Proposals Passed During the 20 Jan 2013 GA

Returning Tactical Funds

Take any remaining funds allocated for the tactical proposal for re-occupation (as determined by FAWG – originally $14,000), and return it to the general funds of Occupy Boston to fund other projects.

Proposed by Dana. Passed by consensus

FAWG Note: It appears that there was $12,000 remaining in the tactical proposal. See tactical-summary.csv

Funding for the Boston Occupier

PROPOSAL

The Boston Occupier, an affinity group, proposes that the Occupy Boston General Assembly donate $2,842 to support the printing and distribution of two issues of the Boston Occupier newspaper.

Funds from the Occupy Boston General Assembly will be used only to cover costs associated with printing and distributing the newspaper. The Boston Occupier will observe complete financial transparency in its disbursement of the funds (as the group has done since it began; see
http://bostonoccupier.com/budget-report). Meanwhile, it will continue to investigate and develop other fundraising models in an effort to achieve longterm financial viability.

The Boston Occupier will remain open to new writers, editors, cartoonists, distributors, and other staff members. It will continue to operate its organization on a model of mutual respect and consensus-based decision making. The Occupy Boston General Assembly will not have any editorial control over the paper or the website (http://bostonoccupier.com) as a result of its donation. We believe that the previous twelve issues of the print edition, as well as the archived content on our website, indicate the consistency of our subject matter, our editorial standards, and our commitment to progressive, radical, left, and grassroots causes and values. We believe our values and practices to be broadly consistent with the values and practices of Occupy Boston.

BACKGROUND

The mission of the Boston Occupier is to produce free, grassroots journalism for New England’s 99% and beyond, while adhering to the principles of accuracy, fairness, transparency, thoroughness and independence. Through the publication of our print and online editions, we aim to be a credible, engaging source of information about progressive, radical, left, and grassroots issues as well as organizing on behalf of social and economic justice and anti-oppression. We are especially concerned to cover stories that the mainstream media neglects to report, or reports in a biased or inadequate manner.

On November 18, 2011, we printed our first issue of paper, and our most recent issue hit the streets in mid-December, 2012. As of this issue, our twelfth, we have distributed more than 120,000 copies of the Boston Occupier. The vast majority of our distribution is in the greater Boston area and Massachusetts. In addition to regular staff writers, past contributors (of reports, stories, and / or photos) include Noah McKenna, Sage Radachowsky, Betsy Boggia, Amanda Achin, Ian Spinich, Theresa Earle, Brian Kwoba, Bil Lewis, Chase Carter, Anna Clayton, and Deborah Sirotkin Butler. Recent subject matter includes anti-drone activism in Boston, Idle No More, rallies in solidarity with Bangladeshi workers, Occupy Sandy, fossil fuel divestment, Monsanto, Boston workers’ protests against Diva Restaurant wage theft, Bradley Manning, student debt, the Debt Jubilee, the Maiden Tentants’ Union, Occupy Homes MA, the Lawrence Bread & Roses Festival, Howard Zinn, the South African miners’ strike, the MBTA, the corporate attack on public education, ALEC, 350.org, and Pilgrim Nuclear power plant.

Content produced by our staff has been reprinted in the Boston Dig, Dollars & Sense, and truthout.org, among other outlets. OBR (Occupy Boston Radio), Boston’s Spare Change News, Open Media Boston have recognized our efforts and reached out to collaborate with us.

Past funding for the Boston Occupier has come from a Kickstarter fund, subscriptions and donations, and a grant from the Movement Resource Group (a working group of Occupy Wall Street). This grant was for six months of funding, and its term ended in January 2013. The newspaper has started the process of coming a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit organization.

Current, regularly participating members of the Boston Occupier include Angie Brandt, Emily Hopkins, Doug Enaa Greene, Joe Ramsey, Kendra Moyer, Julie Orlemanski, Josh Sager, Sarah Herman, Dan Schneider, and Sandra Korn.

Proposed by the Boston Occupier. Passed by consensus

GA Minutes: http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/GA_Minutes_Sun_Jan_20_2013.