I was looking forward to a teach-in on communal structures today, which was supposed to include building a tipi. It was a lovely day on the South Plaza
But the teachers and materials were late, since I was also planning to bring a big pan of lasagna later, I only waited about 45 min, went home to do chores and hoped there would be enough light for good pics when I got back. Well,I got photos, but not the kind I was expecting! more below the squiggle
I want to make it clear I am not speaking for OccupyMN, this is my personal view of what I was able to see and hear. Before coming back I had seen a tweet saying the communal structure building had moved off site after security intervened. So, shortly after dropping off the lasagna, I saw this happening in the street bordering the plaza.
The structure had been taken on a march and they were trying to bring it back to the plaza. As far as I could tell law enforcement then approached, and many of us gathered near to see what was happening. Then I believe some Occupiers tried to persuade the people carrying the structure not to force the issue and dismantle it.
I have heard 2 conflicting versions of what happened and don't have a way of verifying which is correct at this time. One is that AIM, the American Indian Movement, did approve of this action, and that people knew it could lead to a direct action. The other is that AIM considered this disrespectful and did not want to be involved in it, and that most of us had not expected this to go beyond a teach-in. If I get better information later I will update this.
Finally it was dismantled peacefully
So a rather tense General Assembly was held a little after this in the nearby parking garage, not an ideal space but it got us out of the wind.
People were still agitated, and some were so anxious to be heard that it was hard to even get the agenda approved. So we voted to shake up the facilitation team a little to accommodate the difficulties. Then it had luckily already been planned to break into small groups to discuss hot topics, several were related to the above. I was in a group discussing information flow, wondering how to stop rumors and make sure we were being given accurate information in proposals brought to the General Assembly.
Then the small groups reported back to the larger group, and their ideas may be proposals at the next General Assembly. I did hear some very constructive ideas; I hope something that prevents future mis-communications will be approved. I was not able to stay for discussion of the ACLU proposal on giving our delegates guidelines;from checking the minutes, it looks like that was tabled again