GA Notes – Nov. 6, 2011

GA Notes – Nov. 6, 2011
Facilitator: Erica Estes,Stacker: Rhadona, Note taker: Santhosh Chandrashekar

Camp agreements
Agenda:

• Amendment to U.S. constitution
• Discussion of what to do when unilateral actions take place
• Location (whether to move or stay at Yale Park)

Announcements:
Ilse Biel read an email sent out by Christine Nevada to prominent people in Albuquerque, including the city councilors, UNM administration, city attorney, and others saying that she was the city liaison of “Occupy Albuquerque” and asking for help in finding a location where the encampment could take place. Ilse stated that she would draft an email to UNM administration clarifying that this individual had not been authorized by the GA to contact any of the above-mentioned people and that she had been working on her own.

Summer will give a presentation on political prisoner Alvaro Luna Hernandez on 7 pm, Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Scholars Room in the SUB. The event is being organized by Amnesty International.

Sarita Cargas announced that there will be teach-ins happening at UNM this Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Nov. 8-10) from 11.30 to 2 pm. Weather permitting, the location will most likely be Smith Plaza (open space in front of Zimmerman Library). The main thrust is to educate the campus about the Occupy movement. Sarita needs people who can talk about the national movement and its main goals. She also needs people who can help in making flyers with information on poverty, homelessness, health disparity, and other kinds of inequalities. Any help to advertise this event will also be appreciated.

Jason announced that a constitutional law class is offered by Kevin Duran every Wednesday from 7-9 pm at Rm 2406, UNM Law School. This class is open to the public.

Rob announced that there is a City Council meeting on Monday at 5 pm to discuss Channel 27 losing its contract. People who want to make public comments should sign up before 5.30 pm.

Sayrah announced that the place to assemble for those taking part in (un)Occupy Albuquerque float for the Marigold Parade has changed

Hershe announced that camp agreements that were articulated from the beginning on our now scattered white boards, will be posted on www.unoccupyabq.org. Members/visitors were requested to make comments and add any agreement that may have been missed.

Rob announced that the UNM Regents will be meeting on Wednesday. Camp members should try to attend that meeting and bring to their attention how ill-advised UNM president David Schmidly’s action was.

Rhadona, Hershe, Lila, and Jason will do teach-ins from 11 to 5 this entire week on Yale Park. Be there and support them.

Sayrah announced that The Nation has favorably mentioned (un)Occupy Albuquerque in its report specifically because of the name-change.

Sebastian announced that we need a working group to coordinate with UNM students and faculty to highlight student-specific issues.

Working group announcements:

Will and others attended the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) meeting and read a statement of support for which they received two standing ovations. Will announced that a spreadsheet is being put together of 45 labor unions with information such as contact person, phone number, their main challenges, success, and the like. So far, information is available for 20 unions.

There are two labor union meetings coming up soon. The Albuquerque Firefighters Union will be meeting on Nov. 10 at 10 am and Teamster is also meeting the same day at 6.30 pm.

Ilse reminded the GA that the GPSA resolution in support of (Un)Occupy Albuquerque will be voted on by GPSA council representatives on at a special council meeting on Monday, Nov. 7, at Roberts Room in Scholes Hall. There is a chance that the resolution will be revised.

It was suggested that the resolution include a call that UNM graduate students participate in the (Un)Occupy Albuquerque movement.

Summer, Jen, and Jason spoke to the JFK Charter School about the (un)Occupy movement. The teacher there wants to bring 30 students to an action as part of a field trip.

Erica suggested that the students could attend the 11.11.11 action at Robinson Park.

Agenda items:

1. Proposal to adjourn the meeting by 2.30 pm so people can attend the Marigold Parade. CONSENSUS

2. Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (LeMoyne)

• Need a group that will look at U.S. Constitution. The main aim is to press forth the issue that corporations are not people and money is not speech.
• Abuse of first, fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments by corporations should be checked
• An amendment is needed so we can ensure a good future for our children
• Proposal is that “We the people move to amend the U.S. Constitution to assert our rights, which are to be protected by the U.S. constitution and derived from it.”
• The main point is to revoke corporate personhood
• All of we the people are human beings with inalienable rights.
• The proposal is that the working group be called “Governance working group” to look into all constitutional and legislative issues
• We need to keep it focused on U.S. constitution and then expand the scope of the working group gradually to target other areas
• Lets call it “We the people” working group. Its first priority for now is to look into possibilities of amending the U.S. Constitution to revoke corporate personhood.
• We also need to add language around “money” and “elections” so people’s concerns around corporate takeover of the government is reflected.
• Proposal to form “We the People” working group as an umbrella to attend to constitutional/legislative issues whose first priority will be to work on the constitutional amendment. Two stand-asides. CONSENSUS
• LeMoyne will be the magnet for this working group.

3. What do we do when people take unilateral action?

• The “Occupy Albuquerque” group started this by not staying within the GA process. The person who sent out the email on her own is feeding off of this precedent. It is important that we stay united
• This person is not getting the ramifications of this action
• We should issue a statement on both websites that this person was not authorized by the GA to take any action on its behalf. She should be censured.
• Censuring this person is not necessary. Let’s just say that this letter was not authorized by the GA and move on.
• Proposal is to have a declaration on unilateral action: that all individuals are acting as individuals unless they are authorized by the GA to act on behalf of the group. This will be posted on our website – unoccupyabq.org. CONSENSUS
• Proposal to request all “Occupy” websites, including occupyabq.org, to post it on their website as a way to signal that both groups are working in conjunction.
• This proposal was blocked as building trust between the two camps should be a separate conversation. www.occupyabq.org is still welcome to post the statement on its own.

4. Discussion on moving from Yale Park tabled for lack of time

5. Proposal to adjourn meeting made at 2.23 pm. CONSENSUS