I've been a bit under the weather this week and only managed food donations during the work week. The biggest thing I missed out on was the bank action Thursday, which resulted in 7 arrests, all done quite in MN nice fashion from what I can tell!
http://occupyer.wordpress.com/...
I was able to watch bit of general assemblies on the livestream, and having minutes posted helped too, but it's not the same as being there, And though this sign does not quite apply to me, a non-camper, it does feel more like a large family at the People's Plaza this week
It's been colder, though we have not yet had any of that 4 letter S-word, winter strategies are an ongoing topic at the assemblies. Daylight decreases rapidly this time of year too, this the street view as I bike to the People's Plaza at supper time
Lots of yummy food , mostly vegetarian, was accompanied by Hare Krishnas drumming on one side, and on the other hymns sung in 3 part harmony. We also had giant soap bubbles!
This guy was making his sign bolder :-)
The General Assembly started with what was later called "speed dating" :-) a getting know people ice breaker that also allowed latecomers to straggle in before we got to business, and it looked like we had plenty on the proposed agenda. A good facilitator got us through the committee reports and announcements in timely fashion, but things got hairier when we got to proposals. Despite several instances of people being out of order, and one person using a block , improperly according to most of us (and we did "override" that), he got us back on track quickly . Some items had to wait for another meeting but we got a lot done by 9:30. Ideas to improve public safety were generated in small groups, these will probably come back as formal proposals later. We passed a statement of unity, which is still a work in progress, wording may change before an official press release
for now it says
We are creating a global sustainable community that values the health of the Earth and its inhabitants over corporate profits.
We are a diverse group of people and find strength in that diversity. No one person or group speaks for all of us as a whole. We wish to see an end to the corruption of both corporations and government. We will persist until the voices of the people overcome the corrupting influence of money
We also passed a resolution about ending corporate personhood. My sense is that there will be more work done on the wording of that one as well. As glad as I was to see some meaty stuff get passed, what impresses me even more is how we are getting this General Assembly consensus process down.
Update 10/23: not enough to report for a separate diary, my lentil tajine disappeared quickly despite a late arrival to the food table. We also had many more passersby than usual as the Vikings had just been put out of their misery at the nearby Metrodome
Tonight's General Assembly began with a one on one relationship building exercise which we had consensed on last night. I had actually stood aside for that proposal just because of time concerns which unfortunately turned out to be valid. The exercise itself was great and I enjoyed talking to my partner, but it meant the other agenda items started 30 min later. I would like to do these things , but not in the context of the General Assembly meeting. We did get to hear from 2 women about to be foreclosed on, had quick small group brainstorming sessions on how we could help, then voted to support them, though a committee will sort out our ideas, should not be hard as they were mostly quite similar, and I will not give them away just yet!
One of our fearless chatroom moderators was sitting in front of me, love the vest he was wearing!
Several other proposals really did not get dealt with tonight. This meeting went very differently from last Sunday's or even last night's, and besides the delay from the exercise, I would have to say it was also partly differences in facilitators. Letting people talk is important but so is maintaining order and timeliness. I was one of many who left around 9 with the 2nd half of the agenda yet to go and I don't think they were going to try to get to all of it either. Oh well, progress is not always linear :-)