[Street] [Ideas] proposal to table GA until Friday (in lieu of community forum on immediate problems)
rita sebastian
rita at brandeis.edu
Wed Dec 14 07:04:00 EST 2011
Thank-you Katie for saying this...I agree!
Rita
Off to Court
On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 1:55 AM, Jennifer Mazer <jmmazer at gmail.com> wrote:
> THANK YOU KATIE (not yelling, emphasis)
> I felt some very bad vibes at tonight's GA. Enough to make me
> fear for OB...
> My birthday is Thursday. One of my major birthday wishes will be for
> OB to survive because when we aren't dysfunctional we are
> powerful.
> We have the power to change Boston and the world. Not being
> "starry-eyed" here.
> I KNOW we can do it.
> My thoughts.
> In hope, Jen Mazer
>
> On Wed, 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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>>
>
--
Rita Monestersky- Sebastian
Brandeis, MA SID' 2009
"If you cannot change yourself, how can you change the world?"
Gandhi
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