The following proposal was passed by Occupy Boston’s General Assembly on April 24, 2012:
Occupy Boston endorses the May 2, 2012, Rally for the Union Of Adjunct Faculty (UAF/UAW) at UMass Lowell at Coburn Hall Lawn from 11:30AM to 12:30PM.
Category: Passed Resolutions
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:
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
The following proposal, brought by Kendra Moyer on her own behalf and on that of Urszula Mazny-Latos, was passed by the General Assembly of Occupy Boston on April 19, 2012:
The National Lawyers Guild Annual Guild Gala is a fundraiser that brings in a large portion of their annual budget. This year the NLG is honoring the Occupy Boston Legal Working Group and the NLG Mass Defense Committee with the Legal Worker Award. As part of their fundraiser they sell ads in their gala program book that are messages to the honorees. I am proposing that Occupy Boston send a message of congratulations on a quarter page of the program for a donation of $250.00. The donation goes to the work that NLG does fighting for civil rights and social justice, including the defense fund. I am working for NLG at a 15% commission for funds raised. Any amount raised by me for the NLG Annual Guild Gala fundraiser will be returned to the Occupy Boston General Fund.
The following proposal passed the General Assembly of Occupy Boston on April 17, 2012:
Facilitation Working Group proposes the following changes to the current General Assembly schedule:
- Tuesdays: We propose that, effective May 1st, all Tuesday GAs be held outside. We propose the Boston Common as a temporary location with the idea that location may change in the future. We will give Arlington Street Church notice that our last night using ASC space will be April 24, 2012.
- Thursdays: We have ended our relationship with Emmanuel Church and therefore propose that all Thursday GAs be held outside effective April 19, 2012, at the Boston Common as a temporary location with the idea that location may change in the future.
- Saturday: We propose to continue to hold GA at Community Church of Boston on Saturdays in order to ensure that at least one GA per week is held indoors. FWG is in the process of asking CCB whether it would have space available on Tuesdays. If so we would ask the GA to decide whether that one GA indoors should be on Tuesday or Saturday.
- Community Gatherings will remain on Mondays and effective May 14, 2012, will be held at CCB.
This schedule is subject to review by the GA at any time.
Amendments:
- GA will be canceled Tuesday, May 1st.
- FWG will seek access to the web banner and text service to ensure that any change in GA location or time will be widely communicated.
The General Assembly of Occupy Boston passed the following proposal on April 12, 2012:
Propose to place a “we pay” donation button on the Occupy Boston website – all money will go to support the family of Andy.