Showing posts with label General Assembly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General Assembly. Show all posts

Thursday, August 16, 2012

How and Why Occupy Died

Some of you may have looked at the title of this post and thought, “What do you mean Occupy died? People are still calling themselves Occupiers.” Yes, it may be true that people are still calling themselves occupiers, but here’s the thing:


1. What are they occupying?
2. What actions have been taken lately?
3. What kind of numbers and support do they actually have?

To answer the first question, nine times out of ten they are not occupying anything. Do you see any encampments in public parks in major metropolitan areas in Canaduh? NO, you don’t, because everyone is too damn scared of the cops. It’s civil disobedience; you are going to HAVE to deal with the cops, and if you are just going to go along with what the cops say, WHY ARE YOU EVEN COMMITTING THE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE?!?!?!?

For the second question: What actions have been taken lately? As far as I can tell there has not been anything done in Canaduh under Occupy’s name for at least a few months. Everything that has happened in Canaduh has been done either under the Quebec student movement’s name, or in solidarity with the students in Quebec.

As for what kind of support and/or numbers do they actually have, not much at all.


Why is this?

This is because people have become disillusioned with how things turned out with Occupy. How so? It’s simple. People wanted to SEE ACTIONS HAPPENING, NOT JUST A BUNCH OF PAPERWORK. Which has driven me to create a new portmanteau: “activistocrat”—Activist and Bureaucrat—the definition being someone who thinks of themselves as an activist but doesn’t actually suggest any actions, just bitches about the lack of action while creating a bureaucratic nightmare for those people who actually want to get something done.

For example, at Occupy Newfoundland the activistocrats wanted to formalize the process of how we did GAs and came about to a decision (known further as the “code of conduct”). Sure it sounds good when stated like that, but what it actually entailed was writing a 3-page long document describing how our general assembly process worked. It was written with every detail accounted for and about 20-30 different articles (within 4 main sections) with EACH & EVERY ONE having to be passed by the GA. This process started about the middle of November and still wasn’t done by the time people were starting to stop going to the GAs in May. Almost every GA, some part or another of the code of conduct was brought up. With that one topic, “Code of Conduct,” almost the entire GA was taken up by a 2-hour discussion going in circles on some stupid little semantic detail with nothing else being talked about the rest of the night.


That meant for the ENTIRE winter we were dealing with this one document, which took energy away from other actions or protests that could have happened.

So how did Occupy die? ACTIVISTOCRATS.

Ken 

Part 2: Saving the Revolution: What can be done?
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Read Ken's previous blogpost: Why Occupy Used the Tactics It Did

Monday, July 30, 2012

General Assembly Tues July 31 @ 7 pm, MUN Arts and Admin (room A1046)

Our next general assembly is today in the Arts and Admin Building at MUN, 7 pm (A1046). We will be hosting an informal brainstorming session on the future of Indy media in the province. Justin Brake from the Independent will have some thoughts to share. He will be doing a workshop on Citizen Journalism in a few weeks. Details to follow.

After the GA, why not check out Kanaska Carter, playing at CBTG's at 10 pm. Originally from the west coast of Newfoundland, she spent the first two months of Occupy Wall Street in Zuccotti Park. She will be playing various St. John's venues in the next two weeks.

See you all there!


Monday, December 12, 2011

Tuesday GA: Workshop on Electoral Reform



WhenTue, December 13, 8pm – 9pm
WhereMemorial University, Arts and Admin Building, A1049 (building 14 on this map with free parking available in lot 15B)
DescriptionThe Occupy General Assembly has agreed that Tuesday's GAs will be devoted to public education and discussion. Each Tuesday the General Assembly will meet at MUN and participate in a facilitated workshop and discuss issues of importance to the local and global community. This week we will discuss electoral reform. For a preview, see this post.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Parking Lot: Customs of the General Assembly

Please View This Document First.  (Revised and presented to GA, Nov. 20)

Rationale:
Formalizing the structure of the General Assembly would be beneficial for the process of setting up for long-term Occupation. To this end, several people have consulted to develop the "Customs" document that is linked above. "Customs" refers to the usual code of conduct that Members of the General Assembly follow while gathered.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Upcoming General Assembly Locations

Indoor locations for the General Assembly have been found for the coming week.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Sam Haines' Day

The GA is postponed tonight for festivities. If anyone is interested in continuing discussions online, please consider joining in with the Chat Room.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

'Tis the Season

The GA scheduled for tonight has been postponed due to weather conditions at Harbourside. Consequent to this and a decision of last night's impromptu assembly, the next GA will be at 8PM Tuesday, November 1st at Harbourside Park.

UPDATED:
via Twitter...
"We need donations at Harbourside Park: food, water, warm clothes, blankets, wool socks, sand for traction."

There is an impromptu meeting going on right now on the IRC channel. Click the link, pick a nickname, and join in.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Location for tonight's General Assembly

Tonight's General Assembly will be held at 8 PM at 18 Quebec Street. Everyone's welcome. Call 237-4183 after 3 PM for any questions. See you there!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

General Assembly for Wednesday

The General Assembly for 8PM Wednesday evening is being held at 40 St. Michael's Avenue in St. John's. These meetings are open to the general public.

Updates on meeting locations, times, and other general information is also now available via telephone; please call the Solidarity Line on the Contacts page.
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