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Digest – April 13 – 15 – Following Through
The Official Site of the #OccupyCleveland Movement Digest for April 13, 14 & 15 (Fri. & Weekend)
One for All at the Union Hall * Buckets of events for the 99 Percent * New shift calendar! * Friendly reminder * Current needs * International, national, state news * Upcoming events * Today’s quote * GA recap links * What does Occupy do? * Concensus on adopting Chicago principles * HeartFest in the works * More upcoming events * More reading / links
Typical Weekday Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events; 6-7 PM GA M-W-F, OPEN FORUM T-Th; 7 PM Community Chat; 8-10 PM Entertainment; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent
Typical Weekend Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent
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NEWER ARTICLES
One for All at the Union Hall
Tuesday, April 10 we participated in “Spring Training for the 99%,” a three hour session of galvanizing brainstorming, case studies and exercises at the Steelworker’s Union Hall on Independence Road in Cleveland.
Perhaps eight people from Occupy Cleveland per se were there, yet the meme “99%” is associated with the Occupy Movement and the literature we received frequently refered to the movement. Over sixty people participated, mostly union members, all identifying with the Occupy Movement.
I was pleased to see many people of color. I am a person of mostly European heritage and I grew up in white suburbia, so am always looking to broaden my horizons and become less insular. I am also encouraged that so many people of color are employed in unions. As always, when I talk about “race” issues I kind of worry because I have been so ignorant in my life, albeit full of compassion. My ignorance has been in my kind of awkwardness and lack of comfort in diverse groups. I think this is something that many kind-hearted people experience, and it is important to understand our awkwardness and work on becoming more comfortable in the community on which we are working on becoming more a part, the diverse world community.
I wonder to myself how frequently people get together in union halls and what is discussed. Is it typically union issues, or is there also camaradery and perhaps talk about the larger issues of society?
A rather interesting part of the gathering was that for one activity we were broken up into groups (we counted off by number), given a large sheet of paper, and asked to brainstorm and draw in twenty minutes all the things we want to see in an ideal community. We named our communities, too–ours was the town of “One for All.” (Later I got a kick out of learning that Smith’s group’s town had the name of “All for One.”)
At the center of One for All we drew a community garden. Then one guy said, “We need more jobs here again; we need industry; let’s put in a shoe store and clothing factory.” So we put a shoe store and clothing factory in the upper left. Below that, affordable housing. And a river under the community garden for which we specified “clean water.” Train tracks for high speed rail right through the center of town which the inhabitants can use to zip around to other communities. Free education building, a city hall, a free clinic, a free hospital. We had it made!
The organizer for the evening then came to our table and drew a big “X” right through our free hospital and clinic. “This land is being taken over for WalMart,” she said. “There’s nothing you can do about it.” And then she ripped the section off our map.
We drew a wall and protestors around the torn off area but she came back and tried to take away the paper. I held on to it but then thought, “Oh, perhaps there is supposed to be some kind of lesson here,” so I let her take our beautiful community and she proceeded to rip it up and walked away with the pieces. (I still have it in my head, though, so it’s not gone.)
Later we learned that three of our groups had actually protected their communities by creating a physical blockade so that the “corporate actors” couldn’t get to them. This was what we were supposed to do–think outside the box. And what really would have been great, the organizer said, was if we had called on adjoining communities’ tables to help us defend each other from the attacks. Food for thought.
Many great ideas this evening–and the one I like the most is the “tactic star.” Here’s a version of the tactic star for those who are interested.
The idea of the tactic star is to really think about how to hone one’s tactics to achieve a particular goal. Many good points are touched on–largely related to how the tactic will be received by those we are working on helping and persuading and if this reception aids the goal.
Buckets of events for the 99 Percent
Check out the event list below through next week. On Saturday, there’s a community forum with 10 slots reserved for Occupy Cleveland peeps from 9-3, and then a dinner from 5-8. Sunday, we’ve got a Justice for Trayvon gathering at New Hope Baptist Church @ 3:30, Monday a Justice for Janitors Rally in Public Square @ 4, and then a biggie: Tuesday, April 17 at 4:15, gather in the northwest quadrant of Public Square for a Tax Day Protest oriented around redirecting war funds towards saving our communities and the Buffet rule.
New shift calendar!
We’ve set up a new Google calendar to manage shifts – it is available here and here. To get on the calendar, you can email [email protected] or call the info tent phone at 216-202-4999. Thank you!
Friendly reminder
Please post GA minutes in the forums so that the temporary editor can get the info to post meetings and consensus items in this Digest. We haven’t posted minutes since March 28, even though lots of stuff is happening.
International, National, State News & Opinion
International:
National:
- 3-29 – Youtube – Tea Party Meets Occupy Wall Street
- 3-29 – HuffingtonPost – Occupy Wall Street May Actually Be Changing Wall Street Firms
Ohio & Cleveland:
- 4-1 – Plain Dealer – Native Americans to mark Cleveland Indians 1st games with annual protest of Chief Wahoo logo
Upcoming events
In addition to our regularly scheduled weekday events, here are some special events that are happening today! Lots to do! Unless otherwise noted, events are in NW Quadrant (Tom Johnson/Free Speech Quadrant) of Public Square or nearby in the white tent area. More upcoming events after today are here…
Special Events Through Friday
- Fri., April 13 – Sun., April 15 – Fracking Prevention Action Camp by Ohio Fraction – Cleveland – Info
- Sat., April 14 @ 9-3 & 5-8 – Second Annual Save Our Communities Forum – 10 slots for Occupy Cleveland Members – Info
- Sat., April 14 @ 6 PM – Occupy Boot Camp at Info Tent or Fortress
- Sun., April 15 @ 1 PM – Accounting WAG at Tower 230
- Sun., April 15 @ 3:30 – Justice for Trayvon Gathering at 2917 E. 116 & Buckeye at Second New Hope Baptist Church
- Sun., April 15 @ 2-4 PM – Trinity meeting
- Mon., April 16 @ 4 – Justice for Janitors Rally at Public Square
- Tues., April 17 @ 4:15 – Make Taxation Fair! – Rally in Public Square – Help stop war spending–instead use the money to help our communities and have a fairer rate of taxation of wealthy people (Buffet rule) – Info
- More Events
Upcoming GA Votes - see Proposals section
Regular Daily Events
- 6 PM General Assembly on M-W-F, Open Forum T-Th- GAs are formal assemblies at the NW corner of Public Square or in white info tent west of this area. At this assembly, proposals and announcements are made. This is where consensus items are decided. Please review stances/thoughts at viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1003 for discussion in today’s GA. Recent GA recaps
- Community Chat Following GA Today & Tomorrow – Informal assembly
- Today & Tomorrow – 10 PM – 2 AM and 2 AM – 6 AM Evening Shifts – Please sign up at the white tent for an evening shift so that we can maintain effective occupancy overnight and relieve people who are overburdened. Dress extremely warmly with lots of layers and bring appropriate gear to keep yourself warm.
Working Group Meetings
“Those people blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
~ Mary Kay Ash
“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.”
~ Henry Ford
Please send poetry submissions/thoughts/quotes to occupyclevelandpoetry (_at symbol_) gmail.com. If you agree, let’s work on keeping things positive and promoting positive perspectives in this space…
GA recap links
Thanks to all who help with the movement, and thanks to notekeepers and videographers! Please post written GA minutes in the GA portion of forums in written format: http://unju.st/forum.
Wednesday Mar. 28 Minutes | Monday March 26 Minutes | Archived Minutes and Videos
Recent Concensus Items
- 3-28 CONCENSUS on proposal to show solidarity for Now DC (nowDC.org). The proposal was to list Occupy Cleveland on their site as a supporter of Occupy actions/learning/festivals in DC, beginning on Friday, March 30th.
- 3-25 CONCENSUS on proposal to adopt Chicago principles with the caveat that “we understand that it does not override any principles on which we had previously achieved consensus. The proposer specified that this means that Occupy Cleveland is still a strictly non-violent movement.”
- 3-21 CONCENSUS on proposal for dedicated funds including setting up WePay options for various funds.
- 3-12 CONCENSUS on proposal for legal fund with friendly amendment.
- 3-28 PROPOSAL start an Occupy baseball team and form an Occupy Baseball working group.
- 3-21 PROPOSAL announcements from Occupy Midwest
- 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement for Occupy the Heart Fest funding
- 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement for May 1 General Strike solidarity
- 3-12 PROPOSAL announcement regarding how to focus message on strategies that emphasize compassion and joy
- 3-9 PROPOSAL – Legal fund
OLDER ARTICLES
What does Occupy do?
An activist recently came up with a nice summary: “Essentially we’re working on minimizing the influence of big corporations over our political system. Locally we’re working to strengthen our community through foreclosure prevention and strengthening our community’s social infrastructure.”
Many in the movement would like to help solve every issue but of course we are focusing on where we can be most effective, locally, nationally, and worldwide. But for those who aren’t yet familiar with the gist of the movement, the issue of wealth disparity/corporate influence has been a big one that we’ve been working on solving from the start. Many are also involved in the environmental, peace, and human rights movements in some form or another.
Concensus on adopting Chicago principles
On Friday Mar. 23 we adopted the Chicago Principles:
- Our solidarity will be based on respect for a political diversity within the struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. As individuals and groups, we may choose to engage in a diversity of tactics and plans of action but are committed to treating each other with respect and working towards a common goal of peace and justice.
- As we plan our actions and tactics, we will take care to maintain appropriate separations of time and space between divergent tactics.
- We oppose any state repression of dissent, including surveillance, infiltration, disruption, limiting our action to “free speech zones,” and violence, or attempts to divide our movement through the conscious creation of divisions regarding tactics, organization, strategies, and alliances.
- Any debates or criticisms will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events.
- Friendly amendment: we understand that it does not override any principles on which we had previously achieved consensus. The proposer specified that this means that Occupy Cleveland is still a strictly non-violent movement.
HeartFest in the works
We’ve had a number of meetings to help make HeartFest a success. People are taking on responsibilities to bottomline food vendors, cleanup, and many other activities. Donations are welcome! Stay tuned for info coming soon on our HeartFest page on the occupycleveland.com website.
Current needs & haves
- Help for info tent regulars covering shifts.
- Respect, tolerance, peace, love, patience, endurance, mutual respect, healthy environment, kindness, community.
- Still need consistent food donations of prepared meals at the tent.
- Donations
More upcoming events
Events are in the NW Quadrant (Tom Johnson Quadrant) of Public Square unless otherwise noted.
- Fri., April 13 – Sun., April 15 – Fracking Prevention Action Camp by Ohio Fraction – Cleveland – Info
- Sat., April 14 @ 9-3 & 5-8 – Second Annual Save Our Communities Forum – 10 slots for Occupy Cleveland Members – Info
- Sat., April 14 @ 6 PM – Occupy Boot Camp at Info Tent or Fortress
- Sun., April 15 @ 1 PM – Accounting WAG at Tower 230
- Sun., April 15 @ 3:30 – Justice for Trayvon Gathering at 2917 E. 116 & Buckeye at Second New Hope Baptist Church
- Sun., April 15 @ 2-4 PM – Trinity meeting
- Mon., April 16 @ 4 – Justice for Janitors Rally at Public Square
- Tues., April 17 @ 4:15 – Make Taxation Fair! – Rally in Public Square – Help stop war spending–instead use the money to help our communities and have a fairer rate of taxation of wealthy people (Buffet rule) – Info
- Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Drum Circle at Info Tent
- Wednesdays @ 8 PM – Womens meeting
- Sat., April 21 @ 8:30-6PM – Power Up! CWRU Social Justice Institute Youth Summit - Registration and Info
- Sat., April 21 @ 2-5 – Being at Peace in the Community – “Introducing Ourselves” – Poetry, discussion and potluck at 2555 Euclid Heights Blvd., Cleveland (St. Alban Episcopal Church) – Info
- April 28 – May 5 – HEARTFEST
- Sat., May 5 NOON – 2:30 PM – Immigrants Are Us Freedom March – at Market Square, Cleveland – Info
- Sat., May 5 @ 7:30 – IWW meeting @ Gypsy Bean Coffee, back room.
Events for next month and the future can now be found on the Events page of the Occupy Site.
Interesting Links
- Occutrip.com – a chronicle of the travels of a person surveying the Occupy movement in Europe to report back to the U.S.
- The Occupied Wall Street Journal
- Occupy First, Inc. – Banking for the 99%
- OCCUPY CLEVELAND T-shirts
Recurring info
Weekday Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events; 6-7 PM GA M-W-F, OPEN FORUM T-Th; 7 PM Community Chat; 8-10 PM Entertainment; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent
Weekend Schedule: Today and Tomorrow’s Special Events; 10 PM-2 AM Night Shift #1; 2-6 AM Night Shift #2; Upcoming Events; We are continuously in the NW Quadrant of Public Square 24/7 at the Info Tent
Info Tent #: (216) 202-4999 | Phone Rules
Wiki: http://wiki.occupycleveland.com
Source: http://occupycleveland.com/2012/04/12/digest-april-13-15-following-through/
