Meeting 8 - 12/15/11

Introduction
The day's first announcement was the successful Occupation of a local eviction (Read about it here or watch it on MSNBC here). Most in attendance had read the article, but had questions about what else we could offer the family. We offered some basic information on tenant rights and the Hospitality House, but the foreclosure group will of course be developing materials and information available to those in need for the future. There is also an educational meeting on amending the constitution to end corporate personhood on Monday Dec 19, at the Madelyn Helling Library @7pm.

Agenda

Some ideas had been posted on the webpage for possible agenda items. We had a short discussion on each before deciding which we would like to focus on.

UC Davis Example - The incident at UC Davis highlighted what could be seen as a microcosm of the larger Occupy movement. The students protested peacefully against rising tuition costs and were in turn pepper sprayed by the authorities. The people in charge of the UC system made the same excuses and promises our government makes; namely that the occupation was a health hazard, a danger, they would investigate the perpetrators of the violence, and promise greater accountability in the future, all while doing nothing. This very simple example could serve as a more tangible example for the larger movement if we could present it in some way.

Pre-Jan 20 Corporate Personhood Education Event - To raise awareness for the main event, we would like to hold an educational event of some sort to let the public know just how important this issue is. We could have a guest speaker to present the timeline of court cases resulting in expanded rights for corporations. We would also like to reach out to the TEA Party on this event, because this is a shared concern. This could be the first C2SEA event (anagram of OWS TEA and C for Cooperative = CTWOSEA). The next TEA Party meeting is Jan 4, so the event would have to take place after that date.

Shoes for Diversity Rally - Lowe's recently removed advertising from the TV Show "All-American Muslim," agreeing with complaints that the show did not adequately present the dangers of Islam. We would like to protest this bigoted decision by boycotting Lowe's, and also having a multi-cultural shoe throwing protest, the way they do in some Middle Eastern cultures. Thrown shoes would also be donated to Souls4Soles to be distributed to the poor all over the world. The other purpose of this rally would be to outreach to minorities, because the Occupy movement is presently viewed as a "white" movement, and really needs the participation of other races and cultures.

Foreclosures - This is such a hot button issue; we need to develop our tactics and services in this area. It was suggested that we may also be able to work with the TEA Party on this issue, but based on real conversations and research, the conservative perspective is more likely to either blame the owners, or even in the face of sympathy, it may be preferred to allow or even accelerate the foreclosures so the economy can bottom out and rebuild. We could have a town hall meeting with speakers to present the issues in a concise manner to a much larger audience, and have room for discussion and a Q&A session. In the mean time, there is a definite need to develop available resources. We need fliers with more depth, and available in more locations such as the Law Library, the Public Law Center, etc. It was suggested that daily rallies would not be a wasted effort, but all of these issues should be brought up with the Foreclosure work group. It was agreed to contact the group and push to schedule another meeting.

We voted to dive deeper into foreclosures and the pre-Jan 20 education event. However, the deeper discussion on foreclosures ended up turning into a discussion on the role of the Education/Goals WG. With so many more specific work groups having been created, what role does the Ed/Goals group now play? Should we develop generic tactics for all groups to use, and schedule regular teach-ins? Or should the group's time be dedicated to new and innovative ideas that will not likely come up in other groups? When there is overlap between groups, if we decide to do something, do we need to come up with an interaction protocol, or can we use the general autonomy rules of the GA?

At the end of the day, we agreed to continue the discussion about the role of the group at the next meeting. We also managed to reach consensus to have a pre-Jan 20 event, and to reach out to the TEA Party. We will try to get time at their next meeting to invite them, on behalf of Occupy Nevada County, to the education event.

Forum discussions will be put up on the webpage for agenda items, as well as the discussion on the role of the group (click here). Dennis's presentation on the financial system was postponed to the next meeting; reading materials will also be posted to the webpage here.

Meeting 7 - 12/8/12

Introduction

We had a much longer introduction, because we had not previously determined the agenda, and also operated more casually on the whole, due to the "cozier" group size. Announcements included a townhall meeting about saving the local parks, starting at 6:30pm, Dec. 12, at the Miner's Foundry in Nevada City. Carol Ann purchased several copies of “Agenda for a New Economy” by David Corten, that will be available for purchase for $15. We will at some point have a book study and discussion on this book in the near future. We agreed to discuss the West Coast Port Shutdown, the lessons that could be learned from the early Christians as they apply to Occupy, and to hear a quick summary of the economic articles presented by Dennis.

West Coast Port Shutdown

This discussion regards the West Coast Port Shutdown action on Dec. 12, proposed by Occupy Oakland, involving many occupations along the West Coast and other locations reaching as far as Denver and Japan. There were enough concerns about the action that a "non-petition" had been drafted and was presented at the rally for signatures. Discussion covered the following pros and cons:

• Range and scale of effects - These actions could adversely affect other 99%ers even more so than the owners of the ports and cargo themselves, and lost revenue equates to lost public services. This could also be seen as a positive as cities feel the economic impact and feel the need to respond to Occupy.
• Support - we have no official support from the ILWU, and have no form of support from other unions that operate at the ports. This does not mean the rank-and-file of the ILWU do not support us, but this becomes much more difficult to prove.
• Message - Are we doing this for the ILWU or as a larger action against international trade or capitalism in general? If this is for the ILWU, what business is it of Occupy to do what unions already have the power to do, in the name of a union that is not going to strike with us? There may be many good reasons to close the ports, but public perception relies heavily on articulation of the message.
• Lack of general strike - In the absence of the voluntary participation of the general strike, it is hard to say the public supports our actions. Sure, closing the ports is voluntary for those involved, but those involved risk the jobs and businesses of others without permission.
• Timing - Perhaps this action could be done in the future with a clearer message, clearer support, and broader participation, and with less on the line than we have now while we are in the building phase of this movement, but now may be too soon.
• Inclusiveness - Because of the afore mentioned concerns, there is a very good chance that public perception will not be favorable, and we could alienate those who are on the fence about whether to get involved or not. The opposite could also be true, and the sheer scope of this action could be galvanizing and prove that we can organize and be effective.
• Origins - The origins and idea for the rally come from a very positive place. Risk and large actions are nothing new to any people's movement.

After much back and forth, a few things were clear: 1) We did need to voice our concerns to organizers of the event to at least start a dialogue on preemptive damage control, and 2) it was inevitable that this action was going to happen, so we might as well be as positive as possible and offer our support.

We had a pleasant break to bring us back down from the intensity of the previous discussion. Several of us reminisced about our individual experiences as activists, sharing stories on when it began, and how. Then on to the next discussion...

Parallels to Early Christians

This discussion was based on information in the book "The Rise of Christianity" by Rodney Strong, and focused on how early Christian tactics worked for them, and could work for us in creating a powerful movement. Without going too in depth on each topic, some of the parallels included:

• Familiarity - The more familiar a movement feels, the easier the conversion. The Christians' most natural source of converts were with the Jews. Occupy can find natural allies in liberal organizations, and even other grass roots movements such as the TEA Party.
• Susceptibility - People raised under similar guiding principles, but are not yet active, may just be in need of a spark to get them fired up about the topic. Find the dormant activists, liberals, and those who may want to be involved in forming public policy
• Compassion - Early Christians carried a powerful message of compassion, and led by example in non-violence and in caring for those who could not care for themselves.
• Women - the equality of women in rights and involvement was a great asset to the early Christians, particularly because it was such a divergence from the ordinary patriarchal societies, and also in that a huge number of converts came through marriage... Occupy dating?
• Class - Christianity promised great things for the masses and proved the strength of the many over the few who wished to enslave them.

Tangents abounded, for instance, from the familiarity discussion came the idea of nudging perception from resentment of a negative to support for a positive. New topics sprouted, such as the role of starting a new economic model and the resulting persecution, and even the importance of such persecution and even martyrdom in the power of the movement.

The most immediately applicable tangent was from familiarity to how to be less obtrusive when our rally overlaps with Victorian Christmas. The rally planning group had a meeting and discussed this, but additional ideas and concerns were raised here. The potential dangers of the event could just as easily become opportunities if given the proper attention. We should be sure to end the rally at the start of Victorian Christmas, but rather than go home, go and take part in the festivities. Spend money, and stop by some of the local shops rather than just the booths. The local shops are open, and will likely be fairly empty. This is the perfect opportunity to engage in community outreach to let them know Occupy supports them. The press release for this event also stands as a huge opportunity to convey some of the more inspirational aspects of Occupy; to convey the depths of our intentions, beyond being activists, for reviving community. Other ideas included wearing pins in lieu of carrying bulkier signs, and having fliers available.

Agenda

We ran out of time for a summary of the articles Dennis brought in, so there will instead be a presentation on them next week. Additional agenda topics will again be posted to the forum. We hope that more people will participate during the week to make for a more efficient meeting on Thursday. Thank you.

Meeting 6 - 12/1/11

Announcements
There were several reports of recent events attended by various group members plus announcements of up and coming events. James and Jed bravely attended the monthly Tea Party meeting which was on health care and reported the reception was civil and courteous. They found broad agreement with the TP folk about the actual problem and even found some enthusiasm for the term corporatism, but had a sharp divergence about the solution. Theirs is “true privatization” of our current “socialist” system. Several people also went to the Health care forum held last Tues. and found it extremely informative. There will be another meeting Tues. 12/6 at 6:00pm in the Nevada Theater. There was a brief report from folks in the foreclosure announcing a rally this Mon from 11:30 to 1:30 in front of the Nevada County Courthouse. The other announcement that is still timely is Jed’s local business outreach working group which will meet 12/8 at Café Mekka, 11:30am. Jed also showed us his ingenious solution for not defacing dollar bills which is little stick-ons that says “To: My favorite business From: Occupy Nevada County”, plus a heart around “99% Local”.

Goals
Per the agenda the group took up a 30 min timeslot to discuss a mission statement. The discussion was long and lively –at least 20 min over- reflecting both deep existential views about our mission as well as specifics about its purpose and intent, such as how does the mission statement of the Ed/Goals group relate to what the Mission Statement working group is doing. The discussion began with a long one sentence condensation presented by James of all the ideas the group emailed him over the previous 2 weeks. After much discussion and temp checks it was agreed that our mission statement is a combined statement for both Ed and Goals, but is not intended for the GA. In terms of format it was also agreed that we would begin with a simple one sentence declaration followed by clarifying bullet points. To that end the group consensed on a working version of the one sentence declaration: To educate ourselves and the public about issues affecting the community and inspire people to turn ideas into action. The ideas and issues suggested were economic and social justice, current political realities, environmental problems, inclusivity of the 99%, and promoting the general welfare and equal opportunity and a more uplifting spirituality. It was agreed that we would take up the mission statement again in two weeks to give us time to come up with ideas for a final draft.

Education: Economics
For the remainder of the meeting, per the agenda, we broke into three smaller groups for an open ended brainstorm on 3 different economic topics. This was preceded by a fairly lengthy and lively discussion about what those specific topics should be and who was going to be in what group. This was partly due to the fact that no one had sent James any topic suggestions over the previous 2 weeks as agreed in the last meeting.

The 3 subjects consensed upon were: Alternative Economic Models, Central Banks and the Present Economy. After approximately 25min the three groups reported back. The Alternative economic models group suggested we all read “Agenda for a new Economy” by David Korten. It was agreed that several copies will be purchased so we can all read it. The Central Bank group reported on their discussion about a brief history of central banks with a focus on the Federal Reserve. It was recommended that we all read the “Creature from Jekyll Island” by Edward Griffin, a history and critique of the Fed. A DVD is also available. The Present economy group discussed the need to have a basic grasp of classical economics starting with Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Arthur Miller, etc. so as to be able to respond intelligently to the more recent conservative iterations that the Tea Part likes to tout such as Ayn Rand (who by the way had zero academic training in economics). To that end James volunteered to host informal “ pizza and economics” meetings at his house starting this Mon evening, time to be announced. There seemed to be one unifying theme for all the groups that it was impossible to talk economics without talking politics; that they were inextricably linked.

Agenda

It was agreed that suggestions for the following week’s agenda would be posted on the working group website and discussed online. This is in the hope of saving time at meetings. Forum is here.

Meeting 5 - 11/17/11

Announcements

Democracy Now had a show on the Occupy movement that can be seen on democracynow.org. Ben Emery is doing a five part series on how government works on his facebook page, go friend him and see. The townhall meeting on Monday was a huge success, and we need to take it upon ourselves as Occupy to set an example of supporting the community. Volunteer forms for the extreme weather shelter are available here. There was an Agricultural Commission meeting this week discussing the need to support the rights of local farmers to fight the regulations of the corporations that keep them from consuming and selling their own organic products.

Goals

The goals discussion started with a quick brainstorm review, and a voting session to decide where we would like to focus our efforts. I believe the only ideas that are not already listed in previous blog posts were occupying parks that are in danger of being closed, and a suggestion that we familiarize ourselves with the Consolidated Annual Financial Report of Nevada County at CAFR1.com. The decision to address foreclosures won the majority of votes, with choosing a mission statement and creating educational presentations for the public tying for second.

Foreclosures

Dennis presented a wealth of knowledge on the legal (or illegal) process of foreclosures, particularly in California and our own community. Particulars ranging from auctions at the courthouse, "robo-signers", the specific wording and rights granted in a deed of trust, legal precedence set by the supreme court, unlawful detainers, non-judicial foreclosure states, etc.

Beyond the legal aspects, there's the question of what we can do to help in terms of direct action. The obvious question was do we want to occupy foreclosed houses? The answer for now was a fairly emphatic no. What does occupying a house actually do for someone who has been foreclosed on? It seems that would be a day late and a dollar short, and would ruin our rapport with the local police. Either way, we did recommend that we join the Nonviolence training on Nov 26th, in case it does come to that. There are several steps that could be taken before such extreme actions.

The proposed solutions primarily took two forms: helping those in danger of foreclosure, and discouraging banks from foreclosing. We will definitely have a seminar for those in need of foreclosure assistance. We would like to find people who want their stories told, and want our help. We will stay in contact with the legal center, and setup a hotline for anyone who wishes to seek our help; there may also be people at the rallies. We could go with them to the bank to help apply pressure on the bank, could help them negotiate, or if it does come down to occupying, we will consider that option. To discourage further foreclosures we proposed protesting at the foreclosure auctions at the courthouse. Working through local government, we could possibly add a layer of bureaucracy to slow the process, akin to an environmental impact statement, but for the impact on neighboring housing prices.

The depth of this topic and the volume of options and necessary considerations make a dedicated work group necessary, and will be created at the next GA. This has proven to be a first priority item, and we will give it the attention it deserves.

Economics Discussion

We broke off into small groups for a less formalized, open-ended discussion on economics, then reported back to the whole group.

Group 1 talked about the growing disparity between the 1% and 99%. Much of that has to do with the growth of payroll taxes, which all employees and employers pay, and the decrease in capital gains taxes which are only placed on gains on investments. Economics has been all about the bottom line of money, but could alternatively be (and has in the past?) tracked in terms of social, economic, and environmental impacts. Locally owned businesses and franchises do not enjoy the larger corporate tax loopholes, but often suffer the same regulations, and fees. An important distinction between multi-national corporations and locally owned branches of franchises must be made. Locally we have Quiznos supporting us, but while they carry a corporate name, they are owned by a local family. They and other businesses like them are not the target of our ire, and though it complicates the situation, we need to be careful whom we fight and support.

Group 2 dove almost exclusively into the operations of the Federal Reserve as a private entity, talking about the operations and generation of money. Money from the federal reserve is spent into existence by the government and multiplied once it becomes deposits in banks and lent out again. Central banks such as the Federal Reserve, CBE, and the IMF run the show, with the interests of the banks in mind. They also touched lightly on the extent of the growth of income inequality.

Group 3 hit a range of topics, but mostly stuck to basic concepts. What is econ? Econ as we know it has only really been in existence for around 300yrs, and around 100yrs for modern econ. Economics could be considered to be a subgroup of ecology in that it requires certain levels of resiliency, diversity, and sustainability. Right now we have little resiliency or sustainability, but how can we make the system sustainable while the population is continuously growing. Does less consumption necessarily mean lower GDP and higher unemployment? Can the consumption of services replace the consumption of goods? More intangibly, do we live a richer life with the increased communication, technology, and availability of various products and services? Are there ways we can become more interdependent and value community over greed?

Agenda

Because time ran short, we agreed to continue the economics discussion at the next meeting, which would be the Thursday after Thanksgiving (No meeting next week!), Dec 1, 6:30pm @the Peace Center. The agenda is as follows: Intro/announcements (15mins), Goals: Mission Statement (30mins), Occupy $ (10mins), Small Group Econ Discussion (25mins), Large Group Econ Discussion (25mins), and finally Agenda (15mins). In the mean time, we will be using the forum on the Occupy Nevada County webpage to do preliminary work formulating the Mission Statement and Occupy Money proposals. Click on the Forum tab just below the introductory info. You are also encouraged to develop the wiki which is under construction.

Meeting 4 - 11/10/11

Intro

We had some quick announcements on the two very successful meetings from the night before. Both Nancy's meeting on income inequality and the collective meeting on corporate personhood were well attended and very successful. The agenda for the night was approved, and without further delay...

Corporate Personhood Continued

Jed finished his presentation on the history of corporate personhood from the 14th amendment to today. An in depth summary will be posted as soon as a webspace more suitable is created (I am sending a request to the tech group now). In short, with the blessing of rights equal to that of a person -- defended by dubious assertions of the intentions of the 14th amendment -- corporations were free to receive further rights granted under the 5th, 4th, and 2nd amendments. Some of these rights were granted in spite of state opposition and state laws, because the supreme court determined those laws denied corporations their constitutional rights as "people". Several examples of further applications and attempted applications were given to wrap up a very informative presentation. Again, resources and presentation materials will be available soon.

OWS Declaration Discussion

We continued the discussion on the NYC General Assembly's Declaration, specifically how we understood its intentions and implications for Occupy Nevada County. We broke the larger group into three smaller discussion groups, and after 25mins of discussion, rejoined the larger group to share our findings.

Group 1 moved directly into issues that needed to be addressed, such as grand ideas like stopping the perpetuation of war, and smaller goals like occupying minds. They also saw the need to add to the list of the grievances; for the general declaration they saw the need to give nature protective rights, and end militarism in the name of oil. Locally they wanted to focus efforts on preventing the return of mining, prevent homelessness, occupy Bridgeport Park, stop foreclosures, and establish a public works program in the Tahoe National Forrest.

Group 2 dove deep into the intentions of the OWS Declaration. Noting first that its sole focus is the necessary response of the people to the influence of corporations. Emphasizing cooperation and peace, their intention was for us to setup a framework for self-governance from within our own communities, and return power to the people through seeking consent. The list of grievances added a somewhat conflicting aspect: the need to establish what we stand for. There is a careful balance to be found between establishing goals, so that we may accomplish something as a group, and setting aside particular agendas in the interest of broadening appeal and maximizing participation from the community. This was a heated debate that continued in the large group discussion.

Group 3 also picked up on the risk of alienation, and suggested the greater Occupy movement may be consciously dragging its feet with this purpose in mind. To be all inclusive, the NYC GA was very careful in its wording to only be against corporate power and support democracy; we should be careful to do the same. They also came to the conclusion that our actions should start with local social and political issues, but not lose sight of the larger movement.

Rejoining the larger group, we dove deeper into how to get the entire 99% on board with the movement. There were so many inspirational small town things we can do: Show our presence by standing up for each other, stop unfair foreclosures, buy locally, start support groups for the unemployed, come up with a list of skills and services that we are happy to provide, have public events where anyone in need can feel welcome. Victims of social or economic injustices may have no one to turn to, and may feel rejected for not making it in the "American dream". We want to embrace them, and tell them it's not a shame to not be financially "successful". The sense of kindness, initiative, and inspiration gave me the feeling that we may be creating a league of small town superheroes, not stopping supervillains (yet) or explosions, but standing for humanity and community in whatever way we can. Inspiring others through good deeds in the community is a powerful way to encourage others to join our cause.

Goals

The declaration discussion seamlessly morphed into a discussion on specific goals and objectives. One suggestion was a potluck that would be both a social event and an outreach to those in need. Occupying houses that are being foreclosed on (preferably before they are foreclosed on for legal and practical reasons) was another possibility that got much attention. Compiling the list of services we can provide seems a simple task that could be done immediately. This may lead to some other working groups like a hospitality WG or a counseling WG. Our GA has agreed to support local businesses, and some have noticed an increase in business, but we think it would be good to explicitly say when we are buying local on behalf of Occupy NC. A consensus was reached to suggest at the next GA that we sign merchant receipts with "Occupy" or even recommend writing "Occupy" on the money itself, of course with the warning that, while never enforced, writing on money is illegal.

A couple of other more general questions came up as well. First, why aren't we occupying in tents in parks? There were several answers to that question: we're staying visible in other ways; occupying isn't about tents, it's about democracy; it's super cold; but most importantly, it's just not where we are as Occupy NC, and not where we've decided to spend our effort. However, if there is interest in starting an occupation, anyone may propose it at the GA and is free to start an occupation.

Second, we discussed the email from Michael Rogers regarding the potential for discrimination and the squelching out of minority dissent. His main concern was with the power a facilitator has, and the potential for misuse, particularly when using the progressive stack method (a method used to call on speakers where people who have not spoken much get a higher priority than those who have already spoken a lot). This was more a warning than a response to any particular incident, and though the progressive stack method found much support in our group, we did have a heartfelt talk about the importance of impartiality and proper training of facilitators.

Agenda

Two hours came and went in a flash, and the proposed agenda for next week was hammered out as follows: Intro (20mins), discuss goals starting from tonight's list and the previous brainstorming session from two weeks previous (40mins), stretch (5mins), small group discussion on economic perspectives (20mins), large group discussion on economics (20mins), form the next agenda (15mins). The econ emails are already flowing, so looking forward to a most lively discussion next Thursday at 6:30pm @ the Peace Center, Nevada City.

Meeting 3 - 11/3/11

The Intro portion of the meeting included introductions, role assignments, and a review of the previous week’s material, similar to the previous week. The remainder of the time was spent nailing down consensus on the specifics of the agenda.

Ben and Jed began with a 20 min tag team presentation on the evolution of corporate rights and personhood. Because of time constraints, their presentation was mostly limited to the 19th century and earlier. In order to finish their presentation and bring us up to the present, a 15 min part two by Jed was agreed to for next week. For a summary, click here.

Eric presented next on the status of the OWS national convention. The current plan is for a convention in Philadelphia modeled at least in spirit on the original Constitutional convention with two elected delegates from each Congressional district. Presently there is no approved list of demands or goals. The list put forth by the working group of the 99% Declaration was apparently a renegade effort that was never approved by OWSNC GA and has been disavowed by them. Sharon, who just returned from a “Direct Democracy” training session with the facilitators group of OWSNC gave some clarifying details on the workings of their GA. There are currently 79 working groups. A Spokes Council for the groups has been formed to transmit ideas and recommendations to the GA. There is no consensus on goals. But statements issued by the various working groups have been posted and can be read at NYCGA.net.

In conjunction with Eric’s presentation, Gary spoke eloquently on the original “Declaration of the Occupation of New York City”. As the founding document of the movement it is a visceral declaration of grievance and purpose over the loss of the basic rights and freedoms that we the people have suffered at the hands of our corporate state. He recited some of the more inspiring passages. There was an intense discussion how best to reflect and utilize the spirit and letter of this document, particularly in regards to the formation of our own local goals. For starters, it was consensed that we should all read the document for next week.

Somewhere in the course of discussion precipitated by these presentations, a formal proposal was made and adopted for a recommendation by the education group to be made to the OWSNC GA, to encourage folks to attend, without a specific endorsement, an information/action event on Weds the 9th, hosted by Public Citizen and Move to Amend.org on abolishing corporate personhood and overturning the Citizens United decision.

After a lengthy one minute break Gary and James presented their work on the OCCUPY 101 core curriculum.
James produced a finely tuned, handout outline of 10-20 headings and sub headings for each of the main topic areas agreed upon the previous week. His only substantive change was to breakout Social and Economics into two separate topic areas. Gary spoke again on applying the heuristic formula of the “descriptive”, the “diagnostic” and the “prescriptive”- where we are, how we got here and where we want to go- to the curriculum. He also spoke of aligning our educational goals with the need to find simple, compelling words to educate and inspire the honkers, so that they take the next step and get out of their cars and pick up a sign.
There were two main threads of conversation around the curriculum. One was about the content and how to include larger concepts of community and spirituality in the curriculum. The other was about various formats for learning such as continuing with the current presentation format, large group discussions as opposed to breaking into smaller groups and bringing summations for discussion to the larger group, and how the information produced by this group gets circulated to a wider audience in an inclusive fashion.

The concerns voiced in these conversations flowed into the discussion surrounding next week’s agenda.
There was a consensus, as a general guideline, that in the future we would have fewer presentation topics per meeting leaving more time for discussion. After considerable back and forth, the general outline for next week’s agenda was agreed to as follows: Intro, 15 min for the second part of Jed’s presentation, 25 min. small group focus and discussion on the NYC GA statement- group size to be determined, followed by a 25 min. large group discussion on the same topic. There was specific agreement that the concepts of community and spirituality would be considered in the small groups discussion. After a (?) min. team building break for “light and livelies”, there will be a 40 min focus and discussion on the formulation of goals in light of the NYC GA statement. This will be followed by the X number of minutes it takes to consense over the next agenda.

I think it is fair to say that there seemed to be two complimentary undercurrents that were animating the more intense parts of this week’s meeting. One was reflected by Sharon’s passionate statement that our goals- our local goals and the goals of the national movement- are still not big enough to properly encompass and represent what we are really about. I took that to mean that we are still at the stage of struggling to understand and come to terms with the enormity of what we are proposing to do. That maybe, in fact, this movement is both creating and cresting a change so fundamental to the current order it amounts to a revolution, albeit rooted in the Constitution, but a revolution nonetheless, of, by and for the people. If that’s the case, we already know that we want it to be; a leaderless, grass roots, nonviolent, democratic revolution. Those, however, are all adjectives. What are the nouns that are going to say what this revolution is? I think that’s where the other undercurrent of this meeting was coming from; the concerns over fundamental nouns like community and spirituality and how they are going to fit into and drive whatever enormous thing it is that we are doing.

Meeting 2 - 10/27/11

Introduction
The meeting began with introductions around the room, and we assigned meeting roles for facilitator, note taker, time keeper, vibe watcher, and blog summary writer. These roles will be assigned on a weekly basis. An improvised agenda was loosely agreed upon, but it was agreed that we would spend time at the end of each meeting to define the next week’s agenda.

Education
Discussion focused on how we could best educate ourselves, including both methodological and conceptual suggestions. The method that seemed to catch on was to start from what we were familiar with: learning in a classroom-type setting where an expert, or a few experts, present on a subject, followed by a group discussion, and supplemented with suggested reading material before and/or after. This led to a discussion on how exactly we would choose topics for presentation. We reached a consensus to create an open-ended curriculum (Occupy 101) of topics we find are essential for occupiers to know and spread to the community. There was much overlap with previous discussion on subjects for education goals (see Part 1 of previous meeting), but some new additions included the importance of understanding the US law making process, and the differences between a republic and a democracy. A rough outline for the curriculum was compiled, and will be refined before it is presented at the next meeting. It is suggested that presenters consider including descriptive, diagnostic, and prescriptive aspects whenever they are appropriate. Also, as part of our method, we will make efforts to apply what we learn through local legislation. In essence we will have created the time-honored academic combination of a “lecture” session, and a “lab” session.

Conceptually, we expanded on the nature of absolutism, and how we have a tendency to come to conclusions in isolation. Because many minds are always better than one, it is important to form conclusions as a group. It is likely that we have all spent much time thinking about these subjects independently or in like minded groups, so it is important that we remember to bring our REASONS for the conclusions to the discussion, rather than the pre-formed, individual conclusions themselves. Though it may not be efficient to sit through presentations on material we feel we already know well, it is imperative that experts be present for the discussion, not just for the benefit of others, but also to participate in those discussions with open minds, to hear other perspectives, and for all of us to allow ourselves to reform conclusions in light of the contributions from the community.

Goals
A brief, but fruitful brainstorming session covered the following suggestions: Form a mission statement, improve our use of consensus process, communicate with other occupy groups (discuss failures and successes, share expertise), write individual letters to the press in support of OWS, each member should invite five friends to get involved in the occupation, create opportunities for public speaking at rallies, rally at offices of representatives or any other social offenders, rewrite the constitution, maintain a publicly visible presence, and address corporate activity locally. Again, this was just a brainstorm, not a list of approved actions.

Next Agenda
The agenda for next week will include introductory material (20mins), presentations from Ben and Jedediah on corporate personhood (20mins), an update from Eric on the status of the national convention for OWS (10mins), a combined presentation from Gary and James on the Occupy 101 curriculum and the OWS-NYC Declaration (20mins), and further discussion on wider community education goals (10mins).

General Note: The meeting was notable for facilitating opportunities for everyone to speak and for the group to explicitly reach consensus on proposals. Much of the meeting was devoted to learning and attempting to follow the formal rules of consensus decision making. This continues to be a learning curve.

First Meeting

Thank you everybody who participated and made our first meeting the collaborative, creative, chaotic, constructive meeting that it was.

Part 2: Strategy (starting here so readers aren't immediately overwhelmed by the Part 1 list)

Thinking on multiple dimensions seemed to be the most prevalent concept. We should consider the conflicts and cohesion implicit in dualities such as having a top down message (a collective national vision or goal) and a bottom up (local, organizational) purpose; knowing how to work within the present framework and also expanding our possibilities to create a new paradigm; focusing inward on educating ourselves as well as focusing outward in forming a collective body of knowledge for the community; deciding whether to start small and work up, or go big right out of the gate; focusing on specifics and broadening appeal, while not deterring other would be occupiers; balancing timing to allow the movement time to grow, and acting before we lose momentum, all while keeping in mind this may be urgent for those who suffer. Though these options may pull us in opposite directions, we must also find balance between being all encompassing in our consideration, and acting decisively when the time comes (there's a certain beauty to the yin and yang of this whole process, no?).

There are also certain guiding values that serve as the foundation from which we draw all actions. Bettering society will start from fairness, compassion, and understanding that we are all interconnected (will likely be better defined by the Goals Committee). We believe the cornerstone of this process should continue to be the leaderless movement, centered around general assemblies, because that is the democratic format which best enables these ideals to prevail at all levels. With this in mind, education will not only focus on objectives, but also the means for, and the spirit behind those objectives.

From an organizational perspective, what was originally two separate committees -- the Education Committee and the Goals Committee -- have been combined in personnel, but maintain distinct objectives. This stems from the fact that we cannot have goals without first being educated, then we must educate the community on those goals. However, the merging is more logistical than ideological. As such, at future meetings, time will be dedicated exclusively to each group. The format for how we will do that has not been finalized, but rather will be determined experimentally. In the coming week we plan to spend one hour on the Education Committee's first objective, educating ourselves. The second hour will be dedicated to the Goals Committee's first objective, creating sound bites to give the community a better idea of what we're about. No "decisions" are made here, but rather, we will solidify the ether of ideas into objectives and actions that are presentable for greater consideration. We will then present to the local general assembly, and eventually other general assemblies across the nation.

We will meet every Thursday at 6:30, this week again at the Peace Center, and individuals are encouraged to arrange other meetings, possibly more social gatherings like potlucks, house parties, or outings where we can meet less formally but still use as a time to present information. Another interesting suggestion was to celebrate after rallies at local businesses, this way they would have something to look forward to on our rally days. (One other thing I forgot to bring up is the matter of clean up after rallies. One of my conservative co-workers claims there was a problem with the mess left after our Brunswick rally. This could be a rumor, but it may be prudent to arrange a small clean up party after the rally and before the post-rally celebration.)

Other Topics brought up: To begin the education process we could spread fliers and host teach-ins. Our actions will be more effective if we appeal to emotions, and we will be more effective as a group if we break large objectives down into more manageable steps.


Part 1: Objectives
Here's a list of objectives we came up with (the ether of ideas I referred to earlier), loosely grouped by subject:

• Corporations - eliminate corporate personhood, revoke unlimited campaign contributions, limiting other corporate powers, re-examine the EPA and FDA, and educate the community on how corporations have affected our democracy and our education system
• Change the decision making process - focus on the general assembly model, the leaderless movement, branching out locally then nationally, organizing all levels across artificial lines such as party affiliations, equal representation for all, either replace or work in parallel to representative democracy
  
• Economics - fix unemployment problem, start public works programs, correct the imbalance of wealth, understand the present macroeconomic situation (the Federal Reserve, taxation, monetary/fiscal policy), consider replacement, understand opposing theories, understand alternative economic models that are less based on consumption as a goal, maybe start some bartering programs
  
• Society - focus on people over profits, move away from ownership as a goal, focus on community, LOVE!, spread info on the constitution, focus on necessities for all, get past our differences
  
• Environment - be less damaging, plant trees
• OWS - Simplify and communicate, develop our language, don't shy from big issues, branch out to all, start a book club

Acting on the last item there, we are starting a recommended reading list immediately. Email me (yasu4303@gmail.com) the titles, or update the spreadsheet directly with any books you recommend. If you email me, I would prefer it be in the format: Title, Author, Subject, and maybe a one or two sentence endorsement of the book (see example on the spreadsheet).

I think that is all for now. If I missed something, please put it up in the comments, and a big thank you again to all who participated.