GA Minutes (2/7/12)

Posted on February 7, 2012 by bobbie| Leave a comment

GA Minutes 2/7/12

IKE BOX 7 PM

Facilitator: Ariel                                                                                                                                                             Stacker:                                                                                                                                            Greg                                                                                                                                                     Scribe: Bobbie                                                                                                                                                         Recording:                                                                                                Katharine

In Attendance:  Ariel, Greg, Bobbie, Nancy, Ann, Judith, Laurie, Linda, Peter B, Peter, Michael L, Sarah, Kirk, Joan, Jennifer, Jeremy, Ian, Brad, Jen, Gordy, Daniel, Carmen, Stan, Anne, Gary, Daniel, Katharine, Bill, Rachel, Sarah Vick, Reese, Mary, Rich, Dean

Agenda:
A Moment of Silence                                                                                                                   Non Violence Agreement                                                                                                                Hand Signals                                                                                                                     Announcements                                                                                                                                             (Information)                                                                                                                                                               (Calendar)                                                                                                                                           Actions                                                                                                                                               Proposals                                                                                                                                                   Committee Reports

Moment of Silence:  Ariel

Non Violence Agreement: Ariel

Hand Signals: Ariel

Announcements (Information):

  1. Rich: Tomorrow at 8 am in room 343 is a hearing on HB 4095 which is an assault on land use laws.  Half the sponsors are connected with ALEC.
  2. Greg: At 8 am is a hearing on bills 1552 and 1564 on Economic Fairness Association and Oregon Bankers’ Association will attend.
  3. Joan: Friday at 9:30 am is a legislative committee hearing on wage theft.  She will post more information on the website.
  4. Dean: A Portland Occupy is being accused of violence.
  5. Laurie: She and Gary would like to see an Occupy Bikes event. If interested, see her.
  6. Ann:  The grain boat came in and ILEW loaded it so the energy devoted to it was successful.
  7. Nancy: J King has a new name: Occupy and Beyond; he is a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters.
  8. Ian: The Feb 1st Legislative event seemed to have poor planning in spite of all the good intention and hard work; Dean said that two ways have been tried regarding having other Occupy members attend events in Salem and the planners are learning what works and what does not work;  Kirk said that there was a lack of communication.
  9. Nancy: She was pleased with some outcomes for Feb 1st including that it made the front page of the SJ and the Oregonian. She would have liked more people – there were about 100 – and she was not able to obtain much information in advance from the legislative people; Daniel was excited about the feedback as it will be useful in the 2013 long session. Pre-planning will be important and will need to happen before the year ends; Greg saw some awesome actions, such as giving awards to ALEC members; Kirk was glad that the legislatures were able to put a face to Occupy and to know that Occupy is not going away, as well as that he was able to put the Corporate Personhood issue on Peter Courtney’s desk; Katharine had fun with the actions and is creating a youtube; Dean networked and found it productive.
  10. Joan: The Feb 1st State Bank Forum had 50 people attend and there was a good discussion though there should have been more people.  It was not well planned to have two events the same day.
  11. Daniel: SM 201 is in good shape and they have enough speakers.
  12. Katharine: She has footage of the hearing of SB 1534, which did die.
  13. Katharine: CART has a mission statement and it will be posted.
  14. Bobbie: She will speak with Michele about getting the Friend’s Meeting House opened on Friday nights so that discussions about proposals, such as the Earth Charter and Long Range Planning which were brought tonight, can be discussed there, allowing members to come to GA prepared.  She suggested, also, that another way to use the Friday meeting might be to get a head start on setting the next Tuesday GA agenda.  It could then be posted so that less GA meeting time is devoted to actually creating the agenda now that Occupy meets inside with a 9 pm curfew.
  15. Dean: There will be a statewide Occupy meeting in Eugene soon.

Announcements: (CALENDAR)

  1. Wed Feb 8 at 7 pm at Peaceworks Office, 104 Commercial St NE, Fair Trade Information Forum.  Occupy Salem Educational Event.
  2. Sat Feb 11 at 7-10 pm in Portland, Calvin Hecocta will present Black Fire Epitaph on behalf of Leonard Peltier.  There will be poetry, music and stories.  Suggested donation of $10 but no one will be turned away.
  3. Mon Feb 13 at 5:30 pm at the Capitol, the Oregon Community College Association will make a presentation regarding the education bill.
  4. Wed Feb 18 at 6-11 pm, “Give Peace a Dance” in the Grand Ballroom 187 High St NE, Salem starting with Dr Atomic’s Medicine Show, followed by the auctions, and then featuring The Ty Curtis Band.  Tickets are $15 advance on-line; buy 5, get one free; $18 at door.
  5. Thurs Feb 23 at 6:30 pm, 1730 Commercial St SE in SEIU 503’s Salem conference room, the Fair Trade Campaign will host the Fair Trade Road Show.
  6. Wed Mar 7 at 7 pm at Peaceworks Office, 104 Commercial St NE, Presentation on Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Concept.  Occupy Salem Educational Event.

ACTIONS

Occupy members are encouraged to attend committee meetings in the legislation – see Announcements 1-3 above, and to take advantage of those visits by speaking with the representatives or their staff.

Proposals / Results (Passed, Rejected, Tabled)

  1. Carmen:  Earth Charter proposes that ‘Salem agrees to incorporate the principles of the Earth Charter in its planning process’.  Lengthy discussion ensued in which Carmen reminded members that the EC was ten years in the making – a cross cultural exercise in which over 5000 people participated.  Lots of the discussion focused on the word ‘agrees’ and various other words were suggested.  Points made were that the EC message does not have to be ‘either/or’, that all the precepts of the EC can be taken in as its concept is what Occupy is about and it frames the Occupy movement.  One concern was that adopting it may give the illusion that something is accomplished when it is not – that Occupy already has its own voice.  A vote did not accept the proposal and it was tabled.  Some members decided to incorporate the EC on an individual basis.
  2. Brad:  Long Range Planning has a proposal that addresses how to have successful outcomes of events.  There has been a concern that the ‘wing it’ method of putting on an event is not as effective as having the time to plan well – organizing – and perhaps gives the public an unfavorable opinion of Occupy when Occupy purports to represent the 99%.  There was lengthy discussion, noting that being able to organize in the moment was as necessary as planning ahead.  Peter’s previous suggestion of a skills development event was suggested as a way to bridge the different ways of organizing, and having a check list of things to consider might be useful.  For now the proposal was tabled.

Committee Reports

  1. Carmen: Earth Charter will table its’ proposal for now.
  2. Nancy: PAT did not meet.
  3. Brad: Long Range Planning does not have long range plans as they work on the differing philosophies of Occupy organizing.
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