1) Occupy Our Homes: This was brought up and was given a positive temperature check. We need more information regarding this before any actions are taken.

2) MLK Day: We want to be involved. We need more contacts with organizers of the event on January 21st. Courtney will ask Fini and follow up with Lee-Ann on local NAACP. We need to be prepared. We will make another “I have a dream” banner and a large banner to carry at the March.

3) Sinkhole: The sinkhole is getting worse and trees are floating back up.

4) Exxon: Ms. — spoke how Exxon is polluting her community in the Chippewa area. She handed out a sheet explaining the pollutants.

5) Spanish Town Parade: It is too late to apply for our own float. We need to contact one of the members/organizers of the Association and see if we can join somebody else’s float or walk in front of one. Shaun will contact Ward and see about the logistics of this.

- Ms. — will contact the Bucket Brigade and inquire on Spanish Town Participation.

6) Our Working Group meeting will take place this Wednesday (1/2/2013) 7pm, at a Members’ Home. This Meeting will focus on our Radio Show, MLK Day, and our upcoming Movie Night featuring the “New Jim Crow Laws”. If interested, please e-mail us at occupybatonrouge@gmail.com for directions.

Summary:

We need anybody who is participating r incontact with those who are doing so in MLK Day to contact us so we can help out and particpate

We need anybody who is a member of Spanish Town or in contact with a member to find out the process of participating in the Spanish Town Parade for OBR

We need to learn more about “Occupy Our Homes”

We need LSU students who are interested in Occupy at LSU CLub to take the Officer Training through Moodle to contact us so we can get started.

Stack:

Minutes: Courtney

We began by discussing the trip to NYC for S17 (Anniversary of Occupy Wall St.). We passed around flyers and other things collected from the trip.

Working Group Updates:

• Student WG: we still need the signees to do the online training through moodle. If we don’t get them soon, it was discussed that we might redo our application with different signees in order to speed up the app process.
• Legislative Action WG: David will contact the legislatures again. There was a halt to the action due to Hurricane Isaac.

Individual Concerns:

• Leanne will write up a welcome sheet for newcomers.
• OBR Anniversary/Birthday is approaching (October 22nd!). We discussed possibly holding a politicallt themed costume party b/c it’s so close to Halloween. Shaun will contact a venue for possibly holding this event and know more details this Saturday.
• OBR needs to focus on more civil disobedience and direct action geared towards a smaller number of participants. We now have a great source for this kind of info.
• We need to approach newcomers differently. While engaging them and allowing them to speak we need to make sure we don’t overwhelm them and allow for them to just observe. We will hand out a welcome sheet and introduce ourselves, let them ome to us a bit more.
• Robert will contact a Spanish Town Parade coordinator and see about OBR attending for Mardi Gras next year.
• The idea was brought up for a “Where is Jindal” Action geared towards his many disappearances across the nation. This was well recieved and will be brought up again at the next GA.

If any students are interested in starting an Occupy Group/Club in Baton Rouge (Southern, LSU, BRCC, etc) please contact us and let us know! If you would like to be added to our e-mail list or are interested in the above mentioned, please email us at occupybatonrouge@gmail.com and like our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/OccupyBR.

Stack: Shaun

Minutes: Courtney G

Working Group Updates:

Legislative Action WG: Spoke with Staffers for all three legislatures and is waiting on responses for setting up meetings (Vitter, Landrieu, & Cassidy).

We discussed the OWS Teach-in that was scheduled, but due to Hurricane Isaac, it has been rescheduled to a later time this Fall

OBR Focus:

• We had mentioned last week (8-18-12) that we needed a focus for OBR, and decided to do an official vote the following week as long as we had a quorum (8-25-12).
• We spent a lot of time discussing this issue and everyone said their piece. It was difficult to come up with a consensus on the issue but after some time we worked it out and officially voted in favor (with 2 abstaining) of this proposal:

The influence of money will be our (OBR) main focus. This is the main focus until otherwise determined. This will not limit our ability to create minor foci or another main focus down the road.

Stack: David

Minutes: Courtney G

Working Group updates:

Occupy at LSU & Community Outreach: All of the paperwork has been finished and our constitution has been written. We only need 2 more full-time students to finish the Officer Training online through Moodle which is due this Saturday Aug. 25th. We must be registered for the Club Fair by Aug. 29th! The Club Fair is September 5th! At our next meeting (Monday, 8/20/12, Highland Coffee) we will design a display for the Club fair and the flyer for the first Occupy at LSU GA scheduled for September 12th. We will also go through the logistics for the event and get everything prepared for our next meeting in which will create the display and flyers.

Legislative Action: It has been proposed and voted in favor for setting up a group meeting with all of our State Legislators (separately). It was proposed that we should approach the legislators in an inquiring manner. We should ask questions with the intent of educating ourselves on how they feel. We will hold a mock meeting before hand. We have sent out one invitation and David will be sending out the rest ASAP. It was also proposed that we will hold similar meetings with local politicians after these meetings.

Communication: We will be working on better communicating between ourselves and the community. We need somebody with computer skills to help us.

Proposal’s:

• We discussed the importance of created a focus for OBR. This is a common criticism on the movement as a whole and even locally. Many feel that this issue needs to be resolved so we can move forward. We all voted that we will vote at our next GA on whether the influence of money in politics will be our main focus within OBR. No matter what happens, as long as we have a quorum (5+ people) this will be voted upon! So please make sure that you attend our next GA!!! If the vote does not pass, we will create our mission statement at our following GA. This proposal will CHANGE OBR and it is very important that everyone’s voice is heard.

Important:

• Next Monday (August 27th) at a soon to be determined time and place, two people from OWS (Occupy Wall St.) will be in town to hold a teach-in. We need to find a place for this event to be held ASAP. We do have a last resort, but any offers are welcome. Details will be worked out soon!
• We need everybody that can make it, to attend our next GA, Saturday August 25th in the Capitol Park near the front steps (in case of rain will move within the House Chambers in the Capitol). Rain or shine, this GA will happen, and a decision will be made on our proposal. We want everyone’s voice heard!

Stack: Fini

Minutes: Courtney G

Working Group updates:

Occupy at LSU: We have the required amount of signatures needed and much of the paperwork done that is needed to start this organization. We need a constitution written and approved ASAP. We also need to contact Campus Life at LSU and find out when the Club Training begins.

OBR Strategy: Everyone needs to write up a mock proposal of where they want OBR to go from here and how. We will meet up again and go over all of these to form a cohesive and collaborative Strategy for our future.

Occupy BR: Community Outreach: We will be holding a meeting this Wednesday at 6pm (a location still needs to be decided at Saturday’s GA) on OBR’s outreach attempts. We need to decide where we need to outreach the most and how to go about doing this.

Proposal’s:

• We discussed that now is the time to reach out to our legislator’s now that they are no longer in session. It was proposed that rather than meeting privately with our legislator’s, we (OBR) as a group should hold a public meeting with them to discuss some topics which will be determined at a later time. Due to the absence of some of our key members, we decided to take a straw vote in which all voted in approval. This proposal will be tabled until Saturday’s GA in which we will make a final decision.
• We discussed the pro’s and con’s of changing our Wednesday GA into a time alloted towards Working Group Meetings. This was voted on and everyone in attendance voted in approval.

Note: We have changed our General Assemblies from a bi-weekly meeting into a once a week meeting. Wednesday will no longer be a General Assembly, but instead shall be a time for Working Groups to meet. These meetings will take place at 6pm but the locations will change. Our once a week General Assembly will still occur every Saturday at noon in front of the State Capitol. In case of inclement weather, our GA will be moved inside the State Capitol into the House Chambers.

Our national gathering attendees will be reporting live on https://twitter.com/#!/occupy_brlive/

Worth following!

Or at least that is the belief that most Americans have. Evidently that isn’t the belief of the Capitol police who have had someone arrested months later for “disturbing the peace” by speaking on the capitol steps. They also claim he resisted arrest though in the video of the incident it seems that they did not make it clear whether they wanted to arrest him or just chase him away. Perhaps speaking about the problems in our democracy seems obscene to the Capitol police and therefore inappropriate for public spaces.

Requiring a permit to speak in a public place is an effort to set a barrier to entry to public speech. Getting a permit requires an application process which the state does not make easy for non traditional organizations. Filling out their form in a way that can be saved requires costly software. If you fill it out without the software you have to print it directly from the computer it was filled out on. If you don’t have a printer? Good luck. Oh and you can’t mail them the form, email or fax only. Email requires the form be filled out with the costly software so faxing becomes the only option. Don’t have a fax machine? Guess you need to go to an office store. It may not seem like a lot to a typical political organization but having a form that isn’t easy for an organization without its own office discourages non traditional groups from even applying for permits.

Want to read more about the arrest of an individual who simply wanted to be able to share his beliefs on steps that all our tax dollars paid for?

http://occupywallst.org/article/louisiana-permits-freedom-speech/   has the video of the “peace disturbance” and more info from our brothers and sisters in occupy the stage, nola.

On July 4th from 2-5 pm Occupy Baton Rouge would like you to join us on the Capitol steps to talk about our democracy. We will have speakers and time for discussion of both the ways our democracy works and the things we believe could be done to fix the problems in it. Of particular focus will be the topic of the effect of money on politics. We are seeking people who want to give presentations on the topic of our democracy either as an individual or for an organization they work with.  If you are interested in speaking, please email us at OccupyBatonRouge@gmail.com . If you are not interested in giving prepared remarks, there will be some time for off the cuff speaking during the event. We welcome everyone to come out and join us to talk about and celebrate our democracy.

Update (6-26): Represents of both Common Cause and the Tea Party will be participating in a panel discussion with Occupy Baton Rouge participants as part of this event.

Update (7-1): Official Press Release

Dialogue on Democracy

Can They Find Common Ground?

Occupy Baton Rouge will be presenting “A Dialogue on Democracy” on the Capitol steps on July 4th from 2-5 p.m..  The dialogue will feature a panel discussion between Occupy Baton Rouge, Common Cause, and the Tea Party on the problems facing our democracy in an effort to find common ground.  We will also have also invited speakers from multiple organizations to discuss some of their specific legislative issues.

Occupy Wall St. was started partially in response to the functioning of our democracy and the perceived corruption of the legislative process.  It has created a grassroots movement encompassing groups in almost every major city in America.  Occupy Baton Rouge is a local group that agrees with the message of Occupy Wall St.

Common Cause is a nonprofit, nonpartisan citizen’s lobbying organization promoting open, honest and accountable government.  They are also concerned with the influence of money on the political process.  Common Cause Louisiana has worked to make Louisiana’s government more open, ethical, and accessible.

The Tea Party was partially a response to the perception of a government unresponsive to its people.  The People, LLC’s goal is to ensure all laws and regulations fall within the confines of the Constitution; and, the rights of every citizen are protected.

To learn more please go to http://occupybr.com/ or email OccupyBatonRouge@gmail.com.

“If you want to affect any real change, you have to work inside the system.”

There’s not a self-identified occupier who hasn’t heard these words or something to their effect. I would almost guarantee it.

Being one of those “occupiers”, I don’t agree with this assessment of the situation, not entirely at least. At the same time, I’m not writing this essay to argue against it. Instead, I’m writing to analyze the commonly accepted definition of “the system” and the repercussions of allowing the political establishment to control the terminology we use.

When this refrain is sung, it often falls from the mouth of Democrats who, not unlike concern trolls, claim they support the aims of the movement but are worried about the strategy of working “outside” the system. The problem arises then as to their misconception of what constitutes the system. This refrain is invariably followed by a chorus of vote, vote, vote. A chorus that reveals the depth of the singer’s political analysis.

“The system”, according to those who hum the tune thus described, only allows us to express ourselves once every three or so years–depending on the level and branch of government. The only thing we can do to affect it is to vote for a representative, is to play their game. Everything else is outside.

I think this a limited vision of the system. Our democratic process as it stands was not forged in the voting booths, it was forged by the masses in their workplaces and in the streets, forcing the establishment to pay attention to the very people our government was created to represent.

Women and blacks didn’t win suffrage by playing electoral politics, they won it by taking their bodies and voices directly to the people. Workers didn’t win a shorter workweek by electing a savior to think for them, they won it by shutting down their factories and reminding those in power who really makes this country run. We will not win our government by replacing one politician with another, we will do it by taking control of our own lives.

Throughout history, “the system” has been affected by more than the voting booth. Marches and protests do in fact constitute working within the democratic system. We can now see that the song we started this essay with is misguided, because we are already inside, we don’t have to move to get here.

That’s the very problem. We are too far inside. We were born inside. We grow up in the system’s schools. We are taught history according to the system. We are thus formed into the cogs and springs and gears that keep the system running.

If we ever want to make any useful, lasting change, we’re going to have to finally break out of the system. That won’t be an easy task.

I picture us as the first astronauts, born on Earth and told we will never be able to leave. After a long period of research and testing on Earth, we make our first forays outside of the atmosphere, outside of the system.

Ed White made the United States' first spacewalk on 3 June 1965 during the Gemini 4 mission.

The Paris Commune! Tahrir Square! Zuccotti Park!

The experiments are relatively brief, and they always end in a return to Earth as we know it, but the experiences are invaluable. We utilize decision making methods that are unheard of within the narrow confines of the system. In doing so, we accomplish feats unimaginable and convert all those who experience the wonders of outer space to a higher level of social consciousness. Through our experiences, we learn that what we once thought was impossible only needs to be attempted again and again.

So, though I agree that we must work inside the system–since that is what we have–to reclaim our democracy, we must also take the fight into our own spaces, out among the stars, where we can shape the new possible. Only then will we come to a planet on which human needs are more important than profiteering, and only then can we imagine the structural changes that will save us all.