Teach-In: Successes and Pitfalls of OWS: Section one

I am giving this teach-in tonite. I can't really call it a workshop, as I have only an hour or so, and only the introductions are inter-active. I prefer inter-active workshops to teach-ins, but maybe next time. I will post this teach-in in three sections.

Teach-in: Successes and pitfalls of OWS organizing

Page one: Making Agreements Physical Location

A.  Introductions: your name and either the most successful thing you’ve contributed to or witnessed at your Occupy; and/or the most challenging thing at your Occupy

B.  Making the AGREEMENTS for the physical location

1.        No drugs, no alcohol on site or under the influence of

2.       Designated Smoking and NO Smoking areas

3.       Designated animal and animal-free zones

4.       Walking the Environmental Talk

No new stuff (slave labor) and/or NO corporate buying wherever possible

Commitment to reducing buying; when necessary to buy, purchase used

Eliminate plastic wherever possible: we are killing people for oil to make plastic; it is never biodegradable, killing the Mother Earth: no plastic or try for used plastic

5.       Recycling, composting:

a.       Try to not buy things in containers that need recycling

b.      Recycle what we can: paper, glass, plastic

c.       Compost food and food containers

d.      Eat organic – if not for our own bodies, for the bodies of the people who grow and

 harvest our food, and for the mother earth

C.  Physical presence

1.       TENTS: signs, banners, accessible

2.       INFO Canopy and tables

a.       Who we are, what we want

b.      List of agreements

c.       Regular daily/weekly schedule with meeting times, places

d.      Sign-up sheets: committees, working groups, workshops

e.      New person sign-up info sheets: name, email, phone, skills, resources, emergency #

f.        New person questionnaire: Do you know how you want to be involved? Are you willing to risk arrest? Which committee/working group or new one do you want to sign up for?

3.       Tent Zones: women’s tent, quiet area; vets support; homeless support; POC; AA/NA; family; not one huge circle but mini overlapping circles, meeting everyones’ needs, not forced conformity

D.   Maximizing community involvement and commitment; i.e. building the 99%

1.        Weekly regularly scheduled action: eg 2pm march every Saturday with different focus each time

2.       Supplemental Occupy site: one day a week, set up “occupy” in different neighborhood, 24 hours or 10 hours; joint action with folks, organizations, schools in that community