OccupyVictoria - VIHippieChick's account (Part 2)

I'll do my best to recap my experience of Day 3 and 4 of OccupyVictoria. It's been a busy time and a bit overwhelming as well. To start I want to just recap some of the highlights of the past couple days.

Day 3

• Mayor Dean Fortin came down and visited OccupyVictoria and chatted with campers.
• Victoria Police stated in a press release they are " trying to strike a balance between people's right to protest and the local by-law"

Day 4

• Camosun College Student Society (CCSSLocal75) supports OccupyVictoria

Here are some photos of the signs down at Centennial Square. They pretty much speak for themselves. These are some of the individual messages that are being delivered.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Truly this whole experience for me is overwhelming. I love to help however I can but am torn between the needs of the movement and my personal limitations. Honestly I have been debating all day about stepping away from the Process work group due to the time demand such a role takes. The participants in this group are either in planning meetings or facilitating the general assemblies six days a week. Many of us either work full time or go to school. Some of us are mothers. The mutual dedication to this aspect of the movement was demonstrated by a very smooth flowing meeting tonight.

When I'm not in a Process meeting or General Assembly or working I am watching the media. Trying to stay on top of what's being said, who wants more info and helping to bridge communication between the online world and the campers who have extremely limited access to online media.

However, despite all the demands of my time I have managed to meet a growing number of the campers. They are from all walks of life, all ages, families, a really vast community. Occupying to them is a starting point, they want people to visit, to discuss, to share ideas, to brainstorm new ideas on how we can make a difference. As one camper said, "Just start by introducing yourself."

So today I did. On my lunch I went down, chatted with a couple people I had already met and also introduced myself to a few more. In the evening it was a bit easier to meet people as many were drawn to me by my lovely side kick known as B (a very energetic 3 year old).

But it was during the General Assembly tonight that something really struck a cord with me. We had a bit of an ice breaker/team building type exercise and discussed what we want to see come out of OccupyVictoria and one person in my group said "The ability to talk to one's neighbour." Something so simple. Something that shouldn't need a protest to start. Something lost so long ago but is tangible to reclaim. While I do talk with some of my neighbours, the ones I do know, the ones in the houses next door, have made the last year of my life wonderful. I know I'm blessed by to have relationships with my neighbours, now I know I'm not alone in having wanted this for so long.

The mentality of community and ability to simply walk up to one another, say "Hi, my name is..." needs to be reclaimed. If we all knew each other better, maybe we would be more tolerant of each other simply because we understood each other better.

The need and desire for community is why I get overly emotional about this movement. And why, believe it or not, I'm often lost for words and feel far from eloquent in my feeble attempts at trying to share my experience with you.

OccupyVictoria - VIHippieChick's account (Part 1)

Yesterday I joined the Occupy movement. I admit that I'm late joining as the People's Assembly of Victoria came to life over two weeks ago but October 15th was only the beginning of what's to come. I hope to help spread the word that the movement is more than just camping and the opportunity to participate is ongoing.

I joined the march on October 15th and listened at the assembly in Centennial Square because I believe that a collective voice is louder than an individual. The current political system is failing the majority. My continued involvement is because I realize that this is not a fad and the main message from the global Occupy movement is inequality.

I'm not camping but I support those who can and are. Quite honestly I'm very much torn but personal circumstances, including not actually owning a tent, make camping difficult for me. I hope to talk more with the campers over the next couple days and share their stories as to why they are camping. What I am doing is participating in the Process working group and the Media working group.

First off - what is a working group? These are smaller groups of people who have a strong interest in specific parts of the OccupyVictoria movement. There is one for food, a safe place, tech, media, process, logistics, etc. These groups facilitate concentrated discussion on their related topics from which proposals to the general assembly are put forward. Anyone can join the discussion and the working groups have been asked to set a regular schedule of their meetings to help people plan to attend.

The Process working group's main purpose is to establish an agenda for the general assemblies and to facilitate and conduct the general assemblies keeping with the process of consensus. This was a real eye opener for me. While I've sat on various boards I am use to a majority rule. Robert's Rule of Order has prevailed. With consensus everyone has to agree. How this transpires in meetings (whether it be a working group or the general assembly) is a proposal is made by any member; clarifying questions are asked; discussion is had and a consensus is sought. Those participating can either agree, abstain or block the proposal. If there is a block the block is explained; further discussion is had and a call for consensus is again sought. This continues until there is no block. A topic can be tabled to either later on in the meeting; until the next meeting. If tabled until the next general assembly the proposal can go to the relevant working group, if any, and more concentrated discussion had for an amended proposal or new proposal. While the process produces a unanimous agreement it sometimes takes awhile to get to the agreement.

Some people questioned why there is a need for a process working group and the answer, in my opinion, is simple - there needs to be some sort of order to aid everyone in working together. Otherwise we'll all try to speak at the same time and no one will be heard. 

The start of the October 16th general assembly demonstrated that. A proposal was put forward to open an account with a credit union to keep the cash donations received in a safe place. Questions non-related to the proposal were raised and despite advising those concerns would be addressed later on in the meeting, the whole discussion went off topic awhile. Once the process was accepted and adhered to by all participating the meeting started to flow again.

The media working group currently is trying to liaise with media requests for interviews. We work together to respond to requests and schedule an interview with a member from the People's Assembly of Victoria. May sound simple but so far those of us in the Media working group all have other commitments such as school and jobs which make it a challenge to respond to these often time sensitive requests. As the movement evolves I imagine the role of the media working group will evolve as well.

So that's a little bit about my experience on Day 2 of OccupyVictoria. I hope to share my perspective daily. If you want to help OccupyVictoria please check out paov.ca for updates from the various working groups. Also stay tuned to my blog as I will continue to share my experience with OccupyVictoria.