Occupy Oakland 11.9.2011 General Assembly Agenda

1. Welcome
2. Welcome Announcements
3. Agenda Overview
4. Reports from Committees, Sub-Committees & Caucuses
5. Forum (Finance)
6. Overview of Process
7. Proposals

1.  Egyptian Solidarity March

2.  All Inclusive Tactics/ Bridge Difference/ Responsible Black Bloc

3.  Proposal Against Destructive Actions that Threaten Occupy Oakland

4.  Proposal for Occupy Oakland Endorsement to Occupy Bldg

8. Action Announcements

9. General Announcements

Content of Proposals

*** 
Proposals will not be presented untill 7.-7.30pm***

1. Proposal for Solidarity Action for Egypt on Saturday, November 12^th

 

 Preamble:

There has been an international call out for solidarity actions, from Egypt, set for this coming Saturday, November 12^th. Several Egyptian revolutionaries have been imprisoned including Alaa Abd El Fattah by the military of Egypt, which is trying to stifle the ongoing revolution. Given that our Egyptian comrades marched on the U.S. embassy for Occupy Oakland, have written us a solidarity letter, and have continuously made connections between Cairo and Oakland, it is imperative that we respond in kind, with solidarity and love. This proposal is in no way meant to discourage any other actions or statements that may be planned for this day in solidarity with Egypt’s Revolution, but rather, was organized so that there would be at least one GA endorsed Occupy Oakland solidarity letter and action.

 Proposal:

This proposal contains two parts:

1)   a solidarity statement- (still being written)

2)   a solidarity action- rally at the plaza at four, plan to march by five, first to the federal building where people can speak about the U.S. government’s complicity in the repression of Egyptian people, and then to the Glenn Dyer detention facility to connect the imprisonment of political prisoners in Egypt to prisoners in the U.S. and everywhere.

 

2. All Inclusive Tactics/ Bridge Difference/ Responsible Black Bloc

 This is why:

– The Occupy movement is an all-inclusive movement.

– Black Bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing and participate in vandalism or destruction of property, but also in administering first aid to people affected by tear gas and assisting the escape of people arrested by the police. Black Bloc is not one set group of people.

– Likewise, the Occupy movement isn’t a specific group of people, but a movement composed of many individuals.

– Even if the GA did disavow Black Bloc tactics, who’s to say that individuals won’t employ Black Bloc on their own in future actions? And who’s to say the media won’t misrepresent the movement anyway?

– Finally, provocateurs may well be exploiting our ideological differences in order to fracture the movement.

 To that we say:

We shall not be divided and conquered.

Passing this proposal means the following:

– We RECOGNIZE that we are members of a larger community, locally and nationally.

– WE ACKNOWLEDGE that some Occupy Oakland supporters, including the writers of this proposal, are embarrassed and upset about the destruction of property during the Nov. 2 General Strike.

– We KNOW that our actions affect others and can either strengthen or jeopardize our movement’s goals.

– We UNDERSTAND that there is a time and place for the diversity of tactics of Occupy Oakland’s supporters, and in hindsight, the Nov. 2 General Strike wasn’t the best time or place to employ Black Bloc.

– We URGE individuals employing Black Bloc tactics to PLEASE practice appropriate restraint and discipline at peaceful events.

(What is “appropriate” restraint and discipline? For example, it the GA were to pass a proposal for a “Children, kittens, and puppies against the 1%” action, it would be appropriate for Black Bloc to not be used.)

– We ASK individuals using Black Bloc to PLEASE refrain from damaging the businesses that support for Occupy Oakland and the Occupy movement in general.

– We ENCOURAGE all individuals using peaceful and non-violent means of protest to continue doing so and to encourage others to do the same.

 Let us remember that a house divided cannot stand. We cannot let ourselves fall by our own hand or by the hand of the 1%.

 All of us allied with the Occupy Oakland should pass this proposal to bridge our differences and to show the way forward.

3. Proposal Against Destructive Actions that Threaten Occupy Oakland

 OCCUPY OAKLAND SEEKS TO EXPAND THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT TO EFFECTIVELY DEMAND THAT THE 1% PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE AND THAT OUR SOCIETY MEET THE NEEDS OF THE 99%;

and

TO THAT END OCCUPY OAKLAND HAS INVITED FAMILIES, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY AND ALL OTHER SECTORS OF THE 99% TO OCCUPY OAKLAND EVENTS;

and

PHYSICAL ATTACKS AGAINST PERSONS AND PROPERTY ENDANGER THE SAFETY OF THESE PERSONS AND LIMITS PARTICIPATION IN THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT;

and

SUCH ATTACKS ARE CONDONED BY NEITHER THE MAJORITY OF OCCUPY MOVEMENT PARTICIPANTS NOR THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE 99%;

 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT THOSE WHO LAUNCH PHYSICAL ATTACKS ON PEOPLE OR PROPERTY ARE NOT WELCOME TO DO SO AT OR NEAR OCCUPY OAKLAND EVENTS AND ENCAMPMENT.

4. Proposal for Occupy Oakland Endorsement to Occupy Bldg.

 

 We propose that on Saturday, November 12th, at 7pm, Occupy Oakland and allies of Occupy Oakland march from Oscar Grant Plaza to take a building with the intention of keeping it for use as a resource center, a place to gather, and a place to live. We’d like it to be known that in

choosing this building we took serious consideration of the strategic strengths and weaknesses of the last attempt to occupy a building. Also, this action will be acting upon the prior consensus of the General Assembly to expand the occupation (Declaration of Solidarity with Neighborhood

Reclamations, passed 10/31/11). If the administration of the city of Oakland wishes for this even to remain free of violence, as we would, they will keep the Oakland Police Department far away.

 We would love your help in making this action successful and long lasting.

Here are a few ways you can help:

 •Come with your things and make the new building your home.

 •Bring water, food, and medical supplies.

 •Print and distribute fliers and posters or help organize to make sure we’re prepared to defend the building.

 •Provide and/or set up a PA system for music, meetings, and

speeches.

 Declaration of Solidarity with Neighborhood Reclamations

 Occupy Oakland, in solidarity with the Occupy movement and with the local community, has established the principle of claiming for open use the open space that has been kept from us. We are committed to helping this practice continue and grow. Here in Oakland, thousands of buildings owned by city, banks, and corporations stand idle and abandoned. At the same time social services such as child and healthcare, education, libraries and community spaces are being defunded and eliminated.

Occupy Oakland supports the efforts of people in all Oakland neighborhoods to reclaim abandoned properties for use to meet their own immediate needs. Such spaces are already being occupied and squatted unofficially by the dispossessed, the marginalized, by many of the very people who have joined together here in Oscar Grant Plaza to make this a powerful and diverse movement. We commit to providing political and material support to neighborhood reclamations, and supporting them in the face of eviction threats or police harassment. In solidarity with the global occupation movement, we encourage the transformation of abandoned spaces into resource centers toward meeting urgent community needs that the current economic system cannot and will not provide.

 Lets be prepared to celebrate the glorious social virus that is Occupy.

Occupy Everything!