[OccupySheffield] Occupy Sheffield Planning Meeting Minutes for 26th October 2011

Fri Oct 28 16:06:59 GMT 2011

Minutes from the first Occupy Sheffield planningmeeting to be known from now on as the Occupy Sheffield General Assembly

Started at 8pm and continued until 10pm on Wednesday the26th of October at Wetherspoons Sheffield

Agreed that the next meeting will take place at 8pmWednesday the 2nd of November downstairs at Wetherspoons (this was agreed inconsensus though many of us were not that keen on the use of a corporate space)

About 25-30 people came 

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Points discussed

  1) Introduction
  2) Legal Support 
  3) Technical /mediainformation
  4) Problems withthe EDL (the English Defence League)
  5) Approach by BBCRadio Sheffield
  6) Date to StartOccupation
  7) Location ofOccupation

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1) Introduction
It was acknowledged that a lot of us are very new todemonstrating but that others are very aware of how to demonstrate and organiseand that some of us are thinking on our toes as this is a new movement and thatwe make it what it is. It was decided that we shall follow the rules of GeneralAssembly meetings as used by other Occupations

Hand signals to be used in assembly discussion
Picture link – 
How to hold a general assembly link

Can everyone at the meeting try to bring 1 extra person withthem to the next meeting.

2) Legal Support 
One of the team has already approached Katherine Craig(winner legal aid lawyer 2010) and Green and Black Cross and has had positiveresponses of support if any legal information is required by any of the team.

3) Technical /Media information 
One of the team at the meeting (Nicole) is able to supply alaptop which would be useful for live streaming (via livestream) keeping incontact and updates, but we need to consider that this equipment will need tobe maintained for a full 24 hours continuous so security should be part of ourdiscussion

It was also mentioned that there would be access to printingequipment and support by the owner/manager of Plug Adele.
It was also decided for all folk with access to Facebookthat this page www.facebook.com/occupysheffield would be the hub for theSheffield occupation  
For those without access to Facebook contact would bemaintained via email-lists.org
and #occupysheffield is available on twitter

Ways to start promoting 
Flyer 
Begin to ask club night promoters to add an OccupySheffieldlogo to their flyers in support of the Occupation
Spray paint the words ‘Occupy’ around the city so to get theword into people’s consciousness.

4) Problems with the EDL (the English Defence League)
It has been commented on that Occupy Manchester has beenunder attack at nighttime with tents being pulled down, thought to beattributed to the EDL. Also via info from the ‘Occupy Britain’ website thatsome of the admins there have been approached by the EDL, and also that the EDLhave loudly been against the Occupy movement, even though on Facebook they havetried to become part of the movement. Also via Internet relay chat, there hasbeen a lot of disruption specifically caused by people affiliated to the EDL.There was a great deal of discussion about extreme groups essentially sayingthat at no point should someone be accepted in if they still affiliatethemselves with a group like that of the EDL. It was also stated that theOccupy movement though its end result is political change it’s membership is ofa broad spectrum (left wing, middle of the road, right wing) because of itsbroadness it is essentially apolitical that what unites everyone is that theyhave all had enough of the actions of the 1% at the expense of the 99%.  

5) Approach by BBC Radio Sheffield
One of the Occupy team was approached by a BBCresearcher/reporter who wanted that person to talk on behalf of ‘Occupy Sheffield’first thing the following morning (Thursday the 27th of October). It wasdecided through consensus that this should not go ahead as it was thought thatas a group it was too early to begin a conversation with the media, but thatthe channels of communication should stay open, so a polite decline was thoughtto be the best option

6) Date to Start Occupation
No consensus was reached to a start date, and it was agreedthat a decision would be made at the next meeting

4 possible start options were put forward

start the 5th November– good day as it is nearby in time and can follow in thefootsteps of Occupy London, also UK Uncut has a large event taking place at thecity hall steps at 1pm on the 5th of November . Also the week long eventPandemic starts on this day too.

Start the 9th of November – this is the time that theOccupy University movement begins its occupations of campuses across the UK. Ifwe started then it would be seen to be in support of this.

start the 30th November – though later in time thisis a fantastic day as it will follow in the footsteps of the mass public sectorgeneral strike and the large amount of student support that will be there.

last idea - Another idea was to split into smallergroups where we decide what time each group would like to start an occupationso the official site will grow steadily over time. So if people wanted to theycould start right away.

7) Location of Occupation
Various place were put forward, a ‘spoke was put in thewheel’ as certain places were suggested to be off limits as they are consideredto be ‘platinum zones’ by Sheffield council. This means that for very simplebehaviours such as fly posting or littering you can be fined an £80 fine on thespot there and then. 

Out of many options 4 places were to be considered andresearched by all of us with presentation of results at the next meeting.

1)Cathedral
pros’ 
Very large amount of passing traffic at all times of day,many different types of folk pass through this area. If at all possible wouldbe good if we can get the Cathedral on our side.
cons’
is just around the corner from the Archer Project sopossible for a taking over by homeless people specially if there is largeamounts of free food available.

2)Peace Gardens
pros
Very good space, well known, right next to the town hall,would get into peoples consciousness very quickly
cons
Because of the large amount of people that use the space itcould be very easy to upset a very large number of people thereby hindering ourcause rather than promoting. This is also known to be a ‘platinum zone’

3)Infront of City Hall – 
Pros
Well known as a place for people to demonstrate, practicallyconsidered to be the centre of the city, also has a large amount of passingtraffic at all times of the day
cons
There are many things staged in this space, there may be apossibility of legal implications due to loss of earnings by people that wantto use the space particularly if the camp grows to a very large size

4)Devonshire Green
pros 
Great big open space, and easily accessible, and an easyplace to recruit people to the movement
cons
It’s pretty much a place where as one person said “you’realready preaching to the converted” would be quite difficult to get a broadrange of people to get involved over time. Also very close to the busy part ofWest street very likely to get unruly people causing problems for the campparticularly on a Friday or Saturday night.

it was decided that these places need to be consideredfurther by all of us and our research/discoveries would be announced at thenext meeting where we would come to a consensus of what would be a good placeto begin the Occupation.

Things to be considered
Need to find details about are they public land or if theyare private who owns them. 

Access to water and sanitation, toilets bins, drainage etc

Access for disabled folk, whether it is wheelchair accessplease consider the floor surface as well as things such as spaces that peopleare able to move between

Space use, are there any public holidays coming up orspecial events??? Is the space one that will be used specifically for thisevent?

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Points to be Resolved For next meeting
1) Occupation Date needs resolving
2) Occupation space needs resolving

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Useful links
www.facebook.com/occupysheffield
www.occupybritain.co.uk
www.occupytogether.org

www.occupylsx.org
www.occupywallst.org

www.wearethe99percent.tumblr.com
www.wearethe99percentuk.tumblr.com

https://www.email-lists.org/mailman/listinfo/occupysheffield

still to be assigned but we have access to 
tweet #occupysheffield
www.occupysheffield.org.uk

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