Article: Occupy Enters 2012

[Shepherd]

By Shepherd Bliss

Sonoma County’s Occupy movement opened 2012 by two well-attended events—one outside in the streets and another inside. 140 people attended a county-wide Town Hall at Sebastopol’s Methodist church on Jan. 8, sponsored by WaccoBB.net and the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy. Around 400 people marched on Wells Fargo Bank in Santa Rosa on Jan. 6.

Sample Open Space Technology breakout
session board. The one at the Town Hall meeting
had twice as many "sessions"!

Town Hall participants self-organized into various small groups to discuss “Reporting Out and Plugging In.” They included veteran activists from Occupy Sebastopol, Occupy Santa Rosa, Occupy Petaluma, and from Sonoma, Healdsburg, and Guerneville, as well as newcomers to the movement.

“The goal of this evening,” according to facilitator Jeff Aitken, “is to help Occupy deepen and broaden.” Organizer Ben Browner added, “Seeing people connect is what Occupy is about. It is a movement, a school, a network.”

Using Open Space Technology, two-dozen people proposed groups based on their Occupy-related interests and then participants selected a group to attend in each of two sessions. One of the best-attended groups in the first session was on finding and keeping the movement’s focus, which was convened by Larry Robinson, a former Sebastopol mayor and City Council member.

Two other popular groups in the first session were on the foreclosure of homes, a focus of Occupy Petaluma, and the Move to Amend. It seeks to change the U.S. constitution because “corporations are not people and money is not speech,” according to convener Abraham Entin.

The best-attended workshop during the second session was proposed by Rachel Dawson, who said, “Transition and Occupy are two synergistic movements. We need to meet together and collaborate.” Other groups were on public education, big bank divestiture, having an Occupy presence at the annual Harmony Festival, racial diversity, creating an Occupy Learning Center, and organizing the new North Bay Occupied Newspaper.

Among those present were members of groups such as the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, the historic Grange, and Moveon.org. Sebastopol City Council member Kathleen Schaffer attended, as did former Sonoma County Supervisor Ernie Carpenter. The age range was from 20 to 92 years old.

“This has been like a cocktail party,” facilitator Beth Meredith noted. “It has been a great party.” The large and full room was indeed quite animated. Many people arrived early and/or stayed late. "It's clear the energy behind the Occupy Movement is still strong and manifesting in a rainbow of exciting initiatives, both locally and nationally focused" said Barry Chertov, moderator of the WaccoBB.net community website.

This was the second monthly Town Hall, which are planned for “as long as needed,” according to Robinson. The next one will be Feb. 9, also in the United Methodist Church.

[A summary from each of the breakout sessions will be posted in the Occupy North Bay category over the next few days. - Barry]

Occupy Santa Rosa joined forces with immigration rights groups on Jan. 6 to peacefully shut down two Wells Fargo branches. They targeted the bank--one of the largest in the United States--for various reasons, including investments in two private prison corporations, foreclosure of local homes, and for receiving $25 billion in taxpayer bail-out dollars, while paying CEO John Stumpf $19 million in 2010.

The dramatic day included a colorful arrival of dozens of cyclists on a 13.5-mile “Pedal for Justice” ride. “Occupy Petaluma believes that frustrations with our current system can be channeled in peaceful and creative ways,” said organizer Jessica Strasen. “We seek to inspire others to rediscover the ability to occupy our own lives, and be a part of creating our shared future.”

The rally began in Roseland, a largely Latino neighborhood. It included Aztec dancers in bright-feathered headdresses and theater on a large flatbed tow truck. The Graton Day Labor Center, one of the half dozen sponsors of the rally, wrote the bi-lingual play.

“The next big event of Occupy Santa Rosa will be in March around education,” explained Frank Anderson, 20, a moderator of the Wells Fargo action. “Our educational system is falling apart and getting worse. The No Child Left Behind Act is for profit and does not help kids. We are speaking with local teachers’ unions to work together to protest school day reductions.”

During December the local Occupy movement did not receive much corporate media attention, especially when compared to its regular front-page autumn coverage. Yet Occupy groups were quite active behind the scenes preparing for an expected spring flowering.

A look at the www.occupysantarosa.org website reveals multiple meetings happening almost every day. The websites www.occupysebastopol.net and (www.occupypetaluma.com) have been launched. OccupySolutions (www.occsol.org), a small Affinity Group, began a Community Learning Center at the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square. It will offer a series of free and open to the public classes, trainings, and teach-ins. Other trainings have been occurring at the Peace and Justice Center and in people’s homes.

North Bay Re-Occupied Press was founded after nearly a month of meetings and plans to begin publishing a print and electronic newspaper sometime in the spring. With the daily newspaper’s recent sale to a conservative Florida publishing chain, this opens a large space for a new publication.

The Wellness Working Group of Occupy Santa Rosa offered a Dec. 22 workshop on “Learning Peer Listening Skills,” lead by therapist Allison Whitemore. She discussed the blocks to active listening and provided handouts about them. Whitemore taught various techniques to master active listening, including clarification, paraphrasing, and body language. Participants then had opportunities to practice those skills through role-playing.

In addition to learning specific skills in such workshops participants have the chance to meet each other, build ongoing relationships, and create community, thus helping break the isolation common in industrial societies. In such workshop one can meet various persons and then decide which ones to join together with to create smaller Affinity Groups for further study and action.

Many occupiers were among the hundreds at a late-December potluck hosted by Spiral Foods Coop in Graton (https://spiralfoodscoop). The article “Occupy the Food System!” filled the full issue of the current “Food First News and Views” ([email protected]), based in Oakland.

The Wellness Working Group plans to show the film “Color of Fear” at Frog Song Co-Housing in Cotati on Jan. 14. The documentary reveals a multi-cultural men’s group spending a weekend retreat together in order to understand and help combat racism and support multi-culturalism.

“Collecting the Wisdom of the Crowd” titles a workshop for which local occupiers have registered. It will be at the Rudolf Steiner College near Sacramento on Jan. 21-22 and led by a former Sonoma County Waldorf teacher and student. It will teach “egalitarian leadership, transparency, and diversity” as essential to Occupy’s “birthing a new way of being.”

Shepherd Bliss teaches college, has contributed to a couple dozen books, runs an organic farm, and works with various veterans’ groups. He can be reached at [email protected].

[Maggi Munat]

I can't wait to attend the next meeting! I will rearrange my schedule in order to participate! This is the direction I feel we need to move in and am so very grateful to have this as a coming-together of all our energies, passions and desire to grow the movement stronger!! Thanks , Shepherd!

Are there more notes from all the break-out groups? I have ones for Move to Amend( Corporations are not People/ Money is Not Speech) , Creating Actions Filled with Energy and the Re Occupied Press. My question is: how does one get involved with some of the actions that are being proposed here?

I am aware of and , hopefully , attending SF Occupy the Courts on Jan 20th , and your contact info, Shepherd, and others about the paper, but really want to work on getting a dance party/ fundraiser happening somewhere ( Arlene Francis?) with bands, DJ, political humor/ skits / theater and team/network/problem solving/community building games/exercises (scavenger hunt?) I think it's time to have an OccuParty .. fun, music, dance , connection, outreach . We need to celebrate together and get more people involved in this very fun musical artistic way!! No facilitation and no stacking required! Smiles and laughter encouraged!

With warmth and appreciation, Maggi (OSR Web Media WG)

[Barry]

Are there more notes from all the break-out groups?

Yes! I posted 2 or 3 more this evening in the Occupy North Bay category and I'll post more as they are sent to me.

[zenekar]

I can't wait to attend the next meeting! I will rearrange my schedule in order to participate! This is the direction I feel we need to move in and am so very grateful to have this as a coming-together of all our energies, passions and desire to grow the movement stronger!! Thanks , Shepherd!

Are there more notes from all the break-out groups? I have ones for Move to Amend( Corporations are not People/ Money is Not Speech) , Creating Actions Filled with Energy and the Re Occupied Press. My question is: how does one get involved with some of the actions that are being proposed here?

I am aware of and , hopefully , attending SF Occupy the Courts on Jan 20th , and your contact info, Shepherd, and others about the paper, but really want to work on getting a dance party/ fundraiser happening somewhere ( Arlene Francis?) with bands, DJ, political humor/ skits / theater and team/network/problem solving/community building games/exercises (scavenger hunt?) I think it's time to have an OccuParty .. fun, music, dance , connection, outreach . We need to celebrate together and get more people involved in this very fun musical artistic way!! No facilitation and no stacking required! Smiles and laughter encouraged!

With warmth and appreciation, Maggi (OSR Web Media WG)

One of the World Cafe circles discussed racial diversity (lacking in OSR and the Town Hall). The conclusion of the discussion was that people involved in the Occupy movement build relationships with people of color in order to build trust. There are many opportunities to participate in events in the Latino community to get to know people one on one. Check out what's happening at KBBF 89.1FM bilingual radio. Visit the station at 1300 North Dutton. Learn from the North Bay Organizing Project how it succeeded in collaboration on projects -- communities supporting each other. etc. Sonoma County has a diverse population that can be reflected at OSR if the effort is made to reach out. The Jan. 6 Wells Fargo action was a good beginning but relationships must be sustained in order to move forward together.


Attila