<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Occupy Boston - </span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial">please attend Tuesday
night's (3/13/12) GA prepared to discuss and to come to consensus (if possible)
on some of these questions:<br>
</span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span></span> </font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span></span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span> • does OB want to participate in a strategic planning process, and then create a spending plan,</span></font><font> accordingly?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span> </span>• what to do about weekly stipends?</span></font><font>
</font><font><span style="font-family:Arial">
<span><br> </span>• and anything else GA wants to
agree on, in regards to financial matters. <br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><br><font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial"><u>Background</u>:</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">On January 19, GA agreed to a FAWG proposal to freeze weekly stipends. </span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial">At the time, </span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial">FAWG's energy was somewhat protective, in lieu of the post Dewey reality of lessening revenues and increased expenses, i.e.," lets give OB the opportunity to decide how it wants to spend this nest egg, before a big chunk of it disappears." One week later, at FAWG's 1/26 presentation, we announced the possibility of a strategic planing and participatory budgeting process. Unfortunately, FAWG blew that suggestion/announcement by not leaving enough time, at that GA, to get many questions answered. Realizing this, and recognizing that such an endeavor would need greater community buy-in, an ad-hoc group emerged, the Participatory Budget and Justice WG, and held a series of open meetings to dig deeper into the subject matter, discuss the pros and cons of the process. This group then came back to GA, a week or so, ago, to present its findings and engender more GA discussion. That presentation back-fired, for several reasons: not enough time set aside to cover what was needed and to allow adequate time for discussion and Q&A, poor time management on PB&J's part, PB&J failing to provide a grounding (in to what led up to that night's presentation) at the beginning of its presentation, and inadequate facilitation. <br>
</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial">FAWG is very clear that it does not have the answers to the questions posed, and other financial related questions, nor is it its purview to propose answers to them. The answers must arise from the Community. Granted, one evening of GA may not provide enough time for the Community to make any decisions - if not, a dialogue is started.</span><br>
</font><font><span style="font-family:Arial">
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><br></font>
</p>
<font><br></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">In preparation for Tuesday's GA,
please read this article:<span> </span><a href="http://stirtoaction.com/?p=1069" target="_blank">http://stirtoaction.com/?p=1069</a> (first sent to Facilitation by Dennis Fox), <span></span> "Article by Marianne Maeckelbergh, a
Dutch anthropologist/activist, relevant to many aspects of our ongoing
discussions," (and then forwarded to PB&J).<br>
<br>
</span><br></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Please read my colleague's - Rita Sebastian - response to this article, below, and see the link at the bottom of (this quite long) email, about participatory budgeting.<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><span style="font-family:Arial">"Thanks for the article. I agree that
Maeckelbergh's article is highly relevant to this discussion (about
Participatory Budgeting and Justice), so I would like to respond to it.
Marianne begins by stating that horizontal decision making does not work
if you start with the assumptions of (a) a scarce resource sought by
(b) competing groups; for (c) exclusive purposes. These assumptions
match FAWG's current dilemma: we have a dwindling budget that is being
requested by different WGs for their different actions. We can either
adopt a standard approach of setting a budget to disburse these
remaining funds, or we can try to adopt other ways of looking at these
issues such as those suggested in the article. In either case, FAWG does
not want to propose a solution to this issue, but rather we want to set
up a workshop with full participation from across OB that looks at this
problem with <u>all</u> options that anyone can suggest on the table.</span>"<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">
<br>
For example, options to discuss might include:<br>
<br>
<i>Should OB have a spending plan and a related budget? </i></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">We currently follow a
set of rules for disbursing funds that do not look at budgetary targets.
The question is whether this is achieving the goals of OB. Our capitalist
economy runs by a set of rules that transfer 70% of the wealth to 1% of the
people. If you use rules to control allocation of resources, you also
have to look at whether the outcome is social justice, which is why we call this process PB&J.
Budgetary targets may not be the best approach to managing disbursements – they
do not respond well to fast changing situations like ours. But they do allow
you to think in terms of justice – whether the results of the processes are achieving the higher goals of OB.<br>
</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial">To be more specific – we currently disburse fund according to who is submitting the spending requests, or who makes effective requests at the GA for special funding (GM note: or, to an extent, who is liked by the GA community.) But is this really the best way for OB to set its priorities? The outcome of the workshop does not have to be a “budget” but rather can be any strategy that provides FAWG with guidance as to how to manage disbursements.<br>
<br>
<i>How should the current assets be
distributed? </i></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">The money from Dewey
Square may be a one-time benefit. Should we try to stretch it to cover a
few essential costs over a long period of time or spend it quickly to help
maintain the high momentum?<br>
<br>
<i>Should OB do fundraising? </i></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">The amount of
donations has dropped since the end of the encampment, and it is not clear if
any future OB action will restore the level of public interest that led to
these donations.<span> </span>The amount of
donations we are currently receiving is not enough to fund what is currently called the ‘fixed expenses”. It is possible that we
could address this shortfall via fundraising. Many people within OB believe
that fundraising conflicts with the goals of the movement and that WGs can accomplish
their objectives without funding if they think more creatively.<span> </span>The “zero budget” option needs to be
considered in the workshop.<br>
<br>
<i>Should WGs deal with their own funding,
and if so, what is the role of FAWG?</i></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">We don’t want the
availability of funding from OB to limit the ability of WGs to carry out
actions. As OB becomes increasingly decentralized, should WGs
raise their own funds, and if so should FAWG continue to remain as the
oversight mechanism for accountability to both the GA and donors?</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><br></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><i>
Should FAWG be disbanded? </i></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Taking the previous
idea further, maybe we should shut down the centralized accounting. FAWG played
a vital role during the encampment, providing transparency so that everyone
knew the funds were being handled responsibly. But the movement has become
increasingly decentralized, and it may be better at this point to disburse the
remaining funds to WGs and let each WG manage its own finances subsequently.<br>
<br>
Marianne’s concept of the movement as a network of independent cells would tend
to support the decentralization of financial decision making and this option
needs to be considered at the workshop. But justice might be an issue here -
should funding go only to the WGs who are marketable? To have the
free market determine OBs financial priorities sounds like a capitalist
solution – which is what I thought we were fighting against. We're being
sued by Paul Carnes for depriving him of his right to make million$ off OB.
Having OB’s finances managed by people like him doesn’t seem like a step
forward.<br>
<br>
In any case, everyone at the GA needs to understand that FAWG’s goal is not to
specify options or strategies, but rather to create a process that provides the
broadest possible participation in this effort. To make these decisions
requires a holistic understanding of the needs and capabilities of all WGs, and
to have an interchange of ideas where everyone can suggest and explore
different options. The workshop provides a time and place for this
exchange, and the PB tools for facilitating this process were developed by people
who believe very much in both horizontal democracy and justice."<br>
<br>
</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">On behalf of the Financial Accountability Working Group, I urge you to come to GA, on Tuesday the 13th, and voice your thoughts and opinions. </span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"> I apologize for the late notice.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<br><font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Thank you,</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br>
Gregory Murphy</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><br><font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<font><span style="font-family:Arial">PS </span></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span>See note, below, from PB & J.</span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal">
<br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><br><font></font><font><span style="font-family:Arial"></span><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman""></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial;background:none repeat scroll 0% 0% white">Note from
PB & J:</span><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Announcement:
Participatory Budgeting and Justice Working Group (PB & J) will be
hosting a workshop/ teach-in, later this month (date TBA). We welcome OB to attend. Budgeting will not be done unless
OB chooses to do so, however the workshop creates a perfect forum to discuss
the above issues, as well as others that will be identified. Come learn
from experts from the PB Project in NY. </span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Link PB Project:
<a href="http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://www.participatorybudgeting.org/</span></a></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial">Thanks,</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;line-height:normal"><font><span style="font-family:Arial"><br></span></font></p>
<font><span style="line-height:115%;font-family:Arial">Rita<br>
<br>
<br>
</span></font>