Key takeaways from today's Patriot Act & FISA organizing call
Harry Waisbren
We had quite the exciting conference call and online chat today, and are already building momentum for another one next week, so please let us know when you can make it. The addition of new participants and their fresh outlooks led to a litany of fantastic ideas both for our short and long term trajectory.
Thanks to Talat, Mary, Sally, Troy (sorry for the tech problems), Mark, Jim, Jon, and Chip for pre-meeting discussions for joining us!
Below you will find the key takeaways from the call amidst the action items we have to complete such audacious goals:
- Harry and Jon to reach out to BORDC, then others, on coordinating a 9/11 event
- All to vote for Sally’s Take back our rights: repeal the Patriot Actidea on change.org
- All on Feb 3 (BORDC lobby day) change FB status, email friends, share BORDC sign-on letter
- For change.org promotion, Mark to send out on OFA, Harry and/or jon to do a “how to promote” post
- Sally and Jim to start researching various interests for “network map” (as comments in blog posts)
- Chip and/or Shahid: update GFR on lobby day and next steps
Thanks again to everyone who made this possible—-it’s truly exhilarating to revel in the sense of shared passion and purpose made manifest within an organizing meeting like this one. The best part is that it is only the beginning and will continue to reverberate as we act upon these notions and witness the fruits of our collective efforts!
---Harry
Harry Waisbren
We had another quality call this week, discussing next steps to our long and short term plans. You can read the full transcript here, and please let us know when you can make our next call.
Thanks to Mark, Shahid, Denzil, and Jon for joining the call, and you can find the key takeaways below:
- Shahid from BORDC relayed a particularly disturbing report that there will be a straight one year reauthorization bill rammed through the congress by embedding it within a jobs bill. We will send out information as we get it, as this would clearly impact both our plans’ short and long term trajectories alike.
- We are promoting our Change.org idea for Ideas for Change, and you can check the link for details about how you can help based on our successful model from last year.
- Mark and Jim had a long conversation about establishing our “case statement”, and are focusing their energy on finishing it.
- We are focusing on more directly connecting ourselves with the grassroots civil libertarians, whether they be from the right or left, with a particular emphasis on veterans through Iraq Veterans Against the War.
- Our coalition is made up of people who privilege grassroots activism, which is why we are such fans of BORDC’s local ordinances initiatives. The key is coming up with local events that can be used as a vehicle to draw energy together, which we could presumably tie into our extensive outreach efforts as well.
The latest legislative news may be somber, but we will certainly be keeping up the fight! This debate must not be stifled, especially since it is one of the very few in which people all across the aisle agree, and is indicative of so much more relating to the core transpartisan identities we share as Americans.