November 2007 Local Meeting
From SP Boston
Meeting over the holiday weekend, we solidified plans for a variety of events in December and January, as well as further organizing ongoing campaigns. For more information, check out the full minutes.
[edit] Agenda
- Introductions and agenda approval
- Upcoming events and actions
- Hacking the War, 1 December
- December regional meeting in Brattleboro on 1 December -- can anybody attend? can carpools be set up?
- December local meeting -- awkward date, some may be out of town... should we do anything about it?
- Party/concert
- Speakers/documentary showings
- Harvest coop forum in Cambridge
- Presidential ticket and campaign
- 2008 political strategies
- Approving new memberships -- Gerald I., Thomas W., John K., Dan W.
- Reports on recent events
- Howard Zinn talk at BU
- NEU meeting
- Election results for Matt A. and Matt Geary
- December-January Bulletin progress report
[edit] Minutes
- Introductions and agenda approval
- The meeting was attended by Matt A., Chris F., Billie M., Chris P., Angela P. and David S. A couple of other comrades sent their regrets that they were out of town for the holiday weekend.
- Upcoming events and actions
- Chris and Angela are involved in organizing a "Hacking the War" forum on Saturday, 1 December, which will analyze the causes of the war in Iraq and consider the best ways to shut it down. This forum also aims to begin organizing more frequent "guerrilla" antiwar actions in and around Boston.
- Only Matt may be able to attend the informal regional meeting and social gathering in Brattleboro, VT on Saturday, 1 December. He will only be able to get there for the dinner after the meeting, and is looking for others interested in carpooling that afternoon.
- Fundraising concert
- Matt and Chris P. will contact bands within the next week to see who is interested in playing at the fundraiser, and what dates will work for them. We are currently looking at dates in mid-January, around MLK day (21 January).
- Bands mentioned include Sheepeaters, Public Disturbance, and Fruit Salad, as well as some others not recorded.
- In the following week we will reserve a venue and make flyers for distribution.
- We hope to be able to cover costs and actually raise some funds while charging no more than $7-10 for admission. Some bands may want a cut, but this is a fundraising concert, so they should expect only to receive reimbursement for transportation if necessary.
- We need to have lots of merchandise at the concert, since this is where most funds will be raised. This should include shirts, patches and buttons. We may be able to sell some of it on commission from the National Office.
- Matt discussed a bilingual forum on worker-member relations at the Harvest Co-op that he hopes to organize for the first week of January at the Central Square (Cambridge) library. He may approach IWW foodstuffs union (IU 460) and the Boston May Day Coalition for speakers, perhaps the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador as well.
- We'll go ahead with the 30 December date for the December 2007 Local Meeting, although some (including David) will be out of town that weekend.
- We will have an informal get-together at noon on Saturday, 8 December, in Java Jo's (3710 Washington St. in Jamaica Plain, near the Forest Hills station).
- Chris distributed some information on organizing, fundraising, and media skills training DVDs, seeing if there was interest in purchasing them. David noted that they were rather expensive, and suggested seeing if the AFSC library had any of them available for rent.
- David noted that a new Local Executive Committee will be elected at the January meeting, and asked for suggestions on how to promote the broadest and most democratic participation of the membership.
- David distributed copies of the current draft of the December 07-January 08 SP Boston Bulletin for comments. The finished version of the bulletin should be in the mail in the first few days of December. We will try to include information about the Harvest forum and fundraising concert, but that might not be available in time.