[Peace-discuss] prepare for tomorrow, please

[Susan Parenti]

> Please read these notes (and the others that follow) and bring  
> connections between the various proposals that interest you, towards  
> the future of Occupy C-U.
  susan
> ocCUpy Minutes
> November 12 2012
>
> Next meeting: Monday, November 19, 2012, IMC
														notes by Theresa Scott
>
>
> 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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> OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net
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