Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Minutes from Monday 11.26.12

Thanks to Kathryn for taking notes!
GA this Saturday 4 pm at Pritchard Park.  January we will go back to 3 pm as it gets dark earlier now.
We reviewed the Occucard handout at the Holiday Parade and the demonstration at Walmart on Black Friday.  Only 2 people came to the parade and 7 came to Walmart.  There are lots of Occucards left and we need to decide where to keep them.  They are with Kasha and James for the moment.  We talked about doing things in "receptive" environments and being more proactive rather than negatively reactive.  Later this led to a discussion about focusing on foreclosures for the coming year.  There was considerable support for this and Kathryn and Bev offered to gather more information.  This will be discussed more at the GA.
Lindsey reported that the invitation and money order has been sent to Ben Scales for the potluck at Rosetta's on Jan 20 at 5:30 pm.  (Ben sent a note of appreciation.)  James suggested that we bring Michael Hardt from Duke to speak about his ideas about the Commons to this event and we agreed.  LIndsey also reported that there is about $900 in the treasury and we will not get back at least one of the $100 bail bonds as the person did not show up for his hearing.
Friday, November 30 2 pm there will be another of the monthly parades from Pritchard Park to City Hall in support of decriminalizing homelessness.
James has selected four "vision" statements he would like to propose and asks that others review the list on the blog and website and come prepared with ideas.  He will be happy to craft it into a statement.
Susan wanted us to know that there are now so many pictures on the blog she will pay a small fee to maintain the site with plenty of room for photos.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

General Assembly

This coming Saturday, December 1, there will be a General Assembly of Occupy Asheville.  Time is 4 PM and location is Pritchard Park.

See you there!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Occupy the Holidays

This coming Saturday, action at the Holiday parade: mixing with the crowd and handing out info about Goldman Sachs, NDAA, War, Foreclosures, Climate Change, GMO's, etc. Meet up in front of the FBFC at 11.
Black Friday action planned for a local Walmart. More Details coming soon!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

From James:

Below are a couple of documents relevant to the working of the National Gathering in Philadelphia last summer.

The National Gathering produced a long list of vision statements, some of which may be of little interest-- either to those of us in Asheville or in the country at large. But we might want to use the documents as raw material for an Asheville vision.

Subsequent to the Philadelphia meeting, some people continued to work on the list, grouping items that seemed to belong together into categories--proscribing war, a health plan for all, etc.
None of these categories or items are carved in stone.
The matter of a vision is to be considered at  a future Coordinating Council meeting.. All are welcome to come and share their ideas.

James Latimore  252 1967

Work in progress, NG-Visioning Group S15 S17 Anniversary Weekend 201 NG-Visioning Group S15ñS17 Anniversary Weekend 2012


AN OCCUPY VISION

When the powers and practices of the prevailing society fail to support our fulfillment as equal participants in life, We, the People, need to proclaim our shared vision of the world yet to be and reaffirm the values that inform us.

We affirm the inherent worth, dignity, and potential of all existence and our profound connection to the web of all existence of which we are a part. Therefore we are guided by a vision that includes a world where the water, air and food are clean, so that both our planet and its people may be healthy.


Free education for all, so that information can be shared and used to benefit and enrich our society.


A world without war, so that people of every culture and nation may be free to develop and learn from one another without the distortion and exclusion that results from seeing one another as enemies.


A sustainable human society, where people are respected, valued, encouraged, and recognized as our first priority.


A culture of direct democracy and universal participation, where political and social decisions are made in a transparent manner for the common good.


Free universal physical and psychological healthcare, so that all people may be able to use their abilities and enjoy their lives as fully as possible.


Economic equality, so that all people may have the opportunity to have sufficient material resources for their needs, free from exploitation by others.


Freedom, so that all people may be empowered and included in the future we envision.

We recognize that each person is endowed with a unique perspective and potential that adds to the sum total of our world, and that by working together we achieve our vision.

We invite all to join us, contribute to it, and participate in it as we and it change and grow.

HOW WE GOT HERE
Since OWS began one year ago, many individual Occupy groups around the country have developed various statements or declarations of goals, issues, and actions. Some Occupys developed vision statements.

Recognizing the importance of an overall vision to the Occupy movement, the organizers of Occupy's National Gathering in Philadelphia PA in July 2012 included a visioning process. Three days of teach ins, workshops, and speak outs on many topics vital to Occupy led up to Independence Day, when about 250 persons at NatGat participated in a group vision exercise that resulted in a 7-page list of vision elements.

Subsequent to NatGat, those interested in vision follow-up formed a work group. This group hasdeveloped the draft material being shared this anniversary weekend in hopes of engaging morepersons in developing an Occupy Vision, obtaining valuable feedback, and moving forward towards a draft Vision Statement that can be shared broadly for Occupy consideration.

We welcome you to join the Occupy visioning experiment!

derived from the Visioning Activities at the OCCUPY NATIONAL GATHERING Philadelphia, PA ñ July 2012

Work in progress, NG-Visioning Group S15ñS17 Anniversary Weekend 2012 NG-Visioning Group S15ñS17 Anniversary Weekend 2012

ILLUSTRATIVE CATEGORY LIST (FOR DISCUSSION & FEEDBACK)
Illustrative Vision Categories that were derivedfrom the NatGat Visioning List, with number ofNatGat mentions in brackets, followed by otherbroader categories, including those based on theMetacenter work.

For the complete list, see the NatGat Vision HubWiki, http://interoccupy.net/vision

[203] CLEAN AIR, WATER, FOOD:
ENVIRONMENTAL
[106] Local food production, community gardens,
permaculture agriculture;
[28] access to real nourishing, nonchemical, non-
GMO food; food supply that is humane & natural;
[25] environmental justice;
[20] environmental awareness and respect;
[9] healthier diets and lifestyles;
[8] affordable, healthy food;
[8] clean water as a right;
[8] end hunger;
[7] connection to earth.
[186] FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL: CULTURAL
[13] all airwaves public;
[10] end to intellectual property, such that thereis free & open sharing of information
[9] free & open communications;
[9] real education, free & equal, democratized;
[8] universal access to data.
[158] NO WAR:
PEACE AND SECURITY/POLITICAL
[39] peace, nonviolence, no war/death machines;
no military; no need for violent conflict or guns;
[17] no global us vs them;
[12] nonviolence;
[10] friendship, rather than strangership, as thedefault relationship among people;
[9] mutual respect between cultures or tradingnations;
[8] nonviolent interpersonal and internationalconflict resolution;
[6] world peace.
[116] SUSTAINABLE HUMAN SOCIETY:   CULTURAL/ENVIRONMENTAL
[93] a world where basic needs are met;
[72] all cultures respected equally;
[67] people feel empowered, free, & unafraid;
[61] a strong sense of community;
[60] safety for everyone from domestic violence& fear;
[53]  all human life valued equally;
all human life valued equally;all human life valued equally;
[42] all decisions considered for seven generations in the future;
[37] more humanity, compassion, kindness, selflessness;
[31] . . . mutually beneficial relationship betweenhumans, the earth, and its inhabitants; acting withconsideration for the community, world, & everything else.
[110] A CULTURE OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY:DEMOCRACY & SOCIAL JUSTICE/POLITICAL
[61] no money in politics;
[30] end two-party system;
[29] local community control;
[22] consensus-based democracy;
[21] just and fair legal system;
[18] truth in journalism/illegal to lie;
[16] minorities have power & voice (rule bydiversity);
[15] no tax without representation;
[9] a fair electoral system;
[9] accountable government;
[9] democratic process that works for all.
[108] FREE UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE:CULTURAL/ECONOMIC
[52] health care emphasizes preventative & alternative measures;
[33] free health care (accessible & state of the art);
[10] full control of our own bodies, incl. sharedownership of the means of preventative health care;
[9] free therapy & emotional/mental health care.
[104] ECONOMIC EQUALITY:   VIBRANT & SOUND ECONOMY/PROSPERITY
[95] localized economies;
[48] no corporate personhood;
[30] fairness & equality for all beings (including  ecosystems, resources);
[26] banks & corporations required to act responsibly,
answering to many, not few;
[19] radicalized labor unions;
[19] international corporate accountability;
[17] fair trade & fair working conditions.
[79] FREEDOM: POLITICAL/CULTURAL
[79] freedom to live anywhere: no borders, nonations;
[19] freedom of knowledge and press;
[16] freedom of religion;
[12] freedom of expression protected;
[9] free, equal access to opportunity.

Derived from the Visioning Activities at the OCCUPY NATIONAL GATHERING Philadelphia, PA July 2012

Coordinating Council Minutes 11-5-12

Minutes from Monday Occupy Meeting 11/5/2012:

AGENDA:
-dinner/fundraiser for B. Scales underway (organizing meeting to be posted soon)
-revisit Occupy Sandy relief discussion
-discuss WalMart action (don't remember this happening)
-treasury

announcements:
-Asheville Homeless Network now has office
-Kathryn discussed book "Switch" -how to create change
            -rider, elephant, path
            -recommends it for visioning process
            -advantages of simple, specific actions and messages, not abstract                  imperatives
-Mark reminded us that the agent of change is "me"
         -the individual, not Occupy or any other institution
-OA has donated $150 to Occupy Sandy relief fund as discussed at GA on 11/3
-Lindsay has given funds to John, now part of finance committee
-treasury short $75 (Mark to write check for that amount)
-$191 from Elders United (?)
-discussed whether to give more money to Occupy Sandy or not?
-S. suggested ordering Occucards to pass out at Holiday and MLK Jr. Day parades (we can get 1000 for $100)
-Rosetta and organizing meeting for B. Scales fundraiser (sometime in January- has anyone asked HIM about HIS schedule?)
-"diversity of tactics" meeting -unclear, more info?
-in depth discussion of Occupy vision, tactics, strategies, etc.
         -AGREED: identification as Occupy during actions (pin-on fabric ID, lanyards, t-shirts, etc.)
         -AGREED: to use funds to purchase 1000 Occucards to distribute during Holiday and MLKJr. Parades ($100)- Kasha will order and has already been given the money, since it was present
-AGREED: to print small labels with OA contact (website at least) for Occucards
                  (who will do this?)
-a dynamic discussion about the art of the possible (on a local level) and inclusive agendas . . .
-participatory structures suggested including:
   -flexibility
   -inclusive outreach plan
   -focused actions for mutually agreed-upon aims
   -expanding communication network
   -point by point exploration of issues at meetings

is the fact that everyone has different interests and aims and philosophies necessarily a weakness?
James suggested focused actions based on national agenda
Kathryn suggested an action "always on the books"
Mark asked if our aim is "the rebirth of civil society"
the importance of not doing thing that just "make us feel good" was highlighted


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Photo from Move Your Money event on 11/3//12

Taken at Vance Monument.  This photo was posted on the Facebook page. 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Occupy Asheville General Assembly 11/3/12

Occupy Asheville General Assembly November 3 2012
Kathryn facilitated; Jonathan took notes.

Read General Agreements.

Move Your Money ReCap: We appreciated all the folks that followed through on tasks discussed at the last GA in order to make the event today happen. Particularly Kathryn wanted to thank Self Help Credit Union for showing up. Jonathan expressed interest in learning more about some of the institutional Move Your Money campaigns that Steve is involved in. Tom noted that State Unemployment Insurance gets routed through Wells Fargo. Meggen mentioned that folks with Occupy Hendersonville have continued to do leafleting in front of banks, she asked if folks were willing to try to do this on more of a monthly basis.

Dinner for Ben Scales: Steve has been in contact with Rosseta about a dinner honoring Ben Scales. She is willing to host a dinner at the restaurant. Steve was looking at January. Steve will be in touch with Rosetta who would like to work with a small group to plan the dinner. This group could also talk about whether the dinner itself is a fundraiser. We discussed when to give Ben the money that we already agreed to give him. We agreed that once a date has been set for the dinner we could send him an invitation with the money order for the money we already allocated to him. Contact Lindsey if your interested in working on this.

Occupy Sandy Relief. Lindsey said there is a formal Occupy Sandy effort going on in the New York area plus Amy and someone out of New Orleans are headed up to NYC with relief supplies. They’ll be leaving Asheville on Monday and are accepting relief supplies to take up. We discussed who /where was the most appropriate place to make donations. Mark brought up whether it made more sense to give money to an organization like the Red Cross. Others felt excited about supporting efforts related to OWS. We felt like this is an opportunity to support a different form of direct action that is related to OWS and that it is kind of exciting to support an occupy related effort that is trying to apply some of what folks learned through the encampments, general assemblies etc up there to Sandy relief. It was asked if we even had the ability to give through a pay pal account at this point. Also we wondered if Kasha or James had heard about Sandy relief through interoccupy. We discussed splitting a donation between giving some funds to Amy for the trip up and donating some money to an OWS affiliated effort. Kathryn also raised the question of whether or not this kind of decision could/should be made at GA.

Proposal: Given that we recently received more than 100 from Elders for a Just Society for direct support (originally intended for the encampment), and we no longer have an encampment to support that we give $50 to local folks (Amy) going up to NYC and $100 to an OWS affiliated effort that can be determined at the Occupy Weekly meeting, after any input from Kasha and James re: what is being said on interOccupy. We came to consensus on this proposal.

Walmart: Organization United for Respect (OUR) Walmart has been coordinating small groups of striking Walmart workers across the country. They are calling for a national day of action on Friday the 23rd of November. We take part in an informational picket at the Hendersonville Rd Walmart at 2pm on the 23rd. Jonathan will contact some of the folks organizing at Sitel and just touch base with them, as Sitel is located w/n the same shopping center as Walmart. Because we know were only allowed on the right of way along the road, we’ll need to have signs so that people can see us driving in.

Decision Making: The Coordinating Council in recognition that it is not really able to operate as originally conceived, i.e. a body of delegates from entities w/n Occupy Asheville, has decided continue meeting once a week on Monday evenings but now aw “Weekly Occupy.” This meeting is open to all and everyone has a voice (so decision making is not limited to delegates from Occupy Asheville working groups, affinity groups, and caucuses.) The Weekly Occupy group would like to continue to be a decision making body for Occupy Asheville and thinks it would be an important to have a week between when a proposal is made and when it is consensed upon, so that other folks in OA will have a chance to weigh in and even show up at the Weekly Occupy meeting. Jonathan expressed a concern that the Coordinating Council was originally agreed to by a series of OA General Assemblies and that the power to dissolve the CC rested with the GA and upon dissolution of the CC the assumption was that the GA would become the decision making body for OA. He suggested there was no reason we couldn’t decide that there would be a weekly GA on a Monday and the Weekly Occupy meeting could be a GA. Kathryn explained that there was some concern that an indoor weekly meeting doesn’t have the same “feel” as an outdoor assembly, and so maybe it would not be appropriate to call it a GA. Mark suggested that maybe what we are looking for is one decision making process that could be utilized by two bodies which are horizontal not in hierarchy over each other. Jon expressed his strong feeling that there is value in folks coming together once a week. Kathryn said she really finds it valuable to have a decision making body meeting away from the distractions that come with an outdoor assembly. Jonathan proposed the following as a working process:
The Weekly Occupy meeting and the monthly OA General Assembly would both have the power to make decisions as Occupy Asheville, each decision would need to be proposed* at one meeting or assembly and then consensed upon at a second meeting or assembly. This would mean for example that a proposal could be made at a Weekly Occupy meeting one Monday and then be agreed to at the next Monday Weekly Occupy meeting OR a proposal could be made at a Weekly Occupy meeting and then consensed upon at a monthly GA OR a proposal could be made at a GA and then agreed to at the following Monday Weekly Occupy meeting.
The group agreed to this as a working process. Jonathan then proposed that the above proposal be formally brought before the December GA, for approval as the new decision making process for OA.

Occupy National Gathering Visioning: After the Occupy Caravan and National Gathering in Philadelphia, visioning done at the National Gathering was narrowed down to 21 points. At the last CC meeting James brought the 21 points for consideration by Occupy Asheville. There were a few concerns about how to move forward with considering these 21 points. One concern was that we went through our own visioning process and that should not be forgotten or abandoned. Another was that we need to have a clear understanding of the difference between visions and goals. Mark, Tom, and Kathryn pointed out that we were at the point of developing action plans and goals for the visioning that OA had started. It was pointed out that a goal needs to have actions leading to it, as opposed to a vision or aspiration, which might be an idea without actions leading to it. Also there was concern that just presenting the 21 visions without first allowing OA participants to digest the information makes it hard for people to have an informed conversation and that dealing with all 21 visions at once may be overwhelming. Meggen is working on putting the list of 21 visions up on the OA blog in a way that makes it clear that these are visions from the National Gathering, not necessarily visions that OA has adopted, but visions that we are interested in thinking about and discussing. We also talked about our interest in hearing about the visions that came out of the National Gathering. Jonathan made the following proposal:
With the understanding that OA is midway through a visioning process and that learning about and discussing the 21 visions that came out of the National Gathering does not come with the assumption that we will make a particular decision to adopt them, OA should take about 20 minutes at each of the next several meetings and General Assemblies to hear about and discuss two or three of these visions at a time.
The group agreed to this proposal for moving forward to responding to the 21 points that came out of the National Gathering visioning process.

Announcements:
The Asheville Homeless Network is opening an office room #4 at the Downtown Market on S. French Broad.
Sonny announced that there will be a performance at UNCA on November 7th at 7:30 remembering the 1912 Lawrence textile “bread and roses” strike. Free for UNCA folks $10 for everyone else.