[OccupyComms] new version (some spelling mistakes) Safe Spaces Testimony

[Anna Harris]

Hi Mac,

I really appreciate you sharing your experience with us all, about the
events leading up to an attempt to bar a group of women from the GA.  This
is not a question of taking sides or pointing blame, but we do need  to
understand that because we are in the Occupy movement does not mean that we
have become open minded and left behind all the prejudices we have
accumulated living with the toxic values of this society.

I know there are other such incidents happening in other Occupy groups.
Just today I received an email from a woman in US who received a hostile
reaction when she tried to get help for someone in London Occupy who had
been mugged, and ended up in hospital.

Perhaps people did not want to publicise these events because it would give
a bad name to the Occupy movement. But it seems to me that it is good that
people now are talking about these experiences, and bringing them out into
the open.

We all have blind spots, and we need others to show us where we are being
insensitive. I think this is particularly something that women can bring,
and we should not be frightened off by people not wanting to know.

We should also not be too shocked to discover that many of the values that
are prevalent in society generally are still there among occupiers. This is
no instantaneous transformation, neither is it a conspiracy by
infiltrators. This is the challenge we have to face, and working on
ourselves is a big part of it, though up to now there has been little
recognition of that fact.

These sort of incidents may bring it home to more people that we can't just
march into the future hoping to leave behind all the parts of ourselves
that have been damaged by our addiction to the toxic values of this
industrial growth society. They pervade our whole being, we have been
steeped in them all our lives. And we need to begin to breathe the fresh
air of a more unified humanity where we can see we are all one family and
naturally care for each other.

But to do that will take time and effort. First there is the
acknowledgement that we need to develop our consciousness, and then focus
on working on ourselves to 'be the change we want to see in the world'.

Recently I ran a workshop in Leeds on Sacred Economics which looked at
questioning the beliefs we have grown up with, and supporting the changes
in our beliefs which will endorse a different social system, where we
really care for each other whether close family or unknown on the other
side of the world.

Thank you for the contribution you are making to bringing this about.

With love, Anna





On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Alma Segundo <alma.segundo at gmail.com>wrote:

>  Hi,
>
> I am Mac and some of you might know me already. I am Chilean and I am
> active member in the UK Occupy Movement in the National Level in Media and
> Women's Network, and I am currently based in Glasgow.
>
>
> On Thursday Feb 9th, 2012 I had the chance to participate in the GA in
> Saint Paul's camp, where we agreed on several important agenda points,
> specially: How to enforce Safe Spaces Policies, Occupy LSX Statement of
> Support to their Homeless Community and a proposal of support to Movements
> Against NHS and Welfare Reforms.
>
> Alongside with Kiki, Didi and Sara, members of the Women's National
> Network, we participated in the Process meeting before the GA, facilitated
> by Phil and we agreed on opening the Safe Spaces conversation with Sara's
> testimony, then mine and finally move into the Stick Exercise to encourage
> people to share their experiences regarding Safe Spaces without
> interruptions or pressures.
>
>
> The Process meeting was a positive experience where John and Ben joined us
> in the conversation among others, and we managed to make a
> schedule/time/topics plan for the afternoon.
>
> In the GA, Sara brought our attention to the multiple different people
> that are part of our movement, nevertheless we forget about their
> conditions and we need to work for them too to create a Safe Space, like
> the members of Saint Paul's kitchen, who go through endless shifts to
> prepare great food and keep us fed. Since her work in the Women's Centre in
> London, Sara was able to bring our attention to asylum seekers, immigrants,
> people of colour, single mothers raising families, and our homeless
> community present in every camp and occupation in UK. All of them are
> actual or future members of our camps and need to be respected in a Safe
> Space as we all expect to.
>
>
> Then, I had the chance to share my experience, meeting Sara, the Women's
> Centre and being part of the Women's National Network. I shared how I
> realized how lucky I've been without knowing it. Before joining Occupy
> Movement, I thought everybody shared the same feeling I felt about my
> position in life. I thought everybody was entitle to share their opinions,
> to put their points across, to feel they are important and they are
> respected.
>
> Sadly, working with Sara, Didi, Nina, Ruth and Lisa, I realized it is not
> like that for everybody. Many people become invisible and they get used to
> not be heard. Therefore, visible people need to acknowledge the invisible
> and make them bloom.
>
>
> I shared I believe Safe Spaces is a culture, a way to be with each other
> and that is exactly what I think occupy should be, a safe space for
> everybody to be in this world. I recognized how lucky I've been since I was
> raised to think I am ok just the way we are and that Occupy Movement should
> spread the same message to everybody, you are OK just the way you are!
> Specially to those, who constantly hear it is not true.
>
>
> After this, everybody shared their experiences and concerns holding the
> stick, a few members decided they didn't want to. It was a beautiful
> experience, which I recorded with my photo/video camera, after asking
> permission to the GA. We realized many people didn't feel safe, or felt
> insecure in the camp or had experienced violence, negligent or mistreatment
> on site. Specially shocking was the testimony of a black/wheel chair user,
> who shared with us that he was beaten and locked for two days in the Bank
> of Ideas and finally spent 3 days in hospital. This story was specially
> outrageous, since we couldn't understand why this person was hit and mostly
> tortured, taking his liberty away inside of one of our buildings in the
> Occupy Movement.
>
>
> Of course, this needed further research and clarification and support
> mainly for the person involved. The facilitator prioritized to continue
> with the agenda, even when some members in the GA asked for a change on the
> schedule to hear the man's story and help him. We moved on into the agenda
> and we agreed on staying after the meeting to address the safe space issue
> and support this man.
>
>
> The GA carried on with the Homeless Statement and discussion of the NHS
> and Welfare Reforms. We couldn't agreed at the time on both statements to
> reach consensus and we agreed to work on them further for Saturday's GA.
>
>
> At the end of the meeting, everybody stood up, some members left and I
> decided to go outside the university tent and take some pictures of Saint
> Paul's under the snow. When I got back I ran into Didi, Kiki, Phil and the
> man in the wheel chair. I realized they had already discussed with him
> briefly what has happened in the Bank of Ideas, to take further actions.
> They agreed that somebody from the Legal Working Group was going to take an
> statement of the events.
>
> At that point, John approached the group and started to say to Didi that
> she had affected deeply an other member in the GA, Em, and that she was
> crying because of her behavior. John pressed Didi over and over again to go
> to her and apologize, at the moment I didn't know it was Em. Didi
> explained, Nina, a colleague in the Women's Network was talking with Em to
> find out what has happened and that she didn't think going over there was
> going to help. John was quite pushy about his requirements and he said he
> couldn't believe that Didi didn't have the heart to go over there and
> apologize. Didi kept saying that Nina was taking care of it and that she
> didn't think they attacked the person since it was an straight forward
> conversation.
>
> Finally, John left after the requirement of Didi. I thought his physical
> behavior and tone of voice were a little aggressive and probably unhelpful
> to clear the situation.
>
> I asked Didi what has happened, and she said that they approached the
> black man to talk about his story. Em was also part of the group that
> approached him. Since Em, in the GA, didn't agree with the statement of
> support to the homeless community questioning the length and the way to put
> forward the message and committing to work in a new version, the black man
> asked her if she had blocked the document. She said yes and left the
> conversation.
>
> Nina went to talk to her and asked why she blocked the document. Em said
> she didn't want to discuss it; and Nina said: Fair enough.
>
> After that, Em was crying.
>
>
> The day after, we found out that through group space email list, John had
> sent a letter to the LSX community asking for the Women's group to be
> banned from the GA for 6 weeks after attacking Em. Even when, Em said the
> issue was resolved.
>
>
> I shared this letter with you and my partial knowledge of the experience
> as I recall it.
>
>
> I would like to open the conversation to try to understand why are we
> asking for a group of women, where I believed I was included too to be
> banned from the GA. These women have been a major support network for women
> and women's issues in London and in every city in the country where we have
> hold a national conference: Edinburgh and Sheffield.
>
> Without going into details I have to say that I have been able to count
> with their support, knowledge and friendship to feel safe and secure while
> I am a member of the Occupy movement, even when I had to faced pressures
> and threats, and false accusations among members in Glasgow.
>
>
> I want to also say, that I had the chance to be part of Occupy Conferences
> in London, Edinburgh, Sheffield and now I am working in the organization of
> the Liverpool one. I have been in LSX a couple of times and I am an active
> member in Occupy Glasgow. And I keep close contact with several occupiers
> in Birmingham, Exeter, Edinburgh, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, London and
> Brighton and I participate in the International European Occupy Movement,
> through internet.
>
>
> I have realized that many forms of attacks are reaching our community
> everywhere in UK and probably around the world.
>
> 1. Facebook pages hacked, Glasgow, Brighton.
>
> 2. Twitters pages hacked. Leeds, Glasgow.
>
> 3. Main Occupy websites temporarily hacked. London.
>
> 4. Arson attacks in London and Glasgow.
>
> 5. Anti-Occupy Media/Bloggers Campaign: Glasgow, Edinburgh, lately The
> Guardian in a national level, though they dropped the article.
>
> (Just to point out some examples)
>
> 6. False accusations to core members of being undercover journalists or
> paid policemen, while real one go quite.
>
> 7. Constant attempt to interrupt process and hold the movement from
> reaching consensus in local and national GAs, specially in the last one in
> Sheffield.
>
> 8. Secret groups and independent working groups not accountable to GAs
> popping out. Autonomous actions driven by ego, power, or money control.
>
>
> My invitation is to take care of ourselves and of our movement; to work
> hard on process during direct democracy consensus, to grow in the culture
> of safe space and transparency and to have an open heart to keep working.
>
> There are no short-cuts, just to walk the walk! ;)
>
>
> Finally, I want to say that you should take care of Saint Paul's, it is
> our little Zakutti Park, it is the national image of the movement. From
> many cities in the country, we are supporting you and worried about you.
>
> When I was in London I realized, some people are just waiting for Saint
> Paul's to disappear, also I realized they don't want Saint Paul's to go
> tranquil. Some people want Saint Paul's to fail, go away with no Safe
> Spaces, with no Accountability and no Direct Democracy supported and born
> out of the GA.
>
> Keep an eye!
>
>
> Best wishes to everybody,
>
> Feel free to re-send this letter to other occupiers.
>
>
> Mac
>
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