[Peace-discuss] prepare, please

[Susan Parenti]

> Notes from the Nov. 5 meeting, taken by Theresa Scott.


> 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.
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> OccupyCU mailing list
> OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/occupycu

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