PRESS RELEASE

OCCUPY AUSTIN’S UPCOMING EVENTS WEEK OF FEB. 26^TH, 2012

FEB. 24^th, 2012:  OCCUPY AUSTIN will be combining the national calls for action (#F27 Occupy Our Food Supply and #F29 Occupy the Corporations) to participate in a shared, decentralized Global Day of Action on Feb. 29th 2012 against Monsanto. This event will include a screening of “The World According to Monsanto” and will occur simultaneously in Austin, Lockhart and Fredericksburg.

March 2^nd, 2012: OCCUPY AUSTIN joins Education Austin, Occupy UT Austin, Texas Parents Opt-Out of State Tests, PRIDE of the Eastside, Coalition to Strengthen Austin Urban Schools and others to express disapproval of standardized testing.

A rally will begin at the Texas State Capitol at 3pm with an open mic and other activities. At 4:15 the march will commence to the Texas Education Agency for another rally where George Clayton, Texas State Board of Education’s District 12 Chairman for the Committee on Instruction will be the speaker for this second rally.

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About Occupy Austin: Occupy Austin is an occupation and peaceful protest that began on October 6, 2011 at City Hall in Austin, Texas, vowing to end the moneyed corruption of our democracy. It is affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York City, and also with the “Occupy” protests in the United States and around the world.

About the Occupy Austin Media Team: We are a group of Occupy Austin activists who gather information regarding our upcoming events as well as up-to-the-minute news, and relay this to the press. All official Occupy Austin press releases are a collaboration of the Occupy Austin Media Team. If you would like more information on the topic of this press release or would like to schedule an interview, please contact: media@occupyaustin.org.

Agenda:
1. Letter to the city re: eviction
2. Direct Action Committee upcoming event
3. Quorum issue
4. Site questions
5. New site update
6. Communication on behalf of OM

Announcements:
J reported that Terry would be calling to check the expiration date on the porta potties.

1. GA Approved Allen Barkoff’s letter to the mayor concerning the city’s plan to evict OM from the site by 4/30. It was decided that Allen will only send the letter to the mayor’s office and not share it with the media.

Meeting adjourned due to a few people needing to leave and not enough people left to discuss the rest of the agenda. The quorum issue was not decided.

Occupy Denver would like to clarify mistaken information published in a recent Westword article and circulated on various internet blogs.  The “F*ck the Police March” being planned for Saturday, February 25th, is not an Occupy Denver event.   There is a very clear distinction between what is an Occupy Denver event and what is not. Only events that are ratified by our General  Assembly are considered Occupy Denver events, and Occupy Denver’s General Assembly never decided on or even discussed supporting this action.

-Occupy Denver Press Communications Committee

Highlights will include:

March 17th  12 noon the Capitol – Occupy Austin is partnering with Million Musicians March for Peace.

March 16th – The Occupy Party of SXSW.  Venue and Artist TBA!  Just wait – you won’t want to miss this one….

March 11th – 16th Teach Ins and Performances.  Venue TBD.

We’ll update more soon.

You want to be a part of this Occupation.  We want you to be a part, too!

Work group reports:

Foreclosure: 2nd court hearing w/ client in 6th month with W.E.D.A.

Agenda items:

1. Quarum   Proposal: 7 people is the number needed to vote on any proposal.   Approved

2. Discussion of transition

3. Food tent Discussion of set hours locked rest of the time.  Proposal: Site empowered to make any rules it needs to during site meetings.

4. Purchase Vacuum cleaner bags and duct tape(for posters) hoover wind-tunnel z universal bags are needed.  Duct tape will need to be researched.   also needed on site are 50 gal. trash bags.

5. Proposal: 7day rule: if no notice is given for someone in a community tent then after 7 days the community can retake the tent if there is a need for the tent.  Put any personal property in a marked tub and put it into storage.   Any community property can then be reused and tent used to house others.  Approved

6. Proposal: move board to wall.  approved

Occupy Our Homes DC- At noon on Monday, February 27th Occupy DC’s Occupy Our Homes group will meet at the Archives Metro Station to launch its first major rally and action, bringing the struggle for housing to the doors of a financial institution that continues to fail the public it was chartered to serve.

With the help of public money, big banks are again making record profits but continue the deceitful practices that threw the world into crisis—a phenomenon that has caused ruin here in the DC Metro area, especially in communities of color.  With one in four people behind on their mortgage, Prince George’s County suffers one of the worst foreclosure crises in the United States. More than one in three homes in the county currently face foreclosure.

Now, across the country, members of the increasingly disenfranchised 99 percent are fighting back.

Occupy Our Homes DC stands with our friend Ms. Bertina Jones, a victim of dishonest banking practices, in her fight to remain in her home and community. She lives in Bowie, MD, where she raises her grandson and regularly attends church services and PTA meetings. Throwing Ms. Jones out of her home and displacing her and her grandson will only further a vacancy crisis that has haunted Prince George’s County since the housing bubble burst in 2008.

Bertina Jones has a right to keep her home. Nationwide, people have been standing up against the banksters that are trying to evict them. “Fighting for my house is not just for me. It is for all of us that they have taken advantage of. I feel that if I stand up, more will stand up and together we can do something to stop them. We bailed them out when they were in trouble, we gave them our tax money and all we asked them to do is modify the loans and help the homeowners stay in their homes,” said Bertina Jones.

We expect to win. Communities have staged successful home defenses in Atlanta, New York City ,Los Angeles, Detroit, and many other cities across the country. Inspired by this growing movement, people in the Washington DC area are taking a stand for the human right to housing.

At noon on February 27, Bertina Jones, Occupy Our Homes-DC,  Senior Minister Reverend Hagler of Plymouth Congregational Christ, members of the community and the Occupy DC family will be taking action outside Freddie Mac’s downtown Washington office (7th and D streets Northwest).

Housing is a human right, not a privilege. The 99% will no longer allow profits to subvert people’s needs.The spring offensive is coming!

Press Kit

Foreclosure Auction Observation: Wear Red The Foreclosure Working Group is carrying out a foreclosure auction observation this Thursday, February 23 at 9:00am. The purpose of this observation is reconnaissance for new people and organizations wanting to get involved in future disruptions. After entering one at a time, individuals who want to, will simultaneously reveal a piece of red clothing as a show of solidarity with those in the foreclosure process. Anyone who wants to get involved in further auction disruptions is strongly suggested to attend in order to become familiar with the process.

It is important to understand that these auctions are public affairs, meaning that anyone can show up, and technically we all have a right to be there. We might be asked to leave, however, because they may recognize those people from last week who disrupted the auction, and they might be freaked out by a sea of people wearing red. Keep in mind that this observation is designed as a no-arrest, low risk action. While we can’t make any guarantees that it will remain no-arrest, low-risk, people participating are advised to comply with all requests to leave, as well as to ignore any negative comments from bidders, which we are expecting to be more intense than at last week’s disruption. Please be prepared for both.

Thursday February 23 +9:00am meet up at Colorado Progressive Coalition, at 1029 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204 for observation debriefing

+9:30am car pool to Wellington Webb City and Council building.

+9:35am begin entering the auction one person at a time

+10:20-10:30am Those who are wearing red, display your red

+10:30am If the group is asked to leave, then those people will leave. It has been decided that this action is a no-arrest, low-risk action.

Otherwise, leave at your own discretion. Send any questions or concerns to foreclosureresistance@gmail. com

Proposal: Move the default location of the General Assemblies from Troy Davis/Woodruff Park to the AT&T Occupation for the duration of that occupation, except for the first Saturday of each month when it will be held in Troy Davis/Woodruff Park. Passed with stand asides.

Proposal: For days when no proposals are being presented, or there is time after proposals have been discussed, or in some cases when the topic is of immediate import, there will be a formal period set aside during the General Assembly for group discussion. The purpose is to raise issues of importance to Occupy Atlanta where they may be openly discussed; it may serve as part of the process of developing a proposal, or as an end in itself. The process of a speakout followed by breakout sessions and a report-back period is suggested but alternatives may be considered by the facilitators. Passed with stand-asides.

Proposal: Occupy Atlanta will adopt Restorative Circles as a conflict resolution process. This does not preclude other conflict resolution models being used in addition. Passed.

• Moderators: Carey & Eslerh
• Stack: Tara
• Time keeper: Amanda
• Notes by Lainie

Consensus was reached to do proposals first.

Hand signal review

Proposals

Proposal #1 – Claire -  Finance Working Group (FWG)

Working on FWG Policies and procedures

Section 6, Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

• CQ: about item 3 there seems to be a question about a loophole that will allow one person to stonewall the process and not allow an item to pass.
• A: General Assembly overrides decisions FWG have made

• FA: If the person that initially declines the request is not at the meeting, you call a special meeting to pass the request
• DR: If the person who has the concern isn’t there, the concern needs to be addressed
• DR: The person who has the concern can write down the concern so that concern can be addressed in absence
• DR: Can’t you call people?
• DR: You can’t make people answer their phone or show up

• FA: Any denials have to be written down, so the written concern is present at the next meeting
• Friendly Amendment Passed

• Item 3 Now reads: At least three members of the FWG must approve every reimbursement request. If one member of the FWG declines to approve a reimbursement, the reimbursement will not be issued until a quorum of five FWG members that includes the member who initially declined the request consents to issue the reimbursement. FA: The member who declines the request must put concerns in writing, so they can be addressed regardless of whether or not they are present at the next FWG meeting.

Donations, Items 1-9

• Maryann has LOTS of clarifying questions.
• 1 & 3 seem to contradict

• FA: #1 FWG is solely responsible for monetary donations (not for collecting them)
• DR – Cedric: We need to have FWG track the finances for the sake of transparency, so working groups don’t collect money without authorization.

• CQ: So workgroups can’t collect their own money?
• A: All WGs who collect money should give it to the general fund first

• CQ: If I raise money specifically for a cause, do I have to give that money to you?
• A: We need to record it. So we avoid a problem where you report 5 even though you took in 10.

• CQ: Does this mean FWG needs to be present at all fundraising events?
• A: We should

• Dave suggests we table the discussion, since the next section has a lot of repeat information.
• There are concerns about whether working groups can raise their own money
• Cedric: we need to make our books accurate, or FWG is liable for that money at tax time

• Concern: We’ll be doing a LOT of fund raising around SXSW – if only FWG people can collect the money, there will be a bottleneck
• DR: We need more people in finance
• DR: Even if we have 15 people in finance, we won’t have enough people to collect all of the money.

Temperature check: Donations, Fundraising & Development are both tabled.

Proposal #2: Caroline – End Corporate Personhood

Sample resolution they would like to introduce to City Council to overturn corporate personhood

Collaborating with Coffee Party, Move to Amend, and other groups.

CQ: have you been in touch with any council members about this?

A: Not yet, but they are ready to move forward. It’s time to be in solidarity with this.

CQ: Can you read it out loud

Temp check: Who wants to read out loud

Consensus to read out loud

Caroline reads the sample resolution out loud

CQ: Will the “can’s” become “Shall’s”?

A: The constitution has no can’s, it only has shall’s…so all can’s will be changed to shall’s

CQ: How long will this take

A: There are several other partner organizations and we are in solidarity with them

Temperature check: Are we ready to move to consensus?

Sparkles

No concerns

Near-unanimous consensus

Proposal #3: Maryann – Occupy Southby

Proposing budget for Occupy Southby

Promotion costs $352 (posters, marketing, etc)

Production costs $975 (permits, prizes, food, etc)

Total cost is $1327

Due to generous donations, tonight, the request is $707

CQ: Is it possible to wait until we get more donations?

A: We can give money back if we get donations, and some of these items will bring in money

CQ: There’s no water on the list of supplies

A: The $200 for food includes water, and there’s been talk of partnering with a vendor

CQ: With $620 of donations, what can we eliminate from the list?

A: The permit was donated by Million musicians march

Concern: Why are we paying the poster designer?

FA…question about the process: Can we go through item by item, or do we want to just approve the whole budget.

Wonder if we can only discuss the items that people have concerns about.

CQ: How are you doing sticker and t-shirt printing?

A: T-shirt printing is not in the price yet, stickers will be ordered online.

Person in the crowd is saying she might be able to make stickers for free and t-shirts for cheap

CQ: What kind of guitar were you trying to get

A: Specifically a Fender Tele

Braettie/Crumbelina has a guitar she wants to donate Yay!

CQ: have you tried getting food donations yet

A: that money is to supplement the donations that we already have, to guarantee that we have food at all times

Concern: If you are going to donate something – please come through

DR: We have rules in place for finance issues, let’s just get on with it and allow those rules to be in play

FA: Supply cost seems low – we might want to increase that

Friendly amendment passed

CQ: Are you going to get porta-potties?

A: We will have a map of toilets

Concern: You can’t get into the convention center without a badge

Concern: How are you going to keep your books

A: Receipts will be kept, and if any receipts are rejected…can’t hear

Random guy says stuff about porta potties being too expensive

FA: This money goes on a pre-paid debit card so we can track all expenses

Friendly Amendment Passed

FA: why not get two cards so you can send two people out

Friendly amendment withdrawn

Temp check: Do we want to come to consensus

Are there any more unheard concerns?

Concern: Basically can you tell us how you are going to spend this money?

A: We can go through line by line

FA: Remove the $100 for the graphic designer

FA: Let’s give her a poster, instead

Actual FA: Change the honorarium from $100 to a large thank you poster

Friendly amendment passed

FA: Can we auction off the original art and give her a portion of the proceeds

Friendly amendment denied

Concern: You are talking about all of these things you are selling, but you aren’t talking about where we are going to sell things. Where are we going to be?

Answer: We don’t have the space yet.

Concern: It’s not ok to sell stuff, legally. We need a vendor’s permit to sell stuff, we need a donation process or to give stuff away.

Concern: There’s a mixed message – are we trying to sell stuff, or are we trying to raise awareness

Answer: I think it’s some of both.

Point of information: There’s a way to accept donations as payments – and Maryann says that’s how we’re planning to do it.

Concern: If we consent to this part, pending profit off of the items we’re purchasing on another proposal we have not consented to yet, we’re not sure if we’ll make the money back.

FA: can we specify that we are not selling things, but we are accepting donations

Friendly amendment denied – not relevant

Do we consent to $607 for the occupy southby working group?

Consensus! Yay!

Announcements and Reportbacks

ADAPT having a major fundraiser on 4/21 & would like to invite occupy to join in. This is not a proposal, it’s an announcement. Would like to meet with people who are interested to develop a partnership. Contact Sarah @ findingtheramp@gmail.com

Duffy:

• O.A.T.S at Dominican Joes. #F29 will be a combination of occupy corporations and occupy your food. We’re screening The World According to Monsanto for free in multiple cities (lockhart, freds’bg, college station) Austin screening 2/29 3-6 at History Center on Guadalupe. We’re delivering cease and desist orders, signed by many people, in an attempt to evict Monsanto. There will be more events. To make good on the cease and desist orders, we will come back on m16 roughly to lockhart or college station and occupy Monsanto.
• Has petitions, we need to have them signed as homework. No slackers, we need activists
• We need people at the events. Let Duffy know if we can carpool to other cities to shore up numbers
• We need people to come to the movie so we have positive P.R. when we blockade.
• We need P.R.

Amanda:

• March 2nd day of action – rally at the capitol around 3 & then marching.
• Speaker from board of education.
• Endorsed by Education Austin, Texas Coalition of …all sorts of endorsements!
• Needs help flyering!

• CQ: Do you have flyers now
• A: In my car

Daniel: talking about NDAA from Occupy Little Rock. 2 occupiers have disappeared. He’s going to New Orleans to rescue his friends. Daniel Kimery. If he disappears we knew what happened to him.

Heather – National fundraising call:

• cedric signed up. Interocc has multiple national phone calls that we can be on.
• National Consensus process…google it.

• PoI – You might want to bring interocc to spokes
• A – have done it.

Dorie: Sign making workgroup on Sundays at 4 PM

Lainie:

• Kite festival
• Kite making on Sunday 11 AM-3 PM – Location TBA
• Occupy the Kite Festival ¾

Dave:

• Resolution to city council to ask to divest from bank of America
• Dave can help us reach out to local banks
• Bank Action meetings Tuesdays at 8 PM
• Mike, Joe & Brian are going to talk to some democrats about occupy
• Coordinate voter registration and voting workgroup – talk to Dave to form a team
• Wednesday dinner at UU church 5:45 Lainie, Maryann, Eslerh, Justin, and Chainey

Peaches:

• Long march home demanding a women’s shelter
• End homelessness meets across from Angel house 11:30 on Sundays
• PoI – the park is 7 blocks down the street and angel house is two blocks further

Eslerh:

• Wants to have a contest for the dirtiest area in Austin
• Post pictures on facebook event, choose a spot, and then clean it up

Maryann:

• Occupy Southby is doing lots of planning
• Meeting Wednesday night after GA at 9 for calendar ironing
• If you have bands or anything to suggest, meet up with them

Heather:

• If anyone wants to run for city council, March 3 is the last day to sign up
• There’s already an occupier who is running

Caroline:

• End Corporate Personhood needs help
• Join them at 2 PM on Sunday on the mezzanine
• Flyers & facebook page available

Brian:

• Moving the fairy kitchen again
• Needs help cooking and extra kitchens
• Needs cooking, donations, transportation
• Phone 512-662-9775
• foodoccupyaustin@gmail.com
• Bring bowls and utensils when you come to ga so you can eat

Phrog:

• Nathan & Phrog are working on the move/expansion
• No public place that they can find where we can be somewhere after 10 PM.
• We are going to have to file formal charges against marc ott
• Bring all ideas to Phrog and Nathan
• phrogandheather@gmail.com

Heather:

• If you have storage space, talk to Heather.
• Is there anyone who needs a place to stay & is there anyone who has space for people?

Save Bertina’s Home

Last week, Occupy Atlanta set up an encampment in
front of the building at 675 West Peachtree St to demand AT&T put a stop to
these layoffs. We are committed to staying put until all the layoffs are
rescinded, and/or all 740 workers will have wage/benefit protection if they are
moved to new positions. AT&T has claimed that these workers will be given
new job offers, but according to many of the workers, this is news to them.
Those who are aware of the new offers, are being asked to take positions with
considerably less pay and benefits.

This is exactly how wealth consolidation
works. What’s happening at AT&T is symbolic of what has been happening all
over the country for decades. The 1% wants to lower the standard of living for
the average American worker, all so that they can pocket some extra cash. We can
no longer allow them to squeeze every penny they can out of the 99%. The 99%
creates the wealth; it is made on our backs. It’s time these big wigs stop
getting handouts they don’t need while everyone else suffers.

Please take some time today to send AT&T a
message to

STOP ALL THE LAYOFFS!

Email CEO Randall Stephenson at

rs2982@att.com

or

call Michael Matthews, VP of Labor Relations
at

(205) 977-0722

OCCUPY THE CAPITOL!

10 AM: Mass March * Location TBA
11 AM: Rally at the Capitol Building
12:30 PM: Lunch at the Capitol Building
3:30 PM: General Assembly and Nonviolent Direct Action Training to Occupy the Capitol!
5:30 PM: RALLY NORTH STEPS

Thousands of students, parents, teachers, and workers will flood into Sacramento on Monday, March 5th. How long we stay will be up to you.

Join us to demand that Wall St. and the 1% pay to refund education, jobs, essential services, and a better future!

For more information on the day of action, please visit www.occupyeducationca.org/march5.

For more information about the 5:30 PM rally, please contact the Sacramento Central Labor Council at 916-927-9772.