Camp for Climate Action

Meetings

Camp for Climate Action
Open Meeting Nottingham 11-12 February
Minutes

Apox 50 people attended the weekend

CONTENTS
? Future Meeting Dates
? Major Decisions in Brief
? Main Body of Minutes in Chronological Order
SATURDAY
Working Group Updates
Big themes discussion
Land group mandate
Questions and Concerns around land issues
Small group discussion on Venue possibilities
Workshop and Activities Group Proposal on creating an Actions Working Group
Workshop and Activities Group: Proposal and discussion on balance of
actions & workshops at the camp:
Networking and Outreach Group; Question about the use of the words ?direct
action?
Networking and Outreach; Key Messages Proposal
SUNDAY
Working Group Feedback
Feed Back from group working on a proposal to resolve the debate around
the ?action? or ?direct action? wording debate
Announcements
Finance and Fundraising Procedures
Fundraising ethical guidelines
Workshops and Activities Group
Programme ideas
Networking and Outreach Group Question. How are NGOs going to be involved?
Working Group Time Followed by Feed Back
Evaluation

Future Gathering dates
11-12 March in Oxford
8-9 April in Leeds?
13-14 May Bristol?
10-11 June London
8-9 July Scotland or Newcastle?
13-14 August Midlands?
October in Manchester. Set date at March Gathering

Major Decisions in Brief
(lengthy proposals and full agreements have not been duplicated here but
can be found in full minutes bellow)
? Land Group Mandate (included in full in minutes bellow); Agreed
? Proposal that a group thinking about actions should be created; Agreed
that a small group should meet during working group time to develop this
idea.
? Proposal that the first part of the camp focus on workshops and the
second part focuses on taking action; Discussion and feed back given to
workshops and activities group. Decision postponed
? Proposal for Key Messages in Publicity (included in full, with
amendments in minutes below); Agreed with amendments.
? Question; Should we use the words 'Action' or 'direct action' in our
publicity? Agreed that the words ?direct action? could be used with
conditions (included in full in minutes bellow).
? Finance proposal making clear whom we are comfortable taking funding
from: Agreed with a certain amount of discretion given to the finance
group (in full in minutes)
? Finance Group Procedures explained
? Finance proposal about commercial activity on site (e.g. vegan cafes,
radical book stalls and alternative technology businesses). Agreed that no
profit to be made on site and we will not charge for stalls. Agreed that
cafes will integrate in to neighbourhood kitchen organisation. Focus on
awareness raising.

Full Minutes
SATURDAY 11th FEB

Working Group Updates
? Site Practicalities ? Thinking about structures, budgets and power.
Will
be putting up ?wish lists? soon.
? Safety and Wellbeing ?Medics will do trainings around the country and
provide medical care. Trauma group and legal support have been contacted.
? Facilitation ?Collated all the minutes and sorted out today's agenda.
Need more people
? Network and Outreach ? Sorted out email for the working groups,
contacted 1000's of national and local groups. Local groups are staring to
host neighbourhoods. Press releases and a New website (up today).
? Workshop and activities group ?Producing ideas for the programme, and
discussed relationship between actions and workshops. Need feedback about
what material/issues people want researched.
? Funding and Finance ? Are in the process of setting up bank account,
have an address, made a couple of applications for funds. People have
started giving donations.
? Land group. Emailed to facilitation@climatecamp.org.uk in advance;
?We have received many emails at suggestions@climatecamp.org.uk. Thank
you. We are in the process of chasing them up and welcome any other
suggestions that fit with the mandate. So far we have looked at around 10
areas of interest, some of which have been discarded out of hand because
they do not fit the mandate or are unsuitable for some other reason. We
have returned to some of these areas regularly and have compiled lists of
sites that are possible for renting or occupying. We are currently working
our way through the rentable ones. Resulting from this we have entered
into the process of renting a site, when this site seems more secure we
will post details. However we are keeping all options open. If our search
for rented sites fails we will proceed down the squatted route upon
instruction from the whole group. A proposal about this issue will be made
at a future gathering.?

Big themes discussion
(Structured discussion in small groups, guided by the four themed issues
bellow. Each small group took notes. These notes were given to the
appropriate working groups during working group time on Sunday)
?finding the right balance between education/learning activities and actions
?what are camp?s key messages, who and how is camp represented, media in
the widest sense
?who is invited/excluded from camp and process leading up to it, including
relationships with NGOs
?money issues around advertising, sponsorship, money and in kind, stalls
on site

Land group mandate
Emailed to facilitation@climatecamp.org.uk in advance.

Land Group Mandate;
The climate camp collective instructs a small group to co-ordinate to
find and secure a site on which to hold the gathering as it is easier
and safer to work that way.
The collective requires that the land is;
? able to accommodate 1000-2000 people in terms of size, suitability for
camping and availability of water etc...
? near or next to multiple sources of climate problems eg. airport/road
expansion, oil refineries, power plants, other sources of greenhouse
gasses and corporate headquarters of the carbon economy
? accessible
? not somewhere where it would be detrimental to a sensitive natural
area
The collective would prefer that;
? the land is rented rather than occupied as this is legally and
logistically less problematic, if it is occupied it should be on disused
land
? the site is geographically central so as many people as possible can
come
? there is vehicle access and some limited parking nearby
? there are always several options in case the preferred site falls
through
? there are local campaigns especially environmental, social justice and
animal rights for the climate camp to support and be supported by.
The land group works in accordance with the wishes of the broader camp
collective, however the collective trusts their judgment and that they
will strive for the best possible option. The collective acknowledges that
certain powers may seek to prevent this camp from happening and to avoid
addressing the issues we demand they that face. Preventing us securing
land is one way in which they may attempt to do so. Therefore the land
group should be able to keep details of their working secret until such
time as they judge that revealing them will not lose us the site.
We work horizontally, collectively we must challenge problems about
hierarchy, power structures and suspicion, we do not want the fact that
some people have knowledge which others do not to feed into these
issues. Yet we feel that in this case the reasons for secret working
are significant. However the land group must be sensitive to the
implications of working in a closed manner in an otherwise open
process, they must be as open as possible as soon as they can.

Land Group Mandate Agreed on.

Questions and Concerns around land issues
(Questions related to process answered by facilitation. Other questions
could not be answered, although all feedback has been emailed to
suggestions@climatecamp.org.uk)

-Question; Who decides when the moment is right to reveal location ? the
land group or whole group? Answer; Unknown
-Concern; Walks & bike rides are planned to travel to site. They will need
to know about one month in advance.
-Concern; Outreach to mainstream groups could be damaged by being
secretive about location.
-Question; Action and land group interaction; how is it planned? Are the
land group looking at sites also from an action perspective? Answer.
Unable to Answer. However the next item on the agenda is a discussion on
possible venues for the camp, with a view to action.
-Question; Was there a discussion at Manchester January gathering re.
squat vs. rent?
Answer; No.
-Concern; Need to keep connection between location & finance group.
-Suggestion; Remote possibility of runaway greenhouse effect at end of
August ? could have it on Spitzbergen, light fires and produce ash to
delay it by a few more days.
All suggestions for possible land/venues should be emailed to
suggestions@climatecamp.org.uk

Small group discussion on Venue possibilities
Small group discussion on potential venues and targets, e.g. Oil
Refineries, Airport Expansions etc. All feed back, ideas and concerns
collected sent to suggestions@climatecamp.org.uk so that it can feed in to
the land group.

Workshop and Activities Group Proposal on creating an Actions Working Group
Proposal;
The task of thinking about actions is at the moment within the remit of
the workshop and activities working group, but it is beyond our capacity
to deal with it, we haven?t got anybody working on it. We feel it?s a big
job and should be tackled by a fairly anonymous sub group. So we are
asking people in this meeting to volunteer themselves to be part of that
group, and to go away during the workshop meeting group time and think
about was the remit of this group would be and some of the issues arising
from it.
Some options;
1 Interested people form an actions group now and they think about what
they should be doing-practical community actions (eg. Schools) or explicit
direct action.
2 Preparing the ground for affinity group actions, relevant research and
resources ,training

Small group discussion the proposal. Each feeds back two points.
1.An action group should created now, and should as open as possible.
2.An action group should created now. It would need contact with the land
group. There needs to be discussion of other related issues, eg. How big
should actions be?
3.This proposal is premature. People arriving at camp should have some input.
4.An action group should be created, but want wider more general
discussion as well. Actions need planning in advance.
5.An action group should created, but not yet.
6.An action group should created, but people might not want to publicly
join it.

Agreed; that a small group will meet later (during working group time) to
frame a proposal about possible actions and an ?actions working group?.

Workshop and Activities Group: Proposal and discussion on balance of
actions & workshops at the camp:
Intro:
* both actions and workshops are vital
* reinforce/strengthen each other
* make sure both well attended and loads of cross-fertilisation
* need ways to minimise negative police reaction's effects on camp.

Proposal;
The workshops group proposes that the first part of the camp focus on
workshops and the second part focuses on taking action. This is the best
option we could think of ? however there might be a better way of doing
this?
The advantages are that this allows the camp to start with individual
learning, information exchange and skill sharing through to planning,
preparing and taking collective action.
It also means people have time to get to know each other, settle in,
network. It hopefully avoids a split into hardcore activists going off
doing actions and everyone else sitting in workshops.
The possible pitfall is that some people will only come for the first part
and that the police might decide to clamp down on the second part. However
we think that with a well though out workshop program that helps people
understand the urgent need for actions, more people might actually decide
to take part in actions later in the week.

Small groups discuss possibilities and feed back ideas and concerns to
?workshop and activities group?. No formal decision made on proposal.

Four main ideas came up in small group discussion:
?workshops and actions running side by side throughout camp
?first half of camp focuses on workshops including workshops preparing for
action, second half mainly actions
?start workshops building up to actions and finish with more workshops
?have workshops and actions alternate throughout in two day rhythm

Networking and Outreach Group; Question about the use of the words ?direct
action?
Question; Should we use the words 'Action' or 'direct action' in our
publicity?

Spokes council discussion unable to reach consensus. The Issue got
resolved in a small group, meeting during working group time, made up of
people who felt strongly either way.
Their proposal was presented on Sunday at the end of working group feed back.

Networking and Outreach; Key Messages Proposal
Intro
The networking group has been putting together a draft of key messages to
go on publicity. This is not about deciding on exact words that will
always stay the same, as it will be different for different types of
publicity, but more about agreeing on some key points.

Proposal for key messages;
The Camp for Climate Action is being organized because we believe that:
*Climate change is here, and we are already feeling its effects. We need
to take action now.
*New technologies and market-based mechanisms aren't sufficient to
address the scale and causes of the problem. The only response to
climate change is major social change.
*Solutions to climate change must come from people and communities, not
corporations or governments, which are part of a system that puts
economic growth first.

Agreed, with the following amendments to the sentiment of the proposal
(specific wording to the discretion of those in the Networking and
Outreach group working on publicity)
? The threat of extreme climate chaos in the future should be
emphasised.
We are already feeling the effects, although there is much worse to come.
? It should be clear that new technologies are not sufficient, and that
market based solutions are actively detrimental.
Also, we need a separate set of comments on which new technologies are
potentially part of the solution, and which compound the problem. This
would not be part of the key messages.

An opinion was voiced that governments would have to play a part in the
solution. However the person who contributed this understood that it was
not the sentiment of the gathering, so stood aside.

SUNDAY 12th FEB

Working Group Feedback
? Site
Food ? Need numbers of kitchens to estimate required resources, please
contact them about this.
Power ?Issues around centralised power and renewables and the need for a
back up system.
Publicity ? Letting people know about the sustainable toilets etc
People who arrive on their own ? how can they plug into what it happening?
? Safety and Well Being
Contacting people who helped at the eco-village in Stirling (July 2005).
Thinking of having a designated space for Trauma and Recovery
Going to look in to legal health and safety regulations for site.
? Network and Outreach
Compiling groups to contact. Need to prevent repeating work.
Discussion about the different sorts of relationships to have with
different organisations.
Discussion about all working groups needing to communicate.
? Facilitation
Who carries forward facilitation? Issue of continuity but also need more
people to get involved. An opportunity for others to develop confidence
get skills for camp etc.
Looked at the remit of the group
*Process at camp
*Facilitation at meetings ? but co-ordination of other facilitators - want
people from each working groups to do facilitation skill share and take
this on.
*Communications.

Feed Back from group working on a proposal to resolve the debate around
the ?action? or ?direct action? wording debate.
(See the question brought by ?Networking and Outreach? to the afternoon
session of Saturday)

Process Point; The facilitation team recognises there is an issue of
process ?the aims of camp were agreed at the last gathering. If we choose
to change the way the words action and direct action are used in those
aims we are changing a decision agreed on at the last gathering. Everyone
needs to think through proposals and the implications of the proposal ?
these should be in two weeks in advance of the next gathering.
We can revisit past decisions but have to consider the impact, and whether
it is fair on those who can not attend every gathering. In this case the
alterations can be made, if that is the wish of the whole gathering.

Comment; This was an fundamental discussion because it is about how Direct
Action exists amongst the other aims of camp.

Proposal
1.The term Direct Action can be used be if set in context eg Website will
give examples of direct action, defined as 'changing things ourselves
rather than asking anyone else to do it'. Direct action against the root
causes of climate change includes everything from reduction of personal
emissions to stopping major polluters.
2. Working groups have autonomy to write publicity using above guidelines
3. The aims to be slightly amended and reordered.
They now read;
? Be a space to empower ourselves to create grassroots solutions to
climate change through action, education, networking and skill sharing
? To take direct action against the root causes of climate change.
? Demonstrate alternatives by bringing diverse groups and individuals
together to live in an ecologically sustainable, non-hierarchical way.
Agreed

Announcements.
-Communication- please use the group emails, found on web site.
www.climatecamp.org.uk
-All potential uses of water, powers etc to contact site group and tell
them of their intentions.
-Potential drivers to contact site practicalities. site@climatecamp.org.uk
-Well being and site to discuss fire zones.

Finance and funding
The finance and funding group are conscious that money can create
tensions. They want everything to do with money to be as clear and
transparent as possible. They also want to get feed back from the group
about issues around ethics and fundraising.

Finance Group Procedures, The full document was provided, and is
available. Not every part of this document needed to be presented to the
whole group. The points that affect the whole gathering and working groups
are.
? The finance group is made up of individuals and one representative
from
each of the other working groups.
That means each working group must send a representative.
? Each working group must provide a budget with timescales for when the
money is actually needed. This budget should also break down into large
amounts and petty cash demands.
? Petty cash to be released to each working group at monthly meetings as
agreed (see 3) for them to distribute. Petty cash accounting is the
responsibility of the working groups; finance group reserves the right to
demand to see accounting for past petty cash before releasing more.

Funding Guidelines Proposal
Proposal;
The fundraising group will not take money:
(a) which comes with attached conditions which in any way threaten to
compromise the aims of the camp or decisions of the organising group
(b) from multinational corporations
(c) from organisations which require 'sponsorship' deals
(d) from individuals or organisations which the group judges are
incompatible with the aims of the camp, even with no strings attached,
e.g. groups opposing binding regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions,
far right-wing political groups, Nicholas van Hoogstraten.
Agreed.

The funding group needs more clarification on point (d). What is our
position on funds that come with no conditions, but are not ethical. e.g.
DEFRA (supports farming) and Goldsmiths F, (conservative group).
Points made:
-Are they going to tell others they have given us money? If they do it
could be embarrassing/damaging
-We could ask for the condition that they don't.
-Think about why they are giving us money? Would they shout about it? Do
we share some similar aims? ? if they are not likely to come back and
betray us then we should accept their money.
-There is no such thing as ethical money
- Should trust the discretion of the finance group.
-DEFRA unlikely to give us money directly but possibly via a group.
-Lots of right wingers who want to jump on this ?green? band wagon.
Critique of capitalism and social justice underpin us. I we take money
with no consideration to ethics will this loose us credibility?
-We should be totally independent of government.
-Finance group brings the difficult groups to the wider collective on a
case by case basis.
-Problem of deadlines etc quite impractical.
Process point- we want to give the funding group an idea of how we feel
about their guidelines etc. Not about a proposal but getting a sense of
our position.
-Strong preference to find money ourselves. Then try to get funding we
feel comfortable with ethically, then deal with other funding as a last
resort. Reality is we need a lot of money!
- Offer of benefit gigs, but this will not be enough.
- Issue of transparency
Finance Group response - Any donation over 500 would be public unless they
ask for anominity ? this is quite common e.g. people don't want to get
hassled for further grants.
-Maybe applications could be made and then we decide if we want to accept
the money.
-This would waste time and there would be a temptation to accept the money.
-How much luxury do we want? The more basic/less expensive the less
dubious groups we have to associate with.
-Some sources need a shroud of secrecy and we should accept that.
-People may have specific reasons to not want to accept certain money but
there is no such thing as ethical money. Just need to think about whether
it is bad for our reputation

Conclusion ? The Funding group will take on board these points ? we trust
them to be pragmatic in light of these concerns.

Fundraising Proposal; Commercial Activity on Site
Proposal;
To allow some small ?for profit? projects that are otherwise in line with
our aims to be on site- as long as they are taxed appropriately (by us).
? Vegan Cafes
? Radical Book stalls
? Alternative Technology Businesses

Firstly the issue of Vegan Cafes
Q and clarifications
-distinction between companies and co-ops should be made.
-Issue of cafe culture as opposed to barrio kitchens.
Answer from Funding Group- Aware we don't want to be a festival. However
if a café (not a neighbourhood kitchen) approaches us what should we say?

-They must provide not for profit food
-It would be strange to have cafes and neighbourhoods
?When people leave the camp they will be familiar with vegan cafes? way to
take something back to their own communities
?barrios central to decision making and community structure. No cafes.
?Cafes last resort (if we cant provide our own food)
?money from barrios all went to central food store. Any cafes- money
should go back to central food store.
?Cafes to provide extras around the main meals provided by the barrios
unless they could be both (as a barrio).
-Catering for day visitors?
-Day visitors will be able to get food from kitchens, even if they are not
part of a neighbourhood.

Proposal; If vegan cafe approaches us we will tell them that all cafes
have to be incorporated into the central site catering ? and become part
of the catering strategy. No stand alone vegan for profit kitchens.
Agreed.

Secondly the issue of Radical bookstores and Alternative Technology business

-Volunteer labour- Just because they are allowed to be on site doesn't
mean they should make money on the site.
Funding Group- We brought this up because there are lots of resources
provided by businesses that people can access in their day to day lives
-Any profit should be given to the camp.
-Business should be able to come but need to contribute e.g. Though
workshops.
?If we do allow people to make money it should be stated where that money
is going to.
?Good idea to allow them ? provides funding and if we have it near the
entrance is separated from the living area..
?Book stores don't have to make profit ? can sell at cost price
?Different ways of operating businesses is part of the solution ?
demonstrate that to others. Positive thing ? eg co-ops don't exploit
workers.
?Provide services that we can't i.e. Alt tech for people to take home with
them.
?people may be attracted by those services and get experience of
action/radical ideas thrown in.
?Book shops should become part of barrios
?A key point is for people to take info ? info not profit should be the
key thing.
?A lot of alt tech companies are in it for the money.

Process Point;
It seems that people are into co-operative, ethical business. The
contentious issue is whether private profit should be made on site.
Whether the profit should go to the camp or whether all entities on site
should be attached to a barrio. We need to decide how they work on site.
Agreed.

Funding Group- There could be a 'green capitalist area'. Self -contained.
Put profit back in nice in theory but unlikely ? we get that profit
through pitches.
-Would pitches cost? All of these things could be part of a neighbourhood.
-We should decide what we want and then approach people to provide that
-charge different groups different amounts depending on how much we want
them
-who would decide what is an ethical company? ? e.g. Is solar ethical ?
there are more debates this would throw up ? where would these happen?
?There might be a not for profit radical bookstore ? large flashy for
profit bookstore should not be allowed on site.
?Need to link in to wider issues of social justice ? unhappy with a green
capitalist zone.
?Don't want to sell pitches. It should be about information. No one will
buy expensive technology there.
?Don't need to decide what?s ethical ? the camp is a space to thrash that
out,
-People are being contacted already for workshops. Those people have then
asked about stalls.

Amended Proposal
Small cooperative business will take part in the site, should be told
about the neighbourhood system. We want the event to be focussed on
education -people could buy stuff later. If profit is made this should be
?taxed? by us.
Leave it finance group to decide what are appropriate things to be sold on
site and who are the best businesses/organisations to sell them.

Amendment
Finance Group do it in conjunction with the workshop group.

-Concerns with ?If profit is made it should be ?taxed? by us?.
-Fears that this is not what this camp is about ? there are already spaces
for this ? this is not a festival.
-Needs diversity of ?solutions? on site people but should be no profit.

Look at mooncup issues as an example? (mooncup; low tech eco alternative
to tampons)
Taking profit from businesses is completely impractical.

- We want the camp to be a place of solutions, but don't want the
mechanisms of capitalism on site. When people leave the camp they will
have to buy things, but not until they leave the camp. Agreed

New Proposal;
We will not ?tax? profit or charge for stalls. No profit to be made on site.
Agreed
Agreement that the Finance group can make decisions in line with the
following sentiment; Small cooperative and ethical business can take part
in the event. They should be told about the neighbourhood system and
encouraged to integrate in to it. We want the event to be focussed on
education -people could buy stuff later.
-If there will be stalls as part of neighbourhoods please let the site
group know.

Announcement
Need more volunteers for crèche in the future ? need to think about
inclusiveness that we need to cover for meetings and the camp.

Workshops and Activities Group
Programme ideas
?Bank holiday Monday could be ?Visitors Day? for people to come and see
the camp and participate in workshops. We could encourage people from
nearby towns and cities to organise trips (on bike, walks, buses)
?That the camp has a 'narrative' which lets people learn and discuss
climate impacts and actions at the following levels; in their home,
through their city/community, their country and the planet. Each of these
could have at least one day devoted.
?There should be (at least) two opportunities for people attending the
camp to meet in their regions/cities in order to network and plan for
future action. These meetings could be on ?City?day and again on the last
day?
?There needs to be a Direct Action training day, a ?Next Steps Day?, a
?Campaigns day? for relevant campaigns to give talks and workshops.
?Every day Climate Science for beginners. Last couple of days have climate
science for advanced people (not doom-mongering though, but focussed on
useful information for action).

These ideas will be pinned on the wall for the rest of the gathering so
that people can make comments and suggestions. Or send to
networking@climatecamp.org.uk

Networking and Outreach Group Question. How are NGOs going to be involved?
Small Group Discussion. All notes given to the Networking and Outreach group.
Three issues to talk about
? How far will NGO?s be involved in decision making?
? Can NGOs have a physical space?
? Can they be mentioned on publicity?

Questions and Clarification
Q ? What do we mean by NGO?s? does it include unions and other organisation?
A - Mainly talking about the big environmental NGO?s and the coalitions
that are coming together like stop climate chaos.

Feed back from small groups on the different questions;
? How far will NGO?s be involved in decision making?
-Anyone there will be able to be involved in process. Local networks of
NGO?s would be able to take part but not 'head office'
-Should be participating as neighbourhoods if want to be involved in
decision making
-Want NGOs involved, but focus more on small, local ones
-Fine as long as they are not using block vote
-Should have no place as NGO?s in decision making, but as individuals
-participation should be conditional on following guidelines on decision
making, i.e. consensus
? Can NGOs have a physical space?
-Speakers/stalls might monopolise new people
-Should have all stalls in one area.
-Should be allowed physicals space/neighbourhoods if agree to
guidelines/process
-Yes, but position in camp should be in line with our vision of camp, eg
not in a dominating position.
-all stalls should be of equal size, no message more than important than
others. Have stall street?
? Can they be mentioned on publicity?
-Yes, if very actively involved eg involved in neighbourhood or promoting
camp in their publicity
-Could be mentioned amongst all other groups that are participating, if
they are linking to our website we should link to theirs
-Ok to have names on if equal with lots of small groups name son publicity
-Lists of groups people have heard of will help to attract people. But
publicity should promote camp not supporters
-logos would be ok/names if next to workshops they are running
-no, but didn't spend much time on this

Working Group time and Feed Back
? Facilitation Working Group
Decisions
> work needs doing to improve crèche and participation of people with
childcare
> need more people in facilitation working group and more people
supporting and facilitating at meetings
> wanting couple of people from each working group to attend facilitation
skill share on Friday afternoon before Oxford meeting
Actions/jobs
> find 2 volunteers to oversee crèche @ Oxford meeting
> find volunteers to staff crèches
> type up and collate Nottingham meeting minutes, out by Sunday 19 Feb
> type up evaluation of Nott meeting, out by Thursday 17 Feb
> type up working group feedback forms, and action points out in 2 weeks
> type up notes from our meeting
> identify facilitators for Oxford meeting
> facilitation working group meeting 27 Feb, Manchester 12-6
> write 1 paragraph description of what we do for website
Issues
> it's disempowering and exhausting not being able to participate at
meeting because not enough people are involved in facilitation
> And... we're actually feeling interested in camp and process now - that
is empowering
? Networking and outreach working group
Decisions
> that we will get a mobile phone that the person/team that will check the
emails for the month will have. Propose that other working groups also
have a phone so always contactable.
> Nov 13 March as special workshop/talk to groups meeting
Actions/jobs
> getting the phone - London team
> liaising with a website offer
> developing a media Q&A list
> a group looking into a leaflet for the camp - one for Leeds gathering
> team to contact other groups about potentially going to speak at their
meeting/gathering etc
> couple to look at kids and young people outreach
> website coming along nicely, to feedback next week
> funding/budget to be worked don
Issues
> idea to have a workshop that people can then go and do with groups etc
who contact the camp about speakers etc make a list of people within the
network and their geo area to coordinate people and speakers - work on
content on Monday 13 March
> journalists coming to organizing meetings as individuals NOT
journalists, but not major issues at moment
> EVERYONE to do local networking and NGO/community stuff, and looking for
neighborhood hosts, and let the website crew know if can be local
contact
> working groups to send brief description to website crew
? Site Working Group
Decisions
1. 3 tasks to be urgently undertaken
- find definite offers of structures
- start sourcing power
- sourcing appliances for fresh water (pipes)
2. Aim to use renewable sources where possible but have generators run on
bio diesel (possible to use veg oil (old) filtered)
3. 9 subgroups to work on specific areas.
4. compile manual of how to utilize alternative "energy?s", ie a narrative
of our work
Actions/Jobs
> info file/forum on website - to include tat list
> will work on how to allocate/quantify amount of energy used by
neighborhoods
> will see how to take on remaining excrement and all organic matters to
be composted later, or maybe produce bio-gas from it
> will look into water piping and marquee structures
>facilitate emails
Issues
> neighborhoods need to question their need for power - ie to minimize
amount of energy we need in the first place
> land group must be aware be aware of our desire to use solar/wind power
when choosing location
> when is the site to be fully operational by, what day do we need to be
set up (seems we must be finished by sat itself)
> bio-diesel generator as back up acceptable?
> gas/wood/solid fuel - if anybody knows of someone producing bio-gas?
Kitchens need to be powered. Acknowledge own insufficient resources for
clean cooking, some solar and clay ovens
> we need people to bring alt tech gear and let us know who's bringing
what ASAP
? Fundraising and Finance working group
Decisions
> info - currently have around £2000 in or committed
Actions/Jobs
> write funding applications - started applying to some and working
through a list
> explore possibility of getting a loan as last resort - lots of issues
and needs research
> working on bars - workers beers, big green gathering
> write funding blurb for website and blurbs for all future publicity
Issues
> Questions - do we charge an entrance fee or have a suggested donation on
the gate which everyone is encouraged to pay?
> all working groups need to submit draft budgets by next gathering so we
can work out how much we need to raise
> need local groups to do fundraising!
> if any local groups are planning fundraising events it would be
extremely helpful if they could let us know and give us an idea of how
much they expect to raise - help with budget planning
? Workshops and actions working group
Decisions
> agreed to contact multiple sources re workshops to collate initial
interest (can then followed up most useful)
> money and equipment
Actions/jobs
> add people to mailing list
> create a table online where people can record the actions they've taken
so to reduce confusion
> need to liaise with appropriate other working groups re kids, NGOs,
empowerment workshops
> waiting to hear back from actions group meeting
Issues
> can't specify or begin to plan a "timetable" of events until the
structure of the ten days has been agreed
> if set up and take down is outside the 10 days, ten days is a lot of
time to provide workshops etc
> need more people
? Safety and wellbeing group
Decisions
> Have healing/recovery space
> divide tranquility into internal and external
Actions/jobs
> contact people for sub groups eg G8 trauma people
> Find health and safety info
> send representative to medics meeting
> networking with other working groups
> deciding how much money is need so we can tell finance group
> deciding what equipment needed to tell site group
Issues
> not enough people
? "Actions working group" discussion
Decisions
> proposal for discussion at the next gathering
"- big public actions/events - how do they fit in (do we want them, how
many); what kind of thing would it be; how public-is it advertised in
advance of the camp
- brainstorm on action ideas, what sort of activities and direct action do
we want to see, big and small groups to do (not subjects of actions but
action types)
- what resources/info plus workshops do people want to see available at
the camp to allow them to take action
Actions/Jobs
Two main roles of an action group when it forms
1. gathering info and resources for affinity groups to plan actions
(reccies, maps, photos, info on why places are bad, action materials)
2. planning public events/actions if that's what's needed
Issues
Wellbeing - prisoner support; legal briefings; medics. Access to actions
eg disabled issues, asylum seekers, etc
Facilitation - facilitating debriefs on site
Finance - putting aside money for materials and reccies.
Ideas - booklet produced (like "squaring up the square mile June 18th
thing") with targets and info space at the camp (eg a tent) which will
have photos maps and info on display for anyone to take action
> the group won't be able to function well in terms of its main tasks
until it knows the site location (at least vaguely) - maybe someone
joins land group or can at least liaise with it
> every other working group needs to consider actions:
Site - feeding people off site; transporting people to action sites;
providing a tent as an info space; providing action materials
Outreach - advertising public action if necessary
workshops - action related skill share workshops, legal briefings etc,
workshops on issues relating to specific targets; timetabling - when, what
the split is.
Evaluation
25 evaluation forms were filled in and handed back (11 first time, 14 came
to Manchester meeting
Everyone said that the meeting met their expectations or mostly met their
expectations.
Out of all the questions about participation, venue, understanding what
was being discussed, and if the facilitators made the meeting inclusive
comments were majority strongly agree or agree
Things found most useful
- the fact it's happening (2) - good facilitation, tools used (6) -
networking, seeing friends and useful discussions (7) - big themes
discussion (1)- small groups and able to have a say (3) - using consensus
(for first time) (2) - pleasantly surprised by radical idea of people
didn't know (1)- getting through a lot, vision and progress (6)
Things found least useful
- direct action/action discussion (8) - surprised by non-radical ideas of
people though I knew (2) - long discussions that most people didn't need
to be part of (5) - cold (1) - group members not turning up (1) - small
group into large group process can be hard (1) - stress (2) - loss of
working group time (1) - not enough food/low energy (2)
Improvements
- less noisy venue (2) - more food (2) - clearer proposals (3) -
independent facilitators (1) - stick to timetable (1) - more games (1) -
not have crèche mix up (2) - working group time in morning when have
energy (1) - more working group time (1)
Any other comments
- thanks for/well done for facilitation (10) - better communication
between group members who can't make main monthly meetings (1) - live
music (1)