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Occupy Portland has reached the following agreement of the General Assembly through our process of modified consensus:
Occupy Portland will continue to use Main Street as a common space for meeting and community building, except for emergency vehicles, bicycles and the anti-war march on Saturday, October 15th.
We will initiate direct communication with transit and emergency service unions, as well as the community as a whole, to develop a long term plan that honors both the needs for accessible gathering space and the safety of the entire community.
This process will take effect as soon as a protocol is developed. A working group has been tasked with developing this protocol and will begin work immediately on reaching out to the communities mentioned. There will still be room for continued discussion about the use of Main Street. We encourage all members of the community to join us at our next General Assembly meeting by the Elk on Main Street at 7pm so you can participate in our process.
In addition, The General Assembly of Occupy Portland agreed upon the following
statement on October 12, 2011.
City Officials and the Portland Police have expressed concern that
Occupy Portland is endangering the lives and livelihoods of the people
of this city through our continued occupation of the section of Main
Street between City Hall and the Department of Justice downtown.We, too, are concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the people
of Portland, as well as the safety of Occupy Portland. However, we
believe that a political and economic system controlled by the
wealthiest 1% is a greater and ever-present danger to the people of
Portland and across the world.It has been claimed that our occupation of Main Street is slowing down
emergency vehicles and risking people’s lives. We acknowledge this
concern however, the real risk to people’s lives is the fact that 40
million Americans are without healthcare, 560,000 of whom are
Oregonians.We occupy Main Street with them.
It has been claimed that our occupation of Main Street is interfering
with public transportation and inconveniencing Tri-Met workers. We
acknowledge this concern, however, the real threat to Tri-Met workers
is the millions of dollars in budget cuts, which are undermining the
wages and benefits of public employees and destroying our public
transportation system.We occupy Main Street with them.
It has been claimed that our occupation of Main Street is keeping the
working people of Portland from getting to their jobs on time. We
acknowledge this concern, however, the threat to working people is an
exploitative economic system in which people find themselves with
growing levels of debt, unemployed, or stuck in low paying jobs
without benefits and virtually no control over their working
conditions or everyday lives.We occupy Main Street with them.
We are the 99% and we occupy together.
GA started at 7pm. Vote happened shortly before 11pm. GA lost most of it’s participants by then. GA did not consider the 400+ votes on LiveStream. This decision does not represent the majority of Occupy Portland Supporters.
It should have been the first item on the agenda. I will have to rethink my support OP.
Yes,votes on serious matters must not be left to the end of long meetings. This is especially so since it has been a time tested technique to stifle democracy, as in city council meetings where the public has turned out to address a particular issue and the council puts it on the end of a long agenda. Yes, reconsider.
Agreed, I was at that meeting and it seems as though the GA would rather disregard the online community.. then why is there even a media team? I’m in full support of Occupy Portland but, when the online community who CANNOT be there are made insignificant (if you were there or watching I’m sure you know what I’m referring to) how can we possibly feel like Occupy Portland supports us?? Furthermore cops taking back the street does not surprise me at all, maybe today my bus will be on time and I wont get docked for being late! I never really liked cops but right now it feels like they support me more then OP. Hmm, maybe occupiers should consider this?
“We will initiate direct communication with transit and emergency service unions, as well as the community as a whole, to develop a long term plan that honors both the needs for accessible gathering space and the safety of the entire community.”
How will “direct communication” with the community as a whole be done? Will only the voice of the few who attend the GA be heard? How does it make sense to delay a fire truck or an ambulance while barricades are moved to allow them passage? How does causing commuters to be delayed as they are rerouted around the camp help the movement gain support?
Judging by the social media communications I have seen this decision byu the “GA” did not hep further the cause. It actually seemed to have lessened support.
The problem with this decision is that it was left to decide by only those that are present in the street after 4 hours of meeting till 11 pm. Hundreds of us involved in moderated discussion on the livestream chat, many who had been present at the meeting, had an opinion that was nearly unanimous that we should open that street up as requested by the city/police. It does not stop the occupation to open Main Street-both parks are fully in use. We can use other parts of the park for meetings I am sure. We need some skilled facilitators to step forward to assist with making a consensus process work better in less than 4 hours. The 99% includes parents who have to leave early enough to care for kids at bedtimes, people with illnesses or disabilities that also cannot hang out in the street at night for 4 hours, and many of us homebound POrtlanders. Even if we cannot actually vote from home-we need a way for our opinions to inform the decision making.
Occupy Portland, you have made an error in discounting what the online community had to say about Main Street. Throughout the entire day, on Live Stream chat, Twitter, IRC, and Facebook, the huge online world from Portland and beyond tried to tell you that Main Street is not worth it and to please release it.
Imagine our complete shock when today’s General Assembly did not even include the option of clearing Main Street on its agenda. How is that even possible?
You MUST find a way to include the huge local online community in your decisions. We are the 99% and our voices are as important as yours. And Ani, you have no right to simply say that we “have to come there in person.”
Being there in person is not possible for many for so many reasons from disability, finances, transportation, and other major demands. You cannot ignore us or brush us off and shame on you for doing so. Do not treat us as our current government does.
This can be rectified if you respect the 99%.
The world is watching Portland. Let’s show them what we’re made of.
P.S. So you’ll open the road for emergency vehicles? Just how fast do you think you can do that?
This, this, this, and THIS!!!!!
Occupying main St. is a bad idea. Please consider everyone’s opinion, including those unable to actually attend on a daily basis due to jobs. Occupying the street only give reason to bring in the police later. If we get enough people, the city will have no choice but to agree to more space, and maybe even the federal park.
I am concerned with the idea of doing this. My concern is “whose idea was it?” While not trying to be accusatory, the movement and the city have worked great together. This idea will obviously disrupt traffic and the delay in time that the EMS vehicles will incur could be life threatening. Just the idea of occupying the street, (which actually lowers visibility), is a bad idea, and I’m amazed that it even made it this far in the General Assembly.
Plus the media coverage…a lot can be said as to how we are being portrayed in the media. The Main St. issue alone shows how the OccupyPDX group is uncooperative, as far as media reports go. While is seems counter productive, we need to use the media to our advantage. We have to stop allowing the public to think that the random person the media picks out (typically to “mock” the movement). We need to define spokespeople, those that can articulate our clear and consistent message. Those people also need to be representatives of the 99%! You, me, my neighbor! People that are working hard, making garbage money, but paying our taxes while our government ignores us and strips us of programs in the name of more corporate tax cuts.
While I value everyone that is there, and not there, supporting this movement, we cannot let the media use a 70 year old man, dressed in full 60′s attire and holding the peace sign up as “our spokesperson”. This is a serious, and extremely important movement. Let’s stop allowing it to be portrayed as a joke.
In conclusion…please give back Main St, and take better control of the media’s portayal.
and divided we fall..(over a road?)
I disagree with the decision to keep the street closed. That being said, I think this statement is really well written and makes solid points.
Solidarity.
I do not agree with this decision or the way the GA was conducted this evening. Let’s try to do better tomorrow.
I think that the tactical advantages for keeping the street outweigh the inconveniences caused. We would be weakened if we do not maintain control of the movement between Lownsdale and Chapman parks. This is meant to be an autonomous zone–that is the point of the occupation. If we become divided in that regards, it becomes that much easier to wear us down.
I do not like the fact that holding one block of the street inconveniences people, and I applaud the GA decision to work towards a way to share the use of the block through continued occupation and control of that space. Our position is tactically weak as it is, and, again, giving up the main way between the occupied parks would hasten our deterioration.
@Z – What tactical advantages are you talking about?
I cannot possibly believe that you honestly think needing to wait for the light to change so you can legally cross the street in order to move from one part of the camp to the other will weaken the Cause.
My hope, actually, is that as the movement grows, more parks/etc are needed in order to accommodate the Occupiers. Smashing them all together like sardines in a can accomplishes nothing.
And if you are going to demand occupation of a specific steet, shouldn’t it at least be one that is in front of a major bank? US Bank is down near Pioneer Courthouse Square….why not occupy that piece of ground?
The process is broken when the people are not united in an attitude of respect for one another.
To what end do you hold the street?
I consider myself an Occupy Portland supporter (attended first rally on 10/6, have spent several hours there subsequently including streetside chanting at rush hour on two other days, and have attended one GA) but I really DO NOT support the decision to keep Main Street closed, particularly keeping it closed to the Tri-Met public transit routes that use it. The statements in the press release frankly sound more ideological (and arrogant) than sympathetic to the real every-day experience of the people who use Main as a transit route.
My thought too is that it would ADD energy and dynamic to the site to have traffic going (except on specific demonstration days) between the two parks. This is a city! And certainly there are other possible spots for the GA to meet. Why not the amphitheatre at Shrunk Park?
My intuition whenever I show up at the site is that it just looks odd to be continuously blocking the street on days when there is no mass rally (and yet allowing certain motor vehicles to park there too!!)
I disagree with closing the street and am frankly stunned at the energy being expended to do such a meaningless action.
The Press Release is so loaded with rhetoric one might actually think you care about the 99%. If one looks further it is clear that the individuals who are the 99% mean nothing to you!
Who are you to decide that a person trying to get to work, or to a doctors appointment is less important than “owning” a street! Good grief people… we will never win the support of the “real” 99 % with you at the helm. This is not an art fair…or camp in…it has clear intent to win hearts and minds..educate..motivate, and change the world.
You…are acting like Congress! Shame on you!
You will not however drive the movement into the ground. Because WE are the 99 % and we are ready for change, Peaceful, Non Violent, not provocative change!
We have a city willing to work with the people…and you spit on their willingness to hold Portland to a higher standard of acceptance of an Occupation…and YOU WANT A STREET!
This is real life, not reality TV! This is not Dancing With The Stars… or Survival. This is a long awaited cry for the survival of this country!
FOCUS on the corporations that have corrupted us, don’t mimic them.
that really sums it up. thanks for the input, although it may not be understood as such.
Please open Main Street to regular traffic. We know how to safely use sidewalks; and the exposure (in terms of signage/visibility) to the traffic going through will be beneficial.
Would rather be talking about the metaphorical Main Street than the literal Main street.
I agree with the 3 comments posted prior to mine. I really don’t think we helped our cause, and didn’t hear anyting that sold me on our need to occupy that street.
My understanding is that a new proposal to clear the street can be brought to the GA for discussion on this, but I am not sure how to get on the agenda. If we don’t somehow allow the streaming/texting audience to vote and/or we don’t get additional like-minded people to the GA it is probably pointless to bring this up at GA again. We will never get 99% of Oregon in those parks, so we need to figure out how to be more inclusive.
In Solidarity,
Bob
I don’t understand how closing Main st helps those who still have jobs and are trying to get to work supports them? Isn’t there a better way?…How long are we going to have the support of the community we are supposed to be representing?…If we can be effective and thoughtful without blocking Main street we should make an effort to do so…Let’s not lose focus. If we want to create a community of cooperation, and of sharing then we should be demonstrating it. How can we tell corporations to stop acting in a way that only benefits the few, when we in essence it could be construed in the same way if we stay on Main street…
Well that didn’t take long.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/10/portland_police_remove_occupy.html
Portland police cleared Occupy Portland protesters from Third Avenue and Main Street this morning just before 6 a.m.
Dozens of uniformed bicycle police, motorcycle officers and others poured from the Justice Center at 5:53 a.m. and pulled the barricades from Main Street.
it was inevitable- personally, I think Main Street can be used as a communication medium more effectively with traffic flow.
I think the offer the city proposed allowing the use of the Keller Fountain space for GA’s is fair and accommodating, although I emphatically recognize the symbolic significance of meeting in “Main Street”.
This decision and it’s justifications (if that’s what this press release is) further undermines any credibility this so called movement has. Get a job, spoiled people. Life isn’t a video game that your parents will continue to upgrade for you every Christmas, even though you didn’t do your homework.
Let’s congratulate ourselves #Occupyportland! We blew it!
We had an opportunity to come together and make the right choice of clearing the road, and coming up with more creative ways to communicate the cause of the movement to the rest of the 99%. Instead as I witnessed at the GA last night, a polarization and disconnection from practical REALITY similar to what we are witnessing in Washington DC!
The 0.5% of the 99% who are occupying the parks don’t OWN 99% of the parks or main street! Also, as was said last night at the GA, if your going to choose to KEEP main street as we did, then why were not ALL OF US in the F#*KING STREET?
Once again let’s congratulate ourselves, in one swift stroke we have increased police presence and, lost much needed support of our movement. To many people who were OUR SUPPORTERS yesterday, today they LAUGH at us and, think of us as a joke. Public support is waning, if we are to retain what support we have left, then we are going to NEED TO COME TOGETHER NOW! Otherwise we can all prepare to be sent home soon by the rest of the 99%.
The movement had a brilliant opportunity to show the world that we could police ourselves and we wasted it. All because some misguided hotheads filibustered the GA. How sad.
It seems extremely childish, though well written, to completely evade every objection just because you believe you thought up another objection that, in your opinion, is worse than the original objection.
If you want to be taken seriously, you need to address the objection, not evade it with smoke and mirrors. Nothing in this entire address can be taken seriously because you’ve sidestepped every issue and pointed to the man behind the curtain.
It’s extremely childish. How can anyone discuss issues when you keep evading all topics?
My sentiments exactly!
I think you people need some new leaders…Fighting over a street what are you there for..wake up people..So many of us lost jobs-homes..and you kids are wasting your time with a street in portland..you are loosing support..wake up or move on people..
bravo to those who stayed in the street when the police arrived! i cant believe this bullshit where no one backed up the GA decision. the people in the street were calling out for more to join in maintaining a hold, but no one responded. they just watched as their fellow occupiers were arrested. this isnt solidarity, and this isnt democracy!
Bravo to the people who were arrested (tongue in cheek)…..now maybe those who remain can actually start working on MORE IMPORTANT issues because the Main Street problem has been resolved!
its not about the street. its about the principle.
And what principle was that, exactly?
So few are backing up the decision of the GA because the GA did not take our voices into account, which mean that it was not a genuine GA.
How’s that Occupying Main Street thing working out for you? Not only did you get people arrested, you burnt all of your goodwill on a horrible symbolic action that accomplished nothing.
Guess not!
If the Internet forum activity is any indication, the majority of #OccupyPortland participants wanted to reopen the street–and this GA doesn’t represent that. What happened with the reopening was something most of us predicted as being inevitable–and surprise, it was.
All told, I’ll still support OP.
i was sorry to see the decision on this issue. just thinking through it,
i just could not see how this would work to allow emergency vehicles
through. when they need to get somewhere, they need to move quickly.
a matter of a minute or two means the difference in saving someone from
a heart attack. i doubt that the street could have been cleared in a matter
of moments for an emergency vehicle.
I must admit that I am getting a little disillusioned by so much of OP’s energy and attention being focused on whether or not Main Street remains open – a topic which, in my opinion, in a non-issue.
I am also very frustrated with OP’s slow pace in publishing a statement which outlines their ideals. The need to reach a 90% consensus in order to approve an agenda topic is impractical and is bogging down the entire process.
Additionally, there needs to be a virtual forum for the rest of us non-campers to be able to participate as equals with the few people who are actually able to live at camps. Why is it that the 400+ votes on LiveStream weren’t used in determining whether or not Main Street was to remain closed? If only those who can participate in the General Assembly in person are allowed a voice in the process, then isn’t that leaving the remainder of us with even less representation that we are receiving from politicians?
Today is the first day that I have not delivered food or supplies to the OP camp. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for what *I think* are the ideals of the Occupy movement. But before I spend too much more time, money, and energy in support of this cause, I would like to see a definitive statement of the movement’s core goals. And I would like to see some action towards actually achieving those goals and less time on red-herrings like the Main Street issue.
Cool statement, too bad the PPD Gestapo and the city don’t give a hoot about direct democracy and instead violently imposed their will by having people with guns come out to clear the street without any warning at 6am this morning.
Surprise attack by the cops and the city, nice one!
Who really thinks the mayor cares if emergency vehicles or city busses can get through? It’s one tiny street, not that hard to go around the block. It’s just an excuse to crack down on us, and I’m sure there will be more excuses to come! Next thing ya know, they’ll want to “clean the park.”
This was a show of force pure and simple, let’s not pretend otherwise. This is the PPD fascists, the city, and the mayor, all declaring “this is not an autonomous zone, the people are not in charge, we, the big powerful city authorities are in charge and we run your lives and we will ultimately do whatever it takes to keep the economy running and maintain complete social control.”
Imagine what they’d do if things really went down, if the occupation becomes more effective and actually clogs the arteries of Portland’s downtown economic flows? You think they’d go to a general assembly to try and work with folks, or do you think they’d just straight up beat, pepper spray, shoot, and arrest folks en masse?
Who still thinks the “authorities” are our friends? Anyone, anyone? Hello?
amen
It was not a “Surprise attack by the cops and the city”. The Mayor, Police Chief and even local captain made it very clear for several days they would open the street. They actually where patient enough to allow a GA to happen last night. I can only assume that they had hoped that the movement would decide to open the street…. its a shame that we did not accept this willingness to work with the city and instead forced them to arrest our brothers and sisters.
Who was surprised? They said they were going to clear the street 3 days ago???
Those that occupied the street didn’t give a hoot about direct democracy and instead decided to listen to the minority of people supporting the non-issue. It was pointless and has hurt our cause.
This decision did not represent me and my vote on social media did not count to stop it. I am highly disappointed. Why would such a big decision be made so late at night unless they knew they couldn’t get away with it earlier. Is GA open 24 hours a day?
I liken this to when congress votes for their raises at 3:00 am when the rest of us are sleeping. I hoped we were better than that.
Haven’t we had enough of these underhanded tactics from our own government? Now it’s going on here? Not only does it make me angry but very sad and disillusioned.
OP decisions were made at the 7 pm GA last night. very normal hours. the city, police, et al made a decision at 6 am that challenged this.
The decision was not made at 7PM. The decision was made at nearly 11PM.
yes but it started at 7 pm; i cant speak to why it took four hours to come to the decision, but we couldnt start earlier because we have also come to a consensus to keep GAs at 7 for those at work to be able to make it. im just pointing out that it wasnt done in the middle of the night. i didnt sleep more than 4 hours a night the first few days of the occupation. maybe the schedule isnt ideal but we have to take the moments we have and work with them. nothing sneaky went on here; we operated under the normal hours of the GA.
I admire all of the people camping downtown, especially those who were arrested this morning for standing their ground on Main Street. Thank you.
This press release is inappropriate, as it does not speak for all of us.
Also, it should not be on the home page. The home page should be reserved for our mission statement and announcements, at the very least, the time and place for the next march.
Where is that information written down?
We should be organizing a daily march into downtown. The marches could be at noon each workday, so that workers can join us on their lunch hour. Each march could be on a different issue of concern to the occupation. We could work with local activist groups to plan marches on various shared issues of concern. A lot of time and energy has been drained by the decision to camp in a park hosting a marathon and then by the long debates over Main St.
What is a modified consensus, please?
A 90% agreement as versus 100%. One of the challenges with this is that the meetings go on so long that people become exhausted and leave.
This press release speaks badly for all of us. Why was the vote put off until 11pm when the assembly started at 7? I’m becoming more and more frustrated with a movement I want so badly to keep supporting.
I want to be clear on the consequences of this:
A minority of #occupyPDX militants decided to risk our message and our camp to hang onto a stretch of land which was not valuable to us. They antagonized the members of the 99% who commute to work in the morning for no gain, pretending that the police did not have the power to enforce the city’s needs.
As a result, the street was cleared. OccupyPDX can recover from this self-inflicted wound, but only if we take seriously how badly we erred. The people who advocated for keeping the street gained ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. The street was cleared without incident by the cops this morning. They cost us some of the goodwill of the 99% we purport to be fighting for, three days of strategizing, and the legitimacy of the GA as a decisionmaking body.
I highly recommend that a “lessons learned” panel be constructed immediately, and that we move to delegitimize the confrontation addicts who almost derailed our entire protest into a pissing match with the police. I, for one, think the police did OccupyPDX a HUGE favor by clearing the street, and any resident who stays should keep this in mind when interacting with them.
Well said! The pissing contest was immature and pointless and did NOT speak for me! Egos and the fuck the police attitudes can go home! Those are the types of people who will bring our cause down.
That is an outrageous statement. Those people were representing the decision made at the GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Calling them militants and confrontation addictions is awful. The above statment reflects the CONSENSUS we spent 4 hours to achieve at the GA. Please be respectful, what you are saying is wrong, allow people to voice their opinions and respect their right to disagee with you and ALSO their right to stand up for decisions made at the general assembly.
Congratulations everyone, we alienated a lot of the town. Occupying main street was not only pointless, it caused us to loose support. If you want to take the kind of stand that will get you arrested there is a huge bank tower two blocks from main that you could walk in and occupy. Maybe the world trade center down the street instead? What is to be gained by blocking off a main bus route when the working poor are the people on the buses? I understand taking a stand (sit?) but it needs to have a real point behind it.
totally agree with anon on this one. i was a little apprehensive about the fences being put up for the marathon. it made me nervous to say the least. now they do this? watch out guys its really starting to heat up. but thats what ive been waiting for. ill be down there all weekend waiting for those crabs to return. police state coming soon. if you dont think it is already.
you said it
o ya and stop talking about the movement being over. you might be done, but this is a call to action for others. New York has been through wayyyyyy more than this and they are going on week 5 or 6. so save it you clam bags. there is still hope. we only lost a little street. today marks our first week occupied. hang in there.
@cody ~ they put up fences just like that every year for
the marathon.
force will just be met by force
that’s why everything you do must be meaningful, not just a pissing match …
I was participating in Occupy Portland from the time of the first march on Oct 6 until I had to go home for a couple of days. I will be returning as soon as I can.
That said, it is my strong opinion that Main Street should be reopened as soon as possible. While I’m in complete agreement with all of the “However”s as far as the real threats to working people all over this country, the fact is that a great many of these people are more focused on their day to day concerns than they are on the larger problems facing our society. While that is something that needs to change, we cannot expect that it will change overnight. It is going to take time to awaken and educate sufficient numbers of people to where we can be a true force for change. Pissing off so many members of the community so that they tune out our message before they have had a chance to listen to us does not strike me as a good strategy for the long term.
Marketing experts will tell you that a message must be seen 6 or 8 or 10 times before it begins to sink in with an audience. We must maintain our presence downtown in the location of the parks we currently occupy so that we can continue to reach out effectively to the community. A needless confrontation with the police or city officials at this very early point over a street that we could adapt to do without is only going to slow the movement’s growth.
In fact, opening the street could very well have advantages as well as disadvantages, since we would have even more visibility and more of an opportunity to engage with the community.
As far as the safety concerns of people in the movement trying to cross between parks, I believe that these are being somewhat exaggerated. The streets have traffic lights and crosswalks and we should all know how to use those. As far as the concerns of children staying in the camp, I would assume that parents already educate their children about the importance of safety in respect to all of the other streets that surround the camp. In most places, there is an expectation that parents supervise their children and I don’t see why our occupied parks should be any different. In addition to parents, there is a whole community to keep an eye on the intersections and ensure that children do not attempt to cross unsupervised.
The streets of Portland are PUBLIC spaces. After all, that is the entire rationale behind our movement. I believe that our message becomes inconsistent when we say that while we claim the right to occupy public space, we also claim the right to close that space off to everyone else. This is unnecessary and needlessly arrogant, especially with our current numbers and especially considering the fact that as our numbers do grow, there are many other public areas of the city that we can also begin to occupy without closing down public streets to people trying to get to work. If we are here to represent the 99%, then we should not be confrontational with the wider community.
I am in agreement with this, thank you!!
Greetings from the livestream community.
We as a community are disturbed by the actions of a small minority of the occupiers that have hijacked the true democratic process that is the GA.
We have watched as facilitators, who are supposed to remain neutral when facilitating, have used their position to control the discussions to further their own personal agendas.
We are outraged at the blatant disregard of the online community. It is the online community that watches over you to be sure you are safe. It is the online community that donates money that most of us cannot afford, sends or brings food, clothing and other necessities for the occupation. We spread the word to others in our sphere of influence both online and out in the world, educating them as to what these occupations are about. We work hard to gather support for YOU. We ARE part of the 99%, and our voices deserve to be heard.
We sat there in outrage as a facilitator said “they’re not here, so their opinions don’t count. Many of us have jobs, take care of family members or are disabled, so are unable to attend. What right does ANYONE have to discount the voices of those that support you so avidly?
When mysticw0lf came to the GA last night, and was brave enough to relay my words on behalf of the online community, a facilitator essentially nudged her off the stage, refusing to allow her to finish relaying OUR statement to all of you. That was flat out wrong, and should not have been allowed to happen.
We are concerned that the facilitators are not using the GA process correctly. I have been involved online since September 17th, helping moderate the Global Revolution feed. I have watched countless GA’s there. I can tell you right now, that the block process is not being used in Portland. If someone wishes to block a proposal, they should be willing to leave the protest if their principles are compromised. This stops unwarranted blocks as only those that are willing to walk out will block. THAT is how the 90% model is supposed to work.
It is imperative that you both remove the facilitators that are using their positions as a way to LEAD, as well as to vastly increase the pool of facilitators to that no 1 or 2 facilitators can push their agenda. There are NO leaders in this movement for good reason.
We, the online community stand in solidarity with the occupy movement, so please do not discount these words. Our voices count!
Infinitycircle, you speak truly for me and for hundreds (if not thousands) who wanted their voices heard last night. Not all of us can be there in person all of the time. I am currently in South Carolina, but Port/Vanc is my home.
And when the so-called ‘facilitator’ came to the Livestream and told all of us online (from all over the world)that our voices do not count because we are not physically there I just cried. That is the antithesis of what this movement is about.
PDX had a brilliant opportunity to show the world that we could police ourselves and we wasted it. All because some misguided hotheads filibustered the GA. How sad.
WE are the 99%.
Well said IC!!
Beautifully stated! Thank you!
We are only one week mark into occupation! The occupiers have been through a lot and we are trying to learn to make broad consensus decisions. Everybody involved finds it to be a frustrating process. It is also very fulfilling and enabling when we do reach real consensus.
To those who challenge the motivations of the occupiers. You are wrong! Statements like these are ignorant and were you on-site and immersed in the General Assemblies you would not say these things:
“Get a job, spoiled people. Life isn’t a video game that your parents will continue to upgrade for you every Christmas, even though you didn’t do your homework.” [I myself am a 58 year old man with a small business and two grown kids trying to spend as much time at the occupation site to support this effort without having my business collapse for inattention. - This stereotype is not true. Please get more involved, be more understanding and humble, and stop spouting the lies of the right.]
“The Press Release is so loaded with rhetoric one might actually think you care about the 99%. If one looks further it is clear that the individuals who are the 99% mean nothing to you!” [not true. You should know that the occupiers care deeply - you would know that if you would be more humble and engage us]
“Why would such a big decision be made so late at night unless they knew they couldn’t get away with it earlier.” [Why would you jump to that conclusion? Look deeper. We schedule the GA for 7PM precisely because that is a time that works best for people with full time jobs. There is no “getting away” with anything going on here. In fact, we are all distressed by the late nights and the long decision making process. We want to do better, have not learned how yet, but we are making good progress. Our imperfect but honest and inclusive attempts to implement consensus democracy takes a frustratingly long time. It is very difficult and we are all trying to fix it.]
We are now just starting to face and engage the difficulty of including the many supporters on live stream and other media so as to include you in the process. This will truly be difficult to do and we will have to work hard to really figure it out. It is not just a technical matter. The people involved in the GA on-site are involved in a very interactive and dynamic process through which all of our opinions are modified and deepened as we struggle to reach a fully informed unity. The experience across live-stream is quite different – it is not interactive and dynamic in the same way. The consensus process is about the interaction and resolution of conflict – it is not about voting.
I say all of this, not to argue that we do not need or want to include the online community. We need to figure out how to do that. But, glib demands that that it just happen will not work. Cynical statements questioning the motivations of the occupiers are as wrong as they are easy to make. Shallow assumptions about the ease of implementing a truly fair and democratic consensus process involving participants across the Internet do not help.
I believe that the issue of integrating the on-site occupiers with the off-site occupation supporters is one of the next major questions facing our movement. As is demonstrated in this case, and has been demonstrated in previous situations during the last week, the extent to which we fail to reach real consensus is the extent to which we are divided.
At the GA last night, as I was uniting with at least 96% (by my honest best count) of the hundreds of people in attendance, on this proposal, I was very concerned, as I bet that EVERYBODY else there was, with the objections that were being conveyed to us from people on-line. But, what were we to do? A decision had to be made! We made the best decision we could. There was no clear way to integrate the on-line community because the interaction was so un-dynamic and we don’t know how to do it yet. Really, nothing else could be done.
We had people there who argued passionately for opening the street. They were part of the process (although the process is very imperfect – it is broken to the extent that people feel that their opinions are not being heard. But, the apparent stifling of the open streets people was precisely due to our attempt to formulate a process to make faster and better decisions which is our best attempt to directly address the complaint that the decision was made late in the evening. I believe that the reason that most of the people at the GA who came wanting to open the street were won over by the persuasive arguments made at the GA:
1. Look for unity and be willing to compromise when you can to achieve it.
2. The proposal addresses the strongest concern of the “open streets” viewpoint – emergency vehicles.
3. This is a decision now. There is an opening to propose something else and bring it to future General Assemblies.
The fact that the people watching on live-stream come along to reach consensus along with the people at the GA is evidence of difficulty we will have integrating them into the process.
You might say that some people, out of frustration that their voices were not heard, left or were not involved with the final consensus at the end. There is definite truth to that and we need to fix it – people should feel excluded by the mechanics of the process.
But, there is no denying that there were many people there who started the meeting in support of “open the street” and ended up as part of the 96% consensus. That is important.
Actually, the experience on live stream is exactly as interactive, dynamic and frustrating as that of being in the crowd, with the added frustration of not being heard at all. There is no reason we can’t have three people on stack who are onsite at the GA, plus two on stack from live stream for a total of five. That seems fair. Again, I have offered to help make this happen. All it would take would be informing the facilitators and stack takers prior to the meeting and having someone dedicated to tracking the live stream chat for getting those people on stack and relaying their input (essentially what I have volunteered to do). It may take a bit for it to run smoothly, but I think it’s entirely possible and not nearly the feat some people seem to think it is. The live stream crowd would likely have to hold comments (which can be stopped by mods if need be) in order to get a stack assigned and most especially when the time comes to vote. I’m sure they’d be willing to silence other chatter when the all important “yay or nay” is called for to allow for easy tallying of their votes. All I’m waiting on is for my ideas and help implementing them to be accepted.
If I facilitate again I would be willing advocate for adding live stream people to stack as time permits, but with the understanding that they don’t “vote” unless/until something for that is proposed and approved by the GA
Why would you limit the voice of the online community? That is exactly as the 1% would do!
The decision making process would be strained too much I think. Having a few from online in the stack is as far as I’d like to see it directly. However if you have a representative physically present, I think it would be fair to state that they represent a group of supporters who are online.
Your voice online is woven into our movement. If you want to influence the GA directly and can’t go yourself find an advocate, a friend a family member. Contribute virtually with a workgroup.
I’d love help with the Ranked Choice Instant Runoff Voting one that I had formed. I couldn’t be at GA tonight so I got someone else to announce the proposal for me.
And we will meet in person Sunday afternoon when I am free so can prepare for vote for proposal that evening.
To Infinity Circle:
You said: “We have watched as facilitators, who are supposed to remain neutral when facilitating, have used their position to control the discussions to further their own personal agendas.”
You are wrong. The facilitators were trying to the best of their abilities. The main facilitators was one of the very small number of people at the GA who voted against the consensus! And, I believe that the other on (I don’t remember how he voted, but I am somewhat familiar with his opinions and, I might be wrong, but I would be surprised if he didn’t not also want to keep the street open. As it stands, the reality is that their behavior demonstrates exactly the opposite of your assertion – they facilitated a consensus, in an effort to be neutral, that went against their personal opinion and earned your ire for it.
You said: ‘We sat there in outrage as a facilitator said “they’re not here, so their opinions don’t count.”‘
Please do not distort or mus-interpret the meaning of that statement. It was a fair statement of fact – We currently have no accommodation in our process to include off-site opinions. That could not be helped last night – it is a fact. I agree that we need to address this. But, that is a difficult task and would have been impossible to resolve last night. That is something that, I think, everybody wants to change – we have to figure out how.
It is utterly ridiculous than an entire community of 99%ers on Facebook, Twitter, IRC chat, and Live Stream chat, voicing their opinion ALL DAY LONG yesterday, get ignored because no one knows how to “accommodate” us.
How is it possible that the folks you mention wanted to clear Main Street and yet NO ONE PUT THAT OPTION ON THE TABLE LAST NIGHT. How?
Something is wrong.
First, on the general question of bringing on-line participants into the consensus process, I genuinely do not have an answer and really want us to develop one. But, I maintain that the answer is not easy and, we (you included) do not know how to do it. As we discuss and work on this, you will understand that more fully and will come to agree with me.
Second, those opinions were not ignored. They were represented in GA (maybe about half at start! – look at the early straw poles). Most of those people transformed their opinions during the course of the meeting. A crucial part of the problem is that the on-line people (I think because of the non-interactivity and different level of engagement of the medium) did not have their opinions transformed in the same way as the people (who initially agreed with them) who were at the meeting. Dig that! It is important for understanding what is going on here and the nature of the problem that we have to work together to resolve.
Third, that “NO ONE PUT THAT OPTION ON THE TABLE LAST NIGHT”. You have to grok the chaotic nature of an assembly of many hundreds of excited and passionate people trying to make any decision, let alone a consensus decision. There is a big conflict with the meetings being very long and frustrating with everybody popping out with their viewpoints and opinions and, therefore, being unable to move forward.
A recent previous GA decided and agreed by consensus on a process by which new proposals could be introduced because, before that, it took hours to just get started talking about anything with all the passionate proposals at the start of the meeting. Get the irony of it: it would have been un-democratic to subvert that agreed-upon process so as to honor, out of the agreed upon process, the proposal to open the streets wide.
It is easy, from the outside, to be outraged by this difficult but necessary process. Believe me, we all find it frustrating. But, the more informed and involved you are, the more that you understand the motivating value of consensus, its difficulty and that the people involved are, very much, honestly trying to facilitate a democratic process.
The something that is wrong is that not everybody is involved and informed enough to appreciate that.
The other thing that is wrong, which makes it eeven more difficult, is that our process is still immature and, therefore, less democratic than we would like.
I co-facilitated Sunday and Weds (last night). Sunday we came to agreement to hold the street. Last night we came to agreement to only partially open the street (to bikes, emergency vehicles).
In direct response. Yes my personally view Sunday was to open the street. And last night my personal view was to open the street.
As an aside at the 2nd General Assembly I advocated for getting a march permit, and at the 3rd General Assembly I advocated for making the Oct 6th march route available to the police. We settled on making it available to the “People of Portland” the morning of the march.
I have strong opinions about what we should do, and changes I’d like made to the GA process. But more important than anything, and I hope I demonstrate this when I facilitate, is supporting the group coming together in consensus regardless of what the decisions may be. Having success at this basic level I believe builds a new political model that may be more resilient with the potential of being more powerful than any other.
I believe the people can get it “right” more than our government as it stands. This belief motivates me to help.
To Equalize:
I spoke for 350 viewers when I posted that. I reflected THEIR feelings about the situation last night. I don’t know the names of the facilitators, so cannot say specifically who, but it is obvious to the vast majority of the online community that there are indeed facilitators pushing their own personal agendas. Believe me, I wish that wasn’t the case. Part of the problem is perception. When one is on site, one tends to get pulled into the emotions of the moment. On the other hand, when one is watching from a distance, it’s much easier to see things that those on site may miss due to those emotions. We from the online community do not understand why 83% voted to open the street the night before, yet that wasn’t even brought back up again in last nights meeting. That was a travesty.
So, the small minority got their way. They were able to “keep the street”. Until the city decided to clear it. 8 people went to jail needlessly. I find it (and this is me, not the community with THIS statement) telling that only 8 of the 17% that wanted to keep the street actually stayed on principle. The rest?…They obviously lacked the courage of their convictions.
Back to the online community. There are members of the media team that have my contact information. I am willing to speak to you about ideas on how we can facilitate incorporating the online community into the GA discussions. I don’t see it as being a hurdle at all. I am one person from the online community, however I have asked for, and received permission from them to speak on their behalf, thus I made my post, and I stand by every single word as being an accurate portrayal of the frustrations and the feelings of the community as a whole.
To those of you that forced the street to remain closed until Portland PD stepped in. Congratulations, you got national media exposure. All negative, as we from the online community tried to warn you about, but were rebuffed. So instead of a PR win that could bolster our position in the community, we instead ended up garnering yet more negative press.
So now we’ve spent the better part of a week making a decision about a street, which is all people outside the heart of this movement in Portland are hearing about. Not our messages, not what we’re standing up against, but a petty power play over a piece of asphalt that is absolutely NOT necessary to the occupation or safety of it. And after all that, the police reclaimed the street this morning despite the GA’s decision… Imagine that! Can we PLEASE move on to the reasons we are all supporting this movement?!
As far as the online community… This is a HUGE issue and I’ve spent much time talking with various people about how to improve our process to include their voices. When I’m not physically at the camp, I’m online supporting and defending this movement and watching on live stream. We MUST leverage this large group. It will not only provide a more accurate cross-section of supporters, but more consistency of attendance at the GA. Expecting all of them to (or to be able to) be present at every GA (or any GA for that matter) and ignoring their voices in lieu of that physical participation is unacceptable. We have the technology, we need to use it.
I understand the issues with secure online voting, and I hope we are eventually able to work around them and implement a system. Until then, two suggestions I have seem very simple to implement.
1) Proposals that will be up for discussion and voting at GA should be posted on this site at least 24 hours prior to that meeting. This will allow everyone to read and become familiar with them prior to hearing it spoken at the very meeting where a decision will be pursued. Not only do we need more time to make these decisions, I at least, really need to read it rather than hear it spoken. Especially with the somewhat convoluted GA process that adds amendments and limited discussion and then expects that people remember what it is we’re voting on when the time comes. Much of this discussion can occur online prior to the GA, which will keep us from getting so bogged down during the meeting that we barely reach agreement on one item per night, and sometimes not even that. Wouldn’t it be better to go into the meeting prepared, with knowledge of the proposal and discussion points formulated, rather than using the GA process to get there?
2) Allow the live stream audience to participate in the GA rather than just viewing it. These people are feverishly and ultimately, futilely, typing their thoughts as fast as possible, but are not being allowed to weigh in even though they are watching live. I suggested this to a member of the media team as they were prepping the live stream equipment last night, but unfortunately my timing has not been such to have an effective conversation about it (although he did think it was a good idea, implementation was the stumbling block). My specific suggestion is to allow a few people on the live stream to be added to the stack each time it is taken. This is not difficult and I have offered to help facilitate it. If even one person was added to stack each time it would be better than it is now. Online participators would be able to ask for clarity, share concerns, support and ideas, as well as voting. They are already doing this, but their views are not being shared with the GA. A lot of the excess chatter would have to cease to allow for this (especially for voting) but I think it can be done.
One guy, Cameron Whitten, announced a working group at last night’s GA for issues related to expanding voting and online inclusiveness. I’m very interested in teaming up with him to implement these ideas rather than just constantly making suggestions to the over-worked and exclusive club that has become the media team(s). I mention this here both to let others know about the working group (and call for involvement) and because I was unable to locate Cameron or his contact info after the meeting. I’ll be looking for him again tonight, wherever the GA is held. Speaking of which…
Where is the GA going to be now? Terry Schrunk Plaza?? Just to throw it out there while I’m at it, I think holding our GAs at Pioneer Square would be perfect. No mud, lots of space, built-in news station, much more visible/higher traffic area, etc., etc.
Our facilitators are exhausting themselves. Is there any way we can start getting enough people that GA meetings are facilitated in shifts? We can’t make good decisions using complex processes if we’re burned out.
We made a mistake, but we can bounce back. Let’s build ourselves up as part of that.
I was very sad to hear that we as a movement missed a golden opportunity to show that we can be reasonable and cooperative. We made our point, got great coverage, and were in a perfect position to negotiate the opening of Main Street in exchange for any number of concessions such as official long term permission to stay, continued use of city power, enhanced coverage, etc. Mayor Adams stuck his neck out as a politician when he said on LIVE TELEVISION and in no uncertain terms that our concerns were “very legitimate”. Now he is inundated with hand shakes and fat cat pats on the back for cleaning up the mess of miscreants that had once plagued Main Street.
Luckily I had the opportunity to speak with the Sargent and convince him that most of us are “level headed” about all this. But the short sighted among us who just want to get drunk and scream “FUCK THE POLICE” have made us look like aimless malcontents with no vision of the future and no respect for the real magnitude of the task that is before us. REMEMBER THAT 99% OF THE 99% DO NOT KNOW THAT THEY ARE THE 99%! They need information and compassion, not a big fat middle finger in the face!!!
Hang in there, people. You’re making this up as you go along and have much to be commended for. But it takes real dedication to be out there on cold, wet nights. Finding ways to use support from the sidelines will extend your reach and likely will pry more of us from home.
As one of the 99 percent of the 99 percent, I also agree with those who say stay visible but let the traffic flow.
Good luck!
I have a degree in psychology, which I have found to be useless. And I am planning on going back to school and getting a Masters in Creative Writing, because I enjoy writing and would love to learn more techniques to make myself a better writer. I am worried, however, that this degree will not open up many doors in terms of the job market (just as my psychology degree has failed to do). Any thoughts? Thank you..
Is there a service available that geotags blog posts while on the go and is able to post to map with others?