Attending: Jim Curtis, Neil Duneatz, Jackie Leonard, Attila Nagy, Dubii, Adrienne Lauby, Ant Buddy, Neighbor Stephanie, Loreen Theveny, Joe Williams

It was a good meeting. Hard work, big thoughts, multiple kindnesses and solid plans.

1) ANNOUNCEMENTS:
–Transit mall walk about. Well attended and a long list of recommendations were made. Loreen got hit by someone throwing a bird’s egg.
–7th Day Adventists giving free breakfasts until 2 pm. More of these will be coming.
–OSR at the ACLU dinner. Thanks to Richard Canini & Jim Curtis for helping to set it up.
–Tues, Finley Center. Native American Cultural Competency Conference. All day. Sponsored by NAMI and others.

2) DISCUSSION OF OUR POLITICAL COMMONALITIES

This was a large and wide discussion. Very friendly and thoughtful. We are primarily a group of working class and poor people with some people of color deeply involved. Occupy made a place where isolated and afraid people could begin to share their truth and opinions. The heart of Occupy is the issue of inequality. The massive transfer of wealth taking place and the overlapping problem of social inequality is what Occupy is about. We don’t own the concept or word Occupy. Should we only organize among people “like us?” Most seem to feel we should organize as widely as possible. (More discussion of this topic further down in the notes.)

3) LOGISTICS
Jackie agreed to meet with Rachel about website soon.
Our stuff is a bit spread out at this time.
Jackie has picked up the treasury and some boxes (t-shirts etc)
Adrienne has a box of stuff as well (mostly Dorothy Day winter ponchos and hand warmers.)
Jim has the banner and tabling things.
Jackie is sole person on treasury at the moment.
Alan has gotten the names and e-mails from Carl.
Adrienne and Alan have the e-mail list.
Rachel can use the text messaging system. She will talk to Jesse to make sure it’s still working. We’ll work on getting a 2nd person up to speed on this.

4) MARCH AGAINST MONSANTO
From Julliard Park to Courthouse Square
Santa Rosa, CA
Saturday, May 25
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
International march, locally sponsored by Move to Amend and Occupy Sonoma County

Many of us are planning to attend.
We discussed whether we wanted to go as individuals or have an official presence with our banner.
Official Presence with Banner
3 abstain
4 yes
1 no

Adrienne will send out e-mail announcements about it.
Loreen will translate the announcement to Spanish and get it out in Roseland
Peter will get the banner from Jim. (More on this discussion below)

5) COUNTY-WIDE MEETING AND BANK OF AMERICA PROTEST
Monday, June 3
5-6:30 pm Protest Bank of America down town
7-9 pm Meeting at Peace and Justice Center
(always happens on the 1st Monday of the month)
There will be a bank protest, 5-7 pm before it.
Joe Willy will help. Jim will make some signs.
Adrienne will do an e-mail blast.
Check text set up. (Rachel may know how to do it)
Ant Buddy wants to invite Jesse to Dorothy Day. She misses the young people.
Jim can’t come to the bank protest has another meeting.

6) TESTIMONY AND GENERAL DISCUSSION
(see below)

———————————————————
EXPANDED DISCUSSIONS
2) Commonalities, political
One of our friends and allies started the discussion with an e-mail to Adrienne to say that he identified the Occupy movement as a movement of the white middle class, with perhaps some exceptions. He’s very supportive of it. He saw it as a mass of people mobilizing around their particular needs, which is exactly what we need. What he believes to be the most powerful and efficient tactic for change is for people to examine what their roles are and to play those roles, and only those roles.

Attila says that groups that work across race and class are best. It takes leadership. North Bay Organizing Project is one model, bringing people together around specific local issues.

Linda: The naming. Who owns Occupy? What community, what group? Sometimes people speak for the “women’s movement” but they don’t speak for her. She was asked, “What did Occupy do?” and her answer was about the connections made. The Mic Check method slowed communication down and seeing the power of that was important to her life.

Neil: Validates what Linda said, it’s good to slow down the conversation so we can really listen to each other.

Loreen: Truth without censorship. This is what Occupy brought. Now more people think they can be part of something and they aren’t so afraid and isolated. Occupy showed a visible point of unity and empowerment.

Jim: The basis of change is from class struggle. What we are doing here relates to local issues. There is a problem when we have to pay for porta potties in the public parks.

Joe: Why would people go somewhere else in this context? You either have to be involved in some project or you can work with a political party. People can do these things and be part of Occupy. But Occupy is neither of these. The heart of Occupy is about inequality — the massive transfer of wealth and the social inequality.

Atilla: Asks Jim: Are you involved with the neighborhood association? Jim says he has participated. Attila says, you can’t criticize if you don’t participate. The word “Occupy” was used by people doing all kinds of projects. It was about inequality but not necessarily in the way that it was done at Occupy Wall Street. Whatever we call it, people have worked on this in many places in many ways and he is doing it now in several organizations. We don’t own the concept or word, “Occupy.”

Adrienne: There may have been many middle class people in the big Occupy marches but looking around, we are working and poor class people. She says the group is white. Dubii and Jackie both correct her that they are not white. She’s embarrassed and apologetic.

Jackie: I am a person of color. I believe that we are best seeing people as human beings. I respect everyone. I love Edgar’s honesty but I disagree with him.

4. Monsanto March
Loreen: Will translate the information and help get it out in the Roseland area.

Attila: We should participate, not worry about whether or not it’s organized by Emerald and Occupy Sonoma County. The issues are more important than the personalities.

Ant Buddy: Sometimes, like WalMart, the single issues can wear you down as other important things are left behind.

Joe W.: Says that just because we go, others may not be there with us.

Jackie: Think about what you want in terms of sending out the announcements – to mention Occupy Sonoma County or not.

Adrienne: We should attempt to work with Occupy Sonoma County (OSC) again but one step at a time. I might go but I oppose having the OSR banner in the march. We were burned by the conflict with one of the main OSC organizers and, while I want to make an alliance, I don’t want to walk too quickly into anything.

Attila: The division disturbs me. That there was a division and people can’t work together. We have to unite with people who come together under the banner of “Occupy”. Occupy Sonoma County made something happen and, if we are an Occupy group, we should show the banner. The more banners there are, the stronger this protest is.

Jim: President Putin raised the issue of Mansanto with Obama’s Secretary of State, Kerry.

Peter: Disagrees with Adrienne. Wants the banner. Wants us to mention Occupy Sonoma County in any announcements.

Joe: Wants to know more about what happened with that organizer.

Neil: Doesn’t care about the banner. Monsanto needs to be opposed. Let’s activate the e-mail list and invite people.

Ant Buddy: Ageism. We are all older people here. There has to be a strong unity. Would be great to have OSR represented in the march.

Jim: I have the banner. Jim seconds Adrienne’s caution, says Mary Moore is already thinking Occupy Sonoma County is The Occupy group in the county.

Attila: Applauds the idea of translating. In the Latino Community they are inter-generational, from babies to elders at the meetings and they are working on things together. In Bolivia the entire country got together to throw Bechtel out because they wanted control of the water. We are all so split up in the U.S. We need to have a discussion of agism and learn from each other.

Peter: The difference between this community and the Latino culture. We are individuals and they are a family. They go shopping together.

Joe: In our big marches, big organizations got people out. Labor. Occupy came and these organizations were able to get out their message.

Loreen: Allies and getting messages out. Community markets, community clinics—this is where people learn about issues and become willing to do something about it.

Peter: The reasons people left Occupy is because we have nothing to show for the year and a half of work.

Joe: That’s not true.
We behave like the 1% when we let a divide come between us.

Jim: Wants to repair the banner. Peter and Jim will talk about how to do that.

Loreen wants a flyer and a list of where it could go in Roseland
Attila will assist with getting it out via e-mail.
Adrienne will call Loreen.

Peter will get banner from Jim and bring it.

Loreen: Takes the bus, can’t always make it because she’s not always strong. She can make phone calls. Uses the library for e-mail. Evening meetings don’t work for Loreen and Dubii. Adrienne will get phone list from Alan to Loreen

5. Discussion of the Bank of America Protest, June 3.
It’s very much an informational protest to remind people to move their money to local banks and credit unions. We are hearing from people inside these banks that the occupy protests are working to get them more depositors.

Downtown B of A. Security guard at the B of A is very friendly to Linda now.

The 1 % are just moving to new places. They don’t care what we do.
That’s why we are saying “move your money”.
Individual facts that people are focused on.
Redwood Credit Union and Community First Bank people, unsolicited have said that they are getting many new members because of Occupy.
Community Spending: E-Script supports the Peace and Justice Center.

6. GENERAL TESTIMONY AND DISCUSSION
Joe Willy: Do the website discussion groups work for us? The e-mail discussions and announcements have worked for him.

Ant Buddy: Communication is huge. The more tech. advances the more ways there are for people to miscommunicate. There’s no way we’re gonna get everyone. Language is huge.

Jim: Went to the ACLU dinner. He worked with those who served the food. It was really interesting. It was a good group and he had fun doing the work.

Stephanie is a neighbor of the Peace and Justice Center. She wants to be more involved.

Atilla: Organizing is important. Focus on some issues and get some results

Loreen: Was a Calif Council of the Blind delegate. Was trained in social work and is now more involved in social advocacy. Works with Earth Day and, even tho it has some corporate involvement, it’s been very important.

Bike Fair: People were nice to Dubii and she had her sign “Not Blind to the Issues” She wanted the bikes to understand that blind people are on the street. The bikes and the canes are all that is between the individual and the street for them. They have much in common.

Peter: If we want to change the system, we have to get involved inside the system. The wall is too thick and too high to get through by throwing rocks.

Jim: I have to debate about that idea. Are we part of the problem or the solution? Revolution is…. maybe violent, so it’s complicated but he doesn’t want to be become like them.

Dubii: We have a mole in City Hall.

Neil: He took a break and he noticed almost every newscast has a patriotic “news story” at the end. He is paying attention to Wisdom Circles where people of all types (including conservative – liberals) are able to sit and converse.

Stephanie: This is what happens in her house. She has people of all kinds come and talk. When you really get to know people, you can understand, Our idea is to get rid of money. That’s my goal before I die.

Jim: One group involved with the media group, peace and justice center, Jim found out from Bonnie Faulkner. He can get into the conspiracy groups, but not libertarians or bible thumping. Sometimes they understand government control in a way that leftists don’t. Tells us about a mural he did, cubist, working people, diverse humans, (had objections from a black woman who objected to black people portrayed as 2nd class citizens which was not his idea.)

Ant Buddy: Sometimes Dorothy Day is really small. People might walk in and think, “nothing is happening here” but there are people who are part of the work that aren’t necessarily in the room. Our library meetings are inclusive now, not just about homeless people. More opportunities like this are needed.

Adrienne: Quotes Bernice Johnson Reagon about how we all need a “home group” where we can be really safe, really supported. But the power comes from collaborations which are not safe, where you feel uncomfortable.

Joe: Change is incremental. Sometimes just moving one person in a tiny way in their minds is important.

Ant Buddy: Adam and Ant Buddy heard a JCC lecture by a man who wrote, “You are not a gadget.” Latest book: “Who owns the future.” She’d like to have him come and speak.

Atilla: Committee for Immigrant Rights facilitated the Mexican consulate representative to come up and give out Mexican Identification cards. 510 plus people came to do it. The reason it was successful because it was so important for the people in their lives.

Comments: 0

I don't think this is a fair question for occupy. It is not about politics it is about issues and communications and actions we wish to use to show abuse and solutions to cure the corruption. Maybe not exactly the right words, but if anyone wants to work in the political arena, there are organizations especially for that. Best to deal strictly with social welfare issues independently of 'political' activities. I think there is a thin and faint but hard line between social welfare actions and political actions. The moment this group or any group that supports us slips into political actions, like candidate phone banks, candidate or political posters, or campaign linked activities the line is crossed and occupy would be in a different class of organizations. I guess an example is that activism showing problems and better ways to do taxation is lots different than supporting a political candidate whose tax views are professed to be like yours.

Thanks and all the Best,
Joe
http://www.hypermultimedia.com/ContributingNon-ViolentActivism.htm

Comments: 0

Comments: 0

So glad to hear that despite losing some important contributors due to moving, there are volunteers to continue the web site and other Ministry projects.
Thanks, Joe

Comments: 0

Come out for our monthly general assembly! A wide variety of concerns and issues are set for discussion -- hope to see […]

Comments: 0

Disneyland: We just hadn't realised that, after all the stress out on the streets and all those lengthy group discussions, many activists seem to have this desire to prattle at length on Facebook about everything and with everyone. We hadn't realised that, even for the left, Facebook is the sweetest of all temptations. That the left along with everyone else enjoys following the subtle flow of exploitation where it doesn't seem to hurt and, for once, not having to resist. Many people suffer from a bad conscience. While this may lead them to anticipate the fatal consequences of Facebook, it does not seem to translate into action. Is it really ignorance?
--Brian Tokar

Comments: 0

The tenants of the Hotel Petaluma are demanding that the eviction of their homes be stopped, or else they are demanding […]

Comments: 0

Present: ---

Checkins
Workgroup Reports
Strategy: Defunct.
Ministry: New video almost done. Strikedebt! Video in pre-production.
Socosol: Elodia seems to have made headway on […]

Comments: 0

In attendance: Ministry, Strikedebt, Strategy,

Attendance: There are issues of low attendence.
Dorothy Day may need another designated alternate.
Solidarity Network may need […]

Comments: 0

March 2013

Note: Money, cash, bills, benjamins, clams, dinero, the economy, the finances, etc. The economic question isn’t only about where the resources come from (some people’s morbid curiosity about this will be satisfied in the little school, don’t worry), but also how they are managed (do the authorities get paid? nobody’s sticking their hand in the cookie jar for personal gain? etc.), and, above all, how do we keep track of everything? Wait a second! The Zapatistas have a banking system? Well, continue to be scandalized because, as we have said, this is what the Zapatistas do, unsettle “decent people’s consciences.” The following are fragments from the “sharing” on the economies of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno [Good Government Councils].

-*-

So, up until now there hasn’t been any monetary support [for the authorities of the JBG], and that is how we came to realize that money cannot do the work of autonomy or the work of governing. We have realized this, because no one is getting paid for the work that they do. It’s true, I’ll tell you, that some do receive support from their community for their work, in the form of basic grains or something similar, whatever the community decides is appropriate, but never money. And that is how we have been working these nine years in the Junta.

(…)

How do the members of the Junta travel to your Caracol [i]?

If there is transportation [usually a bus or smaller collective van], then they go in that, and if there is no transportation, then they walk. The Junta’s limited resources cover the cost of their transport, yes, so they do receive financial support for their transport costs, but nothing more. If it costs 20 pesos then they are reimbursed 20 pesos when they arrive.

The compañeros and compañeras that work in these cargos [ii] of the authority, as was already mentioned, do it out of conscience, of their own volition. But these compañeros also live in communities where there are many compañeros, and so there is also communal work, organizational initiatives to organize resistance. And so these compañeros, some of them, have the right to do their work in their free time, and therefore don’t have to also participate in the collective and communal work in their community.

-*-

Autonomous government manages the different work areas, including education, commerce, health, communication, justice, agriculture, transportation, campamentistas, [people who come to stay in the Zapatista villages for awhile], BANPAZ (the Zapatista Autonomous Popular Bank), BANAMAZ (the Zapatista Women’s Autonomous Bank), and administration. These are the work areas managed within the autonomous government. In the beginning, when the Junta de Buen Gobierno began, there weren’t very many compañeros and so each compañero had three or four work areas, because there were very few of them. By the second period of the Junta there were already 12 compañeros, and so the work that they had to do began to balance out a little better, they only had two or three areas per compañero.

In this third period of the Junta de Buen Gobierno we now have 24 people and the work has balanced out. The different work areas are divided among compañeras and compañeros; the Junta has two teams, and there are 24 of us, so we each cover 15 days per month. In each of these different work areas there are two compañeros and two compañeras, and that is how the Junta de Buen Gobierno functions, those are the areas it manages. That’s all compañeros. So now we’ll move on to the next compañero.
(…)

-*-

(…)
In the communities—as we were discussing with the compañeros, because we have a little bit of knowledge of the zone—there are collective fields of beans and corn, cattle collectives, collective stores, and chicken collectives. There are small businesses, not permanent businesses that are there all the time, but sometimes when there are small events, people bring their small businesses to them. The compañera said that one community in her region started with a chicken farm business, and every now and then they kill a chicken or two and make tamales, then they sell these tamales and little by little they amassed a fund and ultimately used this fund to buy a corn mill. That is how they created their cooperative work.

Another compañero knows of another community that has another way of doing things, it is a center where many people from other communities come, and there the compañeras organized themselves to make a tortilleria [tortilla store], but not because they bought one of those machines that we see in the cities and are there dispensing tortillas from an assembly line. These compañeras are there with their press, making their tortillas by hand and selling their tortillas to the people who buy them, and that is their collective work.

This is how they organize many other things in the communities. And what is this for? Well it is so that when a compañero in this community, it may be the education promoter or the health promoter, has to go and do their work, the community can give them something to cover their transport costs, so that they can do their work.

(…)

-*-

Here in the Caracol II of Oventic, we receive visitors, national and international. Many of those visitors only come in order to visit the center, the Caracol, but some who come wish to support the community leave a small donation. If they decide to leave a small donation, they don’t leave much, they leave it here with the Junta who receives it, and the donor receives a receipt for their visit from the Vigilance Commission. The Vigilance Commission also sends a receipt to the CCRI [Indigenous Revolutionary Clandestine Committee], the original stays with the Junta, and a copy goes to the donor. The small donations are gathered and the Junta administers them. They use them for whatever expenses we have here in the Caracol center, and that is how we spend the donations, but they are small donations, people don’t leave much, it depends, it may be 40 or 50 pesos or 100 pesos or so. But if it gets spent, it is not only the Junta that knows, because each month the Junta makes a report; we make an end of the month report each month.

When the Junta makes its reports, the Junta members don’t do it alone, but rather all 28 of us members get together to make the report, including some compañeros from the CCRI, so that together we can see how the resources that we have here in the Junta in the caracol have been spent, or how the Junta de Bien Gobierno administers them.

-*-

Another obligation of the autonomous government is to govern with sincerity and honesty all of the economic inputs and outputs in each area of government, because all of the goods and materials are for everyone. As I explained a little while ago, the Junta can’t just manage these resources willy nilly, including those donated by compañeros in solidarity.

Each area of [good] government in the municipalities, in the Junta, makes their monthly report, and our reports are very detailed, even 50 pesos spent somewhere has to be noted, it should be clearly stated how those 50 pesos were spent, and that is how we do our report. As I said a little while ago, it’s not just a couple of members who make the report, but all 28 of us get together, including compañeros from the CCRI, and that is how we work here in the caracol center.

(…)

-*-

Also we have a Funds Commission, here in our zone we have a small fund. As the compañera explained, there are three women’s [work] areas, for example herbalists, [bone] healers, and midwives. One time in this work area they elaborated a project, but it wasn’t only for the herbalists, healers, and midwives, but rather for the central clinic, or the health project, which included the three groups or areas of herbalists, healers, and, midwives. This project had a budget for food, which was 50 pesos per day, and the workshop was for three days, so the course costs 150 pesos for the food, but apart from that there were also transportation costs, which also had a budget that depended on the compañeras’ distance traveled and amount spent. And so it was in this budget, in this project, in the entire zone, that all of the regional authorities, the autonomous councils, realized the importance of creating a fund.

The agreement reached was that we wouldn’t spend the entire amount budgeted for food, but rather just a small contribution, or 10 pesos paid by each compañera. But because it was three days, each course or workshop would cost 30 pesos, and so there was some left over. According to the agreement of the assembly of authorities, the rest would be saved as a fund for the zone, not the region, but the zone. Also regarding transportation, an agreement was reached to only spend 50% of the budget, and the community would contribute 50% also, and so 50% was left over for the fund of the zone.

Why did we do it like this? Because we had seen here in our zone that the economic resources are more and more scarce when we have some kind of movement, and that’s why we decided to save part of the money as a fund. And that is how we created this support, the fund for the zone, and that is why we created the Fund Commission, the Savings Commission. I’m not sure if that answers your questions.

(…)

-*-

Who approves the report on the finances and the general report, if there is no one in charge (sticking their hand in the cookie jar)?

Well, during our time as Junta, we worked all together, there wasn’t anyone else who checked the report, only the entire Junta team. But each time we wrote a report on our spending we sent a copy to the Information Commission; all of the purchase reports as well, we planned the food purchases together with the Information Commission. We all decide together in the office of the Information Commission, with the Vigilance Commission also present; the three offices would meet, and we would come to an agreement regarding whether we were going to buy something, or if we were going to have a commission how much its costs would be, and how to report its expenses to the Junta. Each shift would give an account, because each shift would elect a secretary and a treasurer, who would be responsible for the money, who would keep track of it, we didn’t all control it together. If a compañero were responsible for a quantity of money, for example, 10 thousand pesos, he would be responsible for administrating this money for 10 days, and this compañero would be responsible for managing the economy, the expenses, the secretary, and the treasurer. At the end [of that 10-day shift] we would tally how much was spent and if a compañero was missing 100 or 200 pesos, then he would owe that money because he had been responsible for administrating it during those 10 days. This is what we did during each shift, check to see if the accounts balanced, we didn’t let it pile up until the end, but rather during each shift we would be checking to see if it added up to the 10 thousand pesos that corresponded to that 10-day shift. But the purchases were always made on agreement of the three offices.

The question is, do you have data to ensure that these compañeros are telling the truth? That no money is missing? What facts ensure this?

Compañeros, the response to this question is that this is done with the receipt, the record of money entering. If there is a certain amount, let’s say 50 thousand pesos, taken in during a given time, then the compa whose turn it is, as the other compañero said, will manage this 50 thousand pesos for 10 days. If he spends three or four thousand of that, he has to provide a report regarding what the expenses were along with the receipts for whatever he spent, or for the commissions that didn’t have any expenditures except for food, so that the account is balanced. And it has to add up correctly, because it isn’t only the administrator who is keeping track, but also the Vigilance and Information Commissions, because they also have a list of how much money is being managed.

And if it isn’t delivered with a receipt, how can it be verified?

The way that we do it is that all of the money that comes in must have a receipt, because if a compañero in solidarity comes to give a donation, they have to have a receipt to deliver or to tell their collective or organization how much was donated. Copies of this receipt stay with the Junta and with the Information Commission, so nothing can be lost as all donations are recorded. And the financial outputs are handled by the Junta with the commission that is currently learning how to balance the accounts.

-*-

(To be continued…)

I testify.

From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast,

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos.

Mexico, March 2013.

————————————–

“Zapatista” by the group Louis Ling and the Bombs, from Paris, France. Anarchist Punk Rock. The track is on the album “Long Live the Anarchist Revolutionaries.” They take their name from Louis Ling, who was born in Germany and migrated to the United States at the end of the 19th century (1885). When he was condemned to be hanged, Louis declared to the representatives of capitalist law: “I despise your order, your laws, your force-propped authority. HANG ME FOR IT!” Dedicated to all of the anarchist compas of the Sixth.

The Group Zamandoque Tarahum, from Chicago Illinois, USA, with this rock music entitled “Zapatista.”

From South Africa, the Shackdwellers Movement (Abahlali BaseMojondolo), which struggles for land and dignified housing, sends greetings to the Zapatista indigenous communities through the Movimento por Justicia del Barrio, in the other New York, USA. Resistance and the rebellion connecting Mexico-United States-South Africa, below and to the left.

[i] The Caracoles, literally “shells” or “spirals” were announced in 2003 as the homes of the Juntas de Buen Gobierno, or Good Government Councils. When the EZLN first announced their existence they were described, in addition to being the seats of the self-government system, as “doors to enter into the communities” and “windows to see in and out.”

[ii] Cargo is like a combination of duty and task, or charge; it refers to a position of responsibility.

Comments: 0

In Attendance: Edgar; Russ, John, Jerry, Jim, Shirley, Thomas, Ellen, Ant, Dana, Eve, Alan, Jesse, Peter, Tim, Uknown Person [s].

Occupy Santa Rosa General […]

Comments: 0

Comments: 0

Regards,
Jesse

Comments: 0

Present: Eve, Jesse, Adrienne, Peter, Paige, Carl, Rachel

I. Community Agreements

Stilllllll haven’t gotten our s*** together enough to meet and edit the Community […]

Comments: 0

Comments: 0

PARTY After Next Saturday’s GENERAL ASSEMBLY, March 16th

Noon - 3 pm General Assembly. Peace and Justice Center

3:30 - 7 pm “Meet the Peeps Party”. Atlas Café. 300 S. A St., Santa Rosa.

Gravity Hill will play. Political theater games. Food, dancing and hanging out. We welcome Occupiers from around the county as well as allied groups and individuals.

1. REPORTS
Move To Amend: Todd went to a Move On version of this effort, a local discussion with conference call. They are pushing two bills, Joint Resolution 20 & 21 challenging Citizens United. These bills include public funding of elections and spending limits. Move to Amend says their proposal is the most simple. But Move On and other versions may be more comprehensive.

Hotel Petaluma Evictions. Has been an Single Residency Occupation hotel (SRO) for a long time, 104 rooms. A new owner jacked up people’s rent (probably illegal) and gave everyone leases. Then they sent evictions to everyone. The Sonoma County Solidarity Network was called by a couple of people who live there. Many of these folks are very vulnerable and have lived rough, difficult lives. SoCoSol went and talked to people about starting a tenants’ committee and making a list of demands. An ad hoc comm. formed. Three meetings this week.

March 19 “Towards Collective Liberation” with Chris Crass 6:30 pm With Dream Act Students, Graton Day Labor speakers. 6:30 pm, Arlene Francis center $5-15 donation

KPFA’s J.R. Valery was suspended for 60 days this week after talking on air about racism at the station. He will likely form a group to protest this action. There is racism at KPFA. J.R. has alienated many potential supporters among the staff and listener community. This will unfold over the next few months.

Paige went to the American College Theater Competition, competed against 250 college students, some in MFA programs. She got in the final 5. This is the first time a J.C. student has ever gone so far. Congratulations Paige!

PARTY PLANS
The bulk of the meeting went into party planning. Paige and Carl helped us work up a dynamite theater game. We’ll be gathering items for the game and putting it together Wed, March 13th at the Orchard Street Law Ofc. 719 Orchard St. Santa Rosa, 7-9 pm

We divided up responsibilities for various party tasks and set up a schedule for the stage and other activities.

Comments: 0

More designs are better so we can figure out which one […]

Comments: 0