Minutes / Notulen GA Occupy Utrecht, 25.09.2012

Minutes GA Occupy Utrecht, 25th of September 2012 at the Ganzenmarkt

Present: Joanna, Bram, Brian, Paulette, Marius, Ivette, Daan, Floris, PJ (chairman), Annet, Pascal, Vincent, four students anthropology doing research, Marion (minutes)

Agenda

1. Last Week
2. Meeting at Emma last Friday, the 21st of September 2012
3. When and where will the GA meet in October.
4. The Fifth or the 21st of October at Emma.
5. 13th of October Occupy Anniversary.
6. Profiling Occupy Utrecht.
7. Saturday in front of the Town Hall 14.00 hours.

1. Last Week
Joanna hitch-hiked across Europe last summer and visited a Rainbow Gathering at Slovenia. Last week she was present at the refugee protest in The Hague. She watched how a long pole with two camera's was erected to record the proceedings at the protest and to prevent the arrival of tents. Two vans with policemen were constantly present.
Next week she attends as one of the youth representatives the World Forum for Democracy. In between the speeches of Banki Moon and François Hollande they will have three minutes to present the audience their own point of view.
Before he arrived at the Ganzenmarkt PJ was watching the images from Madrid where people were quietly taking over parliament to establish the people's democracy. The behaviour of the police appeared to be calm.

2. Meeting at Emma last Friday, the 21st of September 2012
Last meeting at Emma wasn't what everyone had hoped for. There seems to have been a lot of tension due to different expectations. Paulette is angry that everyone arrived at different times, some after half past ten. That's half an hour before closing time. Marion apologizes. Ivette wants to know why Emma had to close early that evening. The negativity affected Anton. The rumour goes that he doesn't want to be associated with Occupy Utrecht anymore.

3. When & where will the GA meet in October
The discussion about whether or not it would be more practical to move the GA from Tuesday evening to Saturday afternoon in front of the town hall is decided in favour of Tuesday evening. On Saturday people have different plans for the weekend. In the month October the GA will meet on Tuesday evening at the Ganzenmarkt and start at 19.30 hours. Acu and Ubica are two options when the weather becomes too cold to meet outdoors. Because the meeting should be open to anyone of the public it's not advised to move the GA to a private address.

4. The Fifth or the 21st of October at Emma
The organizers of the upcoming event, Anita and Frederik, are both in favour of the 21st of October. The people present at the GA support their wish. The question is what are we going to do the fifth of October at Emma?

5. 13th of October Occupy Anniversary
Joanna reminds us that in Amsterdam on the 13th of October there will be a happening called Global Noise to celebrate the first anniversary of the Occupy movement worldwide. Bring your pots and pans and start banging 'em.

6. Profiling Occupy Utrecht
PJ asks what was Occupy's first aim, and do we need a different approach. He thinks Occupy is transforming from a protest movement to a more positive movement: a direct democracy movement where every single human being is invited to put in his or her own ideas and wants to stress the fact that with Occupy every single vote counts and makes a difference.
According to Floris Occupy was already from the start a positive movement where people come together to discuss issues and to change things.
Both Floris and Bram say that they love protesting. Joanna suggests that FlashMob is a way of attracting attention to the fact that something is still wrong. The financial world is still in control. How many people are aware of this? Why did so many people vote for VVD?
Marion's answer is that the people who voted for VVD think they will gain by it, get financially better off.
Annet says that the first aim of Occupy is to end the subjungation of the people by banks, the financial world and government by the never ceasing daily demand for more money from the people in the form of bills and taxes.
Bram wonders whether it is neccessary to digress from the Occupy movement worldwide, while others think it won't harm Occupy Utrecht to come up with their own ideas and actions.

7. Saturday in front of the Town Hall 14.00 hours
The GA urgently asks people to show their faces and attend the stand in front of the town hall next Saturday. We are there from 14.00 hours till 18.00 hours.