<p>Thank you,Greg. Concurrently holding both kinds of meetings is both healthy and proactive. Deb on droid</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Dec 14, 2011 12:11 PM, "Gregory Murphy" <<a href="mailto:gsjmurphy@gmail.com">gsjmurphy@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
they are both happening<br><br>GA at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury Street, on Thursday @ 7:00 PM<br><br>Community dialogue meeting Friday night at St. Paul's , I think at 6:00<br><br><br>Please know that Facilitation, soon, will be presenting a proposal for a weekly Community Gathering event.<br>
<br><br>Greg<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 12:03 PM, Martin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:m2@occupyboston.org" target="_blank">m2@occupyboston.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<u></u>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
I strongly support both Eli's amendments and the issues Katie
raised. <br>
<br>
Also point of information Rachel is planning another key forum on
just this topic on Saturday. <br>
<br>
This does bring up the dangers of only using community gatherings
like GA as strictly governing body's who only make oceans of
announcements and decisions making and have zero space for community
dialogue. such an idiotic system is called the united states
congress. and we have all seen how well that has worked for our
nation. <br>
<br>
lets do both: Thursday GA AND Friday forum. or switch them. <font color="#ff0000"><big><big><u><b>PLEASE!</b></u></big></big></font><br>
<br>
cheers <br>
<br>
martin <br><div><div>
<br>
<br>
On 12/14/11 11:39 AM, Ben Janos wrote:
</div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div>
<div>+1 to Eli.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>in solidarity</div>
<div>Ben<br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Elias
Feghali <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:efeghali@gmail.com" target="_blank">efeghali@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote">Katie,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I strongly agree with your analysis of our current
situation. I appreciate you articulating them so succinctly
and with such vision. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Thanks again Katie,</div>
<div>Eli</div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 10:08
AM, Elizabeth Holmes <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sherlock@mit.edu" target="_blank">sherlock@mit.edu</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex" class="gmail_quote">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<div>Thank you Katie,</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>See y'all soon! I'll have a longer response
when I sit down to a laptop.</div>
<div><br>
Solidarity,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Eli</div>
<div>Occupy Boston / Wall Street</div>
<div><a href="http://www.elizabethannholmes.com/" target="_blank">www.elizabethannholmes.com</a></div>
<div>@occupymom</div>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div><br>
On Dec 14, 2011, at 1:35 AM, Katie Gradowski
<<a href="mailto:katie.gradowski@gmail.com" target="_blank">katie.gradowski@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div>
<div style="text-align:left">Hey all, <br>
<br>
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! <br>
<br>
<u>A brief overview of my concerns: </u><br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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:<br>
<br>
******************************************************************************************************************************************<br>
<br>
IMMEDIATE ISSUES (to be resolved in the
next few days)<br>
<br>
<b>1) Permanent space for GA +
reassessment of working groups </b>---
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?<br>
<br>
<u>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</u>. 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.
<u>This is a top priority at the moment</u>.
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. <br>
<br>
<b>2) Long term winter solution for
houseless occupiers </b> -- 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. <u>We cannot rely on
occupiers who have stepped up to offer
short-term housing as a long-term
solution to this issue. </u> 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. <br>
</div>
<br>
<u>We need an immediate solution to the
question fo where they will be housed. </u>
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. <br>
<br>
<b>3) OB actions this week, next week,
and moving forward. </b> 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! <br>
<br>
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! <u>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.</u> 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.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div>*********************************************************************************************************<br>
<br>
WIDER POST-EVICTION THOUGHTS - on GA,
facilitation, and the need for open
community spaces<br>
<br>
(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<br>
<br>
<b>Reclaiming GAs as a public space</b>
-- 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 <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
<b>Taking care of our own</b>. 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)<br>
<br>
<b>Prioritizing people over process:</b>
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. <u>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.</u> 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. <br>
<br>
<b>Collaboration across working
groups. </b> 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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
</div>
*********************************************************************************************************************************<br>
<br>
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.
<br>
<br>
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.
<br>
<br>
Those are my thoughts! Please let me
know yours. <br>
<br>
All best, <br>
<br>
Katie<br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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</div>
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