So today is 11/9/11 and I attended the General Assembly at Occupy Oakland. It's very interesting to see the way the people turn into the government. There are very rational people discussing ideas about what we want to do and how we want the movement to take off from this point on. There are a few highlights that I would like to list here, but would like to continue to refer people to my live streaming site where tonight's entire GA was filmed. Unfortunately it's in 3 links because it's from my cell phone and when people call or text me it interrupts the signal. Anyway.. enough of that here are the things that were discussed:
1) Solidarity March for Egypt. This resolution passed and is scheduled for November 12th (Saturday) at 4pm. If you wish to attend the march, please meet at Oscar Grant Plaza (Frank Ogawa Plaza) as the starting point. there is also a letter being sent in support that I am currently too tired to type up and put on here now. I will be editing this post tomorrow and including the content of that letter for those of you who are interested.
2) The Non-Violence Resolution. This resolution was tabled because of a combination of problems. The main ones being that the plan lacked specifics, and the fact that it could serve as a motion to divide the movement. The Black Bloc tactics were addressed, and as a movement that represents the 99% it's hard to pass a resolution that is going to restrict people from protesting in the ways that they see fit. Although majority of the protesters wish to remain non-violent, there are also those who feel like property is not a human and if it's owned by a corporate bank it should be seized by the people and used as resource centers for the movement. To see the actual unedited response of the General Assembly, please visit www.ustream.tv/channel/bellaeiko
3) A resolution to occupy an anonymous building owned by a bank was tabled tonight, but a similar resolution to spread the Occupy movement into empty buildings was passed and supported in a previous General Assembly. This resolution did not have the writers present and was presented as an experiment to the General Assembly. This makes sense though because should 64% of the roughly 1000 people that were there tonight decide to take part in this action, we would not want to single out the individuals as the leaders. This is merely as suggestion and I for one feel as if this movement is in direct correlation to the Occupy message and movement in general. {Totally LOVE that this is my blog. haha! Inserting opinion everywhere!} We are not actually asking permission from the "establishment" instead the community is being consulted and that is who is making the decisions.
Oh yeah, also Occupy Oakland has received about $17,000 in donations, not including non-monetary donations. There has been dialogue about how that money is best spent to support the movement and have sustainability. If you have opinions on that you can email the finance committee for Occupy Oakland at finance@occupyoakland.org There were a few suggestions such as:
1) Outreach in the community P2P (person to person)
2) The purchase of media equipment (cameras, microphones, amplifier etc.)
3) The purchase of public access tv time. Since we all have concerns about being misrepresented by the major media networks, this can be a way to get the word out to people in the community and the message won't be slanted. We could effectively start our own news channel for the Occupy movement (my suggestion :D)
4) Assisting other programs in the community that are struggling but already doing things we would like to do. For example, the kids breakfast club for impoverished neighborhoods so that children who may not have eaten will be able to so they can focus and actually learn in school. It makes sense to not be divided by trying to essentially reinvent the wheel, but instead to reform the wheel for maximum efficiency. (Once again that's some of my opinon. NOBODY has to agree, feel free to believe what you want).
...and things of that nature. Keep in mind that they still need supplies and support at the encampments.
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