NYC General Assembly # Occupy Wall Street

OWS Activist Legal Working Group – Proposal for GA on December 1, 2011

As most of you already know, there was a lawsuit filed the morning of the raid to ask the Court to stop the eviction and challenge the new rules put out by Brookfield about the use of Liberty Plaza. This lawsuit is still open even though the Court decided we could not have a temporary restraining order. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of individuals. The legal team who filed the lawsuit is led by Alan Levine, a long time civil rights attorney. This legal team is now asking that we authorize them to represent OWS in litigation (Court case) going forward.

This litigation is about the raid, issues around the raid and getting us the park back. A very important focus of this litigation is addressing what’s gone on at Liberty since the raid. This means the conditions at Liberty, the barricades, consistent police harassment and the rules they are enforcing.

To be clear, this litigation is not about getting our stuff back that was taken or destroyed or police brutality. Lawyer teams are coming together to brainstorm and take legal action in connection with our stuff and the police brutality separate from the litigation in this proposal. We will be holding open forum discussions about these other issues in the coming days and weeks.

The litigation in this proposal is about our 1st amendment right to protest and the use of so called public/private space in connection with Liberty Plaza. There is never a guarantee in litigation, we may not win. But it is an opportunity for our voices to be heard in a very public way about how our rights were violated the night of the raid, how our rights continue to be violated and how the government and private corporations like Brookfield are trying to silence us. This litigation is just one of many routes we can take, and are already taking, to push our political actions into the public consciousness.

Contact info: ows.legal@gmail.com

Occupy Broadway Proposal

EVENT: Occupy Broadway (theatre/shopping district) with a 24-hour performance.
WHEN: From December 2nd starting at 6pm until December 3rd at 6pm
WHERE: Times Square by the red stairs, between 46th and 47th streets, along 7th Ave, NY,
NEEDED FUNDING: $2,000

On December 2, 2011 New York artists and occupiers will introduce tourists and New Yorkers
going to Broadway shows or shopping themselves into debt to the idea of occupation as
CREATIVE resistance with non-stop free performances. We will set up in a privately owned
public space (POPS) near Times Square, turning once blandified space into a space for cultural
production.

This event has been planned by a large group of activists including The Occupy Broadway
Breakout Group of Arts and Culture in conjunction with Direct Action, The Performance
Guild, Musicians Guild, with Security, Kitchen, Sanitation, Comfort, WOW, Media,
Finance representatives, and other members of OWS!

Funding request- Cash strapped organizers have been spending money out of pocket to ensure
that the event is a success – receipts have been saved, additional costs will be incurred during
and in the final lead up to the event. We believe that this – reimbursing and funding- is a
wonderful way to spend a small fraction of the generous donations OWS has received.

Art supplies (markers, posters, paint, ink, glue, etc): $200
Costumes (Fabric, thread, top hats, used clothing) $500
Sanitation (garbage bags, gloves other cleaning materials) $100
Printing (posters, programs, pamphlets, sheet music):$350
Puppets construction (chicken wire, canvas, lights):$250
Props (flags, nose makers, etc): $200
Kitchen (to feed those occupying Broadway): $300
Gas (wiki leaks truck taking props food, etc across town):$100

Total request: $2,000

OWS Screenprinters Cooperative

OWS Screen Guild would like to support the development of workers cooperatives developing out of
our movement. We are in discussion with other potential coops with members of the OWS working
group on Workers’ Cooperatives. We are ready for a screen printers cooperative. We see this as an
attempt to create permanent infrastructure for our movement.

The GA has already approved the OWS Screenguild to purchase blank tee shirts for printing as part of
the OWS occupation. We have been approved to make 4 purchases of up to $5000 each. So far we
have already made one and a half of these purchases, with which we generated donations far more
than we spent. We are asking the GA to allow us to dedicate one of these $5000 purchases to building
an initial inventory for our workers cooperative, all of which will be paid back into the workers
cooperative fund, which has been approved by the GA, and is being set up by the Workers
Cooperative Working Group.

SUMMARY

Our proposed workers cooperative would begin with online tee-shirt sales, done in a way that feels
like it furthers the movement, as opposed to co-opting it.

KEY FACTORS

Complete transparency – Every penny needs to be accounted for up front, with a clearly established
distribution of where our proceeds will go.

Respecting the unpaid work that has gone into making this movement, while at the same time trying
to build a model for a sustainable, politically motivated workers’ cooperative that can provide modest
compensation for dedicated members of the movement.

Continuing to build the movement that we are printing for!

Recognizing that the work we do in transitioning part of our project into a worker’s cooperative has
the potential to be a strong political statement, and being very careful and intentional about all of the
decisions we make, so as to set a strong example, and send a powerful message to the world that
another form of business is possible.

There are three separate entities involved in this project:

Occuprint (curators of the occuprint website and publishers of an all poster issue of the occupied wall
street journal, occuprint’s intention is to build a space for #occupy printed media on the web, and to
print more poster art for the movement.)

OWS Screen Guild (OWS working group who prints at occupations and on the street)

OWS Screen Cooperative (this is the new, or not yet existent entity that will hopefully become its own
workers’ cooperative, spun off of the OWS Screen Guild. Its initial members will come from the

screen guild and from Occuprint.

The Proposal

The OWS Screen Guild has been printing at Liberty Plaza and other public locations. Our prints are
free, though we ask for donations to help cover material costs and to support the movement. We have
raised thousands of dollars for the movement in this way, and have printed thousands of shirts,
patches, etc. for supporters and participants of #occupy. We have also collaborated with other working
groups to design and print shirts to meet their needs. The OWS Screen guild will continue to do this
work with and for the movement.

No member of the OWS Screen Guild will receive pay for work they do supporting this working
group.

Perhaps this will change, but for the time being it does not seem right to compensate a member of the
printer’s guild for their work when no one else is being compensated for their work as occupiers. We
print in solidarity with the entire occupy movement, and we respect the fact that this movement is
being built out of selfless – and uncompensated – donations of time and energy from a wide variety of
people.

However, if we want to scale up our production, and offer people shirts through online donations, we
will not be able to rely on the donated labor of the Screen Guild. This is why we are proposing the
creation of the OWS Printers’ Cooperative. The printer’s cooperative will function as a movement-
based business. Its goal will be to produce printed materials for fundraising and to help build the
movement, while fairly compensating any financially insecure members of the group for their work.

Here is what we propose to do:

On the occuprint website, the screen coop will have a page dedicated to their products. It will be
hosted by occuprint, but entirely managed and controlled by the coop. Eventually the coop will spin
off with its own webpage, once the resources to do so are available, and if they so choose.

At first, the coop will sell a few teeshirt styles that they have been printing at Liberty Plaza, along
with hoodie sweatshirts. As we grow, so will our offerings.

Prices will be set at or near the donations we were receiving at the park. However, we will also have a
way for low-income, unemployed or underemployed people to request shirts for less money,
potentially even for free.

All of our accounting will be transparent and public – listed on our website.

All of our surplus proceeds (above basic costs) will be distributed amongst the following:

-supporting ongoing occupations (either in-kind, with printed materials, or with cash)

-supporting the coop business fund that the cooperatives working group has already been approved to form

-supporting the infrastructure of our printshop, which we intend to make a public arts/culture space
and community resource.

The GA establishes a GA Council and GAs be held six (6) days a week. A GA Council would be representatives of working groups, affinity groups, & caucus. The GA embodies the heart of our movement. It is the body that enables the greatest percentage (consensus) of participation in the movement.

A GA Council would empower the movement and provide transparency, openness, accountability and inclusiveness regarding the logistical concerns of the occupiers and the movement in general.

PROPOSAL for budget disbursement

Direct Action working group

NYC General Assembly – Tuesday 11/29/11

On Wednesday, November 30, New York City will be host to the AEROSPACE DEFENSE FINANCE CONFERENCE at the Credit Suisse Bank in midtown Manhattan. The Direct Action working group will be executing a large-scale action on this date to disrupt the profit-generating activities of the military-industrial complex. If you would like to participate, please meet in Madison Square Park at 6:30am on this date.

Accordingly, the Direct Action working group respectfully requests the disbursement of $2,000 in order to reimburse its members for various expenditures related to the direct action activities on November 30, 2011. Receipts and/or appropriate documentation will accompany each respective expenditure.

Printing $200.00

Transportation $200.00

Materials / costumes $300.00

Registration fees $900.00

Discretionary / contingency $400.00

Total: $2,000.00

Any and all amounts not used for this purpose will be returned to the Finance working group in a timely fashion.

The Medic Working Group purchased a 16 x 16 and an 11 x 11 tent for its medical clinic space at Liberty Park. These tents were used to create a safe, dry, functional medical clinic in the park and they were essential to us providing high quality medical care. These were purchased on November 2nd and went up in the park soon after. The cost of the tents was   $450 + $882.50 = $1,332.50.

We had originally thought we would be able to cover the costs out of our daily budget, but finance has since told us that they would like a proposal approved by the wider community before they release these funds. So we are asking the General Assembly to approve the release of these fund to pay back the individual who purchased these tents.

We are asking for $1332.50 to be released to the Medic Working Group to cover the cost of two medical tents which were purchased on November 2nd.

Who are we: The mobile Info Network, a newly formed Affinity Group created to have a physical presence to gather and share OWS information in any occupied space.

What will we do: Organize people with a written process to provide access to laptops and internet in Zuccotti Park and Charlotte’s Place, with plans for eventually being wherever occupiers are located.

Why this needs to be done: Right now the biggest concern being voiced by occupiers is a lack of information and organization. The M.I.N. will directly address this concern

Costs: We are asking for a one-time start up amount of $2,000. This money will be used to purchase 10 laptops at a target price of $150-$200 per laptop, and a pre-paid mobile hotspot. The purchase process will be completely transparent and any extra money not spent on the pre-mentioned will be returned to the OWS general fund.

Additional Info:

-We are in the process of starting a KickStarter fundraiser for the purchase of more equipment, re-occurring costs and future needs.

- All laptop info will be encrypted to guarantee privacy.

-We will have strict, written access and supervision requirements to safeguard equipment

Proposal:

Currently, members of Congress are exempt from insider trading laws that everyone else has to follow. If anyone else used private information to bolster their portfolios, they would be the subject of a federal investigation and could quite possibly go to jail. If you’re a member of Congress, however, doing the exact same thing will result in absolutely no legal consequences whatsoever. This fact is a perfect symbol for everything we’re against: the collusion of finance and government, separate sets of rules for the 1 percent and everyone else, and a total lack of accountability for those in positions of financial and governmental power. My proposal is to kick off a campaign to stop this before the current legislative session concludes at the end of this year.

Specifically, I propose the start of a campaign with the following objectives:

1) That the Occupy Wall Street demand the passage of the STOCK Act, legislation currently in Congress that would end this practice for legislators and their staff.
2) That Occupy Wall Street strengthen the bill to prevent ANY member of Congress from trading in ANY security, be they stocks, bonds, commodities or derivatives, during the course of their terms and for one year after.
3) That Rep. Spencer Bachus, chair of the House Financial Services Committee, which will be reviewing the bill, recuse himself from any discussion or voting on the legislation due to him having engaged in insider trading activity that would have ordinarily constituted a criminal act. Further, that any other member of Congress having done the same do so as well.
4) That the SEC launch a full investigation of Congress to determine which lawmakers have engaged in what would have otherwise been criminal insider trading activity, and upon the probe’s conclusion, require that these lawmakers give away the money they made from doing so, and refuse any tax breaks that they may be eligible for in so doing.

This campaign will take the form of:

1) A phone campaign: Occupy Their Phones. People from all over the country flood Congress and the SEC with calls demanding these four things.
2) A press release distributed to all major media outlets expressing our desire to see the above four objectives achieved (note to facilitators: I have written one already, it can also be posted to the website for approval)
3) Coordinated action with Occupy D.C., as well as occupations in cities and states where the relevant legislators operate in order to pressure individual lawmakers.

During this campaign, we will clarify that the problems facing the system are bigger than Congressional insider trading, but that this can be an important first step toward restoring some balance to the system.

$560 for $40/day @ 14 day for security /guardianship on-site personnel from the Church of St. Paul St. Andrew on 86th that facilitates our use of that space for housing occupiers.

Point person: Jeff, Julia

Temporary Relief Woking Group Proposal

After the Arrest and sacking of our protest on Tuesday morning. At least 300 people
who had no home other than Zucotti Park have been displaced. Whatever peoples
opinion, the fact is these people were supporters of the movement. Should it be
logistically possible for them to stay within New York City they will still be able to
support our occupation of downtown’s financial District. Most people are staying at
various churches. Some of them very far uptown. I have talked to volunteers at the
Churches and they have told me, The critical need is for metro cards for protesters to be
able to leave and return to Liberty Square. And some kind of food card that will allow
people to get the emergency types of foods wherever they may be when they are out in
the streets and away from the park (Our park has not yet begun to feed people again at
full capacity yet.)

Our proposal is for:

7 round trip metro cards for 300 displaced occupiers
300 $25 Whole Foods Gift Cards
And the proposal will include the understanding
That we will after Dec 1st
Provide 130 Unlimited metro cards for the month of December. One card to be given to
groups of 2 or 3 people. To help them for that month until the other working groups can
work out the ideal solutions to help us continue winning with this Occupation.

300x7x$5 = $10,500
300x$25 =
2,100

By dec 1st,
130 Unlimited
Metro for Dec $13,000

Total

The unlimited metros for December we would like to be up for review by the GA
on November 30th for now we are asking for only the first two expenditures totaling
$12,600

Although we would like to support everyone who comes to support this movement
We intend this temporary relief for those who were occupying the park before everything
was seized and are now displaced, so that they continue to help all of us and the Global
Movement with what they learned during our historic first move in a movement that has
many hard years ahead of her.

To facilitate this we would like everyone who comes to receive either metro or food gift
cards these questions:

$25,600

Name:
1. Were you an Occupier?:
2. Where were you camped?:
3. When did you arrive?:
4. Who were some of your friends during your time in the square?:

If SIS agrees to it we would like to ask them to distribute both cards at their desk. If that
is not possible we will distribute them to our Occupiers at one of the benches in the park.

As far as surplus cards, 12 days after our first day of distribution we would like to make
them available to the working groups to distribute to any new members of their working
groups who arrive from out of tow or their members who because of their support to
the movement could use the assistance to continue to attend working group meetings,
spokescouncil and the General Assembly

Work and Housing Proposal
for the General Assembly of OWS

Presented by Gilbert, from Liberation of the People
And Chris, from Security

In light of the serious displacement of occupiers caused by the attack
on Liberty Park by Bloomberg and the 1%, the OWS is forced to
take on a next step in its development. This is not an all-inclusive
reparation to that attack; it is in relation to housing and work.

Along with occupying in tents, public meetings and all that rightfully
belongs to the 99%, we propose that there are occupiers who need
the dignity of having their own places of community style residence
(community style is more economical and facilitates working
together) and such residents to provide the means to financially
support it.

We propose that those who would live in such a residence would
do so agreeing to the requirement to service their fellow man, that
is, to work with dignity, to not exploit anyone and not be exploited
by anyone, but to work for oneself in small groups, doing whatever
services the residents choose to do in benefit to their community
or society at large, and do so earning according to the value of
one’s work, and not according to capital that may be invested in the
service.

The particular residence of this proposal is owned by relatives
of Chris, our security coordinator, who are in sympathy with our
movement. I’ve gone out to see the building. It is a three-story (with
basement area) Brownstone apartment building one block away from
the projects in Brooklyn on 398 East 98th street and is therefore
considered a “distress building.” For these reasons it is also being
made very affordable. (This area has been in an improving upswing in
recent years). It can be purchased by OWS for $60,000 with needed
repairs of an estimated $25,000 for plumbing, sheeting rocking and
painting. With $85,000 the residence can be ready in one months’
time.

We feel that this living and working condition will establish two
things:

1/ A more solid economic base for the occupiers (not having to go

to the Finance Working Group for everything) and the dignity that
comes with having living quarters as a basis so that we can become
the activists we are meant to be, and not activists limited to the daily
police intrusions by the 1%.
2/ Having one or more such work residences up and operating,
this would act as a model for other occupied cities to do the same.
In this way, given the great numbers of people resonating with our
movement, we can begin to build the society of truth, beauty and
goodness that we insist on living here on our Earth. And with time
we can then boycott those who exploit humanity in favor of those
services provided by the 99%.

I, Gilbert, have 30 years practical experience in six different
countries, New York, Stockholm, London, Lisbon, Paris and São Paulo,
with orienting small groups of people in getting started with running
their own self-employed business. I have the same experience
working with the problems that arise in groups of people living
together, and am willing to see to the success of this proposal.

The medics would like funding for two professional instructors from the
premier outdoor medicine school on the East Coast to come and offer three
days of training at OWS. The first day would involve a two hour “Basic
Winter Survival Course” tailored to the needs of an urban occupation,
focusing on shelter, sleeping systems, clothing, hypothermia and
nutrition. Then they would offer a “Training for Trainers” to help any
interested occupiers (from OWS or other occupations) prepare to offer the
“Basic Winter Survival Course” on a continual basis throughout the winter.

The last two days would be a training for medical staff at OWS and other
occupations in Wilderness First Aid and CPR. This class is limited to 30
participants so we are allowing members of OWS Medic Working Group and
other occupation’s Medic’s first ability to sign up. This class would
bring a all medical staff, from street medics to doctors, to a shared
basic understanding of first aid and CPR and insure that the basic medical
needs of occupiers are met in a safe and effective

The costs for this training are highly discounted thanks to the generosity
of members of the school. We are paying less than 25 % of the normal costs
for this training.

We are asking for the Spokes Council to release $1600 (possibly only
needing $1100) to cover the costs of this three day training. This
includes $750 for the two trainers for three days word, $350 for shared
driving travel costs to and from their school in New Hampshire, and $500
for housing and food costs. We will do our best to find donated housing
and cover food through the kitchen and will return any unused funds to
Occupation.

Buy-Out Buy-In

On November 15th the city of New Yorkforcefully and possibly illegally evicted the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Zuccotti Park. Since then, the OWS organization has experienced the following difficulties:

1- Feeding, housing and clothing occupiers who now do not live in a central location.

2- Providing transportation & information to these occupiers.

3- Democratic allocation of resources at the movement’s disposal.

4- Articulating a coherent mission statement with specific goals in light of the forced eviction.

I, Shazz Baric, legal name David McNerney, propose that the collection of individual activists commonly known as Occupy Wall Street divide ALL the funds in their possession among the occupiers who can prove to a reasonable degree of certainty that they physically occupied and slept in Zuccotti Park continuously for at least the week prior and up to the forceful eviction of the November 15^th raid.

It is the people’s fund to do with what they wish.

I further propose that this item be tabled to gather community feedback and brought back to the GA one week from today, December 4^th, at which time I will seek a consensus to pass the “Buy-Out Buy-In” proposal.

The one week deliberation period also can be used to address execution issues including:

-legal feasibility

-cut off date for donation count

-verification process for occupiers

-possible friendly amendments

Many people put their lives on hold to physically occupyZuccottiParkand help create a better world. The night of the raid many of these people went to jail, including myself. The personal property of these occupiers was confiscated and a great part of it destroyed. For some people, these items were all they had. They suffered the cold. They suffered the police brutality. They occupied. To put it in perspective, $500,000 divided among 500 occupiers would only be $1000 apiece, not enough to replace electronic possessions let alone compensate for the intangible stresses of the raid and subsequent events.

But it would help.

The movement has to be first and foremost a people’s movement. At the outset of the housing crisis, the United Statesgovernment decided to bail out banks instead of focusing their time and money on their constituents. They could have bailed out homeowners instead, thereby stemming the foreclosures that were creating mortgage-backed security default chaos. They could have done the human thing and prioritized real human beings, we the people. They could have helped us.

And now we run the risk of emulating them. Let’s give people the opportunity to be bought out, allowing them to buy into the future of OWS. Let’s take care of our people. What wouldOccupy Wall Sthave looked like without the occupiers? What is the better, fairer, more open, more compassionate, more DEMOCRATIC world we are creating?

Put your money where our mouth is and be the change you want to see. Fund the Buy-Out Buy-In and let’s get on with the revolution!

Proposal:
We propose a march, on the route described graphically on the attached document.  The march will begin at “Louise Nevelson Plaza”  and end at “Liberty/Zuccotti”
with mid-way being the Dept of Public Health/Foley Square.
The march will be in conjunction with the American Medical Students Association in solidarity with Healthcare for the 99%.

The purpose of this march is three-fold:
1.) To demonstrate the medical community’s support of the OWS movement.
2.) To socialize future medical leaders (many of whom have no/little exposure) to other elements of this grass-roots social movement.
3.) To demand healthcare specific redress from our government.

James R.
MSIV, St. George’s University

Our video invite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7wr3jiGK2w (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=s7wr3jiGK2w)
AMSA’s statement on support of OWS: amsa.org/solidarity (http://amsa NULL.org/solidarity)