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    Community Work Session to Decide on OB’s Financial Management

    May 5th, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Community Work Session to Decide on OB’s Financial Management
    The Occupy Boston Finance Community Work Session is scheduled for Sunday, May 6, from 1:00 to 4:00, at Hope Church, in Jamaica Plain.  This Work Session is designed to address the issues and concerns raised at the FAWG hosted 4/10/12 Community Conversation, concerning Occupy Boston’s relationship to its finances. FAWG invites the entire OB community to help create the financial decisions necessary, for the next phase of the movement.  Hope Church is located one block from the Green Street T Station on the Orange Line.
    Come decide the what, who, how and why of OB Financial Management.

     

    Please see  FAWG’s transcription and categorization of the comments and identification of issues, from the 4/10 session:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsQk3Yy-nTUxdHgzbUdCd3U2Z0hrUi1jNV93di1XM3c#gid=0
    Also, see these minutes from the 4/10 community conversation:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZDSrDgRgj4yptY0nA7glRNPobJJBcq8FONEozoCxEwk/edit

    OB Finance Community Work Session

    April 29th, 2012 · · Events, News and Announcements Comments Off on OB Finance Community Work Session
    The Occupy Boston Finance Community Work Session, scheduled to address the issues and concerns raised at the FAWG hosted 4/10/12 Community Conversation, concerning Occupy Boston’s relationship to its finances, is now confirmed for Sunday, May 6, from 1:00 to 4:00, at Hope Church, in Jamaica Plain.  FAWG invites the entire OB community to help create the financial decisions necessary, for the next phase of the movement. 
    Hope Church is located one block from the Green Street T Station on the Orange Line.
    Please see  FAWG’s transcription and categorization of the comments and identification of issues, from the 4/10 session:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsQk3Yy-nTUxdHgzbUdCd3U2Z0hrUi1jNV93di1XM3c#gid=0
    Also, see these minutes from the 4/10 community conversation:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZDSrDgRgj4yptY0nA7glRNPobJJBcq8FONEozoCxEwk/edit

    Occupy Boston to Give $ to Occupy Cape Cod and Occupy JP

    April 22nd, 2012 · · News and Announcements Comments Off on Occupy Boston to Give $ to Occupy Cape Cod and Occupy JP

    These proposals passed General Assembly on April, 21, 2012.

    •  Give Occupy Cape Cod $1,000 to use as they wish directed towards their May 13th and May 20th actions.

    •  Occupy Jamaica Plain requests funding, $312.00, to pay for a one-quarter page advertisement in the Jamaica Plain Gazette, to promote our participation in “Wake Up The Earth Day,” May 5, 2012.  Jamaica Plain is a community with many activists and many progressive organizations, and Wake Up The Earth Day has been an extremely popular, well attended event in the past 30 years.  We are planning an information table, children’s activities, and a small parade float built with the help of the kids on the theme of “Imagine a Neighborhood You’d like to Live In.”  We believe our involvement in this event will be an excellent opportunity to spread the word about who Occupy and Occupy JP are, what we do, and to recruit new members.

    General Assembly Supports an Alternative Decision Making Process – Consensus

    April 22nd, 2012 · · General Assembly, Passed Resolutions Comments Off on General Assembly Supports an Alternative Decision Making Process – Consensus

    The following proposal passed General Assembly, On April 21, 2012.

    Need:   The current GA process is centered around written proposals. This conflates “decisions to be made” with “solutions to issues” – the only way to raise an issue in the GA is to have a solution ready in proposal form. Furthermore, the requirement of written proposals has a potential for discrimination along class, level of education, and native-speaker lines. To be more inclusive and to facilitate better decision making, a new process is necessary.
    Proposal: A new process for decision making should be created. This process would exist in parallel with the current process – that is, this would be a new process that would exist in addition to the old process, which would still exist. It would be up to the proposer to decide whether to use the new process or the old. The process follows:
    1. A Proposer will raise an issue requiring a decision to be made. They will say why they felt a decision needed to be made, and offer a solution if they have one
    2. The process will then enter a “understanding” round in the full assembly. People will offer points of information and clarifying questions to understand the issue at hand.
    3. The assembly will then break into facilitated small group discussions to hash out what the issue is and what possible solutions could be. Notes would be taken. Groups will try to come to consensus – small groups can come up with new ideas and solutions and amend them as they go.
    4. When the break-out groups return to the full assembly, they’ll report back. Every significant thread of discussion should be reported to the GA, with an aim to making sure all serious concerns are heard so they can be resolved.
    5. Discussion would continue in the full assembly. If at this point consensus is emerging the facilitator will reflect it and check if we’re ready to move to consensus.
    If it comes time to check for consensus, consensus process would proceed like this:
    Every member of the assembly would register via hand signals one of three options: voicing for, standing aside, or voicing against. A voice FOR means that you support the consensus . A stand-aside means that you have concerns that prevent you from supporting the consensus, but these concerns are not significant enough to make you want to stop consensus from proceeding. A voice against means you have serious concerns and would not be willing to let the consensus.
    If there are no voices against and at least one voice in favor, the GA has consensus. If not, we can attempt to resolve concerns to try to achieve consensus, or back up and return to discussing the original point of discussion, either in small groups again or in the full assembly; additionally, if it seems to be the sense of the GA, we can table the discussion entirely.
    Coming to consensus does not necessarily mean that discussion ceases. Some issues will require several different decisions be made. Some discussions will be resolved quickly in one session; other discussions will take place over multiple sessions.

    Occupy Brandeis – The Great Teach In on the Great Lawn

    April 19th, 2012 · · News and Announcements One comment

    See the link below for the full schedule of activities for this day long Teach-In at Brandeis University, on Tuesday, April 24.

    OCCUPY Brandeis

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    Occupy Boston Media <Media@occupyboston.org> • <Info@occupyboston.org> • @Occupy_Boston