(un)OccupyABQ General Assembly – Thursday, May 24, 2012
Facilitator: John / Notes: Hershe
Participants: John, Hershe, Demetria, Thomas, Santhosh, Matthew
Announcements
Friday, May 25 from 3:30-5 p.m. NATO protests solidarity action at the gates of Kirtland Air Force Base (Wyoming/Zuni, Albq.). Hear from (un)Occupy activists who protested NATO in Chicago, and show your solidarity with people around the world fighting NATO & the G8′s war & poverty agenda.
Saturday, June 9 action in Pine Ridge, South Dakota to support native activists protesting Liquor stores across the border in Whiteclay, NE (see deepgreenresistance.com). An (un)OccupyABQ/Occupy Santa Fe caravan is being formed and donations of fans or A/C units for the elders at Pine Ridge are being collected. Contact Hershe (hershe310@gmail.com or 340-3362 for more info.
Working Group Reports
Foreclosure – We were in the streets today with banners and signs in front of the law offices of Susan Little and Associates, one of the law firms that is profiting from our neighbors being kicked out of their homes. Little and Associates is bringing foreclosure proceedings on behalf of Bank of America against a grandmother in our community. Before the picket began, one of us went into their offices and spoke with one of the attorneys who said she was not at liberty to discuss their clients. After an hour of picketing, which including a rousing rendition of Woody Guthrie’s Pretty Boy Floyd,
“Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam,
You won’t never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.”
seven us carried our signs back into their offices, chanting “Little and Associates drive people from their homes.” The receptionist and lawyers rushed to lock themselves in and pull down the shades.
May 1 – folks met last week to debrief this year’s action and begin discussing next year’s action. Thomas clarified that it may be more of an ad-hoc group or possibly just the anti-capitalists than a working group.
Discussion Items
Los Alamos National Laboratory Action – (un)OccupyABQ has been invited to take the lead in organizing the Aug. 6 CD action portion of the NukeFreeNow coalition’s Aug. 3-6 LANL event. After two weeks of deliberation, we hoped to bring forward for consensus consideration a proposal in favor of us forming a LANL action working group and accepting the invitation. We have been seeking feedback from land-based community and anti-nuclear organizers/activists about whether a CD action would affect their work adversely – most have been enthusiastic and none have felt it would be detrimental. We do have concerns about the way NukeFreeNow is and has been organizing thus far – which include the fact that the coalition is vast majority white, is lining up outside experts and celebrities for panels, and expects the first 3 days of the event to cost $10k. We expressed our concerns in the two coalition meetings we attended and felt they were received by most with respect and appreciation. We have 15 people from (un)Occupy, Occupy Santa Fe, and the community who have expressed an interest in helping plan the action.
CONSENSUS Proposal: (un)OccupyABQ’s just-formed LANL Action Working Group will take the lead in organizing a Monday, August 6, 2012 civil disobedience action as part of NukeFreeNow coalition’s LANL events, August 3-6.
One of the LANL Action working group’s first order of business will be to write a Statement of Concern regarding our reservations about working with NukeFreeNow.
Matthew envisions bringing puppets, bright colors, and drums to a large action. He will work with Hershe to see if his vision of Positivity can manifest during the LANL event.
Help a #OWS Solidarity Sister get to Philly – Carmen of Occupy Santa Fe who is a wonderful (un)Occupy ABQ ally, is going to the National General Assembly in Philadelphia July 4th! A call for contributions went out to help with her airfare and expenses. If you are able/willing to contribute anything at all, contact Hershe – hershe310@gmail.com or 340-3362.
An excerpt from the solidarity letter:
“We are incredibly fortunate that one of our own, Carmen Stone, has a
longstanding connection to a fully engaged participant/organizer of
Occupy Philadelphia (OP). Additionally, this person has offered
Carmen free housing for the first horizontally planned,
multi-GA-approved, National Occupy/UnOccupy/Decolonize gathering July
4th weekend (6/30 – 7/4).
Because of this opportunity, we look at this as a de-facto spokes
council model. Meaning, Carmen will be acting as New Mexico’s “spoke”
i.e. “messenger” in both relaying information from New Mexico
Occupies/UnOccupy as well as collecting information from the national
gathering/GA to bring back home. It also gives Carmen an opportunity
to speak to dozens of other “spokes/messengers” representing at least
40 (at last count) Occupy/UnOccupy/Decolonize about New Mexico’s call
for a national day(s) of action protesting against Los Alamos National
Laboratory August 3-6.
So, we are taking up donations to support Carmen in traveling to
Philly for this four-day event. Please consider contributing whatever
you can. Every dollar counts and no donation is too small.”
Occupy Caravan – the caravan is on its way to Philadelphia for the National GA and will be coming to Albuquerque Thursday, June 14 (see occupycaravan.com). Ethan (occupynewmexico.org) has been in communication with a member of the Southern route caravan. We would like to help greet them and host them in a great way. Thomas has agreed to talk with Ethan and the caravan members to help set up lodging if necessary and organize a celebratory event that night.
