Event: Occupy London General Assembly

Date: Friday, 25th May 2012

Location: Steps of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Weather: Very warm with a clear sky. Crescent moon.

Facilitator: Jonni

Minutes: John

Start: 7.05pm

Facilitator: [hand signals]

Announcement: Finsbury Square were in court. They have an adjournment for one week.

Obi: Haggerston was evicted today. Will announce new place soon.

Facilitator: Let’s get on to first proposal.

Matt: Ten legal observer jackets were purchased for £100. Have really helped in al recent actions.

Facilitator: Any clarifications? [no] Any objections? [no] Any stand asides? [no] Okay that reached consensus.

Next proposal…

Obi: It’s all about the livestream. [hands out paper] It’s about four pages. [explains request]

Peter: Is this a one-off, or the first of many requests?

Obi: [unclear]

Liz: Two or three separate groups doing livestream. Question about who has access….

Vica: So this means the picture quality will be better and it won’t be your own equipment?

Obi: Yes.

Anon: You could use a sponsume?

Harjeet: There’s a sponsume already.

Chris: I’ve watched livestream recordings which break up. I’ve watched other livestreams which don’t break up. So I’m not sure about the technicalities.

Obi: We don’t have same quality as television. Most are quite good. Some I’ve seen aren’t that good.

Harj: Livestream can be quite bad at times. How will access to equipment be controlled? Pedro says he doesn’t want money, but you say he’s in this.

Obi: I’m doing this for everybody. Pedro says he wants to run the site and raise the money. My position is that I’d rather have the money now. I’ll be the one taking care of it. It will be a circle of trust. Some people I do trust. If it gets damaged we will replace it. Don’t want it to just walk away.

Facilitator: Push for time, we’re a few minutes over. Did close the stack but one more…

Chris: Is it insurable?

Obi: Yes.

Facilitator: So let’s test for consensus. [repeats proposal] Total of £983. Temperature check… not warmest of temperature checks! Any objections? One… two…

Vica: Could do it without iPad?

Jack: Seems it could be developed further.

Facilitator: Temperature check on £604. Temperature check… [not warm] Any objects? [no] So that reached consensus….

[discussion between Facilitator and Anon]

Facilitator: Next proposal is for carnival of dirt.

Jack: [hands out information] Even called Carnical of Dirt. Not directly Occupy event, but supported by Corporations WG.

Facilitator: Clarifying questions?

Chris: Who organising it?

Jack: There’s about twenty or thirty groups. [lists names]

Steve M: Maybe we could get some stickers to go in the Occupied Times?

Jack: Sure.

Peter: Cost of event is £2000. Occupy is putting up 25% of cost.

Jack: Yes.

Facilitator: Let’s test for consensus. General temperature check. Bit of warmth…. Any objections?

Vica: So we’re talking about the full amount, £746.

Facilitator: Any objects? Three…

Comment: Say we cover some of it?

Peter: Problem that it’s not an Occupy event. Not sure why we’re putting in so much, curious about how much the others have been asked. Are we biggest?

Jack: No UKUncut and UK Mining Network.

Anon: We have short memories. We used to quibble about money going out to bands. You could run a camp for that money. How many lectures? Instead we’ll have one afternoon. We don’t know who we are collaborating with.

Chris: You are asking for a lot of money. Would it be possible to ask that this is an action coordinated by Occupy?

Facilitator: Over 10 minute mark. Would objection turn into blocks? Yes.

Peter: Counter proposal for half the money.

Vica: Can we try first for £496? That is, no travel expenses.

Facilitator: Any objections to £496? No, so that reached consensus. Next Anon.

Anon: Proposals from Finsbury Square. First for core running costs £370. Other part is £1200.

Harjeet: Have the receipts been provided? That was a condition of getting more money.

Anon: [various complaints]

Facilitator: So no receipts have been produced.

Peter: Why ask for money when toilets have been taken away?

[discussion about toilets]

Vica: Is there any money left from last week? There was some money allocated which wasn’t spent.

Anon: [complaints about finance team]

Facilitator: Let’s test for consensus… Temperature check… fairly warm. Any objections?

Julie: Counter proposal for giving half the money now.

Peter: I’m going to block the money for toilets.

Facilitator: So we have a block on the toilets, and a counter proposal for half the money from. Test for consensus on the £176, rest when receipts are received.

Peter: Block.

Facilitator: So £86, with £194 when receipts are received.

Obi: Toilets close between 10pm and 4am.

[further discussion]

Facilitator: So revised proposal£76 now. £194 when receipts are received. £94 when toilets are put back. Any objections? No. Any stand asides? Two. So that reached consensus. So the other half was £1500 plus £90 for new toilets. Any clarifying questions before we test for consensus?

[discussion about £1500]

Harj: What are people doing for their own welfare?

[further discussion about £1500]

Facilitator: Temperature check… few hands. Any objections? Five. Would any of the objections turn into blocks? Yes. Would anybody who is blocking have a counter proposal? Yes. There’s a counter proposal for £150 instead of $1500. Any objections? Yes. So that did not reach consensus.

So that’s all the finance proposals. We have some lighter proposals. Charlie?

On behalf of Charlie: Propose message of support to Occupy Bilderburg. Bilderburg annual conference is next week…. [reads message of support]

[minute taker takes a break...]

Facilitator: Test for consensus. Consensus reached.

[Facilitator changes to Liz so Jonni can present his proposal.]

Jonni: Request for all operators of various email addresses and press phone to declare themselves and their procedures, regardless of current level of use of these accounts.

Peter: Suggest you try to find out, and come back in three weeks.

Facilitator: Could create a proposal that broadens this out. We need to know this stuff.

Steve M: This is a really important concern.

Vica: Process needs to be included, and forms.

Facilitator: Temperature check… warm. Jonni does want to test for consensus. [repeats proposal with ammendment for process] Any objections? Yes.

Tom: How will list of names be published? Brought to GA?

Anon: Are you saying you do know some but not all? If so, why don’t you just change the password?

[laughs]

Jack: Not sure about the amendment about including process, which already has well published procedures.

Jonni: I’m happy to include process. It doesn’t make any difference.

Julie: It isn’t generally known how process works, so I would like to include process and finance.

Tom: Could we also add Twitter?

Jonni: We could do that.

Facilitator: So is everybody clear? Yes. Are there any objections? No, so that reached consensus.

[Facilitator changes back from Liz to Jonni]

Vica: Proposal to change working group assembly to be once per month, perhaps on a Saturday.

Faciliator: Any clarifications? Yes.

Julie: Do need time to report but also to challenge each other.

Facilitator: Any objections? No. Any stand asides? No. So that reached consensus. Next proposal is from Steve F.

Steve F: Next weekend there will be a big, political event. The Jubilee is next weekend. The Real Democracy WG decided we want to do something on that day. Wrong thing would be to do nothing. Right thing is to celebrate spirit of democracy. Proposal was to have a series of speakers. Somebody from City of London Cleaners, the NHS, Donnahugh McCarthy, Peter Tatchel, others…

Julie: Fun event. Walk across the river. Also there will be a teach-out about debt. We would like Occupy London to support it. Call

Facilitator: So event is week on Sunday. What is it called?

Julie: Occupy Democracy.

Facilitator: Any clarifications?

Jack: Might not be physically possible to move on that day.

Julie: We are going to request to do a march.

Steve F: Surely monarchy is inherently undemocratic.

Harjeet: How will the publicity be used?

Steve F: We can’t do this without Occupy London. It would work in the normal way.

Julie: We will work with Press WG.

Chris: Are there going to be flags?

Steve F: There are no flags in the proposal. Colours are mentioned.

Chris: Anything which identified Occupy with republicans will be very damaging to Occupy.

Obi: I agree with Chris. I’m not a republican. I’m not a monarchist either.

Steve F: There are lots of different republicanism. It just means you don’t believe in hereditary rule.

Julie: General aim is to have a debate about these issues.

Facilitator: Feel we are getting into a wider debate. Proposal is to have an event called Occupy Democracy, with speakers followed by procession. Temperature check: fairly warm. Any objections: Yes.

Tim: Not happy about it. I’m pro-democracy. To stage it on a day when for a lot of people… seems to be anti-the-day rather than pro-democracy.

Harj: I concur with Tim, actually.

Facilitator: Would any objections turn into blocks?

Tim: I think I would stand aside.
[discussion about use of Occupy name and cooperating with other groups]

Facilitator: We’ve been talking about this for 30 mins. Any objections? Yes.

Tim: I don’t like that march to Republic.

Harj: When I was in Info tent, most people were not anti-monarchy. Don’t want the march to Republic. Would be better to have just speakers, focus on teaching people about democracy.

Obi: Yes I agree, no march to Republic.

Tom: Give the general public more credit. There is more republican feeling out there.

Chris: I would prefer march to parliament or something.

Facilitator: Are proposers happy to accept not marching to Republic.

[discussion about content of press release]

Facilitator: Original proposal has been blocked. Revised proposal doesn’t include march to Republic. [Also all press releases will be done through Press WG. Also there will be no mention of Republic in any press release. Also Chris will be able to see the press release before it goes out.] Test for consensus… Any objections? No. Any stand asides? Yes.

So let’s the last proposal! Only two and a half hours! And it’s still lovely and warm.

Shoutout: 11am UKUncut, London Bridge, Parliament, Waterloo St. EEE group will be leaving from London Bridge.

Shoutout: May debrief on Sunday.

Shoutout: Do get in touch with OT if you have any events or anything else.

Shoutout: Counter Olympics group will walking on 28th July.

Shoutout: Process group is trying to build the General Assemblies. Want to have a series of discussion focussed on generating alternatives to the current system.

Facilitator: Thanks to everybody for coming. Thanks for John for doing the minutes. Thanks to Obi for doing the livestream. Thanks to all the proposers for their proposals.

Ends: 9.34pm