What happened today at Union Square

[Bob7...@aol.com]

It was nice connecting faces to email addresses today and when I
mentioned my name, several of you perked up because you had been
reading my emails. I never know if someone is listening. I almost feel
sometimes like Notes From the Underground...and that's where they
remain.

I invited a Codepink sister of mine. She showed up, joined a
committee, sat down, and was converted. I suggest everyone invite
someone. Although as a Codepinker, there's not alot of convincing to
do. She thanked me for inviting her. But you were the ones who won her
over.

If you tune into Reader Supported News. Org, you can get a lot of
feedback on what happened in NY today. It got a bit violent. Peaceful
protest against a dying system is apparently very threatening

I just received a call from Giancarlo. He connected with Food Not
Bombs. So we will be heading out shortly to feed the campers down at
Herman Plaza.

I listened in on the Education and Outreach Committee. Very inspiring
group of people. Stay connected. You all have such great potential for
the Great Change ahead.

Do any of you remember that song that starts off with ...Something's
happening here? Well, something is and it's great to be coming in on
the birth of it. We all must hang in there and build off of today's
efforts.

For those of you who couldn't make it, a schedule is being created to
have regular meetups. Join us when you can. We are the ones who will
make the historical changes.

Don't ever think that a small group of motivated activists just isn't
enough against the hegemonic financial institutions out there. I heard
recently it said that In 2009 an Egyptian journalist wrote an op-ed in
which he lamented that though things were so bad in his country,
nobody seemed to be protesting. He opined that maybe Egyptians were
missing the Protest Gene in their DNA.

And look what happened.......

It's our turn. Let's get rolling.
__Bob

[Charles Blanco]

We may have small numbers but from what I got from the group today it seems like we are all motivated and want a direction to put all our energy in. Which can be just as good, if bot better than large numbers. Thanks for coming out bob, I havent read anything you posted up yet but I'll skim through the whole forum tonight. I like this energy. Ish so guuud! Let's keep it going!

Sent from my iPhone

[Sarah]

My notes on today:

On 9/24 the Occupy SF group held a large General Assembly meeting in
Union Square. About 45 people were in attendance. Channel 4 news was
present as were independent bloggers, photographers, and twitter-
journalists. Signs were displayed through Union Square with various
slogans related to issues affecting the 99%. The phrase “we are the 99
percent” has come to represent not only we who are resisting the
oppression of the masses of the world, but also those who are being
oppressed who do not yet realize it - with whom we feel solidarity
even if they choose not to participate in our movement at this time -
to include police officers and mainstream news outlets.

In the General Assembly, several speakers who have been engaged in
Occupy SF activities spoke about their experiences.

I spoke at this time about how people are watching us and are thankful
for what we are doing and looking to us to be the spark that ignites
change in this country, to contribute to the changes emanating
globally in places like Israel, Spain, Egypt, and Iceland. Our path is
not easy. America is the super power of the world economically and
militarily. Years of manipulation of the public have resulted in a
populace that is ignorant, dependent, and addicted.

We need more people to get engaged and to join the camp. We need
focused and consistent messaging that is friendly to people. We are
reaching early adopters who already are familiar with many of the
issues we face. Next we will reach people who intuitively know things
are not right and just need some information and agitation to inspire
them to become engaged. Some people we will never reach and that is
ok. We need to realize that we don’t need to have everything figured
out right now. The solution is inherent in the process of what we are
doing: occupying cities, supporting the encampments, and lending our
talents to promoting the movement. A vision for how the world could be
(that is different than the current system) will come out of this
process organically and collectively.

“Scud” spoke about his experience in the camp and about the personal
growth he experienced during the week. He appreciated having people
stand up for common beliefs and receiving constructive criticism in
his approach to protesting.

We developed a process for measuring consensus during our meetings.
Raised hands with moving fingers indicate agreement with what is being
said, arms crossed over the chest in an X indicate disagreement with
what is being said, rolling your forearms over each other indicates
disinterest in what is being said.

We then formed and divided into several committees to get to work on
several specific areas: legal, camp, art, entertainment, outreach and
education, technology, supply and logistics, and communications and
media. Notes from each committee are being posted on the Google Groups
page at http://groups.google.com/group/occupyfdsf.

[casdom]

Thanks for the great overview of the days events Bob! I'm looking
forward to talking to you more at the next GA
– casey