies a week. That’s in NYC. We have three–do we need them? They take off time for action and working groups.
# KATHE: There was a proposal for Sunday’s general assembly to be about the general assembly format itself.
# AL: That will be proposed at Tuesday’s general assembly by Erin. It was discussed during Friday’s general assembly. Also, we talked about moving Sunday’s meeting time to allow members of Cakalak Thunder to come.
# GREG: Has anyone done a teach-in? Can I get some information on how to do one?
# ISABEL: I can provide that information.

[At this point, KATHE called for announcements. See the “Announcements” section for a summary of them.]

Next Meeting:

No items from the parking lot of ideas. No items for the next meeting’s agenda. No facilitator, stack keeper, childcare provider or time keeper designated.

The next meeting will occur at 6:30 on Tuesday, 29 November, at Glenwood Coffee & Books.