[Street] [Ideas] [Proposal] Grow the movement + Outreach strategy session

Gregory Murphy gsjmurphy at gmail.com
Thu Feb 9 00:34:25 EST 2012


sounds good Katie - also sounds like some overlap with the Strategic
Planning Sessions that are starting to get off the ground, with an initial
planning meeting Friday, at 10:00 . . . contact Rita Sebastian for more
info if you don't know what's these sessions are about.


Greg



On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:29 PM, Katie Gradowski <katie at occupyboston.org>wrote:

> Hey all!
>
> Apologies for being out of the loop these past two weeks -- I've been
> sick, and out of town, and generally trying to realign things so that they
> are a little bit more manageable  (which has meant taking myself out of a
> number of meetings and initiatives, and spending a lot of time at home,
> drinking tea, and reading up on the financial crisis, yeah!)    Leaving
> that aside -- I wanted to talk about an idea that I've floated to a number
> of people on the outreach front!
>
> This email my way of putting out feelers for an idea that I would really
> love to see take root within Occupy Boston, which I expect would be of
> interest to a variety of people on this list.   I'm emailing it out to a
> wide number of people, as a temperature check to see if there's interest in
> this idea, and whether people on any of these lists would be interested in
> taking the conversation further...
>
> With that said, here's the idea!
>
>
> *******************************************************************************************************
>
> In the past few weeks, there has been a lot of development and growth on
> the outreach front -- a new WG to "grow the movement," a student occupy
> summit coming up this weekend, new neighborhood assemblies popping up every
> week or so, and a lot of movement BEYOND Occupy Boston proper, as
> Occupy takes roots and evolves within the greater Boston area.   Outreach
> is happening on a number of fronts -- and the movement is growing!    All
> of these developments are pretty great, and a sign that Occupy is alive and
> well in Boston.   That said, it would be great to have a forum to bring
> everyone into the same room and have a wider discussion about how the
> movement is growing in Boston, and how we can help it expand.
>
> With that in mind, a proposal!
>
> *Grow the Movement:  Outreach + Connection*
> *(ideally this will have a better title)*
> *
> *
> I'd like to organize an outreach strategy  summit -- scheduled for a
> Saturday in February or early in March --  to try to bring these disparate
> threads together -- bringing people within Occupy Boston together with
> people from within the wider Occupy movement *in* Boston  (from the various
> neighborhood assemblies, from students occupy, from various neighborhood
> groups and community organizations) to talk about outreach strategy more
> broadly -- where we are, what people have been working on, and how we can
> work in conjunction with each other, between and across occupies, to grow
> the 99% movement in Boston.
>
> To be clear - I'm not proposing the be-all, end-all summit to figure out
> "what it is we're doing," or "where we want to go" -- and I realize that
> within and beyond each occupation, outreach frequently takes a back burner
> to working through internal issues.    That's important -- but it's also
> important to get beyond ourselves, and connect what we're doing to each
> other, and how we can make our work relevant to the wider 99%.    In that
> respect, the point is specifically to talk about outreach and
> interconnection -- what initiatives are coming to the fore, within the
> various occupies, how we can work together, and what outreach strategies
> make sense, as Occupy moves into phase 2 in Boston.
>
> What do people think?   Is this a thing you would be interested in
> attending?   Is this rendered defunct by the existence of Students Occupy
> and Mass Occupy?   Does this space already exist?  If not, is this a thing
> you'd be  interested in helping to *plan* and *put together*?  If you have
> thoughts along these lines, please respond to this email!
>
> I've included some further thoughts below for what might be covered in
> such a meeting, mostly in a brainstorming capacity.
>
> *************************************************************
>
> Some thoughts on what we might cover in such a forum....
>
> * Grow the movement -  There are MANY occupies now, not just one -- how do
> they connect to each other, and where do they intersect?   what are the
> common goals?
>
> * Look around the room -- who's occupying Boston at the moment?   who's
> decolonizing it?   how do we expand the sphere of who we're tlaking to, so
> we're all talking to each other?
>
> * Grounding in anti-sexism, anti-racism, anti-oppression.   What
> structures can we build to address various forms of oppression within our
> own movement?  (crucial thinking about outreach to wider community) - how
> do we help to build common ground here so we're all speaking the same
> language?   (this is obviously a big, big question)
>
> * City-wide campaigns -- Occupy the T, Citizens United, Knockout Barstool
> -- these have been great so far, how do we build on these and support each
> other on ongoing campaigns?
>
> * Connection to Mass Occupy and Students Occupy -- what forums already
> exist for this sort of thing?
>
> * Interoccupy + coordination between occupations -- how do we communicate
> now, how can we communicate better in the future?   what spaces exist for
> cross-talk between occupies?
>
> * Outreach!  (beyond connecting to each other, how do we better connect
> with the wider world?)  on a large and small scale -- what outreach
> strategies are different groups working on, how do we build and connect
> with the wider world?
>
>
> ************************************************************************************
>
> Thoughts?   Feedback?   Interest?
>
> This is a temperature check.    If any of this sounds good to you, please
> respond "yes" to this email.
>
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