August 13 Regional Consulta report back
I want to thank everyone who came out who made the regional consulta a
success. Notes will be posted to the discuss@septemberaction.org list
(join by sending a blank email to discuss-subscribe@septemberaction.org)
as well as to the website (
http://www.septemberACTION.org ). This is
merely a report back and my impressions of this process. I'm also writing
this (for the rest of you receiving this) for those on the DC Anti-War
Network discussion list for their benefit. Feel free, however, to share
these comments with others. I plan on posting them to the
commentary/analysis section of the septemberaction.org website.
We had between comers and goers, when all was said and done, about 30
people at the regional consulta. Besides an expected contingent from DC,
we had people attending from Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York
City, Salisbury, MD, and Albany, New York, numbering about 1/3 of the
people in the room and about 1/2 of the people when decisions were finally
made (because it was local people who tended to come in and out, while the
out-of-towners stuck it out for the entire 4 1/2 - 5 hours (if you count
the last half hour of clean up).
There was a good vibe in the room and plenty of food (thanks to all of you
who brought or donated food). The meeting shifted facilitators and stack
keepers. We had breaks to keep things fresh as well as a lengthy breakout
period, which was extremely productive.
I want to focus the rest of this on the topical breakout areas, what was
discussed, and what decisions were made. This is all off the top of my
head, and I'm going to reflect my own biases, so please wait for the notes
and ask other people for a full (and perhaps more accurate) account.
ACTIONS
Most people from out of town focused primarily on actions and action
scenarios. Much of the first part of the overall meeting was spent
piecing together the existing actions and putting together a relative
timeline of what's happening (refer to
http://www.septemberaction.org ).
The second part of the meeting was spent brainstorming scenarios and
talking about issues related to different action plans, especially the
issue of scale. Ultimately, though, the breakout group on action came up
with recommendations that the entire group reached consensus on.
The consulta recommended that affinity groups support all actions
throughout the weekend but recommended that the group itself work
collectively on several actions that groups felt needed to happen but
which needed some support in bottomlining. Those actions included
(working chronologically backwards more or less):
1. Contingent upon getting help from some DC-based group(s), an action
supporting the local NYC chapter of the War Resisters' League at the
Pentagon on Monday morning, September 26.
2. Some sort of direct action on Sunday, September 25, targeting the
delegates to the World Bank/IMF meetings.
3. Actions related to the homeless in DC, making their connections to the
cost of war and militarism and economic justice, with an emphasis all week
on looking out for their protection.
4. A breakaway march at some point from the UFPJ (possibly join ANSWER)
march from it to the World Bank/IMF, focused again on the connection
between war and militarism and economic and global justice issues.
These are the recommendations of the consulta and a working group was
appointed to work out the language of the recommendations to send out to
affinity groups for consideration. Working groups and affinity groups
will be encouraged to take collective action to make sure that AT LEAST
these 4 things happen during the weekend in addition to all the other
worthwhile events.
LOGISTICS
The consulta talked about the logistics capacity that currently exists,
including the ride, housing, and resource boards on septemberaction.org as
well as the efforts by some in MGJ to look into housing (and the lack of
effort so far by groups with nominal commitment to housing...like DAWN).
There was also no direction on legal since the local law collective hasn't
talked about it, and we do not know what follow through on help UFPJ is
going to give on their commitment to help autonomous direct action with
legal support. The medic collective (DAMN) is getting ready for the
mobilizations and reminds people of the need to come in on someone else's
pre-existing permit for medical support. There was also no one currently
working on communications.
There was a lot of talk about convergence space. MGJ is willing to pursue
St. Stephens as an option, though some would like that space to be closer
to town.
There was also talk about a separate media space (see MEDIA & OUTREACH
section of this report back).
Food was discussed, and the only recommendation was that there should be
no attempt to try and feed everyone.
The break out group on logistics is essentially going to stay together as
a logistics working group.
There was also some commitment to using septemberaction.org as an online
logistics hub for the mobilization.
MEDIA & OUTREACH
Talk in the main group focused mostly on the idea of a separate media
center apart from any convergence space. Locations talked about included
Cafe Mawonaj (which isn't idea because it is too far from most of the
action) and New York Presbyterian. Since only the DC Resistance Media
Collective was represented, many felt there was need to call for a media
spokescouncil related to the mobilization, inviting especially local
alternative media (including DC Indymedia, DC Radio Co-op, and the DC
Resistance Media Collective) as well as media spokes from different groups
planning actions. The purpose of this media spokescouncil would be to
plan media strategy and logistics as well as divy out various media tasks.
Groups like septemberACTION and MGJ have been talking with reps from the
DC Resistance Media Collective about having a joint press conference (or
conferences) in the lead up to the mobilization. We hope that SOA Watch
would also be interested and possibly one other group not currently the
focus of most organizing. The rep from the DC Resistance Media Collective
promised to bring that proposal and the idea of bottomlining a media
spokescouncil to his collective for consideration (that was supposed to be
on Sunday).
On the issue of outreach, there wasn't a lot of talk. Besides electronic
outreach, there was hopes that someone would draft a calendar flyer much
like the high quality flyer used for the counter-inaugural. Also, the
group recommended a communal wheatpasting day featuring flyers from many
groups. However, it was not clear what the followup would be on either
outreach item. Affinity groups are encouraged to take up either or both
outreach plans.
CONCLUSION
The next regional consulta called is for the Great Lakes region in
Cleveland on August 27. (See
http://cleveland.indymedia.org/calendar/event_display_detail.php?event_id=403for details)
The next DC area consulta is on August 22 (MLK library? 6:30 PM?)
There is also hopes that an affinity group outside DC will host the next
regional consulta for our area on the Saturday before Labor Day.
A lot was accomplished, and by the end of the meeting there was a definite
sense of what the mobilization might look like and what the next concrete
steps will look like. It was also great seeing new faces and meeting up
with old friends from past meetings and mobilizations. I also wanted to
thank Nancy Shia, my colleague at the Washington Peace Center, for helping
us get the space-and providing food, and for people at the Infoshop who
helped us make sure it was clean.
One final note on mutual assurances, I should add that UFPJ is working on
the White House action for September 26, and I received a call from Steve
Cleghorn talking about that action and what was decided. I don't want to
go into details (those will be coming out) except to say that they've
asked that there be no blocking of intersections in the streets near the
White House. There was an action talked about by a Veterans for Peace rep
that involved possibly that, though it sounded somewhat open. Otherwise,
mutual assurances weren't talked about, though from what I gathered in the
meeting that there's going to be every attempt to work actions in the
context of the larger weekend and not at cross purposes with it. So,
while there was talk about a breakaway march on Saturday, there was also
talk about making sure that the larger march was supported. While there
was talk of a Pentagon action on Monday morning, there was nothing talked
about that would conflict with the UFPJ action or interfere with the
wishes of those organizers. While there was talk of some direct action on
Sunday, there was support for making sure that people knew about the
anti-war fair, the nonviolence trainings (other trainings), and the
evening's interfaith service. There was also conscious notation (not to
mention representation from) groups planning actions on Friday.
Again, these notes represent my own perspective and my own memory. They
are in no way official or inclusive of everything that happened.
Peace to you all,
Jim
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