GAs will be Sunday only in December, January, & February.
The regular Thursday GA will then be Scheming & Scholarship, for discussion, radical imagination, and as-needed action-prep. (So your Thursdays are still booked. You’re welcome.)
Times are just as before: Sun@1p and Thurs@6:30p.
Locations will be warmer.
Sunday GAs from Dec. 8th – Feb. 24th: At the Peace & Justice Center, a block south of Yale Park.
(Harvard & Silver)
Thursday Scheming & Scholarship from Dec. 6th – Feb. 28th: In the Frontier restaurant’s (eastmost) rug room. (Central & Cornell)
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Announcements
Candlelight Vigil for Gaza
Thursday, November 29th form 5:30pm – 6:30pm – UNM Bookstore (Central & Cornell)
[At the GA all we knew was ‘this week’ but that changed by publish time.]
A.N.S.W.E.R. Public Forum “500+ Years Of Native Resistance”
Saturday, December 1st at 4p – UNM SUB : Santa Ana Room
The ANSWER coalition would like to invite you to a public forum featuring indigenous leaders and activists from the community addressing the issues of sovereignty of indigenous people and the effects of colonization on a people struggling for their rights to self-determination.
(Amalia will be one of the panelists.)
How Oppression Makes Us Sick – Towards Healthy Politics
Sunday, December 2nd from 2-4pm – 1108 Georgia St. NE
We will have a quick overview of how oppression makes us ill and then look at the LRU draft platform and talk about what actions we can take. Please feel encouraged to bring snacks and drinks.
Report-backs
Walmart Black Friday Strike
Around 150 people at the action at Menaul & Carlisle. Decent amount of press coverage. No known walkouts in ABQ, however 2 strikers from Clovis did come in the latter half. The group started out along the outside edge of a parking lot for Walmart & other stores. Super-twitchy armed & unidentified “security” person asked to move further out, and group did, despite that area not clearly being private property.
Thursday: Day of Mourning Ceremony at P&J
(Not an (un)Occupy action, but relevant.)
Around 20 people. It started a bit late, after sunrise, but a good event. Had plenty of extra food they were able to give away. Nationally: Annual ceremonies at Alcatraz, Plymouth, etc.
350.org Divestment Meeting
[Attended informally] 350’s major strategy is now institutional divestment from fossil-fuel, similar in tactic to the BDS movement, as in order to maintain a livable planet, 80% of the world’s remaining carbon reserves have to stay in the ground.
Quaker minute in support of Occupy Wall Street/(un)Occupy
At last year’s Southwest meeting, the Pima monthly meeting submitted a minute in support of OWS which was sent to the local meetings for seasoning (deliberation). The Albuquerque meeting has been supportive of not just a minor revision, but is considering sending a minute to accompany the Pima one, weaving in the issues of occupation and colonization. Still more dialogue before it gets to the yearly meeting, but so far the ABQ meeting has been very open to bringing these issues to the regional group.
Agenda
Leonard Peltier
Proposal: Encouraging groups (un)Occupy has worked with to push the our national senators & representatives to work with Rep. John Lewis in freeing Leonard.
[No decision]
Proposal: Wednesday Feb. 6th is International Day of Solidarity with Leonard Peltier. Peter would like support in organizing & getting a location for this coming year’s event. The date is flexible, ex: to schedule an event on the weekend. Idea is to do something similar to this year, with an educational panel, documentary, potluck, &c. Amnesty International HQ has an upcoming campaign featuring Leonard, so it may be possible to get the local UNM chapter involved.
[Consensus. Also, as members of the P&J, see below, we’ll be able to reserve space at a discount.]
Winter GA Schedule & Location
Schedule
Points:
- Around winter break & holidays, 2 GAs per week are harder to maintain.
- Can also make securing good indoor space harder.
- Splitting that limited GA attendance reduces effectiveness.
- Having different locations for Thursday/Sunday GAs can be confusing.
- Currently, Sunday GAs have higher attendance.
- Desire for concrete cap on Winter schedule, so doesn’t become permanent by inertia.
- Having Thursday remain blocked-out for other group stuff could be useful.
Proposal: For December thru February, switch to one weekly GA (Sunday@1pm, as usual) with the Thursday@6:30 time-slot being a more fluid meeting. Its focus would be more on discussion & germination of ideas/actions, and when an action is coming up, it would be the default work-period. Could be held at a place different from the GA.
[Consensus.]
The last Thursday GA of the year will be on Nov. 29th, ensuring that everyone hears about the new schedule. The de facto, approved by no-one, title for Thurday’s (un)GA is Scheming & Scholarship, because your note-taker likes alliteration and action.
Location
Numerous spaces proposed, P&J seemed best suited. More accessible and consistently available than UNM SUB. To pay for the space, option of either volunteering or using cash.
Proposal: Become PJOLA member ($100/yr) and using monthly meeting allotment for 12 Sunday meetings (Dec.-Feb.) which would cover the major winter months. We could all pitch in the $100, and raising money for a single expenditure is easier than for an ongoing cost. Have Thursday S&S meetings at the Frontier’s Rug Room for now.
[Consensus.]
Later confirmation: P&J is ok with the Monthly>Weekly exchange. There’s acknowledgement that Frontier, while practical for Thursdays, is not an ideal space, so we’ll keep an eye out for other places too. And once the weather gets warmer, everything is back in the park.
Sending people to AZ
Will be some interesting collaborations around decolonization this summer, organized by the Black Mesa Coalition and others. We should consider raising food & gas money to send some (un)Occupiers to participate. Note: The DHS is targeting a group of indigenous anarchist youth there, so the locals must be doing something right.
Christmas GA at the mall, like last year?
We need to dust off our people’s mic skills.
UNMH Nurses Union Contract
Ask how we can help support them in current contract negotiations, especially since their contract forbids them from striking. They did have a protest along Lomas a few weeks back.
