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Conflict at Occupy Sacramento: The Revolution Will Not be Co-opted
To quote a friend, unity is not worth it if truth is the victim. We are reforming Occupy Sacramento. We want the people to know what transpired at the General Assembly tonight, who we are, who we have disassociated ourselves from, and what we want to accomplish. Our mission is, as always, to show solidarity with Occupy Wall Street by creating a SAFE public space for people to teach, learn, act, and collaborate with each other in order to build a better future. We are educated men and womyn, we are opposed to oppression, violence, and inequality, and we are blowing the rape whistle on some serious B.S.
To the People of the World:
Tonight at the Occupy Sacramento general assembly, five members of the Community and Outreach committee made a block on all announcements and proposals in order to address an issue that (if not resolved appropriately) could potentially cause them to walk away. They alerted their fellow occupiers to recently uncovered information that one of the core organizers of Occupy Sacramento has kept the presence of a rapist quiet because he identified with him, and wanted to protect him. This individual deliberately with-held information that the occupiers of Cesar Chavez park need to know in order to keep themselves aware and safe. He used his role as an authority figure to control the information he received in order to serve his interests. What he should have done was to make us occupiers aware that such an incident occurred. We, the five who did the block tonight, only found out about this information when he whispered it into the ear of one of our members, and then whispered that he had been accused of rape twice, and that he'd kept the information quiet because he was worried about what would happen to the rapist if anyone found out. What about what would happen to the rest of us if you don't tell us there's a rapist in our park?
We took turns on the mic and gave our perspective on the situation, and made it clear that if the issue could not be resolved appropriately and by consensus, we would walk away. We expected our fellow occupiers to feel just as shocked as we did, and many did. Some didn't. At least seven blocks were made in opposition to our block. You can see what transpired by following the provided link. In order to keep the peace, since the situation was getting pretty heated (it seems some of it was cut out on the live stream), the moderator proposed that we all take a break to discuss the issue in groups and reconvene in five minutes.
Instead of addressing this safety issue in discussion groups as proposed, a crowd rallied around the organizer we had just blown the whistle on about compromising our safety. Worried that said individual's male sex and masculine gender would undermine the information we'd just communicated, the womyn in whom said organizer had confided that he had been accused of rape twice (and withheld the information that a rapist was among us for that reason) stood up shoulder-to-shoulder with this guy and dropped that knowledge on the crowd.
At this point things got a little crazy. One of the Media/PR people who was upset about the information had one man follow her to the Media/PR tent, and try to comfort her by saying it wasn't a big deal. Multiple people kept approaching her, surrounding her, and lecturing her, in order to comfort her. The Community and Outreach people who spoke up were harassed by several occupiers who just wanted them to "see the light" (not all of the people who approached us were harassing us, but some were). What was especially disturbing and disgusting to us was the fact that several of the core organizers who we thought would get it clearly didn't. The dialogue used to keep our support, and our labor, in line with their agenda was amazingly sexist.
It is especially important to address the fact that the victim was put at risk by tonight's events. Unfortunately, someone informed the perpetrator of the alleged rape that he had been exposed, and next thing we knew we were being accused of "re-raping" the victim. WE DID NOT INFORM THE BOYFRIEND. We are unsure of who did, so we won't point fingers or play the blame game, even though we have our suspicions. In fact we intentionally omitted the names of those involved to keep the situation from possibly escalating. We only exposed the core organizer; we don't even know the names of the other people involved. If we had known that by coming forward we would put the victim at risk we would have used a different strategy, but accusing us of putting the victim at risk is a scapegoat to keep people distracted from the real perpetrator.
We had hoped that by coming forward we could pave the way for making our movement totally transparent, and open up discussion about checks and balances, accountability etc. Instead we were attacked for "destroying unity" and "breaking solidarity". WE CALL BULLSHIT! If our safety is more important than fracturing the movement then so be it. we won't be part of a movement that perpetuates rape culture or allows rape apologists to maintain leadership positions. We need a restructuring of the way we handle safety issues at the park. There's no room for a police state within this movement. All opposed can leave, and have left, so we are reforming our movement. A few of us have decided on Occupy Yourself as a tentative name. Everyone's worried about this revolution being co-opted by a political party. Political parties are not the only ones we have to be wary about. We want the people to know that Occupy Sacramento WILL NOT BE CO-OPTED by prejudice, violence, non-inclusiveness, or any of the other bullshit that's responsible for our oppression as the 99%.
Until we get our social media together, you can contact us by e-mailing community.occupysacto [at] gmail.com if you have questions or want clarification about what happened.
Our competitors are predators! If you are in Sacramento and are upset about what went down tonight, come to the anti-oppression teach-in at the park tomorrow, Sunday Oct 23, at 1pm. If you already gave Occupy Sacramento a chance and were discouraged from participating because of sexism, racism, able-ism, criminalization of the homeless, and generally messed up paradigms of thought exhibited by some of the occupiers, we invite you to meet with us tomorrow!
Peace love and solidarity,
Occupy Yourself
Tonight at the Occupy Sacramento general assembly, five members of the Community and Outreach committee made a block on all announcements and proposals in order to address an issue that (if not resolved appropriately) could potentially cause them to walk away. They alerted their fellow occupiers to recently uncovered information that one of the core organizers of Occupy Sacramento has kept the presence of a rapist quiet because he identified with him, and wanted to protect him. This individual deliberately with-held information that the occupiers of Cesar Chavez park need to know in order to keep themselves aware and safe. He used his role as an authority figure to control the information he received in order to serve his interests. What he should have done was to make us occupiers aware that such an incident occurred. We, the five who did the block tonight, only found out about this information when he whispered it into the ear of one of our members, and then whispered that he had been accused of rape twice, and that he'd kept the information quiet because he was worried about what would happen to the rapist if anyone found out. What about what would happen to the rest of us if you don't tell us there's a rapist in our park?
We took turns on the mic and gave our perspective on the situation, and made it clear that if the issue could not be resolved appropriately and by consensus, we would walk away. We expected our fellow occupiers to feel just as shocked as we did, and many did. Some didn't. At least seven blocks were made in opposition to our block. You can see what transpired by following the provided link. In order to keep the peace, since the situation was getting pretty heated (it seems some of it was cut out on the live stream), the moderator proposed that we all take a break to discuss the issue in groups and reconvene in five minutes.
Instead of addressing this safety issue in discussion groups as proposed, a crowd rallied around the organizer we had just blown the whistle on about compromising our safety. Worried that said individual's male sex and masculine gender would undermine the information we'd just communicated, the womyn in whom said organizer had confided that he had been accused of rape twice (and withheld the information that a rapist was among us for that reason) stood up shoulder-to-shoulder with this guy and dropped that knowledge on the crowd.
At this point things got a little crazy. One of the Media/PR people who was upset about the information had one man follow her to the Media/PR tent, and try to comfort her by saying it wasn't a big deal. Multiple people kept approaching her, surrounding her, and lecturing her, in order to comfort her. The Community and Outreach people who spoke up were harassed by several occupiers who just wanted them to "see the light" (not all of the people who approached us were harassing us, but some were). What was especially disturbing and disgusting to us was the fact that several of the core organizers who we thought would get it clearly didn't. The dialogue used to keep our support, and our labor, in line with their agenda was amazingly sexist.
It is especially important to address the fact that the victim was put at risk by tonight's events. Unfortunately, someone informed the perpetrator of the alleged rape that he had been exposed, and next thing we knew we were being accused of "re-raping" the victim. WE DID NOT INFORM THE BOYFRIEND. We are unsure of who did, so we won't point fingers or play the blame game, even though we have our suspicions. In fact we intentionally omitted the names of those involved to keep the situation from possibly escalating. We only exposed the core organizer; we don't even know the names of the other people involved. If we had known that by coming forward we would put the victim at risk we would have used a different strategy, but accusing us of putting the victim at risk is a scapegoat to keep people distracted from the real perpetrator.
We had hoped that by coming forward we could pave the way for making our movement totally transparent, and open up discussion about checks and balances, accountability etc. Instead we were attacked for "destroying unity" and "breaking solidarity". WE CALL BULLSHIT! If our safety is more important than fracturing the movement then so be it. we won't be part of a movement that perpetuates rape culture or allows rape apologists to maintain leadership positions. We need a restructuring of the way we handle safety issues at the park. There's no room for a police state within this movement. All opposed can leave, and have left, so we are reforming our movement. A few of us have decided on Occupy Yourself as a tentative name. Everyone's worried about this revolution being co-opted by a political party. Political parties are not the only ones we have to be wary about. We want the people to know that Occupy Sacramento WILL NOT BE CO-OPTED by prejudice, violence, non-inclusiveness, or any of the other bullshit that's responsible for our oppression as the 99%.
Until we get our social media together, you can contact us by e-mailing community.occupysacto [at] gmail.com if you have questions or want clarification about what happened.
Our competitors are predators! If you are in Sacramento and are upset about what went down tonight, come to the anti-oppression teach-in at the park tomorrow, Sunday Oct 23, at 1pm. If you already gave Occupy Sacramento a chance and were discouraged from participating because of sexism, racism, able-ism, criminalization of the homeless, and generally messed up paradigms of thought exhibited by some of the occupiers, we invite you to meet with us tomorrow!
Peace love and solidarity,
Occupy Yourself
For more information:
http://LiveStream from tonight: http://liv...
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Who is this person? Of coarse people ask questions, that's the power of this movement. I wasn't there so I wont make any assumptions about this. From what you have written here I can see how people might interpret what your saying as being heresy. I am not saying it is. If it is true it's still likely that people are claiming that it's a false accusation. So how do people really know whether it's some rumor or not? Again, questioning is needed. You might very well be right that this person was someone who protected a rapist. What if he wasn't? I don't know, and I don't expect anyone else to just know.
I mean what if you're a provocateur inciting rumors? What if you're part of some righteous clique trying to impose top down unity around what you believe to be true? What if you're totally right and the occupation in Sacramento needs to back up and reassess it's principles? What if there's a clique of people surrounding a rape defender who want to overlook the issue? Again, I want to emphasize that I wasn't present so wont assume anything.
I mean what if you're a provocateur inciting rumors? What if you're part of some righteous clique trying to impose top down unity around what you believe to be true? What if you're totally right and the occupation in Sacramento needs to back up and reassess it's principles? What if there's a clique of people surrounding a rape defender who want to overlook the issue? Again, I want to emphasize that I wasn't present so wont assume anything.
In my own opinion, and as enacted by the bylaws created by the will of the body:
At Occupy Sacramento, Committees are working groups which are authorized to formulate official statements that are represented views of the movement. These statements, before released, are supposed to be processed through the General Assembly, and as a recommendation, CORE meetings. No Committee can make statements on behalf of the movement without consent of the body.
The Committee admittedly went against the bylaws in place requiring The Committee to motion before releasing a statement, by using a block to bring the nature of this incident to light.
Bear in mind the alleged victim was not assaulted on site, and was processed through the police department. When asked if she wanted help filing a temporary restraining order, she declined. The alleged victim also made it very clear she did not want this information broadcasted, and felt violated. Both the alleged victim and accused were present for these announcements, putting the alleged victim in a situation in which she was "at risk".
The Community and Outreach Committee also admittedly ran background checks on numerous individuals as a standing committee, without consulting with CORE or the GA. They believed that they were entitled to an executive decision, and acting as a committee, bypassed the will of the body.
This Committee failed to respect the bylaws of the Occupy Sacramento movement and acted at their own accord. The views reflected of this committee were not approved, and are not recognized by the Occupy Sacramento movement.
C. Kay
At Occupy Sacramento, Committees are working groups which are authorized to formulate official statements that are represented views of the movement. These statements, before released, are supposed to be processed through the General Assembly, and as a recommendation, CORE meetings. No Committee can make statements on behalf of the movement without consent of the body.
The Committee admittedly went against the bylaws in place requiring The Committee to motion before releasing a statement, by using a block to bring the nature of this incident to light.
Bear in mind the alleged victim was not assaulted on site, and was processed through the police department. When asked if she wanted help filing a temporary restraining order, she declined. The alleged victim also made it very clear she did not want this information broadcasted, and felt violated. Both the alleged victim and accused were present for these announcements, putting the alleged victim in a situation in which she was "at risk".
The Community and Outreach Committee also admittedly ran background checks on numerous individuals as a standing committee, without consulting with CORE or the GA. They believed that they were entitled to an executive decision, and acting as a committee, bypassed the will of the body.
This Committee failed to respect the bylaws of the Occupy Sacramento movement and acted at their own accord. The views reflected of this committee were not approved, and are not recognized by the Occupy Sacramento movement.
C. Kay
Lol. CK, honestly, kudos to you for being outspoken and assertive. And to address what you bring up about the alleged victim, all you had to do was read the article and you would've gotten an answer to that. Or you can watch the live stream from yesterday's Community and Outreach meeting because I'm won't keep repeating myself. Since they run their committee democratically and give everyone a chance to speak, I had the opportunity to set some facts straight about what I said even though I officially left the group Saturday night.
Seriously though, lol-ing hard. When you say stuff like this I feel good about making the "executive decision" to stick to my principles. Oh and by "background checks" I think you mean me looking people up on facebook.
Seriously though, lol-ing hard. When you say stuff like this I feel good about making the "executive decision" to stick to my principles. Oh and by "background checks" I think you mean me looking people up on facebook.
Mona, whoever you are, you should be ashamed of yourself. You're either a malicious attention seeker willing to destroy this movement or you are an agent provocateur. Either way, you have absolutely no right to discuss other people's private lives in public like this, especially when it has absolutely nothing to do with you. You also have no right to attempt to divide this movement because of your own selfish needs. If you or anyone else is unhappy with what's going on in Cesar Chavez Park, you are perfectly welcome to just leave and not come back. Do not try to divide this group or sow the seeds of mistrust and suspicion. Shame on you.
And just to clarify, I have nothing to do with Occupy Sacramento other than watching it on Livestream and giving whatever moral support I can. I don't even live in the U.S.
And just to clarify, I have nothing to do with Occupy Sacramento other than watching it on Livestream and giving whatever moral support I can. I don't even live in the U.S.
Mona, I recommend learning to listen and read with your mind, not your emotions.
Your childish outburst has received enough attention for the past 5 days, and has been counter productive to the movement. After today, your time in the limelight will be over. We will move onward; stronger, and more united.
At this point, for all I care, you guys can just go and occupy yourselves.
Your childish outburst has received enough attention for the past 5 days, and has been counter productive to the movement. After today, your time in the limelight will be over. We will move onward; stronger, and more united.
At this point, for all I care, you guys can just go and occupy yourselves.
Dear Mona,
I really like all five of you, and think it is always appropriate to be vigilant for the rights of everyone. I was very sad to see you all leave, and I think things would have played out much better with just a slightly different strategy.
Instead of blocking the entire process of the general assembly in a very confrontational way, I think if you waited just an hour or so for new business to come up. At that point, I think we could have satisfied all of our needs by proposing a motion to establish specific rules/procedures for the Peace Keeping Committee, including transparency issues. I can't imagine anyone objecting to establishing transparent bylaws and rules for this committee...and from my understanding this HAS started to come together since Saturday.
Unfortunately when the entire process was stopped before it really got started, it quickly turned into an emotion-filled shouting match. Everyone wanted their side of the story to be heard and felt like they weren't being heard, and the assembly quickly lost track of the obvious solutions we could all agree upon. Using our very open process constructively, I think you could have more briefly identified the cause for your concern, and focused on the solutions you needed in a well defined motion which could be put to a vote.
Just my two cents. Since this point of view had not been shared here, I thought I should. I am very sorry some of you felt the need to leave. And I am a bit offended by your generalization of all of us as predators when many still share your concerns. But I wish you well, and hope we can all get along better in the future. Thanks!
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