Workgroup: Crisis Response Team

Goals
One vision- team of ppl who can respond to crisises small and large. not necessarily responsible for dealing w/it, more with helping you get the resources you need to solve your own problems.

Alternative to 911! when ya need something like that, but don't want the cops to come too. More like a starting point to get the support ppl need.

Workgroup: Community Connectedness Mar 17, 2011

Notes from the isolation small group on Mar 17. 2011


Larger Goals
-organize a neighborhood meeting to address the concerns?
-block parties?
-block parent-houses (known/advertised safe houses in the neighborhood)?
-phone-tree to help with crisis prevention/response (instead of la policia)
Roadblocks:
-limitation of language (none of us speak Spanish)
-difficult to have a meaningful/engaged conversation with strangers
-how to phrase intentions (flyers?/clipboard with pen?/freshly baked cookies?...)

Announcing the Community Safety Workgroup

Community Safety Workgroup
Every Other Thursday starting Thu Mar 17th 5pm to 7pm
SubRosa, 703 Pacific Ave

"Without police, wouldn't there be chaos?" "What about the bad people?" As anarchists we get asked these legit questions all the time. It's time we began to wrestle with some possible answers. Don't be fooled by the bland title, this is a project that has the potential to change the world.

This is a structured workshop to plan ways to keep our communities safe at all levels. Here are the challenges we'll tackle

Workgroup Notes: Community Safety Workgroup 17 March 2011

Check-in from participants

Alternatives to police, good ideas, integrating with community better, want safety like TBSC (with different tactics), Appreciation for this class, has seen changes over the years and fear of TBSC vigilantes, interest in practical ideas to replace police, anarchism through making redundant the organs of the state. Woo!

Facilitator's Intro

Facilitator wants to stay nimble, be open to new ways of talking about these things.

Motivation: Hears, what would we do w/o police? Wouldn't thugs rule? But they already do, with their badges. What to do w/o cops, realistically? And how do we provide the good stuff w/o the bad? (avoid the phrase "community policing")

Facilitator's Bottomline

These are the shared premises of the class.  See Premises here.

Our Vision for a World of Community Safety

Brainstorm about a world w/o police, where people provide for each others' safety.  See Vision here.

The Values We Share

Brainstorm about our values, (some shared and some unique) to find our shared views.  We start from here rather than assuming anything.  See Values here.

The Challenges We Face (What are the big pieces of this?)


A brainstorm about the large challenges we face.  The numbers is parenthesis represent the results of a straw poll:  "Which of these things do you consider a priority to work on, something you are willing to put energy into, and potentially has attainable results?"  See Challenges here.

Small Group Work

We gathered into small groups based on the challenges we saw were important and achievable.  We were tasked to look at the following aspects of the big piece that we grabbed:

  1. Goals
  2. Roadblocks
  3. Strategy
  4. Deadlines & next steps

Challenges

The Challenges We Face (What are the big pieces of this?)

A brainstorm about the large challenges we face.  The numbers is parenthesis represent the results of a straw poll:  "Which of these things do you consider a priority to work on, something you are willing to put energy into, and potentially has attainable results?"
  • accountability (14)
  • education (13)
  • crisis response (13)
  • Hierarchy (12)
  • Police (11)
  • community defense/defense of communities (11)
  • violence (specifically domestic and/or sexual) (11)
  • a sense of isolation (9)
  • need to heal (9)
  • environmental justice (8)
  • spaces (places to do the things you do) (8)
  • larger sense of trust (7)
  • unequal dist. of wealth (6)
  • mental health (6)
  • personal identity (who we identify with, on what level, how that holds us back) (6)
  • lack of constancy of commitment (6)
  • Culture of violence (media, television, worship of aggressive competition) (5)
  • Physical health (3)
  • whether we share common values, or even language (3)

Values

The Values We Share

Brainstorm about our values, (some shared and some unique) to find our shared views.  We start from here rather than assuming anything.

  • Autonomy
  • self reliant
  • Honesty
  • free-expression/protection and respect for it
  • trust
  • Genuine
  • Transparency
  • accountability
  • DIY
  • spontaneity
  • mutual support (the support you offer your fellows)
  • Solidarity (support for those people over there)
  • Courage
  • empathy
  • creativity
  • SAFETY

Vision

Our Vision for a World of Community Safety

Brainstorm about a world w/o police, where people provide for each others' safety

  • More community involvement and personal investment in community
  • Having phone trees/knowledge about neighbors
  • more confidence in our ability to care for each other
  • Hapiness, friendliness
  • Safety for everyone - not just the wealthy or housed
  • taking responsibility whenever anything wrong is going on- no matter who it is
  • an understanding in the general public not just of the benefits of police but also the risks- juducial process, lack of control
  • Fluidity and communication between classes
  • Skillsets for non-coercive compassionate conflict resolution
  • knowing you can rely on the ppl around you to help you in case of emergency
  • accountability for our own actions
  • safety vs security- a sense of stability and security so there's no need for desperate choices
  • Autonomy
  • Mutual support, solidarity
  • Home to mean more than house- desire for feeling of community in neighborhood
  • community resiliency- friendship for strong communities, more gatherings
  • common medical knowledge/health knowledge (mental, physical, environmental)
  • knowing that my wolrd won't be poisoned
  • healing and workshops w herbs and spirit- first responder skills, accessible knowledge.
  • Change in the rigidity of laws- more case-to-case decision making
  • Knowing that the members of my comm. have similar interests and goals
  • sharing health knowledge
  • elimination of the specialization of the cop role- more generalized participation from everyone rather than a select few holding all the power
  • need separation between different sets of knowledge- EMTs, firefighters, cops, Red Cross,
  • no sexism, more honor for crones and older women

Premises

These are the shared premises of the class:

  • Everyone desires safety and security (even if we disagree about strategy and threats)
  • We want to work collaboratively. We are here to find solutions together.  
  • We are looking for solutions outside of institutional ones. We solve problems ourselves.  That is, we won't spend time discussing the merits of going to city council to ask them to reprioritize their budget.
  • We are not a service or an institution; we enable people and communities to provide for their own safety. 
  • We believe in transparency.  We document everything we do.  We want people to be able to learn from our process and replicate our work as needed in every town that desires a world without cops.
  • We are here to listen to each other.  We give each other space for people to talk and participate.  Step up, step back.  
  • We are committed.  
  • We are here to act.  
  • What we are wanting is possible and desirable. 

Open Questions

Here is an ongoing list of open questions that have no simple answers. We keep track of them so we don't lose sight of them in the complexity of our task:

  • What do we mean by community?
  • What do we mean by safety?
  • What problems do we face?
  • What infrastructure do we need?
  • How do we divide this up?
  • How do we maintain momentum?
  • What about those laws?
  • Do we have the commitment?

RE Community: let's define it ourselves. Your house? Sure. Watershed? Sure. Let's work w/ what we have and stay open about it.

Workgroup: Mental Health Mar 17, 2011

Notes from the mental health small group work on Mar 17. 2011


Goals 
- not judging, what people need to express.
- open forum for discussion, processing
-approaching everyone without preconceptions of human relationships
-need to heal, and spaces to provide that.
-being gentle towards people that are going toward some kind of awakening.

Strategy

1) Manual for methods of integration. To create a valid space, for anyone who feels isolated for what they ever they are going through.

2) Journal in a public space, where people could share alternative mental experiences, stories, and tools. (A glass of water, and deep breaths, social skills, critical thinking skills about how to look at things in a different perspective ((eliminating static views of self))

3) some kind of mental health medic