[Street] [Occupybostonoutreach] proposal to table GA until Friday (in lieu of community forum on immediate problems)
Ben Janos
occupyprospecthill at gmail.com
Wed Dec 14 11:39:17 EST 2011
+1 to Eli.
While I agree that there are serious issues we need to deal with as a
community, we don't need to cancel GA Thursday to do it. I strongly support
the friendly ammendment to have the forum on Friday, while keeping
Thursday's GA time and place the same as was decided at yesterday's GA.
in solidarity
Ben
On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Elias Feghali <efeghali at gmail.com> wrote:
> Katie,
>
> I strongly agree with your analysis of our current situation. I appreciate
> you articulating them so succinctly and with such vision.
>
> I would like to amend your proposal to cancel GA, by moving that we
> continue with GA on Thursday at Emmanuel from 7-11, but also hold the forum
> on Friday at St. Paul's from 6-830 to have a focused discussion on finding
> a community solution to our most pressing problems. There is hardly enough
> consensus that cancelling GA is the right thing to do, and I fear it might
> cause tension and anxiety for the group.
>
> I would also urge the facilitation group to take your stated concerns into
> serious consideration. I trust the group to figure out how can we adjust
> the process to meet our needs at the moment. One suggestion I have is to
> require all announcements by noon the day of a GA, to be compiled, and
> printed out for distribution at GA -- saving us over an hour for time to
> discuss proposals and perhaps even create space to have strategy focused
> discussions.
>
> Thanks again Katie,
> Eli
>
> On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Elizabeth Holmes <sherlock at mit.edu>wrote:
>
>> Thank you Katie,
>>
>> I wanted to speak to the houseless issue. I'm in OWS right now trying to
>> figure out how they are housing everyone. Thus far, I've seen a huge
>> involvement of churches & religious communities. OWS has the support of
>> 14,000 religious leaders of an upcoming action that will be HUGELY valuable
>> for us.
>>
>> I'm begging for people to start plugging more into the religious
>> community in Boston. I'm going to reach out to Our Lady of Perpetual
>> Health in Roxbury Crossing as I used to intern there. I highly recommend
>> the same action of others to religious connections they have. Please do
>> keep medics & safety/mediation in the loop as the two working groups should
>> be prepared to provide support at these locations.
>>
>> See y'all soon! I'll have a longer response when I sit down to a laptop.
>>
>> Solidarity,
>>
>> Eli
>> Occupy Boston / Wall Street
>> www.elizabethannholmes.com
>> @occupymom
>>
>> On Dec 14, 2011, at 1:35 AM, Katie Gradowski <katie.gradowski at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hey all,
>>
>> I'm forwarding this email widely because it seems pressing. The past two
>> GAs following eviction have felt very out of place -- I feel like we, as a
>> community, have not yet dealt with the eviction from Dewey Square, which
>> has resulted in a creeping sense of sprawl and dysfunction. This email is
>> a tentative call for a reset!
>>
>> *A brief overview of my concerns: *
>>
>> Over the past two days, we have seen hours worth of working group
>> announcements, in many cases for working groups whose purpose and identity
>> has irrevocably shifted. We have seen "message" proposals, even as we
>> have houseless occupiers who have gone days without a place to stay. We
>> have had a proliferation of hastily planned actions, with no thought or
>> coordination of how we, as a community, want to respond to eviction, or of
>> coordinated actions between working groups in response to eviction from
>> Dewey Square. Reports so far on tonight's GA (contentious issues of
>> storage, personal attacks, a proposal to send homeless occupiers to DC?)
>> suggests that things are not getting better.
>>
>> While this is all happening, there are pressing issues that have not yet
>> been resolved. I feel deeply uncomfortable moving forward in any sense
>> until we can take time, as a group, can resolve the question of space and
>> housing. I would like to propose tabling Thursday's GA, and in its place
>> scheduling an open community forum this Friday, at St. Paul's Cathedral,
>> from 6-8:30 p.m. to find immediate, community-wide solutions to the
>> following three concerns:
>>
>>
>> ******************************************************************************************************************************************
>>
>> IMMEDIATE ISSUES (to be resolved in the next few days)
>>
>> *1) Permanent space for GA + reassessment of working groups *---
>> Without a site, we have sprawl on all sides. Working groups that no
>> longer have space, GAs are tentatively planned, lots of options on the
>> table for sites but no solid choices, defunct groups consolidating with
>> other groups. We need to sit down and map out the new terrain. What is
>> the new "site" for OB, in the absence of Dewey Square? (don't outsource
>> this to a working group! let's solve it together) Do we want a central
>> space for everything or several diffuse spaces? Do we want roving GAs in
>> JP, Chinatown, Dorchester, and elsewhere? (and is it important for Gas and
>> working groups to be in the same space?) Do we want to rent or borrow?
>> Do we want a food truck and a caravan of tiny houses? And if so, how do
>> we make that happen?
>>
>> *Between now and Friday, I propose that *everyone* who has an idea or
>> plan about permanent space take this week (facilitation, logistics,
>> outreach, Eric, Greg, Brian, myself) write it up as a proposal, and bring
>> it with actionable items to Friday's community forum*. In line with
>> that, I propose that as many working groups as possible check in with
>> updated information about where you are meeting and how you are situated,
>> post-eviction. *This is a top priority at the moment*. Without a space
>> to assemble and a concrete proposal for what space we want to inhabit,
>> post-Dewey, we will not be able to settle long enough to accomplish
>> anything of substance. We'll split up, peter out, start meeting
>> separately, stop checking in, and that will be the end of Occupy Boston.
>>
>> *2) Long term winter solution for houseless occupiers * -- At the
>> moment, we have up to 10 people remaining who are active occupiers who need
>> a place to stay. At least 4 are couples and cannot go into the shelter
>> system. *We cannot rely on occupiers who have stepped up to offer
>> short-term housing as a long-term solution to this issue. * Those of us
>> who have offered space are already stretched thin and are trying hard to
>> fill in the gaps. Many of these people have stuck it out after eviction,
>> helping to coordinate space logistics and participating in GAs and working
>> groups, in spite of the very real possibility of spending the night in a
>> bus station.The occupiers who remain are part of our community, and we need
>> a community solution to this issue.
>>
>> *We need an immediate solution to the question fo where they will be
>> housed. * Possible short term solutions: rotating couch space, church
>> space, others? long-term solution: outreach to places that will allow us
>> to pitch tents (not a good option over winter)? large indoor spaces with
>> housing? renting an apartment for houseless occupiers over winter?
>> Sending people to other occupations is not an option -- nor is farming this
>> out to a working group or a dedicated set of individuals. If we are truly
>> a community, we need a community solution to this issue. Most of these
>> people have arrangements that are expiring by the end of the week. This
>> issue must be dealt with, before any broader questions of message and
>> direction are considered.
>>
>> *3) OB actions this week, next week, and moving forward. * I had a
>> conversation with some folks in media a few days ago about message, and
>> someone remarked (quite rightly) that the way we make statements now is not
>> with words, but with actions. There are a number of very exciting actions
>> coming out of the community organization meetings, as well as a
>> proliferation of exciting, small-scale actions (tiny tents, anyone?) that
>> are in progress. Let's coordinate TOGETHER, plan across working groups,
>> and approach these actions in a really intentional way!
>>
>> This week has seen more sprawl than usual, with a proliferation of
>> actions, many reactionary, quickly planned with little coordination or
>> thought of execution. Autonomous action is fine, but too easily becomes an
>> excuse to throw things together at the last minute -- let's NOT use GA
>> announcements as a place to plan actions in the hopes that people will just
>> show up -- let's actually sit down and plan them together! *There are
>> two meetings taking place this weekend -- an OB action summit (Sunday at 1)
>> and a community-wide spokescouncil meeting to plan for a mass day of action
>> sometime in January or February.* Let's prioritize these meetings, and
>> use that space as a jumping-off point for a larger discussion of what we,
>> as a community, want to prioritize going forward.
>>
>>
>>
>> *********************************************************************************************************
>>
>> WIDER POST-EVICTION THOUGHTS - on GA, facilitation, and the need for open
>> community spaces
>>
>> (this is less urgent - feel free to skip it if you like -- they deal with
>> my broader concerns about GA, and how we can move forward as a community in
>> the wake of eviction from Dewey Square
>>
>> *Reclaiming GAs as a public space* -- the past two GAs have felt very
>> closed at a time when they need to be radically open -- they have carried
>> on with "business as usual," instead of reclaiming GAs as an open forum
>> (which they initially were). In the wake of eviction, we need SOME spaces
>> for "loose" facilitation, for town hall stye forum, similar to what we had
>> in the beginning ---> perhaps reviving the PROPOSAL FOR COMMUNITY NIGHTS?
>> how to deal with the sprawl of announcements?? replacing WG
>> announcements with print copies to circulate -- info desk at GA? -- all of
>> these and more. now, more than ever, we need to make it a radically open
>> space, and be proactive about inviting new people in
>>
>> In the days and weeks leading up to eviction, many people remarked
>> privately to me that they felt OB becoming a closed community, with people
>> onsite "taking care of their own," and offsite working groups operating in
>> total isolation of each other. Post-eviction, we have followed "business
>> as usual" -- continuing meetings, highly procedural GAs, prioritizing an
>> hour of working group announcements, and dragging on for hours.
>>
>> We need to respond to GA specifically -- but we also need to actively
>> create spaces for people to meet and socialize, building in time for social
>> events, community forums (like the one I'm proposing right now),
>> discussion meetings, teach-ins, and debate -- planning them in advance and
>> publicizing them widely, so that people outside the mailing lists will know
>> about them and can come. In line with this, we need to actively make use
>> of the website, wiki, facebook, and twitter make sure we are publicizing
>> our events, keeping people up to date, and coordinating within Occupy
>> Boston in order to get the word out in a timely manner.
>>
>> *Taking care of our own*. When occupied, Dewey Square was in a
>> constant state of crisis. It was impossible to respond, react, or slow
>> down long enough to deal with the myriad issues -- chief among them, the
>> marginalization of houseless occupiers and people of color. Their needs
>> need to be addressed and put front and center in any discussion of how we
>> as a community move forward as a community (whether they be clothing,
>> shelter, living assistance, a place to take showers, etc)
>>
>> *Prioritizing people over process:* David made a proposal at
>> Saturday's facilitation meeting to go back to loose process and allow
>> people to speak openly at the post-eviction GA. This didn't happen, and
>> to date, no space for this kind of open conversation has been made.
>> Post-eviction, we need to reintroduce a sense of radical openness to GA,
>> even if it slows things down or breaks process. *We need spaces for
>> loose facilitation, even at the expense of efficiency, both to take into
>> account (and deal with) our radically changed circumstances, and to make
>> space for new people to have a place in the dialogue.* Strong
>> facilitation is comforting to some and profoundly alienating to others --
>> at this juncture, I feel pretty strongly that we need spaces for both
>> strong facilitation and open, spontaneous dialogue -- and that if this
>> isn't currently happening in GA, we need to make it so.
>>
>> *Collaboration across working groups. * For anyone who was at last
>> night's community orgs meeting, it was an amazing example of coordination
>> across groups -- we had four solid proposals on the table for upcoming
>> actions (from January through March) and left with actionable items on each
>> one. For the first time in the history of that meeting, there were
>> representatives from media,outreach, facilitation, and community
>> organizations from across Boston. At the facilitation meeting last
>> Saturday,likewise, there were representatives from almost all of the major
>> working groups. It felt amazing, to see and begin to plan large-scale
>> collaborative actions as a group, with thoughtful, intentional buy-in from
>> everyone in the room.
>>
>> Too often, we farm out difficult decisions to working groups or create
>> new ones on the spot, rather than do the workto have these conversations.
>> We need to create spaces where we can collaborate TOGETHER to solve
>> pressing issues across working groups, marshal our existing resources and
>> work together, across working groups, to plan actions, solutions,
>> discussions, and next steps. More conversations like this = more work
>> that can immediately get done (and can get done together!), which is what's
>> going to keep us together in the long run.
>>
>>
>> *********************************************************************************************************************************
>>
>> Everything that's outlined above is hard. We need to be thoughtful,
>> intentional, and have the courage to take things slowly rather than rush to
>> keep up with press coverage and the post-eviction spotlight. We also need
>> to try, as best we can, not to trash each other by email as we work through
>> these difficult issues.
>>
>> Without a space -- and in particular, without concrete accommodations
>> made for our most marginalized members -- I feel it will be very hard to
>> move forward on any of the rest of it in a meaningful way. I propose that
>> we start this conversation Friday at 6 p.m. at St. Paul's Cathedral.
>>
>> Those are my thoughts! Please let me know yours.
>>
>> All best,
>>
>> Katie
>>
>>
>
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