[Cja] Notes from G20 International Meeting

[Kevin Buckland]

*Here are brief English notes from two International Meetings that took
place at the G20 in Nice: *


At the G20 ‘people’s forum’ in Nice on 2-3 November 2011, a gathering was
arranged for people from different occupations/indignados/popular uprisings
that have taken place. This was a chance to share experiences and being
thinking about international coordination.



We agreed in the first meeting that at these meetings we represent
ourselves, as participants in different movements, and do not represent our
movements. The decisions we make do not seek to represent our movements or
impose anything on other people. We felt that these meetings were a good
opportunity to work towards international coordination. Obviously
everything discussed are suggestions to be taken back to each movement and
worked on and discussed there.



Below is a brief summary of the meetings.



*First meeting*

The agenda was collectively decided as:

*1. Where are we now?*

*2. What unites us?*

*3. Where do we go from here?*

* *

*1. Where are we now?
*This was a chance to find out what each movement is up to. People from
each country reported back on each movement’s including its successes,
challenges, opportunities and targets. It was also a chance for people to
give some background and political context on the different movements.

* *

We heard from the following places: Portugal, Tunisia, Israel, Greece,
Egypt, France, Wall Street, Belgium, Spain, London, Italy, Canada,
Venezuela, Amsterdam, Berlin



At the end of the first meeting it was agreed that we should meet the
following day to discuss where we go from here. (The second agenda item
‘what unites us’ was largely covered in the report back but also merged
into the second discussion).

* *

*Second meeting*

*Where do we go from here?*

* *

We agreed on the following agenda for the second meeting:

   1. *Joint press release (regarding the arrests at the G20)*
   2. *Possibility of an international  gathering of the different movements
   *
   3. *International day of action*
   4. *An international solidarity statement *

*1.      **Joint press release*

During the ‘people’s forum’ in Nice, three people were arrested in Nice
because of things they had in their van. They have been sentenced to time
in jail. A suggestion was made that we should send out a joint press
release condemning the arrests.



*Proposal*: A working group will be formed to work on a joint press release
which can then be sent to the different occupy movements.

*Outcome: *A working group was formed to draft the press release.

* *

*2. International gathering of different movements*

There was an invitation from Tunisia to host an international gathering in
late March/April 2012 (dates will be confirmed and communicated in
December). There was agreement that having a chance to meet, share
experiences, ideas and skills and help develop future collaborations is a
really useful thing to do. Different occupy movements have access to
finance which may help in making a gathering possible. It was also said
that lots of international working groups already exist and so we should
reach out to them. There was also talk of an international solidarity fund.



***Consensus:* A working group will be formed (that could become multiple
groups if this is more effective) consisting of people present at the
meeting that will work on developing this idea and will then bring it back
to each of the movements.



* *

*3.      **International day of action*

There was support for another international day of action (like Oct 15).

10 December was proposed by the Madrid general assembly as it’s the
international day of human rights. There was a point made that we need to
be careful to not impose certain ways of working and be aware that not all
methods are appropriate/ work in other countries.



*Proposal: *That 10 December be an international day of action.

***Consensus: *We will take this proposal to our movements and discuss it
there.



*Other*

There was also talk about different marches taking place and the idea of
forming caravans that visit the different occupations and sites of protest.



*Caravan:* There was broad agreement that a caravans that would visit
different occupations would be useful and that this would be better sooner
rather than later as some sites may not last as long because winter is
coming. A group from the meeting will start an international working group
(on the global assembly list) to get the process going.



*Marches***

There will be a march to Rome and Athens from Nice.

There was also a suggestion for possible days of action or gatherings when
these marches reach their destinations.

* *

*4.      **Working towards an international solidarity statement*

The London international working group have drafted a starting document to
work towards an international solidarity statement. The statement was read
out- it was very much a work-in progress and the idea is for different
movements to discuss it and work on it and suggest changes.



There was a general warm feeling to taking this statement to our different
movements and testing the waters there.




-- 
Kevin Buckland
Art Ambassador, 350.org
kevin at 350.org
skype: change.of.art
Twitter: change_of_art
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