[OccupyCU] ocCUpy Minutes 11/05/12

[Emily Royer]

Can I please get taken off of this list? Soooo many emails. Y'all are
beautiful people, I can tell... but I don't have time to read all these
messages! ooxx

On Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 6:13 PM, Theresa Scott <msscott729 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> *ocCUpy Minutes *
> *November 5, 2012*
> * *
> *Next meeting: Monday, November 12, 2012, IMC*
> *Invited speaker: Francisco Baires, Community Programs Director, YMCA*
> ** **
> In attendance: Susan, Jesse F.,  Ya’aqov, Dave, Pam, Sandra, Kara, Chris
> H., Ian, Doug, Theresa, Paul, Karen, Stuart
> ** **
> Susan gave the charge for the group: This was the 2nd of 3 meetings where
> we are trying to pick up ocCUpy where it left off in the summer.
> ** **
> Susan read the notes of what people had shared from the previous week.
> Among the issues raised were:  ocCUpy might better articulate the voices
> and needs of marginalized people; StrikeDebt.; host a debtors’ forum
> (connect with GEO to talk about student debt); foreclosures; we need to
> find a way to gauge our success as we move forward; while Occupy identified
> a hurt, it can also be viewed as a tactic; look at Campus Management; find
> creative ways for protest; look at the area of Champaign that the city is
> looking to gentrify and see how we can support the dispossessed; look at
> corporate influence; focus on class and focus on change.
> ** **
> Paul wanted to learn who was funding the Gill/Davis campaigns and how
> Citizens United is playing itself out locally.  Ian said that the Free
> Press has the information that Paul wanted to look at, that WCIA had looked
> at that issue already.
> ** **
> Following the reprisal of last week’s issues, Susan asked for further
> reflections on what was shared or additional thoughts about where ocCUpy
> might go.
> ** **
> Jesse, who is the local Occupy movement’s founding father, said that he
> dropped out because he didn’t see the weekly corner protests working with
> just 6 to 10 people.  He felt that the meetings were too long, people
> were obnoxious, most couldn’t talk, and the people who wanted to contribute
> couldn’t.  He shared that he presently does things online and wants to
> present some ideas he has to the group next week.  He said that in Tel
> Aviv, ½ million people were protesting in a country of 6 million.  In
> Spain, every day unions are protesting.  Why not here?  Given national
> issues like the debt, how can we put all them all together and generate a
> bigger audience for all we want to do?  Jesse feels we should abandon the
> street corner protests until we get greater numbers.  Jesse asked if the
> group was opposed to using social media.  The idea that he will present
> to the group next week contains that component (the group shared that while
> they were not opposed to social media, we must take care to see that it
> does not end there, that there is actually action taking place).
> ** **
> David  posed the question of how OWS occurred?  (See recent email from
> Susan containing links supplied by Rich P. for history) We need to think
> about why it captured public attention like a prairie fire.  Whatever OCU
> does, we need more people.  Other organizations  in town are focused on
> specific areas of need.  We need to maintain a presence out there and
> find our focus.  David also asked if anyone is interested in helping out
> on Occupy the Air.
> ** **
> Pam mentioned that Bill G. said that he would like to see people out in
> the neighborhoods and talking with them to get a feeling where they are
> coming from.  Pam gave the example of caroling in Section 8 housing last
> year.  Everyone was very friendly and supportive.  She asked if anyone
> was interested in canvassing with her.  She feels that if you have a
> questionnaire, it helps you to have a conversation which is the point of
> the face-to-face.  Stuart shared that when he went door-to-door, he met a
> lot of great people whom he felt should be part of ocCUpy.  Pam asked for
> help in designing any questionnaire that might be used.
> ** **
> Ya’aqov used the metaphor of Bizet who, after experiencing failure with
> his opera *Carmen, *was forced to work with a sextet that was at his
> disposal.  He was forced to write for them; he was stuck with them.  Ya’aqov
> said that the people in ocCUpy are our sextet, that this is our ensemble
> and we should tend to each other.  We are all we have and we should take
> the needs/interests of those in the group into account.  Numbers do not
> matter.   He also said that doing creative things like caroling may draw
> in people if we may not get from holding long meetings.
> ** **
> Ian said he wanted to know if the website should continue.  Presently it
> is not getting many hits.  He is willing to continue to work on it if
> there is a desire.  We  can use the site for publicizing events.  It is
> also good for like-minded people to use the  forum to discuss ideas, then
> work on projects.
> ** **
> There was then a discussion about the listserv.  Can we get the listserv
> to be a functional organizational tool rather than one used for discussions
> and posts?  Perhaps it  should only be for messages.  Conversation  should
> not be stifled but it should be limited for announcements.  Stuart shared
> that the Peace listserv and Peace Discuss listserv are 2 separate things.
>
> ** **
> Kara said that she had sort of forgotten about OWS once it fell off the
> national radar.  She felt it might be good to plant little reminders in
> people’s faces that say:  We’re still here.  We’re still angry.  Not that
> much has changed.  Example: putting up small images such as things we
> loved about Occupy or things that still make us angry.  Perhaps we could
> go to a corporate building and post some of these images in a giant collage.
> Have people add to it gradually.  She will bring an image  next week as
> an example of what she means and encouraged all of us to do the same.
> ** **
> Sandra shared that people seemed to notice her name when we posted “ocCUpy
> was here” signs each week after our weekly protest with our names on them.
> She said that  if we win the referendum on leafletting, we can start
> doing stuff.  Maybe go to Lincoln Square and actually do what we wanted.  Make
> a presence in the towns.
> ** **
> Karen shared that we can make our own media.  We can submit letters to
> the newspaper, make our own stories for the Daily Illini, the Publici, the
> News Gazette,  etc.
> ** **
> Chris shared that the movement is about presence.  As a movement, we need
> to have direction.  One of the problems that OWS had was that its
> direction was vague.  Many are frustrated with it not going anywhere.  Just
> not seeing the impact.  There is lingering despair and we need to make it
> ironic or humorous.  We should find creative ways to make serious issues
> into something that has impact on peoples’ lives in a meaningful, local
> level.  Need new ideas to make it fresh again and remind people it is
> still happening.
> ** **
> Susan shared that prior ocCUpy meetings featured a lot of competitiveness,
> with men talking and interrupting and feeling the need to go on very long.
> There seemed to be no consciousness that we have lives or commitments.  She
> proposed that future meetings be built on a preferential  option for
> women.  [I may not be describing this accurately and I can correct it in
> future minutes]  A method meaning, preferential option for the poor, for
> women.  Susan shared how the first meetings of AWARE were conducted based
> on feminism: at the start of the meeting, there was some sort of art,
> something new.  Then there was information, reports from what people were
> working on.  It lasted only one hour.  In the second hour, there were
> working groups to which you could contribute or you could stay and simply
> chat.  There were greeters and priority was given to newcomers who were
> asked to share first.  In this way, there was a personal connection with
> newcomers.  There was a feeling of compassion and caring in the meetings
> that made people want to return to be a part of an ensemble such as that.
> There was consensus in that if you wanted to do something crazy, you
> needed to get people’s approval.
> ** **
> Pam shared that when she first started going to meetings, we were trying
> to do everything like OWS, even in the way we conversed.  There was lots
> of sign language.  She said she felt inhibited to talk because she may
> have said the wrong thing.  Similarly, she is concerned that we maybe not
> put a *rule *on something as far as feminism in the way we conduct our
> meetings.
> ** **
> Susan shared that we need language.  She said that there art that is
> built on the concept of the wound.  Artists would make a bandage of the
> hurt.  In our case, we need a way to describe the hurt.  What does our
> would look like?  How can we describe it?
> ** **
> NEXT WEEK:  Susan and  Stuart have invited Franciso Baires, Community
> Programs Director of the YMCA, to speak with us on November 12th.  We are
> looking to him for  ideas around direct action, cultural change, and
> structural change.****
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
> ** **
>
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