Steps of St Pauls – 7:00pm Weather – Unseasonably bitter and cold

Facilitation – Liz / Vica                                   Note taker – Jack

Proposals for consensus / discussion

1. Proposal for May Funding. – PASSED WITH AMMENDMENT

2. Request for travel expenses. – BLOCKED

3. Proposal to clarify objections, amendments, blocks. – DISCUSSED

4. Proposal for post-ratification of GAs. – DISCUSSED

5. Proposal to not hold an Occupy London GA on 12^th May. – PASSED WITH AMMENDMENT

Copies of the Safer Spaces Policy were handed out at the start of the assembly. The facilitation team explained that the assembly was going to abide by the policy. Should anyone breach the SSP, they would first be given a warning by the facilitation team (any attendee of the assembly can notify the facilitation team of SSP breaches). If the same individual breached SSP again, they would be asked to leave the assembly. If they refuse to physically leave, they are to take no further part in the decision making at that assembly. The assembly agreed to operate under this practice.

Proposal 1. Proposal for May Funding.

Request for funding for Occupy May 12th & 15th actions (submitted by Vica)

Breakdown

Posters: 150
Flyers and map for the day: £400
Stickers for targets: 150
Caution Occupy tape: 150

Total: £850

Clarification / Objections

Tom – How much tape will you be able to afford? Can I use some of it for actions?

Response – Lots of it! Of course you can use some.

Tim – How many maps to be produced? Why A3 and full colour?

Response – Exact Numbers not known, but at least a few hundred. Corpwatch gave us so much great information we felt we had to publicise it.

[discussion about formatting and design issues. Mention of ecological impact of document printing]

[Discussion surrounding an additional funding of £100 for use in more helium filled tents. Assembly agreed to test for consensus on initial amount then discuss the additional spending.]

TEST FOR CONSENSUS – CONSENSUS achieved – No Stand-asides.

£850 granted to Occupy May WG.

[discussion surrounding additional £100.]

TEST FOR CONSENSUS – CONSENSUS achieved – No Stand-asides.

£100 additional funding granted to Occupy May WG.

Proposal 2 - Request for travel expenses

Finance request – £216 travel expenses

Amount is to cover outstanding amount from £380 which was the cost of travelling to Edinburgh for outreach and joining post play panel discussion at Traverse Theatre after the play Demos partly about Occupy London (minutes from december meeting) Saskia John and Phil all went, John as co author, Saskia as panellist and Phil with suitcase full of OT’s to give away. I would have liked to submit a proposal beforehand but unfortunately by the time we found out about it and were confirmed free performance tickets there was less than a week before the event. Also there was no apparent process for finance at the time. Due to the short timing involoved we were unable to purchase advance tickets. Saskia paid for the tickets and the play writer offered some money to John to cover his expenses. John has kindly used his entire contribution to help to cover the outstanding amount. I do have tickets and can print out e receipt as proof of purchase. We felt this was an important outreach opportunity and felt our time in Scotland was well spent. For the record this is the first expenses I have ever applied for, having covered all my own costs to date including travel to Sheffield conference.

Clarification / Objections

Pete / Mel – This request seems a little out of nowhere. This trip wasn’t discussed a GA. It seems a fait accompli. It’s a bit too much with our current funds and there seems to be an assumption of reimbursement.

Tom – This is an egregious request.

Tiff – It was a personal choice to attend, no-one was asked to go by Occupy London.

Tim – Find this request uncomfortable. The Traverse Theatre should have paid.

TEST FOR CONSENSUS – Proposal BLOCKED – 2 People Block.

Proposal 3 – Proposal to clarify objections, amendments, blocks – Presented for discussion

Proposal to clarify what an objection an amendment or a block are when used in consensus

There is a need to distinguish between an objection which is specific to the proposal being made (and is subject to a consensus that can be modified from 100% to any lesser proportion eg 80/20%) and a block which is in effect a veto. A block should properly be used maybe only once in the time you are in a group if a proposal is made that is in conflict with the core statements of the group such that it would cause you to feel that you would have to leave the group if the proposal was accepted. These core statements would be publicly available ones – in our case the initial statement and those made by the WGs and also the SSP statements.(not some subjective view of what the group is)

When disagreements remain at the level of objections difficult situations can be managed by deciding on different levels of consensus. Blocks like vetos make a democratic situation undemocratic (like the UN)

Amendments should only be allowed if the change is quite small eg only one element in a proposal changed or only a change of 10-20% in financial request. This is a matter of judgement but the way amendments should be treated should err on the side of caution. If anybody expresses any doubt at all (ie one person should be sufficient for this to happen) then it should be re-proposed to give people the chance to re-assess the proposal.

DISCUSSION POINTS

There is no mention of a minimum size for an assembly, this would seem related to me. Should we discuss Quorums?

Blocks are not secure from agitators, destructive mindsets and Aps

Blocks are an important part of decision making. They should be considered the start of the next stage in the “life” of a proposal.

We should have more facilitation workshops to help people become more familiar with Process.

If more people don’t like the proposal, it’s not carried.

[postive discussion follows, group seems keen on the proposals points]

TEMPERATURE CHECK – To continue discussing and working on this proposal with Tim to return to a GA at a later stage. – VERY WARMLY RECEIVED

Proposal 4 – Proposal for post-ratification of GAs – Presented for discussion

GA decisions in meetings to be ratified the following week.

“All decisions and payments etc must be ratified by a GA a week later following the original proposal before  decisions or payments can be acted upon. (excepting in situations of  emergency such as evictions, imminent police action etc )”.

This would allow for the the process in the GA to be examined calmly to see if the procedure was correct via video and written minutes.

Statements can be looked at to see if they have  basis in fact (obviously there is room for differences I am referring here to gross  inaccuracies) This would encourage people to make more responsible  statements as they would know they would be subject to scrutiny.

There would be more time to gauge if a block was correctly made and if the meeting took place within the SSP guidelines. Amendments could be examined to see if it  did not distort or exceed the proposal beyond it  original intention.

New minutes could then be submitted, if necessary with suitable  addenda. These would be collated by the facilitators to the meeting on the basis of objections made (all objections to be made publicly  available before the GA ratifying the minutes).

These would then be submitted to the GA,with a different facilitator(s) which then would form the basis of the ratification so payments and  decisions could be carried out.

(This may only be considered necessary for GAs concerning finance.)

DISCUSSION POINTS

Speed up the ratification time-line. A week is too long to wait.

Could be useful for binary choice decisions, but less so for consensus on lengthy statements.

Consensus isn’t the only game in town

A smaller commission / council could be better suited for this ratification rather than a full GA.

Standard practice in organisational meetings to ratify the previous meetings minutes. There should be a deadline like this involved anyway.

Should the GA be making any decisions at all?

TEMPERATURE CHECK – To continue discussing and working on this proposal with Tim to return to a GA at a later stage. – MODERATELY WARMLY RECEIVED

Proposal 5 – Occupy London General Assembly to not take place on Sat 12^th May.

[ Discussion about merits of proposal, it's necessity so as not to coincide with M12 events. Some discussion about overall suitability of Saturday 2pm assemblies. Some discussion about trickiness of not communicating and someone turning up to put on quasi autonomous GA. ]

Proposal amended to read -

The Occupy London General Assembly will take place on Saturday 12^th May. However it will be themed around the M12 events and will only perform the function of providing discussion space. No proposals for consensus will be scheduled into this Assembly (They can instead be scheduled into Friday 11^th May GA or the next weekend)

TEST FOR CONSENSUS – CONSENSUS achieved – No Stand-asides.

General Assembly 31^st March 2012

A very blustery, cold day

Facilitator – Simon Minutes – Jack

Simon – First, a finance proposal

Proposal – £370 to Finsbury Square, £100 to Lime-house

Test for Consensus

2 stand asides – [request by the people standing aside, to have them registered]

CONSENSUS REACHED – no further tests

[request for an explanation of the stand asides]

Ben – I want to stand aside because I don’t understand the process being followed. I want to stand aside because of this. I won’t block because I can see the group want this money granted.

Simon – OK, more agenda items. 2 discussion topics, and one further finance discussion

First discussion item -

Julie – Proposal – to go into break out groups and consider these questions.

What does the name Occupy London mean / suggest to you?

Would it be helpful to map common processes. Setting out how Occupy makes decisions

Would it be helpful to set out current principles?

Would it be helpful to develop better practices and processes?

Should we develop a written constitution?

Peter – The very general first question should be divorced from the process issues.

Mike – This is a waste of time as a discussion.

? – What would be the outcome of the discussion

Simon – no real outcome, just a chance to form ideas. Three questions?

Jamie – May 1 May 12 May 15. Why are we not talking about this. We should be addressing violence. We answered the first question posed on Oct 15^th.

Fanny – We will head to this discussion about May. We felt it was important to find these things to plan for May, to find a common message. The GA planning meeting felt it was important to discuss.

Tammy – Can everyone here. I put it to each of you that in the end it doesn’t matter what we’re called. Let’s get down to the nuts and bolts.

Anon – I think since we got married, we should be discussing the surnames. This is a very important discussion even if we don’t have it now.

Peter – Can we focus this discussion. It is too wide currently and will take too long.

? – Occupy is a global thing

Lee – I suggest we focus on finance as this has produced the biggest schism.

Simon- Finance is a proposal for discussion later. Can we hear from Julie.

Julie – Look then at our 4 principles and examine them? How they might relate to finance? Do we need to create a written constitution?

Anon – the best map is based around camps. The imperial nature of Occupy London should be dropped.

Charlie – All camps have their different meanings and what they do. Each site is specific. If we look at camps everywhere, they carve their own way of fighting the systems. The original idea was to take land and discuss how they wanted to fight the system. But we ALL fight for the same reasons, the same movement. With autonomy people can move forward.

Ben – I want it recorded that people did not want to discuss the name, than all the points we just had were about the name!

BREAK OUT DISCUSSION

FEEDBACK

GROUP 1

Started with the question, do we have agreed shared values? We looked at the initial statement and we felt we still share the desire to changes . But we felt that a written formal constitution wasn’t a good way to do this. Ideas and concepts sharing are far better.

We then moved onto the name issue. We had quite a good understanding that there’s no need for fragmentation. We can all be Occupy London. It is a beautiful idea. But in practice, how do we reconcile autonomous structures within the group. There is a need. Cooperative model could be worth looking at

GROUP 2

Steve mentioned that real democracy has an idea to set up a commission regarding the recent problems we’ve had . Some thought it would consume too much energy. Then there was the idea of a constitution. Where there are lot of communication problems, then a constitution would solve these. Some also said this would require a lot of energy. There was the discussion about WGs that are perceived as having too much power/ The need to vote members into these was discussed. There are problems with voting as well. Another advantage is that in UK we do have a constitution, just an unwritten one.

A discussion about the degrees of coherence and centralisation. Camps should have more autonomy then they do. To not tie them down. we came together to fight the same issues. If a constitution is to be drawn up could start with the most contentious issues. Some thought a full constitution would then be unnecessary . This could be done collaboratively

GROUP 3

on a personal not. WELCOME BACK to some original occupier

we talked about communication. We used the idea of a sunflower and G8 in Edinburgh. Where we bring each barrio together that have had their own affinity groups. These barrios came together at a large meeting with spokespeople from the camps and affinity groups . WE suggested a weekly meeting where all of our camps could come together and allow each to be represented.

Lot of people in camps need face to face. Some of the people we work with can’t afford to always be here. We DO need a mechanism to involve those people.

We also talked about the issue of FS, people were talking about a lack of welcoming there and others affirmed this was being addressed.

The idea that if there was a constitution for every camp. Also, involving the army, and veterans. Many revolutionary movements have used these resources. The decision making at the moment appears to be hierarchical, so a flower arrangement could work better.

GROUP 4

Why do we need a constitution? For outside people, so they know how to get involved and have a commoner understanding. Someone said about the ideological splits and how to address these. There was a lot of support about our anti corporate stance. Many reaffirmed the sentiments of the common statement.

Simon – two more topics remaining. A May planning topic and a finance one. Ronan, can you present the may planning issue.

Steve [suggests this feedback goes back to real democracy working group to work these issues.]

We meet Mondays.

? – after such a healthy discussion it would be a shame to lose this.

Jamie – great idea, so many meetings do not get followed up . Can real democracy, continually feedback.

? – can people feed this to the Finsbury Square site.

? – someone should take this responsibility .

Tammy – I see people on groupspaces that live at Finsbury. Can they do this?

Proposal – Steve – have a named individual responsibility for this.

NEXT TOPIC!

Fanny – Okay, MAY. This isn’t however exactly about planning may. That meeting is after this GA in Ye Old London. This is about messaging this discussion. We are looking for the GA to input.

Ronan – When we say messages we mean, e.g. So what is Occupy LODNON? [answer is what we're trying to find] That is the aim of this. So there are two areas… if you are asked that question we want to find a group answer to that.

What is Occupy London?

Why is Occupy London for you?

So this feedback will really help us build a message. We want to build a one page document, so people doing interviews and chats, can inform themselves of the common themes

Simon – restates questions.

Sarah – Love the idea, but would want consensus on this as it is effectively a statement.

GROUP FEEDFACK – 2^nd TOPIC

GROUP 1

What is Occupy London?

• Confusing. It means so many things to so many people. Each person had an idea.

• To create a society based on well being and not profits.

• Every individual input for a fair just and harmonious world

• A world based on finite resource and infinite growth is embarrassing

Why get involved?

• If you do nothing, nothing will change

• to get your voice heard

• need to keep Occupy London more appealing

SLOGANS

• Open the window, have a look

• I wasn’t born to feed a corporation

Discussed the importance of education. Lets try and get people back into helping the 99%

GROUP 2

What is Occupy London?

• as a Londoner, occupy London… I feel a sense of shame being here. Things happen here that are not allowed anywhere. We’d have had no collapse without lax laws in London.

• It’s about people in the city using the system to generate profit for the sake of profit.

• The human race is being held back by this.

Occupy London should be a beacon to the rest of the country and world that if we can stand up to these powerful institutions so can you.

Why should people join?

• People are waking up, but the majority are still asleep .
• To give a sense of community pride again. Humans are amazing. It’s been stifled
• People have different motives under r the banner of corporate greed.

There was another point, I’m always asked what t occupy is about. A lot of things under one umbrella.

SLOGANS

I am not just a cat, I am a fat catastrophic

austerity burgers, I’m loving it!

GROUP 3

• a lot covered by initial statement.
• One thing extra is about exposing the flaws of the current system.
• Occupy shows the alternative that is possible, it gives us a united voice of dissent
• challenge economic injustice. Privatisation

SLOGANS

May do, May happen, Spring Break, Blooming Bank, Spring Up, Time for a Spring Clean.

By being complacent, you are complicit.

GROUP 4

• We thought, simply – Occupy for a fairer world, it encompasses eco, environmental issues, political

Ronan – so the feedback just given, what we’ll do, we’ll collate it. We’ll put it out and find maximum resonance.

Urgent proposal from Sarah

Sarah – this is rushed idea. We are encouraging many people to Lime-house for a party! It is alcohol free, completely. This is simply because of the issues around alcohol. A large Muslim group in the area and they will not join us if we allow it.

Can we decide that intimidation, violence, spitting, abuse of process and all -isms are NOT acceptable. This has been happening with NO consequence. What I would like to see today is that anyone who comes to Lime-house today stands today with us and that we circle anyone who does this and remove them fro the site. A soft kettling. If this works today, we will develop into a full SS proposal. I nearly went yesterday, and I know I am not alone.

If we cannot protect our own, we are nothing.

We need to ban from site, anyone who makes it unsafe to do occupy London business. If you are willing to do this come stand with us now.

[most people stand with Sarah, a couple stay sitting]

? [this seems a little vague still, we need concrete proposal ]

Sarah – yes. We need to do this by consensus, but for now. Today. We do this.

Tammy – we should use Lime-house this afternoon to test this. We shouldn’t fight aggression with aggression. Sure there are contributing factors. But action must be taken, We can’t just tut and shake our heads. We don’t have to be nasty to do this It can be loving. The majority here have just shown they find this behaviour unacceptable.

A majority here are demanding action.

Sarah – So everyone coming to Lime-house could hopefully bring some food. Soft kettle any naughtiness.

Simon – [reminds people that the GA is still going!]

SHOUT OUT

I’m here as a faith group. Occupy is simply people and places. Faith groups have been a part of moral reasoning for years. In order for occupy to represent the 99% we’re going to need to engage these faith groups. These faith groups are also going to have to open their doors

Saturday 12pm RcoJ we’re having a meeting.

I ask for your assistance in spreading this.

[Discusses a future Pilgrimage to Canterbury with events along the way.]

[My laptop packs up. I inform the GA then slink to the back of the crowd.]

minutes end. Meeting continues.

Working Group GA – 27th March 2012

Facilitator: Jonni

Minutes: Tina

Location: outside Royal Opera Hall

Start: 19:05

End: 21:30

Jonni – Everyone knows the hand signals. In the process group we decided to do a working group assembly as normal, try and limit that to an hour. Then have a discussion about certain things that have been happening at the moment. I know that’s not the usual way that things happen but I get the impression that a lot of people want to talk about these things. Can you raise your hand if you have some working group feedback? [Counts six] We shouldn’t be too pushed for time.

As far as I understand, proposals are not even been considered at working group assemblies. As facilitator, I’m happy to have these proposals read out as part of a wider discussion. I feel uncomfortable about considering them and testing them for consensus since they’ve only been around for a couple of days online.

Tammy – I agree with this on a process point issue but I’m not that this is a proposal that can wait, the Finsbury food issue. This is an extraordinary situation and I think we should make room for it.

Jonni – Shall we do the working group feedback now?

[wavy hands]

International Commission working group

Fanny – Main things we are working on at the moment, basically our purpose is to communicate what is happening in London and around the world. Right now we’re collecting information on what is going around the world and feeding this into a weekly newsletter that’s been working out really well. A couple of updates on online things that I’m not super familiar with but I’ve been told what to say.

Assemblies-only email list has been set up some time ago. It’s a noise-free list where assemblies only can post but there’s a good question remaining on who should be able to post on this, how should we use it, should it go to a consensus. This is something we will need to discuss at some point, as a working group we’ll bring it as a proposal.

Newswire is a platform where every assembly can post. It will be a category/blog on the new website. Centralised on takethesquare website. We’ll probably post the newsletter on this website once this is set up, then we’ll see what else we need to put on.

We’ve also collected information on international meetings, posted on groupspaces, keep your eyes open, especially for May.

The working group doesn’t meet regularly at the moment because we’re only a few, two or three people active.

Send an e-mail lsxinternational@gmail.com, we’ll add you to that list.

Mike – Make sure we talk about how takethesquare will interact with us, get the information etc.

Vica – On the website there are different categories. Add a new category for online meetings?

[wavy hands]

EEE working group

Peter – People around this weekend will know we did the roving GA last Friday. We came here, had a little talk at Tate modern about BP’s sponsoring of Tate modern, then had discussions about Shell activities. Some of us went down and took part at the Leyton march on Saturday. We’re speaking to various NGOs and grassroots organisation, Climate Justice Collective, Greenpeace, about their actions and what they’re doing so we can see where we can fit in.

May 5th, don’t have any fixed plans yet. It’s No Tar Sands day. Europe is trying to decide what its position is going to be. Tar sands are hugely polluting in terms of CO2 emissions.

Towards end of June, Rio+20 conference. 20years ago countries met up in Rio and set up Kyoto protocol. This year it looks like the corporations are having the upper hand in that. We’re also looking at the possibility of having an Occupy participation in Rio, internationally at least.

We’re working closely with the corporations working group on Xstrata and Glencore, since we’re very interested in the activities of those companies. Jack will tell you a bit more about that.

International web-chat every Sunday, last 4-5 weeks now. Coordinate on climate actions across the Occupy movement. Talking to some people from OWS and other occupies in Europe. For climate change we know we have a very short period of time in which to make a difference, change our energy policies and so on. Of course these things are driven by fossil fuel extraction and energy companies that have huge lobbying powers.

We’re very interested in the concept of planetary boundaries. Various scientists have got together and said there are 9 kinds of planetary boundaries we need to not go over; we have gone over 3 of them already. Calling into question the whole idea of economic growth, you can have human wellbeing without growth.

EEE meet at Garfunkels’ 6pm on Wednesday and St Paul’s steps 4pm on Saturday.

Ana – I was talking to someone outside the info tent, told me about this new satellite technology that creates ion clouds, this will artificially create holes in the ozone layer, we have no idea what kind of impact ionizing the stratosphere will have.

Peter – We’ll have a look at that. We met someone who’s involved in the rickshaws in London. Apparently the rickshaw drivers are being hassled both by the police and taxi drivers, We’ve considered giving some support to this community. Looks like there’s a move to get them off the street in time for the Olympics because it makes us look like a third world country.

Fanny – Are you working with any of the counter-Olympics movement? A lot of the sponsors are BP etc.

Peter – A group of us went to the International Committee protesting about this. The Dow company is also sponsoring, bought Union Carbide, the company responsible for the Bhopal disaster in India, they haven’t done anything about it yet.

Nafeesa – Blacklisting of the construction workers? This blacklist is still being used to stop people getting jobs at the Olympics.

Peter – Not sure this is one for EEE.

Nafeesa – Equity, I’d say yes.

Website/Tech

Mike D – Fanny already brought up that the big problem we are facing, when we left St Paul’s the web presence reflected like we were still at St Paul’s.

occupylondon.org.uk

Now it’s live and active. The idea is we’re going to have a separate space for each working group. Everything that’s going on at meetings or groupspaces will be going on this site. Eventually the idea is that occupylsx will be a redirect page, this was representative of our time at St Paul’s, now the broader movement of Occupy London has the new site.

The other big piece of this is to get rid of the Occupy London groupspaces as well, there’s no reason for this to exist if we can have all of our conversation on our website. Groupspaces gives the illusion that it’s an exclusive space, the new website won’t have that. Maybe people will be more careful of what they say on this platform. Gives us more ability to enforcer safer spaces. Beneficial in many ways.

Any suggestions, enhancements, if anyone sees anything wrong, there are very clear ways you can submit that to us. Hope everyone makes use of this.

I accept that a lot of people would like to be involved in discussing user experience /interface but when it comes to the actual coding and development, those are things going on an ongoing kind of basis. These are two very different ways to be involved in the interworkings of the site.

On the site itself, there’s a website development group that you can join. We do meet up from time to time but it’s informal. That’s generally organised through the group that’s on the site. If anyone’s interested, please join.

Vica has been deeply involved in what we’ve been working on as well. This is such a massively important conversation.

Vica – More generally about the working group assembly, I think we should give more importance to things that relate to all working groups. At some point we have to try and think of the website like we do of groupspaces, the official place where we do stuff. You can also have your personal account, start sharing photos and videos, links etc.

We urgently need some videos and photos of what’s been happening in the past months because we want to create some videos for May. Please start uploading them.

Liz – I still can’t get access to that site. I have e-mailed about it.

Jonni – Can you discuss this between yourselves later.

Vica – The activation code ends up in the spam so please check the spam, it should arrive almost immediately. If you want to get involved, I am involved in the user part of the website, how working groups interact with the website. Remit of internal communication. How working groups and individuals relate with online platforms. I will organise a meeting if people are interested in getting involved, I did set up one and no one came.

Claudine – What’s the reason we’re changing the website?

Mike – If I had to give one specific point, the main occupylsx site, it’s almost entirely representative of the press working group, all you see are the press releases. The idea is to bring everything, all the working groups and show that this is Occupy London.

Claudine – So it seems the issue here is not the website.

Mike – It was a technical limitation as well.

? – Do we have to register as a working group or an individual?

Mike – The idea is you register as an individual and then you join groups.

Vica – I have contacted every working group that I knew existed and met with a representative of this working group. If there’s a working group

? – I’ve been trying to register the democracy working group.

Vica – Can I suggest that we sort out individual issues later.

? – Is the real democracy group the same as the democracy group?

? – No, they’re different groups.

Peter – Real democracy working groups are splinters.

? – When you make the transfer, are you going to delete the old stuff?

Mike – As I understand it, groupspaces doesn’t archive anything, so once it’s in your e-mail box it’s deleted. We would shut down the ability to mass e-mail 300 people who are part of this list. The current website is part of the phase-in plan, we’ll merge in all the data to the new site. Everything that’s on the current site will be on the new site.

May planning and direct action

Vica – I’ll be giving dates and important events happening on those dates. At the moment, we’re not such a big group so building up to May we need to start engaging with our supporters and also with other groups. We’ve set a series of meetings, outreach teams and planning together.

This Saturday 4pm, there will be a May planning meeting. This for all working groups involved in May. Also a moment to invite all occupiers that used to be active that you think would be interested in getting involved in May.

Meeting is at Ye Olde London pub for now.

We’re also planning a meeting for next week, specifically for other activist groups, student groups, unions. Have a moment in which we bring together other groups. The idea is also that some of the things we plan for May involve autonomous actions. If there are other groups you are involved with, get in contact with Ronan, so we can get in touch with them as well. This will be either Wednesday or Thursday next week.

10th April – working group open day. An opportunity to show what each working group has been doing each month, get people involved. Start thinking of what kind of material you’re going to present. Could also have small teach-outs etc. There will also be some sort of general assembly. Probably will take place at the Friends’ house (Euston), 7pm I think.

15th April – Is our six-month anniversary. Coincides with the national conference. Some of us are definitely going to be in London and we’re planning to do something that will probably involve a general assembly but also a soft action. This will involve different groups autonomously doing a soft action on the 15th. Any autonomous group, get in contact with me or Fanny. You don’t have to tell us what you’re doing, just let us know so we can coordinate it.

21st-22nd April – Seeds for Change have booked 3 rooms in the Friends house for a skill-sharing weekend. They’re doing this for Occupy, so we’ll be organising it with them. This is another chance to invite other activists to get involved. Get in contact for this with either me or Sam.

Jonni – How do we get involved in direct action?

Vica – Just contact me or Fanny.

Peter – Question to everybody here. Can the working groups get back in touch with everyone who’s on their e-mail list? Can we do that now and tell them about what’s going on.

Vica – There will be some press releases specifically for these events. As soon as they come out, get it to your e-mail lists.

Ragnhild – I think it would be useful to have the dates already, so you don’t have to wait for the press releases. If we wait, people can’t plan. If you want to get some people involved, it helps to prepare in advance.

May 15th planning

Vica – First of all, Thursday, me, Spyro and Tina are going to Milan. International gathering to organise May. We’ll be bringing what we’re planning on do and feeding up on other plans. We’re working on flyers, posters, stickers at the moment. We’re doing this with outreach. What is planned for May:

1st May – An event that will try and pull in as many people as possible.

12th May – More educational event, maybe a kind of march.

15th May – Direct action.

Please start getting involved in the working groups now. As time goes on, we’ll be able to give less and less information to the general assembly.

15th May – We weren’t sure of the actions. We’ll be starting a poll on FB where we’ll be suggesting targets. Anyone else can suggest targets. Please invite your friends.

https://www.facebook.com/occupylondon/posts/104921229641009

We’ve suspended the 15th May meetings but we’ll start a series of trainings. We don’t know each other too well from a point of view of direct action. Remember, direct actions can have very different forms, I’m sure you’ll find someone to get involved with.

This is starting next Wednesday, it will be announced.

James – I know that the 12th May meeting is tomorrow at LARC.

Jonni – How do people get in touch? Do you have an e-mail?

Vica – There is a space on the website for 15th May.

Welfare and wellbeing

Tony – We’ve been on site since the beginning of St Paul’s doing what we can. We’ve had a group meeting every week. More recently we’ve been trying to facilitate dialogue at Finsbury square that has been challenging, confusing and vexing. We’re now taking a break and wondering where to go next as a group. Discussing the psychological, psychosocial implications of the Finsbury square thing. The move that’s been mooting for separating. We met last night to get some sort of process reflexion on what that means in terms of the philosophy of Occupy.

Jonni – Regular meetings? How can people get involved?

Tony – welfareolsx@gmail.com

Julie – Are you a psychotherapist?

Tony – Yeah, but we’re not part of the Tavistock group.

Julie – We’ve been questioning ourselves about Finsbury square. There are lots of mental health issues. What’s your take? Do you feel that people are more in danger or more safe at Finsbury square?

Tony – Looking at groupspaces, you get so many different versions of what life is like there, I guess it’s different for everybody there. As a community, I get the impression that it’s struggling. There’s also an identity crisis, it’s trying to define itself.

Vica – I received two different e-mail addresses for welfare. welfareolsx@gmail.com. Meet Mondays 6:30 at Ye Olde London pub but you’re taking a break now until 16th April.

Aida – That’s right.

Tony – We also have a google group that it would be nice to bring over to the new website. There are 70- people on this group who have manifested an interested and/or done something on site.

Peter – What’s your view, to what extent people can be helped on site and to what extent they need to be referred onwards and the capacity of the welfare group to deal with issues on site?

Aida – We have a view on this but it needs discussion. Aren’t we going to discuss this later?

Fundraising w.g.

Tammy – I think we really need to do some serious fundraising. Meeting on Thursday at St Paul’s. I’ll be taking a few days off so this will not be happening, looks like there are no takers on this anyway. If anyone is interested in it, send me an e-mail and we’ll take it forward.

Liz – Direct point. Ronan and I started a fundraising group with similar results about two months ago.

? – If we’re trying to fundraise for a movement that seems to be actually, in my view, at a turning point or visually collapsing, I think we need to think about what we’re doing first and then sort things afterwards.

Democracy w.g.

Natasha – We’ve been working on research. We have researched self-determination, a critique of the current parliamentary system, a draft on the influence of the Crown, last night we were going to talk different models of democracy in different countries including Iceland but we didn’t, talking about a response to the Finsbury statement.

Mondays 6:30 at Finsbury square

Corporations w.g.

Jack – The EU are going to be investigating the merger between Glencore and Xstrata. Good news but a bit of a piss-off for that. We plan to still carry on with our day of action and events surrounding it.There is a subvertising possibility. We’re building a website.

Next meeting Thursday in the Barbican, mezzanine floor, 7pm

We will discuss what we can do about the day of action now that we’ve lost the wedding theme. Sticking with the theme of soil and dirt is an idea.

Tunnel vision is what we have at the moment. Majority of the group still wants to maintain the work and get it finished.

Claudine(?) – Mining in Congo. Not sure anyone cares.

Jack – Actually Glencore are notoriously shitty about their behaviour in the Congo. Anyone that has any information, even a link, please e-mail

corporationswg@gmail.com

We have a Dropbox with all the research we’ve done.

Fanny – Both for corporations and EEE. About Olympics, should it be a separate working group or can it be done in collaboration with one or the other?

Jack – I think it should be a separate project but that’s just my opinion.

Vica – I know that Pedro and I think Jonathan Lamb have already started working on it. It’s not an official working group yet but they’ve been talking about it on groupspaces.

Safer spaces w.g.

Julie – We met at Finsbury last Thursday and we’ll set up drug information services, getting in some charities and maybe NA or AA. We also considered the proposal at last Friday’s GA and decided the best thing to do was to work with Finsbury, GA.

Whiteboard, get everyone’s suggestions. That seemed to go down ok.

We also decided to look into restorative justice as a process to sort out issues. If anyone has any contacts that would be really helpful, get some expertise. It seems like a really good way of dealing with problems.

Next week we’ll have a look at the complaints process.

Meet Thursdays at 6:15 at Starbucks at Finsbury square.

We’d be open to changing the location.

Tammy – I must admit that I’m really rather torn on the whole topic of Finsbury. What I’m really interested to know is that while it’s great people will get information about addictions etc., even you guys are not having your meeting on the camp itself. So as far as safer spaces working group goes, what else are you guys doing to implement, enforce the SSP.

Jonni – We will touch on this later.

Julie – Some people don’t feel safe in Finsbury square, there have been issues. I don’t think we have a fixed position about where to meet. Enforcement, ok. There are different ways of looking at this really. We looked a bit at the tranquility team. Restorative justice is a process. Let’s say something that’s happened that is not a crime but is a breach of safer spaces.

Tranquility

Ana – Were having a meeting as I left to come here. Tranquility is discussing teaming up with safer spaces w.g. to ensure everybody feels safe. Come and volunteer. We meet every day at 5pm. We’ll sit down and discuss the events of the day and any issues tranquility has met that day. For example, some people were banned from St Paul’s or previously from Finsbury square but because partly of lack of communication, some of these people came back to Finsbury square that has caused a certain amount of friction, they came back and repeated the same mistakes.

What is a crime that needs to be immediately reported to the police and what can tranquility deal with internally, what can we do in terms of mediation. These are some of the things currently being discussed.

Peter – Was at that meeting and was impressed. Want to set up some basic rules that they want to enforce straight away. Whatever happens, split or not, I think it’s very important to get this done.

Jack – It would be great if groups at Finsbury square could come and tell us what’s going on. People just doing things has been part of this nightmare.

Ana – Direct point. Today was particularly awkward this location to get to. In terms of running a camp, tranquility needs to be there. People are working hard on the ground, that’s difficult to leave that.

Liz – My impression is that these are new working groups dealing primarily with Finsbury. We haven’t really determined how this is mapping out. Is there another economics group, EEE group?

Ana – No. In terms of feeding back. One thing I wanted to feed back that Jules had said, he felt that Finsbury was a hundred times safer than St Paul’s, didn’t feel the need to wear his knife vest.

Aida – I just wondered for the better movement of the whole Occupy for those who can’t attend this sort of meeting or send a representative, send a report in writing so that everyone at least knows what’s going on.

Buroughs walk

Liz – Simon has been very involved in Leyton Marsh.

11am Saturday on St Paul’s steps. One night in each burough. I did not attend the last meeting so don’t have much to report.

Vica – Just to emphasise the open day on 10th April would be great for bringing in communities.

Process

Jonni – On Saturday the GA discussed strengths and weaknesses of the way the current system works.

John B. – We had a basic discussion around the proposals, the practice of improving process, practice in common. Whole stream of proposals in that form. Name, background, story/diagram and test.

4pm on Saturday meeting St Paul’s (post-GA)

? – Did you get an anonymous e-mail proposing to dissociate Finsbury square from Occupy?

John B. – There was an e-mail on groupspaces, what do you mean?

Ragnhild – I don’t think this relates to process.

Jonni – Everyone on groupspaces got it.

John B. – Is there a concern that needs to be investigated?

Tent City University

James – We’ve had a couple teach-outs recently, one that I was at, was quite good. One last Sunday, I wasn’t at, heard it went well. In terms of other events, we’re in a hiatus right now in terms of figuring out how to move forward. There are a few educational activities I know have been planned and happening in Finsbury square. These are not happening under the TCU banner. We don’t have a permanent location, to do teach-outs. The reality is we’re channeling a lot of energy into the buroughs walk and the actions in May.

The free uni courses continue, there’s a FB page and a wiki, there’s one going on as we speak, this continues as a larger process, a larger group of people disenchanted with current education system.

tentcityuniversity@gmail.com

We are meeting next week, to make firmer decisions as to how to move forward as a working group.

Next Thursday April 5th, around 6-7pm, place to be determined. We’ll put it up on groupspaces or the new website.

Tina – What’s been happening with making TCU lecture videos more widely available?

James – We had a wordpress blog and we’re trying to get the videos on there. We retroactively e-mailed people who gave talks, got a limited response. We have what we have, 15-20 videos of talks. This would be good to document and share more, make widely available. We could use some tech help, how best to package that and disseminate more. That’s an action point to take back to the working group.

FDA working group/Leyton Marsh

Ana – Solidarity with community at Leyton Marsh who feel they are losing their green space due to a development of basketball pitch. The nearest train station is Clapton. Is behind the Leigh valley ice rink. People have been stopping lorries. A 60-year old lady managed to stop the lorries on her own all day. People thought they’d give her a hand.

#55 and #38 buses go down that road.

Fanny – I haven’t been down but I’ve heard incredibly inspiring things. It would be really good to go down for half an hour, mess up the cement and the day’s work is done.

Jonni – At the process meeting before this two proposals were brought. I volunteered to facilitate this meeting. I’m happy for the people who brought the proposals to read them out but I don’t feel comfortable testing them for consensus because they just came out today. Because of the strong emotions on this, I’d like to put a few rules to this discussion. Everybody limits what they say to two minutes. I’d like people to finish talking, not talk over them. Also no back and forths. After 20 minutes, we’ll see how everybody feels after that continue or not.

The people who brought the proposals I will give 4 minutes to introduce their proposals.

Corina – For me this sounds quite dictating. I’m not sure that’s actually a fair process.

Jonni – I acknowledge that. Is everybody happy?

[mix of up and down hands]

Tom – Some people don’t want to realise I may be going to jail for this movement. My bail conditions were not considered when meetings decided were organised at St Paul’s.

Jonni – I would like to spend 10 minutes having a general discussion, then one proposal, then 10 minutes, then another proposal.

Liz – If the proposal I intended to bring to this meeting has no possibility of being tested at this meeting, it is futile to raise.

Jonni – Let’s let you guys decide.

Akira – These proposals should be aired, so we have an idea of what’s been happening, what we’re talking about.

Liz – The proposal was e-mailed out to groupspaces this afternoon in an acknowledgement that working groups assemblies don’t generally put proposals of this sort up for consensus. However, I’m a member of the finance working group and was made aware that Finsbury square requested full funding. No finance requests have come in this week, there has been no finance FA this week. However, my proposal was that the finance team have more or less agreed to offer core funding. The total sum involved would be 390  pounds. 150 pounds for kitchen, 1-00 gas for the kitchen, 90 for sanitation, 50 for tech fuel/gas, don’t know quite what they run on. Petrol. That’s it, pure and simple. If it can’t reach consensus, it’s just information.

Anon – It’s 80 pounds for the gas, not 100. Also Limehouse asked for 100 pounds this week, I put it across in an e-mail, they asked me on Sunday night.

Jonni – Personally I think it’s a good idea, but as a facilitator I feel uncomfortable facilitating this decision, which means I’m blocking it but if everyone really wants to pass it, I’m happy to step down and have someone else facilitate this.

Julie – I’m concerned with not having a Finance GA. We have a regular meeting because we have regular expenses. I don’t think a Finance GA should be cancelled unless there’s a really good reason. I’d prefer if we have a finance meeting after this. But in this situation, if it’s happened, yes, I would support this proposal. Last week’s working group GA it was announced that there was going to be a finance group meeting today at 3pm. Did that happen?

Vica – I think you have to understand that there has been a big crisis the past few days. The person who blocked the proposal at that finance GA was attacked a few days after, I don’t think we need to have a death to stop a GA.

I don’t think it would be fair to test for consensus here. But I do think the working group could give the mandate to the finance group to do what it thinks best. If we put it to the assembly and it’s blocked, I don’t think it’s fair because we haven’t said a finance GA was happening.

Anon – Given that no one from Finsbury square is likely to block their own food and sanitation, I don’t see why we can’t turn over this moment and release some funds, core funds for the sites.

Jack – Removing all the context from this, if we were to treat all financial requests equally, they would have to submit in the proper way that every other one is.

Tammy – I agree there but the fact of the matter is, it’s not their fault that they were unable to follow the correct process because Finance didn’t meet.

Tom – Peter Dombi trying to ringfence thousands of pounds, I think it’s the same situation with one modifier. [???]

Corina – I’m rather confused. Last week we had a finance GA, there was a process that I wasn’t actually happy with. I think we need to come to some point where we have our systems very transparent so there’s no need for people to feel there are blinders put over their eyes. People at Finsbury square, Limehouse, they need something to eat. I think it’s very important for the movement for them to give them food. It’s not about egos and personalities. Egos need to be reigned in a bit, think about core values.

Julie – I think we need a democratic forum to decide the finance. Vica, fair enough, it’s been a difficult week. There are immediate needs at Finsbury square. We need to get our structures right. We need more accountability and transparency. Things before were based on trust.

Steve – RDWG discussed this issue, trying to think more strategically. We never discussed the money but we want to deescalate the situation, If we deny funds, we’ll make the situation a lot worse. We have to take a decision that takes things down from that. I suggest we make an emergency payment, it’s an emergency situation. Then getting down to the issues of getting the movement united again. We had our own proposals, saying basically have a commission to look at all the facts an

Jack – I think people are putting too much emotion in this. At St Paul’s money for food was not guaranteed, it encouraged people to make up for it in other ways. I think that saying it’s core funding it’s not, it’s funding and it’s an alternative to other situations. There are in London meals given out.

Fanny – I agree with your last point but I see it as part of the broader picture, how we should handle the situation in the long run. I don’t understand why people at Finsbury don’t do more skipping. I see this as the most civilised way of dealing with this without escalating a tense situation even more.

Jonni – We’ve talked about this for 10 minutes, we’ll give it another 10 minutes.

Vica – I think we could go on talking for hours about this. We have to decide how we’re going to decide. Either we have a finance GA after this one or we decide we give the mandate to the finance team. We have to make a decision

Ana – I fear that after 6 months of people relying in the kitchen, people have become institutionalised. I do believe this is core funding. People who are professional activists but don’t have alternative source of income, don’t sign on the dole, don’t have trust funds from mum and dad.

Xena – This issue about finance and allocation of funds, seems to me it’s stuck in a rut and perhaps the only work to move forward is to change the people all around. Also, it’s unfair to recruit youngsters to the movement and them leave them high and dry in the centre of London being threatened, hungry, cold, exploited, this is not an organisation I’d like to be associated with.

Nafeesa – We’re still going to be out of process if we have a finance GA now. Lots of people are talking about solidarity, I’d like to see those same people guarantee the safety of people in the finance group.

Natasha – Every time I’ve been to Finsbury square there have been people trying to get food. The reason I was Its core value is compassion. I feel it’s lacking here.

John B. – Threats to take Occupy London to court if they don’t get what they want. Steven Moore. I’m going to call the police and investigate fraud if we don’t get the money that is our money. Perhaps there should be a calculation. I’d be surprised if it’s not reversed, if Finsbury square doesn’t owe money. The discussions I’ve had with people there today, I’ve been sickened by lack of concern of people that have been attacked. I will block every step of giving Finsbury square money.

Tom – Factual clarification. When St Paul’s was there, money was donated for the residential occupation, not people’s projects for fucking May.

Tammy – I want to point out an observation I’ve made. I took myself down to Finsbury square, got on the ground, see what’s coming. Was there yesterday and today, while it’s fair to say they seem to be trying to enforce SSP I also have to play devils advocate, I noticed today that quite a few people are sitting knocking back the cider and the beer. In all fairness we have to ask the very real honest question, have the humility to admit it, do we want to give people food for their physical well-being or do we want to provide a situation where people can eat for free and then indulging in these harmful behaviours.

Steve – We could certainly recommend something as a course of action. I would ne in favour of recommending we give them the money, give ourselves another week to deal with the issues. We’re not going to solve the problem now.

Steve (OT) – Not giving them money might solve the problem. If you subsidise something, it has no pressure to be useful in any way.

Claudine – I think we need to take a big breath. We are having problems as a movement. How do we resolve those, are we going to be throwing stones at each other? We need a platform where we’ll have a proper discussion where we deem what Occupy is. This is what we need to be talking about, this is not inclusive. It’s very easy for someone who has a full tummy to say you shouldn’t have food. We have created this problem, we have to try and find solutions for it. At this moment, they haven’t got money for food, let’s get the food there.

Steve (OT) – I haven’t got a job or fund from my parents, don’t sign on the dole either. If Occupy is a charity that could use a bit of cash. If camping out qualifies as being part of Occupy?

Ana – People are doing things, not just camping, not just sitting around in a tent occupying. There are people trying to participate in working groups but it’s really difficult if you don’t have any income, you know it’s not easy. If it would make your life easier, you could come and get food, collect the skip sandwiches.

Aida – Take into consideration whether we create a community for which we feel responsible. This is a movement for which the necessity of food, hygiene are important. But not vulnerable people. There are no resources to contain this sort of environment. If there’s this provision that everyone can get involved, the situation will get worse not better.

Xena – When we first came in October last year, each group was doing its own fundraising. Someone went around and put a stop to that, saying all the funds have got to be handed in to the info tent. Occupy took away the power from your members, I suggest you give it back to them and stop acting like the 1%.

Anon – It’s not much of a foster parent who says I’ll take on a couple of foster children, then says, I’m completely out of my depth, I’ll starve them out. You invited these people, then there was too many of them, too few of you, you fled. Get back to the camp and occupy it. Or admit it that you did the wrong thing and give them the money.

Jonni – I’d like to see how people feel about this. How do people feel about Liz’s proposal. [some wavy hands] I would describe this temperature check as warm.

Tammy – I’d like to see Finsbury square knuckle down and make some changes.

Xena – You’re going to get hostility if peoples’ blood sugar is very low.

Vica – I think we have to accept that we’re in a moment where there’s a definite split in the way we think what Occupy is about. One side thinks camps are essential, the other that Occupy can operate without camps. This proposal comes about because camps have their own GAs but working groups were missing a space where they could decide things collectively.

[reads out her proposal]

“We acknowledge that:

Jonni – As facilitator of the meeting, I don’t feel comfortable testing it for consensus today. Any clarifying questions?

Aida – Can this go online for everybody to be involved?

Jack – Leaving aside my most fundamental disagreements at the moment, I think the word “camp” is not good enough, it should be based around “site”. Camp is temporary, site is permanent.

John B – What do you mean by governing body?

Vica – The body where decisions are made.

John B – What’s the effect of that?

Vica – At the moment, the working group assembly can’t make decisions. For example, the statement that came out, could have been discussed and agreed at a working group assembly or questions about how working groups relate between them.

Julie – It feels that we just got really polarised in this debate. I don’t feel like I’m for or against camps. I think you make some good points. I think sometimes we just don’t talk about things, it’s a bit frustrating. Set aside maybe a day to talk about things. I want us to put more time aside to talk about these things.

Steve – We want to have a commission to look at grievances that people have. Also have a proper constitution. Redefine the groups, how they relate to each other etc. At this point of crisis, we need to think about these more fundamental things. We do need to do that, not just partially but in a more fundamental way

Vica – Where this comes from is the opposite. The idea of autonomy. Camps have a certain autonomy whereas working groups do not, we only have the Occupy London general assembly for making decisions.

Xena – I think it’s high time we set up an independent commission to look into all these arguments. It seems to me that here we are just a few of us trying to make decisions and judgments that are not even here. We should be conducting this meeting at one of the sites.

Tammy – I’m somebody that believes camps are important actually. I think there’s something great to be said about reclaiming a public space, then packing it up and going again because it’s more powerful. Whether we have a camp for a week or two weeks or a residential site forever, there has to be a way of dealing with issues. We can’t have a non-violent movement, an Occupy political camp, not doing politics. I wish that next time we don’t have to talk about money, have people donate the things we need. The love of money is the root of this evil right now. And I love this [Vica's proposal], I think it’s great.

Jonni – I’d like to get a temperature check for carrying on for 5 more minutes, then ending. Four people in the stack, we’ll hear them, then call it a night.

Jack – The phrase “Occupy London” is changing in definition for a lot of people. I see “governing body” as being a hierarchy. Having site-specific general assemblies heading up to a general assembly is a hierarchy. I think this proposal would head us that way and that concerns me. I think we’ve been operating under that assumption for a while now.

Flammy – It’s really depressing turning up to GAs that end up talking about money and nothing about strategy. The people who generally care about the movement, come and attend. These are all issues (camps, no camps), that need a strategic solution.

John B. – I think the problem is one of power. This has tree-based thinking all the way through it. Strategy of networks, networks are all about a series of independent activity. The other week, Deleuze(?) described Occupy as a grid of activities that circulate different aspects between them. This is going in completely the wrong direction.

Julie – I think we need to get to resolution of these points. When are we going to have a finance meeting?

Vica – I think you need to give them some more time to solve their problems.

Julie – There’s a real need to have a finance meeting that looks at how we finance decisions, needs to be set up within the next month. On this proposal, is there a structures meeting still going on? The democracy group is also interested in looking at this.

Ana – Do we have a strategy working group? That would be really good to know about or get involved in. Regarding the suggestion of people donating things, the only thing that money is really, really needed for is paying someone to clean the portaloos.

Partial Minutes from
Occupy London General Assembly
7pm Friday 23rd March 2012
South Bank, near Shell Headquarters

Discussion group feedback: What can we do locally to help disrupt ‘dirty power’?

Group 1:

We looked at 5 main points:

1 – Outreach idea. We’ll be losing green spaces everywhere – we should be encouraging people outside London to defend local green spaces.

2 – Airports and aviations – specifically new Boris airport. Place Stupid and similar groups.

3 – Air quality and emissions actions – big issue in London.

4 – Transport policies. Rickshaw driver action: they are being targetted by police. Bring awareness to their situtaions.

5 – Everything said today, look at ways to make it more accessible – small, bitesized information that’s easier to spread and remember – to get this information out there – everything that we learn here at Occupy. Into schools, online, locally, in papers etc.

Group 2:

How to get corporations to listen to us on environmental issues? Build a mass movement, link issues of environmental devastation with social justice. People making mega profit in fuel business, collapse in renewable market. Fuel poverty and climate awareness.

EDF have got offices near Shell here – wouldn’t it be nice if all this was turned over to art. Shell etc. wasting money on expensive buildings.

Energy companies making massive profits – normal bill payers paying. Monopolist – general public got by ‘short and curlies’ – that’s a technical term. Regulartors have been bought – need to bring awareness. Need to connect with others, and show how issue connected to other issues.

Eradicate ecocide (Ecological raping the planet, casing massive problems) through international law. We need everybody to know this, and to say we don’t want this happening, this has got to stop.

Fashion – instead of wearing Calvin Klein underpants, maybe we should be wearing Occupants. Maybe T shirts with bite-size information on? On our bags, on our bums? Occujeans? 3 Branches on H&M on Oxford St – clothes made by slave labour. We need to use environmentally friendly products and encourage others to use them.

Group 3:

Transition towns: local networks, there’s a big one in Brixton. A way of transitioning beyond peak oil, finding local sustainable food networks and energy systems – solar etc.

Nuclear – some people were for, as would enable us to leave oil in ground, and changing way of life slow. Others were against because of high levels of energy needed to build, most sites on coast so susceptible to climate change, and high risk, and we still don’t know how to dispose of the waste produced.

Our way of living is unsustainable regarding all natural resources – phosphorus, lithium etc. Cuba is a good example – they grow all their food, and are more carbon neutral and healthy. A high meat diet unsustainable, transition to perma-culture and vegetarian diet would be much better.

General Assembly – Steps of St Paul’s

19:00 16th March 2012

Facilitators – Richard, Julie         Minutes – Jack

Julie – Agenda – A proposal was brought to the process meeting, but it has been sent back to the working group working on the issue to allow for more input before approaching for consensus.

Onesu – I didn’t think it was the remit of the planning meeting to prevent a proposal coming for consensus.

Julie – If the proposal had come out of a working group it would have been heard today.

[concerns from group about how to join working groups / bring proposals.]

[concern about split between group spaces and Finsbury Square.]

[breach of process, breach of direct point]

? – Big concern about internet access at FS. [incorrect blaming of finance. Questioning of a hierarchy based on the internet]

Joey – Only a 10 Min walk from Finsbury Square there is free internet access.

Julie – we do recognise the concerns about divides and splits. Maybe a set of break outs?

? – Rather than all of us talking about a proposal. Lets try formulating some ideas to discuss in the group.

Kay – From what I understand there is a proposal to discuss the removal of FS from Occupy London.

[various shouts from the crowd showing variety of concerns. Back seat facilitating. Etc. ]

Ant – People are here for the proposal. Can we temp check for the proposal.

[group decides they want to hear proposal]

PROPOSAL
Occupy London requires safer spaces to perform its work. A safe space is a place where the people inhabiting and visiting that space are practising sober, process-respecting, non-violent and peaceful behaviour. Any location not providing a safer space, is not suitable for holding Occupy London meetings or events. Funding requests from such locations cannot be considered until they can be shown to provide a safer space in which Occupy London’s work can continue. The same principles apply to individuals and working groups who do not follow the precepts of our safer spaces policy. An unsafe space and individuals or groups not practising safer spaces policy do not represent Occupy London. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.

Dom – [un-minuted comments because... well this is a Tavistock conspiracy and We can't have the voice of truth on the record.]

[various shouting from meeting, too much at once to minute. This will happen a lot in these minutes.]

[request for change of facilitator]

[more process breaches and shouting]

Ant – For the third time I request that we should take a temp check on a vote for the proposal.

[more talking over each other]

Ant – Earlier in Process meeting. There were many valid points. I’m asking for the chance to vote on that proposal.

Julie – OK, can we take some points first.

Arthur – Basically, we always had our meetings here at St Paul’s. Finsbury Square was always just a living camp. This is where the problem has formed. We are trying to hold meetings in a place unfit for the purpose. There are no central meeting places. The proposal is unnecessary, as its logistically impossible anyway.

Onesu – obvious ridiculous problems, a proposal drafted on the internet has dictated the GA. Just take a temp check.

[another loud breach of process]

Andrea – Right now, I feel there is a lot of fear, without apology, there’ll be no resolution.

? – hearing a lot about safer spaces, don’t doubt the previous speaker. The easiest way to go bottoms up is to feed into it. The vast number at Finsbury Square do not feel trauma, pain etc. We will talk it into existence.

? – I want to talk about the divisions. The population of Finsbury Square doubled after St Paul’s eviction, creating many problems. People off-site don’t know how we’re struggling. I don’t know why these proposals have been coming from online. They shouldn’t be imposing on this. We will block it. We need support.

Ellie – People off-site have no say on this matter.

Charlie – we came here for the proposal. Why don’t we have the numbers here. We are all Occupy.

?- this wasn’t a proposal, it was a statement.

? – There has been a lot of criticism about how the proposal was written . That is why the proposal goes to the SSP working group. Voting on a proposal that came outside of process will achieve nothing.

Earthian – Just to re-iterate the post eviction mess. There were regular meetings with the council about eco villages. We need to build a communal area a education space etc. This proposal came about because of the lack of facilities. After the disaster of the Finance GA.

? – I don’t know everyone here. You want to stay at Finsbury Square you must think about that. The square is yours. If there is your home now, then think about that. People came they challenged the way of life.

Kay – I heard people using the word vote. The word vote is not a part of Occupy vocabulary, we use temperature and consensus.

? – How safe do you want your space to be. This isn’t a utopia.

[stack finished, temp check for more points.]

[instead they take a temp check on the proposal, several people block the proposal about the importance of a safer space.]

[demands for naming of author of proposal]

[more yelling, shouting, process breaches.]

Tammy – My kids are not learning about safer spaces or how to occupy. So if 3 kids can sit quietly and reasonably… I’ll say no more

[Onesu yells loudly over everyone.]

[Dom distracted me with confusing questions and “subtle” discourse so I missed 2 minutes. Apparently Occupy London is run by Climate Camp and Tavistock. Who knew?]

Kay – There is resentment when non residents come and tell people how to organise themselves.

Julie – Any feedback from Finsbury Square GA?

[more confusion]

Julie – shall we stay in a group then and work thorough this more?

Onesu – Proposals from FS GA.

Engendering role rotation. Have a maximum time in that role. People voted into roles.
Allow people to have 3 WG meetings locations on site.
If finance want to pass anything [not clear when this has happened]
Idea of having a skills survey to find out what skills people would be willing to provide.
Every morning having a job shop.
A new role of camp / Group spaces coordinator.

[Mike and someone else decide to shout over process.]

Mike – there are attempts at FS. Things have been a mess. Why not have our meetings here while we sort things out. It means the rabble are behind.

[more yelling]

[even more yelling]

Tim – We need proposals. To base a discussion on. It gets really frustrating to go round and round like this. The first step to all these processes is listening to each other. Every voice is equal and patience is key. If we all just shout out we can’t get anywhere. I’m trying to listen to people.

Onesu – the majority here were at that meeting. If the people not there would like to discuss them then we should.

Tammy – with the small discussions and lack of process how can anyone think we can have an assembly or meeting in any constructive way. Can everyone take part in the meeting.

Tom – We talk about online stuff. I’m still not allowed on Group spaces

? – people should be here to give us answers. Lots of question marks.

Tom – How can I access funds, if I can’t talk to people

Vica – there are so many mods on GS, there is a mentality where everyone things someone else has checked new subs.

Mark – there is a lot of problems at FS because of the lack of process. The worrying thing about this meeting is that who ever is loudest gets there point heard instead of a calm time after time
chance to hear others.

Charlie – have the planning meeting a full day before the Ga we are to have. It’s better for the finance meeting to have an independent facilitator.

Ant – can we have temp check on the Finsbury Square proposals brought forward?

Vica – there are so many proposals it would take hours and hours.

? – process meeting away from site means people can’t come. These G.As should be happening at FS. There are quiet spaces. There are people here who see you as outsiders.

[Onesu yells over crowd again. Talks about St Paul’s not wanting us here. We have Gas here, we're going to have no food left. If FS not fit for events lets fix it. Ignoring it isn't a solution. Let's restructure the camp. ]

Process point – I’m a bit baffled… we had some blocks that we ignored. Lets take these blocks and try again?

[another bout of talking over each other]

Julie – What is the proposal then.

Onesu – I don’t know the name.

[a little bit more shouting]

Tim – still haven’t heard the blocks. Vica pointed out the length of time to go through them. This is the same forcing through of proposals you guys are so worried about. We need to talk about all of these things.

[even more shouting]

? – I’m hungry, can we hurry up the meeting?

Vica – Lets set a finish of 9pm then?

Julie – what do people think?

[everyone shouts at everyone. It carries on for a while ]

Phil – A lot of people share the view that until FS is a safer space….

[mob decides to shout over Phil]

[group decides to all yell again, it is largely unproductive.]

Peter – We can take one point from this meeting.

[It's time for some more yelling. It's been a while since the finance group was attacked so they have a go at that.]

Onesu – Who now seems to be facilitating… – So lets please try and hear the blocks.

Process, communication has broken down between the site and non-residents. The anger at the finance group is not new. We had a GA at Finsbury Square to allow people to feel more comfortable with people being in roles for extended times.

Onesu restates proposal.

A Policy of role rotation. Whatever your role you announce it. People to be voted into these roles.

[many people wander off]

Andria- how would we do that?

Vica – we haven’t had a chance to spread these ideas. These are big decisions for the movement.

Tim – In the process of doing this, a lot of people have left now that a facilitator is doing the job they ask of him. We can’t have people come in say they want x,y&z and then leave! I suggest we pick this up later.

Onesu – 2 proposals now.

1. We restructure the camp. People who don’t come and help with this stop complaining.

2. A 5pm GA tomorrow to discuss the other restructuring proposals Finsbury Square came up with.

Vica – Tomorrow the GA will be in front of the department of health. There are a set of meetings also to restructuring the movement. We need to have structured safe, conversation.

Onesu – uncomfortable having it here at that time.

[a bit more shouting]

Vica – There are two types of discussion. Stuff more to do with FS. And stuff more widely about the movement.

? – Maximum involvement involved. We are all in this together.

[discussion about the importance of the role rotation proposal. ]

Meeting drifts off.