[OSList] FW: Occupy Harrisonburg (OH)

Thu Dec 1 05:45:14 PST 2011

My friend Bruce Lundeen down there in Harrisonburg VA seems to be opening a
little more space. You may remember his and his colleague, Kai Degner (Mayor
of Harrisonburg) doing community Open Spaces. The story continues.

Harrison

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Dr.

Potomac, MD 20854

USA

189 Beaucaire Ave. (summer)

Camden, Maine 20854

Phone 301-365-2093

(summer)  207-763-3261

www.openspaceworld.com

www.ho-image.com (Personal Website)

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From: Bruce Lundeen [mailto:Blundeen9 at comcast.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 10:58 AM
To: Owen, Harrison
Subject: Occupy Harrisonburg (OH)

Hello Owen,

Hope you are well.

I am part of the Occupy Harrisonburg group that has been present at the
Harrisonburg Gazebo* on Court Square every day since we started (see
http://occupyhburg.wordpress.com/category/meetings/.  We are not an
encampment - we have a presence at the Gazebo every day from at least 6 pm
- 7 pm.  This Occupation is high profile and more like a vigil with no
limit.

The Gazebo* is a great meeting place (easily seats about 20+ under the
circular shelter).  I proposed at an early General Assembly meeting that we
apply the 4 principles of Open Space Technology so that we can all relax
about attendance.  Turn out has been good every Tuesday night when we have
the weekly General Assembly meeting.

After using children's chalk and marking up the sidewalks one night around
the Gazebo we decided the next night to wash the place down and get an
appointment with the Harrisonburg Public Safety Office and met with the
police to get guidelines for our presence.  I went with another member and
we reported back to the OH group (see attached file and below).

As the self-organizing working groups get established and we move into
refinements of ' horizontal organization' with communication tools (e.g.
Doodle scheduler for work group meetings and get our social media sorted
out) we will likely hold an Open Space Technology meeting on a high priority
issue.

Kai is no longer the Mayor, but he is still on the city Council.  By July
2011 he managed to get the Harrisonburg city Council meetings on streaming
video for the public to be able to follow issues without having to be
physically present.  My suggestion to the OH group is to send one of our
members to the Harrisonburg city Council meeting to formally invite
interested elected officials and the community at large to drop by to join
in on the conversation at the Gazebo.

We may start using streaming video for our General Assembly meetings to link
into the Occupy Wall Street hub for streaming video of Occupy meetings
across the USA.  With Kai's use of OST and my introduction of OST previous
to his election and all the other community initiatives (e.g. Eastern
Mennonite University's Peace and Justice Program and James Madison
University's Gandhi Center) we are in a good place to move ideas to action
applying your principles of self-organization.  The Occupy Movement is not
going away and thanks to you we have a good framework to apply.

Regards-

-Bruce

_________________________

PS- Notes/ Agenda GA Minutes from last week

 <http://occupyhburg.wordpress.com/> Responsibility. Create Action. Repeat.

November 22, 2011 

General Assembly Minutes: 11/22

By  <http://occupyhburg.wordpress.com/author/storydoula/> storydoula 

General Assembly Meeting Minutes from 11/22/2011

Submitted by Dave Pruett - Thank you, Dave!!

22 Nov 2011: The OH Tuesday General Assembly (GA) convened at 6:30pm and
disbanded at 8.

After introductions, there were ten agenda items, discussed in the following
order (more or less):

1) OH process was reviewed for all, particularly for the benefit of new
attenders: Tuesday general assemblies, decisions by consensus, use of hand
signals, and stack.

2) OWS and 3) OH declarations. A working group (of 3) was formed last week
to begin articulating a OH declaration.  Mike is the contact person.  Others
may join as they feel led. Many Occupy movements have model declarations;
for example, DC. Primary focus of OH declaration to be pro-people,
pro-local, and pro-peace. Working group to seek input of GA as draft
declarations emerge.

4) OH is using a bewildering array of social media: Facebook, Twitter, a
list serve, and a blog. After considerable discussion, group consensus
favored Facebook as the primary medium, at least for the short term.

5) Bob and Levi presented the current update of the New Bank Flier.
Response has been overwhelmingly positive. OH GA very appreciative of their
efforts.  A sign up sheet was circulated to gather volunteers to distribute
fliers at various nearby locations. Mike brought up that the legislature of
New Mexico recently voted almost unanimously to remove all funds from large
banks and move them to small banks and credit unions. GA decided to set
aside first Saturday of each month for OH related activities such as
distributing fliers.

6) Unions. OWS/OH and unions are natural partners on issues of economic
justice. OH's hesitancy to move forward with a Dec. 3 social/political event
with local unions "stunned" some union members. OH members tend to feel the
need to establish personal friendships with union members before committing
to joint activities. Outreach Working Group (Linda) and Levi will make
contacts with various union groups.

7) Dec. 10 is worldwide Human Rights Day (HRD).  US one of only two
countries not to ratify a universal Human Rights document. A call has gone
out to devise nationwide action of some sort on HRD, in which OH may want to
participate, especially because economic rights and human rights are so
closely linked.

8)Jim will maintain OH presence on Thanksgiving Day. He will help out at OCP
[Harrisonburg's homeless center- 'Our Community Place'], then return to the
gazebo.

9) Dave will facilitate next GA (Nov. 29).

10) Updates on US and world occupy movements: Several OH attenders expressed
deep concern about heavy-handed tactics (pepper spray) of campus police
against protestors at UC Davis. Most reliable news coming from social media
in general and Twitter in particular. Paulette is putting links to reliable
sites on OH Facebook page. Several progressive network sites including
Ultranet cited as reliable sources of up-to-date info.

Announcements:

1) Cole and Giles will facilitate 3-hour workshop on non-violence at EMU on
Dec 3rd

2) OH has formed the following working groups: Non-violence, Banking,
Declaration, Media, Outreach.

Respectively submitted-Dave

____________________________

PPS- In interaction with Harrisonburg Police:

ADVICE re: RULES for OCCUPY HARRISONBURG GATHERINGS

Notes from Bruce Lundeen and Heather Banks                           Date:
October 25, 2011
Re: Meeting with Captain D. Claytor of the Harrisonburg City Police
Department

As long as the group meets at the Gazebo on Court Square, there are NO RULES

.         About number of people

.         Length of time of the meetings

.         Signs (no permanent signs or signs on grass, however)

The group would be permitted to walk around the sidewalk of the square. 

HOWEVER, no one is permitted to

.         Walk, sit, or lie on the grass (that is County property)

.         "Prevent free passage," that is, interfere with pedestrian or
vehicle traffic (such as moving into the street or waving signs that
obstruct traffic or keep people from walking past the group)

.         Cause noise that interferes with businesses (or possibly court
cases)

.         "Deface property" (such as spray painting or writing messages in
chalk or markers)

.         Interfere with other special events or activities that may occur
on the Square (e.g., upcoming Halloween party)

If persons are disrupting the group or behaving illegally (e.g., drinking in
public), call 911 for assistance; do not try to handle the situation
yourself.

Notes: 

As with walking around the square on the sidewalk, "picketing" a location
would require that people keep moving and under no circumstances move onto
private property (e.g., parking lots, lobbies) or disrupt passage on
sidewalks or streets.

Most public meeting locations other than the Court Square Gazebo would
require notice to and permission from various entities other than
Harrisonburg Police.

Bruce Lundeen

279 Newman Ave.

Harrisonburg, VA. 22801

Tel (H) 540-434-3392

Cell 540-383-4718

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