Start2011-12-19 18:30 America/New_York End2011-12-19 19:10 America/New_York LocationNC State Capitol DescriptionGA Minutes for December 19, 2011

Welcome

• Facilitators: Charles, Shaun
• Stack taker: Antonio, Zan
• Minutes taker: Rachel
• Transcribed by: Rachel

No new people, but brief review of process anyway.

Reportbacks

Diversity

Charles: We had a Diversity working group meeting Sunday at 9:00 like we always do. There were two of us, so I pulled in everyone around the fire and made it 14 people. We talked about NAACP’s and Black Worker for Justice’s march, HKOJ (Historic Thousands on Jones St.). They invited us to participate in the march, so we will be carrying a banner that says something about Occupy Raleigh.

Jonathan: When is it?

Charles: Mid-February.

Rachel: Something like February 18.

Charles: Three people from HKOJ said they want to visit the camp and invite us formally and get a feel for what Occupy Raleigh is about. The minutes are posted in the Diversity working group forum.

Media

Antonio: The Walkupy arrests generated some news. Most of the articles were matter-of-fact, neither positive or negative. One included an interview with Sarah, who was arrested.

Brandon: We even got an article in the Washington Post.

Antonio: I heard we made it on CNN too.

Direct Action

Shaun: We’ll be doing more stuff with the legislature in January.

Announcements

Rachel: There’s a minutes working group meeting tomorrow at 5:30. This is a 30-minute meeting to hash out who will be doing GA minutes for the next week.

Shaun: Tomorrow I’ll bring a proposal to move the location of Friday’s GA. See me if you want to know why.

Antonio: This is just a one-time move.

Joseph: Where is it?

Shaun: This is a direct-action related thing.

Rachel: So we don’t want it to get out to the media.

Shaun: Also, I’m on the Occupy Congress (January 17, National Mall) listserv. They’re about to release a press release. An email from them says: “On January 17, the Occupy movement goes to Washington to take back our future from a Congress that places financial interests above human need. We need individuals to become Occupy Raleigh liaisons to Occupy Congress. The job would entail the following activities: 1. Get on the Occupy Congress listserv and introduce yourself. (Do it. It’s a lot of fun.) 2. Submit a proposal at your General Assembly to endorse Occupy Congress. (I’ll be bringing that proposal tomorrow.) 3. Promote Occupy Congress and J17 on your city’s Ocupation media and on mainstream media outlets in your area. (So we’re gonna start doing some more social media for that one.) 4. Form a working group to arrange transportation and other logistics. (I have room for three in my car.)”

Charles: And there are a lot of us going.

Joseph: We can also get a Charter bus.

Shaun: I’ll talk about that in a minute. “5. Recruit speakers and musicians from your community to come. 6. Bring a redress of grievances from your camp or a declaration to be presented to members of Congress and ask to be read on the Congressional record. To see our website and the Wiki for the latest information, go to OccupyYourCongress.info. Please come prepared to sustain your group for your time at Occupy Congress. Bring food, water, and arrange for your own lodging. Be fully prepared for cold weather. If you would like to camp, contact the mailing list to see if space exists at Occupy DC or another existing camp. If you support the event, please visit and Like the Facebook page.” Clarifying questions?

Antonio: Is this event sponsored by the SEIU? I think it is sponsored by a Democratic party organization. I’m curious if it really matters if the GA consents to be in solidarity. Can people still go?

Shaun: We can still go but not promote it on our website.

Antonio: This is an attempt to co-opt the movement.

David: We can go there and tell them in person we won’t be co-opted.

Shaun: There’s an organization called the Rally Bus. For $55 you can get to DC and back in the same day.

Joseph: I was a bus captain once, we didn’t even need to pick people up along the way, from this area we filled buses on our own.

Shaun: There’s a lot of space left for Occupy Congress.

Joseph: It hasn’t been officially announced yet. There’s still time.

Shaun: I hadn’t heard it was co-opted.

Rachel: So we aren’t all putting tents on the mall?

Shaun: We’ll be Occupying with our bodies. The listserv is discussing whether to put tents on the mall.

Rachel: Is it a one-day action?

Shaun: For now, but they’re debating whether to extend it.

Jonathan: When is the bus leaving from here?

Shaun: It would leave very early that day and come back very late that night, so you don’t have to miss work. It’s a Tuesday.

Joseph: I have a sad announcement. Our anonymous donor will stop paying the rent January 1.

Shaun: Can someone else pick up the rent?

Joseph: Yes. It’s $400 a month.

Charles: We’ve already discussed that, don’t worry.

Vidya: Is it a financial thing, or something Occupy Raleigh did?

Joseph: Occupy Raleigh didn’t do anything.

Rachel: Do we know as of now if someone will step forward and pay?

Charles: We have ideas. That’s all I can say right now.

Rachel: Is “we” an affinity group, a working group, or individuals?

Shaun: People who talked to the lease holder.

Charles: The donor came to pick up leaves. We were aware then that the funding might not be available so we talked about a contingency plan. The reason is not important. We need to move on.

Charles: Every Saturday at 9:00pm is a Dead Poets Society.

Charles: Every Sunday at 9:00pm we have a Diversity working group meeting. Please come.

Charles: Tomorrow I will bring a proposal that Diversity has been working on. We would like to put together a Pride Month celebration on the Capitol ground (June 2012).

Proposals

None.

Soapboxing Time

Rachel: I just got back from Occupy Wall Street in New York. I missed y’all!

Chris: Tell us about NY.

Rachel: It was awesome. We didn’t successfully take Duarte because of cops, a fence, and some mesh. But they made a sweet staircase and 35 people went over and were arrested. We rallied for a bit, but then we went on a march. It was really energetic until 29th and 7th when cops kettled people. They busted out of the kettle, went to Times Square, and held a GA. About 20 people were arrested on the march. We literally went into the streets. Also, they have a lot of money. Their kitcehn gets $10,500 a week, and each of their 124 working groups gets $100 a day; a proposal passed Thursday night to allocate $15,000, so while I was there, I was swimming in how many resources they had.

Antonio: I heard their donations dropped after the raid.

Rachel: Yes, but they’re still getting money. I went to Thursday’s GA and they said since the last GA (two days before) they’d “only” raised $800+. They are still going strong with people; there were probably 2000-3000 of us there Saturday.

Woman from San Diego: We don’t have a spot in San Diego; we got pushed out quickly. The civic center square we were in was partly owned by JP Morgan and others. We found a law that says you are allowed to sleep on the street if you are homeless if there’s no shelter available. There are a lot of homeless people and few shelters so we are trying to re-take the park. Anyway, greetings from San Diego; I support y’all and keep going. I’ve been educating my family and friends on what Occupy is about. Pass it on. Increase people’s awareness.

Turtle: Anyone thinking about joining Walkupy, we have an orientation following the GA right here.

Jim: I’m working on making placards for small businesses, encouraging customers to use cash instead of credit cards. The woman helping us with designs sent over a new batch of designs today. We can take samples to businesses and ask them if they want any.

Joseph: There’s an online service where you can pay a store with your phone, and they just charge a very small fee compared to Visa, etc. You can pay individuals, too. It’s like a mobile Paypal but charges a lot less.

Jim: This is a way to undermine Visa (owned by Bank of America) and get the merchants more money. I think credit unions should come up with their own nonprofit credit card.

Antonio: I wanted to point something out about the Walkupy arrests. The fact that it happened two blocks from our camp shows that the cops wanted to make a point that we should obey them. It has nothing to do with traffic or safety. Also, that was the most violent I’ve seen the RPD in our arrests. I think we caught them off-guard. It may be a good sign, that we can blind-side them. It’s also proving that they’re draconian and thuggish.

Joseph: My theory is that the cops who arrested us weren’t our usual cops. I told them where we were going and that the whole thing would be over in two blocks. I think once the cops took Walkupiers away, “our” cops gave us a break and let us finish. That’s just my guess.

Clark: I think we should really talk about funding the land. Either now, or schedule a time in the future.

Charles: There’s a proposal tomorrow. I don’t know what it is. I assume it will be at GA. I don’t know who is proposing it. I don’t even know that there is a specific proposal, someone just said, “We should make a proposal for that tomorrow.” People who saw the anonymous donor in an angry state asked the land holder if a new lease could be created and he said yes, until someone offers enough money to buy the land. Two people said they would put their paychecks together to make it happen, but now one is unemployed. But it has been discussed.

Joseph: A long time ago.

Charles: Yes. But if I say too much, I’ll give away information, and it’s not my place to.

Paul: I’ve been here a couple of weeks and I’m leaving with the Walkupiers tomorrow. It’s been great here and I want y’all to continue. Y’all are beautiful. I don’t want to leave, which makes me think I’ll come back. I hope I made a difference while I was here. This was awesome, thanks.

Jim: There’s been a proposal for a few days about the state-wide GA.

Vidya: It’s being proposed on Wednesday.

Jim: Oh, okay.

Jonathan: I used to live in a house. We had two sycamore trees in the front yard. Someone got mad at the landlord one day and cut the trees down to stumps, just a few inches above the ground. One died. The other sprouted a twig, and then the twig turned upward into a new trunk, and today it’s about 20 feet tall. That’s us.

Joseph: We’re really the roots. As long as the roots are still here, that counts.

Chris: If anyone brought credit card applications for the direct action, meet us at the Triangle now.

Jonathan: There’s supposed to be a kitchen meeting after the GA.

Charles: I don’t know anything about that, but okay.

GA adjourned.

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