<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Here are brief English notes from two International Meetings that took place at the G20 in Nice: </b><br><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"><br>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"><span></span>Below is a brief summary of the meetings. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family:Arial">First meeting</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">The
agenda was collectively decided as:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">1. Where are
we now?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">2. What unites
us?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">3. Where do we
go from here?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">1. Where are
we now?<br>
</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">We
heard from the following places: Portugal, Tunisia, Israel, Greece,
Egypt, France, Wall Street, Belgium, Spain, London, Italy, Canada,
Venezuela, Amsterdam, Berlin<br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family:Arial">Second meeting</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Where do we go
from here?</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">We
agreed on the following agenda for the second meeting:</span></p>
<ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Joint press release (regarding the
arrests at the G20)</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Possibility of an
international<span> </span>gathering of the
different movements</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">International day of action</span></b></li><li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">An international solidarity
statement </span></b></li></ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0cm;text-indent:0cm"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>1.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Joint press
release</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Proposal</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial">: A working
group will be formed to work on a joint press release which can then be sent to
the different occupy movements. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Outcome: </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial">A working
group was formed to draft the press release.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">2. International
gathering of different movements</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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. <span></span>There was also talk of an international solidarity fund. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">**Consensus:</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial"> 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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36pt"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>3.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family:Arial">International
day of action</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">There
was support for another international day of action (like Oct 15). </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Proposal: </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial">That 10
December be an international day of action.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">**Consensus: </span></b><span style="font-family:Arial">We will take
this proposal to our movements and discuss it there. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family:Arial">Other</span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">There
was also talk about different marches taking place and the idea of forming
caravans that visit the different occupations and sites of protest.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Caravan:</span></b><span style="font-family:Arial"> 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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Marches</span></b><b><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">There
will be a march to Rome and Athens from Nice. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">There
was also a suggestion for possible days of action or gatherings when these
marches reach their destinations. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0cm;text-indent:0cm"><b><span style="font-family:Arial"><span>4.<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span></b><b><span style="font-family:Arial">Working
towards an international solidarity statement</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">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. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">There was a general warm feeling to
taking this statement to our different movements and testing the waters there. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial"> </span></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Kevin Buckland<br>Art Ambassador, <a href="http://350.org/" target="_blank">350.org</a><br><a href="mailto:kevin@350.org" target="_blank">kevin@350.org</a><br>
skype: change.of.art<br>Twitter: change_of_art<br><br><br>