[OccupyCU] Minutes from ocCUpy 11/11/12 meeting

[Theresa Scott]

ocCUpy Minutes 
November 12
2012
 
Next meeting: Monday, November 19, 2012, IMC
 
 
In attendance:  Susan, Chris E., Doug, David, Pam, Ya’aqov, Cope, Chris G., Kara,  Chris, Michael, Stuart, Francisco,
Jesse/Steve, Michael, Mark, Paul, Karen
 
3rd meeting of whether we should continue
ocCUpy  and where it should
go.  Susan repeated Austin’s
metaphor of the “whack-a-mole” game: How ocCUpy might be better focused on
going after the mechanism that causes the moles to pop up, rather than whacking
each individual mole.   
 
Given the fact that there were 2 presentations, there was
not much time  for discussion.  However, there was time for people to
volunteer to help Sean with the “Occupy the Air” radio program.  Presently, Carl has volunteered, as
well as Ron S., Cope, and Chris (some are tentative based on scheduling needs)
 
Jesse made his presentation.  Please see his own email from 11/14/12 to get a sense of
what he presented.  Following the
presentation, he asked for feedback.  Chris and Paul needed clarification as to how Jesse’s project related to
ocCUpy.  Ya’aqov said he cared less
for the “others” that are out there that Jesse hopes to reach and more for the
people who are in the room, who are part of our local efforts.  Susan replied that she didn’t want
ocCUpy to resemble a club or a sewing circle, but a movement.  
Karen challenged Jesse as far as the 9/11 component of his
project.  Does it really matter who
did it or what did it?  She said
that she was sure what the outcome of getting a lot of people involved in a
conspiracy theory would be.  Susan
said that since there was another presenter ready to go, we would have a
discussion at a future time about any interest in Jesse’s ideas.  
 
Francisco Baires, Community Outreach person for the YMCA,
spoke to us at Stuart’s and Susan’s invitation.  He is particularly involved with Immigrants Rights locally
and nationally.  
 
To set the background for
his talk, Francisco gave a bit of the history on the attack on Ethnic Studies
in Tucson school districts.  He
said that he borrowed the notion of the 3 types of responses that activists
might engage in on the work of Johan Galtung.  In his work, he speaks of direct violence (e.g. unfriendly
crossings at borders; removing a program from a school district), cultural
violence (aspects of
culture that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence) , and
structural violence (where some social structure or social institution purportedly harms people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.)
As far as activism is concerned, there are 3 levels of
responses that can be taken to a perceived injustice.  Direct response (e.g. walk outs, local protests, national
protests), cultural response (getting local businesses to sign a pledge that
says they will not be a party to any part of a bill that targets individuals
racially; educational efforts such as teach-ins), and structural responses
(recalling a representative who wrote the racial profiling law).
 
Among the pieces of “advice” Fransisco offered were: 
 
- We need to figure out what ocCUpy is about.  When thinking about a movement, move
forward.  Do not just react against
something.  Social justice
movements are not about people speaking up against an injustice.  Rather, they are more about affirmation
(i.e. we are for human dignity, we are for social justice).  So we should organize around what we
are for.  
 
- Pay attention to the good side of history.  In the end, it is the organizations
that build on the negative that are the oppressors.  
 
- We need to expand our base to people who might be
sympathetic.  
 
- We need to say more to power than we don’t like
something.  We need a more fundamental
change.  
 
- Yes, protest, but do more.  
 
- Any group that is at the crossroads needs to have a shared
vision, but you don’t have to agree on everything.  
 
- Set goals: This is who we are, this is what we are for,
what we aim to do, and this is what we are going to do about it.
 
- Taking action is different from changing people’s
minds.  
 
Susan concluded by saying that we will meet next Monday even
though many might be away for the holiday. 
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