[These are notes from one of the break out groups at the January 9th, 2012 Occupy Sonoma County Town Hall meeting in Sebastopol. You are welcome to reply publicly or contact a group representative by emailing the contact listing below rather than Reply Privately. Thanks! -Barry]

Topic: Circle on Forming Strategic Alliances and Coalitions

Should Occupy be seen as an umbrella under which all these issues, organizations and movements should find shelter? Probably not. Occupy has its own distinctive strength of developing prefigurative institutions, such as the general assembly, that demonstrate the possibilities of democratic institutions in the world of freedom and justice we seek to build.

One of our group, a participant in Occupy Santa Rosa, called Occupy “a cry of anguish” that awakened the 99 percent to their common interests.

We are likely to remain active members of the several organizations we now belong to, so we should see ourselves as "human threads" connecting these organizations, weaving the groups together, creating a beautiful social tapestry.

We can attain greater diversity only by forming relationships with people in communities of color, listening to their concerns, and taking action to support their objectives before we ask them to come and support ours.

David Walls
North Bay Organizing Project