Post by Mireille on Mar 3, 2012 22:03:21 GMT -5
The General Assembly met on 3/03/2012 at Holmes Park at 3:30 pm. There were 7 attendees. The meeting was held in an informal open discussion format.
Attendees discussed the pursuit of several activities and ideas including:
1) Clean Up Turkey Creek Sanctuary - an environmental action to help clean up this natural resource, sponsored by the TurtleCoast Sierra Club on Saturday March 10, 2012 at 9 am. Several members were interested. Mireille to coordinate. Gary L. to create promotional web card. APPROVED
2) Hosting a movie party to view "The Interruptors", which deals with breaking the cycle of violence in communities. This action is in conjunction with supporting the "Youth Promise Act", which is a bipartisan legislation that will give communities the support and funding they need to effectively address youth violence issues. Members did not feel this action was sufficiently relevant to Occupy. REJECTED
3) Incorporate the use of free tool TextOccupy to create a texting network for OMF to enhance communication beween members, particularly to coordinate meeting up at events. Dominick has already tried setting this up using the "occupymelbournefl" name but did not get a response yet. Evanne will set it up formally. APPROVED
4) "Occupy Battle of the Bands" festival was proposed, in which local bands donate their performance and "battle" to collect the most food donations. Also add impromptu teach-ins and idea exchanges as part of the event. Evanne has contacts for both bands and venues, and is willing to initiate planning this event but needs help in various areas. Establishing an event committee was proposed in order to assign specific tasks to various members to share the load of coordinating such an event, to include media/PR, legal (permits), outreach, etc. Evanne to hash out the details of what would be needed and will propose committee tasks. TABLED until such time this event is deemed viable.
Other ideas and topics discussed:
Occupy Brevard County Sheriff's Office action did not go well because there was a misunderstanding about the exact location. Although 6 people attempted to make the event, members did not connect and therefore the rally did not take place. Media crews from all local channels were at the designated location covering a court case, so the group missed out on a great opportunity. Members agreed they need to pay closer attention to location details for events and not rely on "seeing a group of people" and hope the use of TextOccupy will alliviate these concerns.
In general, the group going forward should pursue activities that reflect the interests of each of the members rather than focus on routine group actions that individual members may not be passionate enough about.
Incorporate the use of positive mic checks at events hosted by positive organizations to encourage their activities, e.g. "OMF supports you!", "way to go". Also, discussed using this tactic at Friday Fest Mic checks, such as "Thank you for supporting local businesses!" The group will try to make this part of events to give Occupy a more positive spin.
Evanne would like to initiate Direct Action meetings on Mondays at the Sun Shoppe during the old GA time period (7 pm) as needed. She will be there this Monday 3/5. This would be a good place to discuss such events as "Battle of the Bands" and other ideas mentioned by James such as, food reclamation, soup kitchens, dumpster diving, which the group has agreed to support at GA's but need further development.
There is still interest in a 24/7 occupation, but no concrete ideas for pursuing this as of yet.
There was a proposal to create and use occupy t-shirts at outreach events that do not allow signage or passing out information, such as clean ups, in order to promote a positive image of OMF and Occupy in general, but no official decision was reached.
The official meeting adjourned at approx. 5:20 pm.
Attendees discussed the pursuit of several activities and ideas including:
1) Clean Up Turkey Creek Sanctuary - an environmental action to help clean up this natural resource, sponsored by the TurtleCoast Sierra Club on Saturday March 10, 2012 at 9 am. Several members were interested. Mireille to coordinate. Gary L. to create promotional web card. APPROVED
2) Hosting a movie party to view "The Interruptors", which deals with breaking the cycle of violence in communities. This action is in conjunction with supporting the "Youth Promise Act", which is a bipartisan legislation that will give communities the support and funding they need to effectively address youth violence issues. Members did not feel this action was sufficiently relevant to Occupy. REJECTED
3) Incorporate the use of free tool TextOccupy to create a texting network for OMF to enhance communication beween members, particularly to coordinate meeting up at events. Dominick has already tried setting this up using the "occupymelbournefl" name but did not get a response yet. Evanne will set it up formally. APPROVED
4) "Occupy Battle of the Bands" festival was proposed, in which local bands donate their performance and "battle" to collect the most food donations. Also add impromptu teach-ins and idea exchanges as part of the event. Evanne has contacts for both bands and venues, and is willing to initiate planning this event but needs help in various areas. Establishing an event committee was proposed in order to assign specific tasks to various members to share the load of coordinating such an event, to include media/PR, legal (permits), outreach, etc. Evanne to hash out the details of what would be needed and will propose committee tasks. TABLED until such time this event is deemed viable.
Other ideas and topics discussed:
Occupy Brevard County Sheriff's Office action did not go well because there was a misunderstanding about the exact location. Although 6 people attempted to make the event, members did not connect and therefore the rally did not take place. Media crews from all local channels were at the designated location covering a court case, so the group missed out on a great opportunity. Members agreed they need to pay closer attention to location details for events and not rely on "seeing a group of people" and hope the use of TextOccupy will alliviate these concerns.
In general, the group going forward should pursue activities that reflect the interests of each of the members rather than focus on routine group actions that individual members may not be passionate enough about.
Incorporate the use of positive mic checks at events hosted by positive organizations to encourage their activities, e.g. "OMF supports you!", "way to go". Also, discussed using this tactic at Friday Fest Mic checks, such as "Thank you for supporting local businesses!" The group will try to make this part of events to give Occupy a more positive spin.
Evanne would like to initiate Direct Action meetings on Mondays at the Sun Shoppe during the old GA time period (7 pm) as needed. She will be there this Monday 3/5. This would be a good place to discuss such events as "Battle of the Bands" and other ideas mentioned by James such as, food reclamation, soup kitchens, dumpster diving, which the group has agreed to support at GA's but need further development.
There is still interest in a 24/7 occupation, but no concrete ideas for pursuing this as of yet.
There was a proposal to create and use occupy t-shirts at outreach events that do not allow signage or passing out information, such as clean ups, in order to promote a positive image of OMF and Occupy in general, but no official decision was reached.
The official meeting adjourned at approx. 5:20 pm.