Agenda
1) go around
2) recon situation last monday
3) general activism responsibility
4) future plans with recon
5) indyclasses for next semester
6) checkouts
1)
It’s getting near the end of the semester. We’re doing alright, considering the circumstances.
2)
Recap:
There were five people who were possibly going to go to the Recon meeting. Four people were question marks, and Marina. Marina went, and was there when Gaby was there (where she was supposed to be…) but didn’t meet her. Taylor was one of the question marks, and didn’t realize there was a consequence of not going. We should have considered that four might not go, and we should have set up a meeting point for all of us beforehand so Marina didn’t end up going alone. Theresa told Marina she wasn’t going, but not anyone else.
On the Friday before, perhaps we should have eliminated the question marks and decided for sure who was going. We should have recognized the importance of communication since there were still question marks. We shouldn’t just rely on email, assuming people will see it. Also, Gaby didn’t have a cell phone, and that meant we should have figured out how we were going to meet up not knowing each other or the place. We should have had a phone contact list (as GRASPe does based on these same organizing issues). It should not just be a phone list, but also a communication accessibility list (cell or home phone, frequency of email checking, etc.)
A phone list wouldn’t necessarily have fixed this situation. It is also important for people who are going to go to something to meet face to face, exchange phone numbers, make plans. Technology doesn’t always work out. Face to face ensures more confidence and distributes responsibility better.
There was unawareness of the effect of our being (or not being) at the prison, and realizing this impact would reinforce the feeling of responsibility in deciding to go or not to go. And we didn’t realize that impact until after no one went.
Not everyone was at both meetings last week, so Nat wasn’t sure who had been talked to about what. So not everything got communicated, so it was just an email of Nat reporting stuff. Email doesn’t work as well, and takes more time. We spend more time emailing than actually being around people when we organize, but also it’s not possible to have everyone go to every meeting…
3)
People who are doing something they should meet with each other beforehand. Also, students situations need to be taken into consideration in terms of reliability, both over months and days (especially near the end of semesters).
When there is an important liaison role (as Nat had with Gaby), there should be a supporter person to check in on things and share responsibility (a liaison-liaison). We sometimes feel like we want to check in with people on their responsibilities, but don’t want to be the nagging taskmaster. So this would be an advantage to having a second person with responsibility. For tasks that happen outside of the group meeting, when someone takes on an important task, someone could also volunteer to check-in with them on it. For check-ins there can be a general check-ins, followed by responsibilities check-ins. That would be good because it could mean people could take on tasks without feeling as though it would be a disaster if they weren’t able to do everything. Also, tasks can be divided into smaller pieces, and among more people.
We started off talking about connections to the community, but then that didn’t really happen, except for the Recon stuff (Cleve and Nat at one meetings…) and a few people coming to our meetings.
In activist groups there is unspoken guilt, and awareness of what people are (and are not) doing, and value judgments attached to that. And people shouldn’t feel guilty, and it should be talked about in a way that isn’t pressuring people to feel like they should be doing more. And maybe if no one can do something, there should always be the option of not doing it.
Intersections of activism and ability and mental health. The evaluation of whether someone should be or is able to do something ends up falling on the individual instead of the group, and there isn’t a space created for people to discuss their situation in terms of what they are able to do.
4)
Taylor is going to be the contact person with Peggy, and Nat is her check-in person. This Monday is their inside meeting at QPIRG-Concordia from 7pm-9pm. We’ll assume no one is going, and if someone wants to they should email Nat.
5)
Indyclasses for next semester reportback:
- Dana and Rosie from Tapthirst are going to do something like an indyclass on water issues next semester
- Joel and Sarah from SSMU might do one on student movements
- MICLA (mining research group) is doing undergrad research stuff, and there is the chance it could take the form of an indyclass…
6)
Everyone thought we had a really good discussion about activism, responsibility, and ability!
PS. anti-capitalism (to each according to their need, from each according to their ability) needs to be taken into account in activist group dynamics.
