activist assembly

Occupy Toronto Activist Assembly

The Deets:

Friday January 20, 2012 – Sunday January 22, 2012
OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education) – St. George and Bloor Street
Toronto, ON

For updates, please check here.

NOTE: You need to register to attend! [email protected] It’s free.

The Call Out:

This is an invitation to Occupy Toronto’s first Activist Assembly on the weekend of January 20, 21, and 22. This will be a weekend-long, conference-style event, focused on developing Occupy Toronto’s activist capacity.

WHERE: OISE (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education @ University of Toronto) at St George and Bloor.

REGISTRATION:

Everyone who plans on attending this event must register to attend. Registration is important because it gives us a sense of how many people are planning to show up. This allows us to book facilities large enough to fit everyone, and ensures that we can have enough food there to feed everyone who attends. Registration is free!

You can register online by sending your name full name in an email entitled “registration” to [email protected] or by signing up on the sign-up sheet that we will be bringing to almost every Toronto General Assembly from now on.

SCHEDULE: (This should be the final schedule:)

Friday:

7:00 – 10:00 Opening Panel – Discussion of why Occupy was effective. Panellists all represent groups who were inspired by the Occupy Movement to fight harder then ever. Focus on the importance of outreach, protest, mass mobilization, and constant recruitment of new people.

Structure of the opening event will be speeches from the panellists followed by a facilitated, open discussion among attendees. Finally break-out groups to get to know each other and answer the question “Why are we here?”

Speakers:

Carolyn Egan is the president of the Steelworkers’ Toronto Area Council and United Steelworkers Local 8300. She is a longtime pro-choice, anti-war and social justice activist in Toronto and a leading member of the International Socialists.

Judy Rebick is a veteran activist, on feminist, democracy, anti-racist and international solidarity issues. She is also a writer, teacher and sometime journalist. She has a new e-book coming out in March called Occupy This!. She is the founding publisher of rabble.ca and a regular on the Q media panel.

Syed Hussan is an organizer, activist and writer based in Toronto. Hussan has been involved with anti-colonial, migrant justice, feminist, anti-racist, environmental justice, anti-war and prison abolition movements and is active in No One Is Illegal Toronto and Toronto Stop the Cuts Network. As part of his involvement in the Toronto Community Mobilization Network, Hussan was charged with Conspiracy. Though his charges were dropped after 18 months, 6 activist and community organizers have been jailed for the Anti-G20 protests.

Saturday:

11:00am – 12:15 – Auditorium – Discussion of Committee / Decision-Making Structure – Michael Rosenburg, Octavian cadabeschi

12:30-1:30 lunch

1:30-2:45 – Auditorium – Discussion of non-Toronto experience – Roundtable discussion, many speakers

3:00-4:15 – Committees and Campaigns

Room 1 – Occupy Gardens – Jacob Kearey Moreland
Room 2 – Accessability Committee – Loretta Lime
Room 3 – Occupy The Rainbow – Jordan BG

4:30-5:45 – Discussion of issues

Room 1 – Environmental Justice – Someone from Environmental Justice Toronto – Megan Kinch
Room 2 – Canada’s occupation at home and abroad – Sid Lacombe
Room 3 – Financial Bubble Collapse – David Mcnally
Room 4 – Austerity – Neoliberalism – Nigel Barriffe and Victoria Barnett
Room 5 – Colonisation, Militirisation and Attacks on Unions – Nadia Saad
Room 6 – Indigenous – Randy Kapashesit

6:00pm-7:00 Dinner

7:30-9:30 General Assembly – OISE courtyard

10:00-2:00 Social – Duke of York – near OISE and St George station, in their Cellar space which hosts 150+ people.
19+ $0-$99 reccommended donation ($0 perfectly acceptable) – To help cover space rental costs for weekend.

Sunday:

11:00am-12:45 – Classroom part 1

Room 1 – Speaking to the Media – Dan Speerin, Adam Slinn, Syed Hussan
Room 2 – Facilitation Training – Peter Bromley
Room 3 – 10 steps to effective campaigning – Steve Stallhorn
Room 4 – Direct Action Training – Aspa + Dave Vasey + Eryn Wheatle
Room 5 – Marshal Training – Martin Sneath, Anna Sneath
Room 6 – Medic Training – Trish Mills, Kristina McGuire, Ed Lutz

LUNCH

1:45pm – 3:30 Classroom part 2

Room 1 – Speaking to the Media – Dan Speerin, Adam Slinn, Syed Hussan
Room 2 – Facilitation Training – Lee McKenna
Room 3 – 10 steps to effective campeigning – Steve Stallhorn
Room 4 – Direct Action Training – Aspa + Dave Vasey + Eryn Wheatle
Room 5 – Marshal Training – Martin Sneath, Anna Sneath
Room 6 – Medic Training – Trish Mills, Kristina McGuire, Ed Lutz

3:45 – 5:15 Committee Discussions

Room 1 – Outreach Shanger/Sean Robinson, Katie Berger/
Room 2 – Action – Dave Vessey, Lana Brite
Room 2 – Room 3 – Mischa Saunders
Room 4 – Finance – Lex
Room 5 – Marshal – Trey Winney

5:30-6:00 Closing Ceremony – Main Room

BUSES:

For those people out of town, we *were* trying to organize buses to bring people out to this event. Unfortunately, that plan did not happen in a large part because the action in London against Caterpillar, Inc is actually more important to bus people to than a conference in Toronto.

If you are from outside Toronto, we recommend making your way to London where Occupy London is organizing a day of solidarity with striking workers. Full info here: http://www.occupylondononca.org/2012/01/08/1620/

SAFETY:

This is an inclusive movement. Everyone is welcome at this event. However, if there is behaviour that raises safety concerns, it is the responsibility of anyone who witnesses it to come forward immediately so the issue can be addressed accordingly.

#30#

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...