Meetings
Minutes of the Bristol Planning Meeting, 13-14/05/06
In this document:
- Outcomes Discussion
- Communications Strategy Proposal
- Day of Action Decision (Thursday!)
- Feedback from Working Groups
- Curfew Decision
- Announcements
-
Outcomes discussion
This is a summation of (most of) the points and ideas that emerged from 30 minutes we spent in groups of five envisioning what we want to emerge from the camp, what we want our network to be.
It's been divided into the following sections:
- What would be good before the camp
- What would be good at the camp
- What things we do we want to happen after the camp
- Questions
At future gatherings (London, Glasgow, Derby) there will be structured time to discuss the questions raised, and to network to achieve the things we want.
If you or your group made points you feel are important but aren't included here, it's probably because the bloody computer ate them. BRING THEM FORWARD at the next meeting!
Before the Camp
- Good meeting etiquette vital (being welcoming to new-comers)
- Using our contact points (social centres etc)
During the Camp
- A futures tent- where people can bring and absorb ideas for keeping this process going; dates for future tour offers etc
- We need to bring lots of these disparate groups together, to share inspiration
- Film about the camp to use in future mobilising
- People make commitments at the camp and have central forum for outreach
- Make people realise that direct action is acceptable and relevant.
- People leave the camp less burned out and more energetic than they went in
- People leave the camp having developed more skills in direct action, networking, facilitation, practical skills, training
- Space for building up affinity groups, regional clusters
After the Camp
- 1 month
- Public meetings to tell the wider public what happened at the camp (and to combat the inevitable media attacks/silence)
- Regionl actions
- Media counterspin to keep going after the camp
- 3 months
- Regional gatherings after the camp, as well as the big one in October
- Newspaper/pamphlet to disseminate after the camp
- Tour of cities and towns soon after the camp (e.g. .Communities affected by Shell. and beyond)
-
6 months
- Build towards G8 in Germany?
- A book that doesn't sit a third read under your bed
-
12 months
- A permanent presence (compare with camps that happened at missile bases during the Cold War- Greenham Common etc.)
- A big camp every year or two?
- Pro- keeps network going
- Con- burn out, camp becoming an end in itself
- Local/regional camps every year? Maybe weekend long, staggered over the summer
- General
- A continued concerted campaign against the big action target
- A monthly newsletter? Aren.t there enough groups doing this already?
- Radio programs (podcasting?)
- A permanent website as a resource and communications hub. Using climate indymedia too
- A wiki- open publishing
- A proper race and class analysis would be nice
- Inspire a critical analysis about climate change, environmentalism and wider fucked up socio-economic situation.
- Solidarity with Majority World- or is this moral masturbation and grand-standing
- How do we not lose the skill-sets that people gain through organising the camp
- Sustained and sustainable direct action
- Tree planting? Tree walks at schools
- Successful movement to minimise climate change impacts and non-hierarchical society
- Make the climate change debate radical and keep it that way
- A growing movement that gets out of the ghetto
Questions
- How do we reach the 18-21 year olds
- How do we capture the old energy of road protests
- Do we want a 'continuity group' to keep the threads together for future work/future camps (or if not a separate group, the responsibility of one existing sub-group)
- How do we ensure good regional connections?
- The most affected people are those living in poverty- how can we reach these people
- How do we explain that cheap food is part of the problem (compare with the corn laws in 19th century)
- How do we support existing local pressure groups (e.g. Reclaim the Buses, car-sharing
- What campaign are we kick-starting and how can we support it?
- Transition culture- is this what we are doing?
-
Pressures that will come;
- pressure from the state
- pressure and despair from worsening environmental and political situation
- pressure of internal disagreements/personality clashes
- Things we don't want;
- Just another climate campaign group
- End up hating each other and never wanting to see/work with each other again
-
Communications Strategy Proposal
Part of the remit of the Facilitation working group is to develop a communications strategy: this strategy covers the use of radios, mobile phones, notice boards and loudhailers, meetings of the whole camp and within neighbourhoods, and the procedure for making emergency decisions. The draft communications strategy was presented at the Bristol meeting so that working groups and local groups could look at it, think about how it will impact on what they will be doing at the camp, and said feedback to the facilitation group. Feedback about the communications strategy must be sent to facilitation[at]climatecamp.org.uk by May 30. At the June meeting the facilitation will present a finetuned version of the proposal which takes everyone's feedback into account, and ask the meeting to agree on this proposal.
Communications strategy proposal
- Meetings
- Camp-wide meetings
- Neighbourhood meetings and welcome
- Working group meetings
- Meetings for actions
- Emergency decisions
- Welcome
- Site layout
- Communications
-
- Radios
- Voice procedure
- Info boards
-
- Mobile phones
- Mass text
- Runners and bicycle messengers
- Megaphones
- Siren
- Pirate radio
-
- Questions for working groups
-
Camp-wide meetings
There would be daily meetings of the whole camp 9:30 am - 10:30 am. Each working group or neighbourhood would send two people - an empowered spoke and someone to take notes or carry messages. Smaller groups might choose to only send one person.
The purpose of the camp wide meeting would be practical stuff like call for help, and decisions that affect the whole camp such as how to deal with the police.
Spokes are there to give info and flag potential issues, challenges, not revisit every decision. However if a group feels a decision is too important to make on their own they can bring it as a proposal to the camp-wide meeting.
People who speak at the camp wide meeting must identify what working group or neighbourhood they represent. People who are not empowered spokes are welcome to attend camp wide meetings but they are not allowed to speak.
-
Neighbourhood meetings and welcome
Neighbourhoods decide for themselve how to organise themselves. That being said, there is a concern that if neighbourhoods organise in a totally informal way (not holding meetings that everyone in the neighbourhood is encouraged to attend) power hierarchies can be unintentionally created, and it can be difficult for new people to be made welcome and to get involved.
The following is a proposal for how neighbourhoods should organise themselves: it should be taken as a starting point. In the June planning meeting there will be time for people from neighbourhoods to come together to create a shared vision of how neighbourhoods should work (with room for diversity within this shared vision).
Initial proposal for how neighbourhoods should work:
- Neighbourhoods should be clearly signposted.
- Neighbourhoods are encouraged to hold daily meetings from 9:00 - 9:30am using consensus decision-making. The purpose is to make practical decisions about the running of the neighbourhood (who will dig out the toilets, what are we going to do about those muppets who keep playing loud music till 4am). Neighbourhoods can choose a different time for their meetings but we strongly suggest that this doesn't clash with either the camp wide meetings or the workshops.
- Each neighbourhood should have an info relevant to that neighbourhood - more general info would go on the central info board.
- There will be a person on hand all the times to welcome new people - personal contact, not just giving them a piece of paper or showing them theinfo board.
Question: what if a neighbourhood only wants to let certain people in - e.g. only people from Manchester can be in this neighbourhood, or only people in our affinity group can be in this neighbourhood?
Answer: This would have to be made clear to the people doing welcome and would really have to be agreed before the camp to avoid a situation where people pitch their tents somewhere and then get told to move on.
Working group meetings
Working groups are trusted to make good decisions. We don't suggest any particular time for working group meetings but strongly suggest that they shouldn't clash with neighbourhood meetings or camp-wide meetings. Working groups can feed back important decisions they have to the camp wide meeting. If a working group feels a decision is too important to be made within the working group then they can bring a proposal for the camp wide meeting to decide on.
Action meetings
-
Big action meetings
We need more feedback from the Action Support group on this but we are presuming at the moment that the big action will be planned in advance, and that it will need a briefing but not a series of spokescouncil meetings.
-
Smaller actions meetings
We're moving away from the idea of action spokescouncils. Affinity groups will plan their actions as they see fit.
There should be a workshop slot for feeding back from actions (as far as is sensible) and generally talking about what actions are going to happen next. However this would not really be a space for action planning, more for sharing news and inspiration. This would be mainly an information session but there may be a need for facilitated discussion as well.
There should be a workshop slot where people not in affinity groups could come and form affinity groups together.
-
-
Emergency decisions
The most likely emergency situations will involve large amounts of police approaching the site.
One of the benefits of having the headquarters of many different working groups clustered within sight of the gate is that members of the legal, medical, and facilitation working groups (people who have been involved in the process and should be clued up) will likely be among the first to know about the emergency for two reasons: a) they can see the gate and b) they are near the central comms point, so if an emergency is called in by radio the comms people will tell them about it.
When an emergency occurs a group of at least 2 or 3 (definitely not just one) people who are members of working groups have to decide if immediate action is required. If action has to be taken within 20 minutes or less, these people have to make an undemocratic but necessary decision, and implement it.
(This process will be made slightly less undemocratic by the fact that major incident plans for the emergencies that are most likely to ocur will be developed in advance and agreed at a planning meeting, see below.)
If there is a bit more time, the group of 2 or 3 people mentioned above use their radios to send a message to all the neighbourhoods and working groups in which they explain what the emergency is and suggest an emergency spokescouncil. An emergency spokescouncil will be held if at least (half or a third, not yet decided) of the people contacted agree to it.
If (half or a third) of the people contacted do not agree to call an emergency spokescouncil, then the issue will be discussed at the next camp-wide meeting.
We want to avoid a state of panic. Saying over the radio:
"We have a situation where the cops are approaching the camp, everyone needs to move to the central meeting point right now."
is better than:
"We're being raided! Get the fuck to the meeting point, now!!!"
At the May meeting we will ask a group of people to get together to draw up the most likely emergency scenarios and work out sensible ways of dealing with them (a major incident plan), which will be presented to the June meeting for feedback. The plan would be voluntary. The G8 had contingency plans written up somewhere - we will try to find them.
Welcome
There would be an "Intro to Climate Camp" orientation meeting every morning at 10am.
There will be a cafe / welcome area as part of the complex of tents within sight of the gate, so people can have a cup of tea while waiting to be welcomed. A consistent crew of people would be available 24 hours a day to do the welcome, giving people all the info they need to get involved in the camp. Neighbourhoods should also do their own welcome.
-
Site layout
There will be a gate tent at the entrance to the site.
Welcome area: Set back quite a way, but still visible from the gate, would be: the camp info-board, the central communications tent, a cafe space (important for new people to have a nice place to chill out while waiting to be welcomed, and would be appreciated by others as well). The legal support team, the safety and wellbeing working group and the facilitation working groups would be based here. There would be a welcome tent (perhaps this would be the same as the cafe space?)
Anyone can come to the central comms tent and send a message to any working group or neighbourhood. The central comms tent has to have people in it 24 hours a day and needs a minimum of 8 people to run it.
Would be good to have some bikes around the central comms area. Runners / bike messengers could be used when there is a message you wouldn't want to send over radio (for instance, if it contains someone's name).
-
- Radios
We propose buying 53 radios at an estimated price of £1300. (We need 40 and a third of them will be charging at any given time).
We will buy two of the type we want and test them out before doing the bulk purchase.
People might bring their own radios.
In every working group and neighbourhood there would be at least person who had a radio (some working groups will want several). There would also be someone with a radio in the central communications tent at all times, so by going to the central comms tent one can get in touch with anyone on site who has a radio.
The central comms tent has to have people in it 24 hours a day and needs a minimum of 8 people to run it.
Everyone who gets a radio has to go to a workshop to learn how to use it, including voice procedure. There would be daily workshops on how to use radios. People doing voice procedure wrong would be gently corrected.
We will put together an info sheet on using radios.
Advantages of radios: they're cheaper than mobiles (when you consider that you need to buy a clean mobile and bin it afterwards). You talk to everyone instantly and everyone hears the reply. Callsigns give anonymity (a callsign is a name that refers to a person doing a certain job: for instance, whoever speaks into the Hebden Bridge Neighbourhood radio might be called Tango 3). Limited range is actually a security bonus as the police need to get quite close to you in order to listen in.
- Voice procedure
Voice procedure is a way of talking on a radio so that communication is as fast and efficient as possible, and so that sensitive information isn't given away.
Eg. instead of saying:
"Hi Sharon this is Doug at the gate tent, it's time for you to start your shift so I can go to sleep."
you might say:
"Hello alpha three this is alpha one, I'm at reference point six, over."
Voice procedure takes a bit of getting used to but if it is not used the police will know literally everything that happens at the camp. Even groups that are doing completely innocuous stuff should still use it because otherwise it will be obvious that the people using voice procedure are the ones who are saying sensitive / dodgy stuff.
We very strongly recommend that everyone who uses a radio at the camp uses voice procedure. There will be trainings in it in a workshop slot every morning of the camp.
We will strongly encourage people who are going to use radios to get voice procedure training before the camp. Trainings can be arranged anytime a group of 15 or so people is willing to do it.
- Radios
Info boards
In the welcome area would be the central super-info-board: several big, well-organised boards with plastic sleeves for paper to go in, where people could essentially find everything they needed to know in one place.
It would include: when and where meetings are, story of decisions made in previous meetings, meeting agendas, workshop schedule, updates on actions, where and when to meet if you want to do an action, work that needs doing.
The advantage of one central board is that all the information is in one place, whereas if there were lots of boards scattered all over the place you might have to look at all of them to find out everything you need to know.
Neighbourhoods would also have info boards, which would have info specific to the neighbourhood.
-
Mobile phones
Will be there as a back-up and failsafe. People bring their own mobiles. Mobiles must be a new clean mobile with a new clean pay as you go sim card. It's not enough to just get a new sim card as a code is sent out that identifies the phone. People are very strongly discouraged from bringing phones that have been used before. At the end of the camp mobile phones should be binned / donated to charity.
We will let people know about security issues around mobile phones, particularly of getting arrested with a phone - if someone knows they might get nicked they should ditch their phone.
At Bristol we will ask working groups if they need mobile phones and if they want us to supply them, at the moment we're not planning to. Charging them would be a significant challenge given that we will already be charging the batteries of 53 radios.
-
Mass texts
A possibility for back-up communications (though probably not necessary since we have radios and pirate radio) and may be useful on actions.
-
Mobile phones
-
Runners and bicycle messengers
Runners / bike messengers could be used when there is a message you wouldn't want to send over radio (for instance, a message to the legal support team that contains someone's name).
Occasionally something might come up in a camp-wide meeting where a runner has to run to their neighbourhood / working group, ask a questions, and run back to the meeting with the answer. (Not everyone will have a radio).
-
Megaphones
Loud ones. Good for announcing meetings, dinner, etc
-
Siren
The point of this is to get everyone to gather at one point. There will be one on site but the only situations we could think of in which we would want it used were fire and flood. Major downside: can cause panic.
-
Pirate radio
Will be available and can be used for: entertainment, information, announcements. Workshops could be broadcast, summaries of meetings, evening entertainment, entertainers could do live radio sets.
-
Questions for working groups
All working groups: how would this proposal impact on you? How would it mesh or clash with plans you have made?
Do you need mobile phones, and do you want us to supply them?
Site practicalities: in what way is responsibility for things like toilets and grey water systems shared between you and the neighbourhoods? (Eg. is it that Site builds the toilets and neighbourhoods shovel them out?)
Safety and wellbeing: Have you developed emergency plans (eg. gathering points for vulnerable people such as children)? Do you have any plans for dealing with someone being sexually or physically assaulted on site (eg first aid, councelling, mediation,...)?
Tranquility: Have you developed plans for what to do in situations such as: if someone has been sexually or physically assaulted on site and wants the police to come on site to arrest the person that did it and gather evidence. What if someone needs to be evicted (journalist, racist, someone who has assaulted someone else) Have you developed emergency plans (eg. gathering points for vulnerable people such as children)?
Workshops and activities: What do you think about including suggested emergency plans in the booklet?
What sort of stuff would you like to put on pirate radio?
Action Support: how big and long of a meeting will be needed to plan the big action, and will facilitation be needed?
- Meetings
-
Day of day of action
More PROS AND CONS (In addition to pros and cons that were included in the proposal)
Pros of Thursday
- People in court Friday- can have prison demos outside.
- Media most important
- Media interest will get people to go to workshops
- Surprise - police more likely to expect Saturday. [am I really meant to put this on the website? - webmonkey]
Cons of Saturday
- People arrested might be kept in till Monday.
- Perhaps actions won't start till the big action happens
- Very difficult to hold a squat for a week
Consensus for Thursday!
Interesting
- Could have affinity group theme day actions.
- Decision made at the time. Decision made now not set in stone
- Better not to make decision now . police will barricade us in.
- Suggest block of time instead
- But police will know anyway
- Concern people still need to know there is still action to do on Saturday
- Many can't come until Saturday.
- Important!! To make it clear there will still be actions to go to on the weekend!!! & Other times than just Thursday.
-
Working Groups Feedback
Workshop and activities group
Accomplished:
- Web form workshops offer
- Dummy camp booklet
- Alt tech - top 10 tips
- 4 confirmed workshops, more in pipeline.
On track:
- Finish booklet
- Facilitation training for novices
- Glossary
Challenges:
- Lack entertainment, bands, poets etc
- Need someone to take this on
- Not knowing location makes it hard to book entertainment
Site Group
Accomplished:
- 2 definate storage spaces
- Tat list
- Draft budget
- Forms about energy requirements have been sent to neighbourhoods - who have to reply by june
On track:
- Alt tech providers being contacted
- Neighbourhoods and kitchens coming forward
Challenges:
- Sourcing enough marquees
- Sourcing clean and grey water equipment
- Neighbourhoods finding their own kitchens, marquees, tat etc
Action Support
Accomplished:
- Flyers for big action
On Track:
- Looking into action resource centre - provide tat and info.
Challenges:
- Budget for the resource centre.
- Stamp for flyers - sorted.
Networking
Accomplished:
- Contacted groups initially
- Website now in more accessible css layout.
- Outreach workshop available to anyone
On Track:
- People going to 50-60 events through the summer.
- Recontacting groups
- Newround of publicity ready to go at the June meeting w/ location.
- Press strategy for June meeting.
Challenges:
- Not saying where it is - problem.
- Please go to the festies & take publicity / go to talks in your area.
Facilitation
Accomplished:
- Communications strategy
- This meeting
On Track:
Challenges:
-
Curfew
Agreement in principle:
Friendly amendments
- shouldn't decree how responsible person is responsible
- remove idea of responsible person
- don't like term 'curfew'
Consensus on simplified version of the proposal:
'power down' 11pm - later Saturdays (People dont like the word 'curfew', 'power down' or some other term for it can be used instead.) Concerns to be fed back to workshops group.
Individual mini group notes.
- Wording too strict
- 'contract', names given to 'organisers' / specifying type of music
- Any music if it far enough away / site big enough
- Default curfew of 11
- Vaguer wording
- quiet areas, partyerish areas?
- suggest neighbourhoods organize 'internal' quiet areas
- curfew not mentioned on flyers, butis on welcome board, understood in how we network it.
- question about alcohol times? Ie camp-run bars stop serving at 11?
'sound' curfew consensus (sound = music and shouting): 11pm fine in week but extended at weekend. This can be flexible depending on events (numbers, days actions to be decided at Camp meetings)
Pros
- Inclusive of all ages and family groups
- Maintaining energy levels for the important stuff
- Not a festival
- Presents image to 'media' of well-organised community committed to this vital issue.
Cons
- Possibility of conflict with non compliers (how to deal?)
- Who will want to stay up all night to be responsible for others?
- Poss of disruptive incomers.
There should be a curfew
In general: 11pm ok, sat later, and one space late night ok - a hedonist space? For amplified music and drumming circles etc.
Aim:
- To give people the rest they need to take action.
- Details to be worked out at the time.
- The tranquility team will police it and we empower them to carry oout the aim. And we'll support them.
- Clear information at enrance / booklet.
- And in publicity: It's not a festival.
If there is a late space there should be responsible people but don't need more detail on what that means.
If there is a late space it should be clear who is responsible for it.
- Arrogant to have a 'sober adult' - ppl responsible for themselves.
- If someone making noise talk to that person directly.
- Not fair & not necessary to put someone in position of 'responsible adult'. (other roles do this)
- Agreed with rest of proposal
Simplify
- 11pm for 12 on normal days.
- How long is a late night
- Music and generators
- Curfew inflammatory term suggest:
- tranquility time
- dream time
- shut down
-
Announcements
Finance group are encouraging us to sell vouchers that say you have given a ten pound donation so you wont be hassled for it on the gate - a way to get money in advance.
At the June meeting ppl will be encourage to calculate their own carbon footprints.