2014 March Gathering

Reclaim the Power Gathering
22nd-23rd March 2014
Zu Studios, Lewes

SUMMARY OF DECISIONS
AGREEMENT: Accessibility at Gatherings

That Reclaim the Power gatherings will always have:
1) Childcare
2) Accessible venues
In addition:
3) We will review the safer spaces agreement and agree it by consensus as soon as possible. (NB: this is on this gathering’s agenda)
4) That we will commit to educating ourselves on power / privilege / oppression
5) That we commit to welcoming and involving new new participants at our gatherings

Clarifying question: What do we mean by childcare?
Answer: This is work in progress, but something along the lines of a staffed kids’ space at every gathering.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Safer Spaces Policy

The revised Safer Spaces Policy was read out in full (see Appendix I).

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Strategic Objectives

Over the next twelve months Reclaim the Power will aim to achieve the following strategic objectives:

To have built a mutual support network with groups that challenge corporate power, through shared events, sharing skills and promoting each other’s campaigns.
To have effectively undermined corporate power and government policy over energy policy, energy security, fuel poverty and climate change.
To link fracking and other extreme energy with climate change.
To popularize the idea that addressing climate change requires collective action, not simply individual or government action.
To train facilitators, ensure our spaces are safer, creating a multitude of learning opportunities about anti-oppression, and to improve accessibility
To become educated as to what movement building is.
To make our gatherings and actions will be more reflective of wider society
To inspire everyday people to initiate, enjoy and participate in creative non-violent direct action
To have created political space for community and publicly owned renewable energy solutions.
To have built awareness and support for publicly owned and community controlled energy and demand reduction.
To have used positive solutions in our actions and also created a space where people can learn and practice using them

In addition to these strategic aims, we will:

Incorporate TTIP into what we do and our narrative and reach out to other groups working on this issue to support their work
Integrate planning for COP21 into our work over the next twelve months.

Clarifying questions and answers:
Why are we doing this? – Good process, chance to be involved, first time able to think ahead beyond summer, puts us in a strong position for future decision making
How does it feed into actions? We will use it in our next steps to decide the shape of the summer event.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: The Summer Event

The Summer Event will be:
A camp similar building on the format of last year.
A hub for direct action.
It will promote positive solutions/alternatives.
It will target an extreme energy site.
It will link together the issues of corporate power, the environment, and social justice.
We will aim to make the camp’s participants more reflective of wider society.
We will aim to make the camp a transformational and empowering experience for all.

Clarifying questions and answers:
Capacity check? Around 25 people voiced energy for working on the project.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Media Group

Press Releases – write them and circulate them
Deal with media enquiries by phone and email
Participate in and prepare for interviews – radio, tv, debates etc
Look for media hooks and opportunities

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Participation Group

Prepare/source materials and train people to deliver the message to a diverse range of communities and bring these issues to their attention and to promote movement building and advance the camp.
Solidarity, outreach, movement-building
Work with other groups, encourage people and groups’ involvement
Produce materials.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Infrastructure Working Group

Remit: We are responsible for: Sanitation, kitchen, transport, tat, tech, power supply, comms, meeting structures, all physical structures, definition (town planning/spaces).

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

AGREEMENT: Gatherings Group

Aims:
To ensure that all gathering attendees are fully able to particpate in our processes
To ensure that all gatherings are energising, educational, and inspirational spaces
To ensure that every gathering enables participants to make solid progress towards our strategic objectives
To improve our skill-set as a network of facilitators and self-facilitators
To maintain a functional systaem of internal communications between gatherings
To maximise democracy at all RTP events

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS
SATURDAY MINUTES
INTRODUCTION SESSION

Gathering housekeeping.
Introduce the gatherings group.
Introduce who we are, and how we came to be as be as a group.
Ice-breaker: Introduce yourself and how you travelled here today.
How gatherings work (including Jargon Buster)
Context of consensus.
Hand signals.
Consensus process.
Jargon busting.
‘Here to Help’ and mediation.
Key decisions will be on the website (unless sensitive).
Who’s welcome? Participants welcome (and journalists).
PROPOSAL: Accessibility at Gatherings

That Reclaim the Power gatherings will always have:
1) Childcare
2) Accessible venues
In addition:
3) We will review the safer spaces agreement and agree it by consensus as soon as possible. (NB: this is on this gathering’s agenda)
4) That we will commit to educating ourselves on power / privilege / oppression
5) That we commit to welcoming and involving new new participants at our gatherings

Clarifying question: What do we mean by childcare?
Answer: This is work in progress, but something along the lines of a staffed kids’ space at every gathering.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

PROPOSAL: Safer Spaces Policy

The revised Safer Spaces Policy was read out in full (see Appendix I).

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

Questions: Is this a work in progress document?
Answer: Yes!
Buddies and facilitators to be on hand if Safer Spaces is felt to have been breached during the gathering.

POLITICAL CONTEXT PRESENTATION

Presentation of the current political context in relation to our broad focus areas (See Appendix II)

AGREEING OUR STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Participants split into groups at random and asked to consider what we want to achieve, as Reclaim the Power, in the next twelve months. The broad focus areas we agreed at the last gathering are used to structure this discussion:
Corporate Power.
Climate Change and Energy.
Anti-Oppression and Movement Building.
Positive Solutions.
Following small group time, all each group fed back to the room on all four focus areas.
Corporate Power (synthesized from all groups):
Make them listen
Stop corporate control, take control for ourselves
Pressure corporate media to be more transparent/ impartial
Stop TTIP
Make ecocide criminal offense
Public recognize corporations as threat
Action on how it can be challenged
Link to fuel pov, more toxification of Big6
All parties agree no incentives for fracking
De-legit fracking
Decrease investment in fracking and fossil fuels
Increase in clean renewables
Decentralise power and decision making
Energy coops
No corporate power in energy?
Energy and Climate Change(synthesized from all groups):
Sustainable consumption
De-growth
Energy and climate change manifesto (Labour party)
Support local initiatives
International networking to inspire other groups and communities
Advocate community control
Adopt hallmarks individuals and act on
Make it politically dangerous for parties to promote fossil fuels
CC top of political agenda at elections
Global callouts
Increased sense of urgency
Serious change in government
Positive Solutions (synthesized from all groups):
Get more people involve
Skillshares
Lead by example
More highlighting positives
International collab
List potential allies and list
Push for million climate jobs
Push renewables as real solution
More awareness around community energy
Get more people in community energy involved in RtP
Stop paying debts
Energy coops
Own social media network
Sing about it
Grow own food,
Community empowerment
Name and shame suppliers to fossil fuel industry
Encourage permaculture principles and ethics
Anti-oppression work and movement building (synthesized from all groups):
Adopt anti-oppressive structures and organization
Chalenneg forms of oppression
Diversity of facilitators
More numbers
Federated structures and spokes councils
Building in local areas
Mainstream direct action and make more accessible
Redistribution of wealth and power
More solidarity with other groups
Connect with other issues
Actively join other groups as reps from RtP
Connect more with comm unities where we live
More independent media channels
Welcoming allies and collaborating with diverse range of groups
Safer spaces policy
Giving everyone a voice
A discussion was then held, taking the ideas and using them to develop core strategic objectives for the next twelve months:
Proposals for RtP to make TTIP a focus for our anti-corporate objective.
Alternative proposals to aim to have a measurable impact on delegitimizing corporate power.
A proposal raised to increase divestment in fossil fuel companies.
To de-marketize energy and create public confidence in the possibility of energy coming under public control.
Long discussion had around TTIP.
Incorporate TTIP into what we do and our narrative and reach out to other groups to support their work
To have built a mutual support network with groups that challenge corporate power, through shared events, sharing skills and promoting each others campaigns. (Temperature Check: good support).
Effectively undermine corporate power over governments, energy policy, energy security, fuel poverty and climate change. (Temperature Check: good support).
Concerns raised over focusing on the negative, and that we need to focus on desire for renewables.
When fracking, energy security and extreme energy is discussed publicly, ensure that a narrative about climate change is mentioned in media discussion . Temperature check: good support).
Proposal: Address consumerism (Temperature check: Little support)
Proposal: Raising climate change on the political, social and economic agenda (Temperature Check: Good-strong support)
Proposal: To link fracking and other extreme energy with climate change (Temperature Check: strong support)
Climate change is still politically dangerous, still difficult
Narrative on energy security is big, can we coopt message to talk about ‘climate security’
Are we talking about the public debate or the way we talk about everything?
Further proposals about bringing CC back onto agenda, linked with fracking
Belief there should be something positive in this element
Proposal: RtP has contributed to climate being linked to energy issues when being mentioned in mainstream press and public discussion (Temperature check: broad agreement)
Proposal: RtP cause a reduction in carbon emissions through our direct actions (Divided response, to proposal parked).
Preference that we embrace a broader message about collective reduction on emissions.
Concern about a capacity issue in achieving our strategic objectives.
Proposal: COP21 in 2015 to be integrated into our planning over the next 12month. (Temperature check: reasonable support – agreement to be noted and will be revisited later).
Proposal: Popularise the idea that addressing climate change requires collective action, not simply individual our government action (Temperature check: very strong support).
Proposal: To train a wide range of facilitators, ensure our spaces are safer (enact policy – ongoing), Creating a multitude of learning opportunities and to improve accessibility (Temperature Check: strong agreement).
Proposal: To become educated as to what movement building is as a core strategic objective (Temperature check: strong agreement).
Proposal: In our movement building work we bear in mind our social justice aims by working in solidarity with all groups who agree with our aims of climate and social justice (Temperature check: not agreed).
Proposal: Our gatherings and actions will be more reflective of wider society (Temperature check: agreement).
Proposal: Inspire everyday people to initiate and enjoy creative non-violent direct action (temperature check: agreement).
Proposal: To have built awareness and support for publicly owned and community controlled renewable energy (Temperature check: agreement)
Proposal: To use positive solutions in our action and also create a space where people can learn and practice using them (Temperature check: agreement).
Maybe we can make the point about community controlled renewables, but a publicly owned grid
Alternative suggestions: educating and empowering ourselves to take positive steps towards a renewable energy future.
Want more info from ‘experts’ on positive solutions.

PROPOSAL: Strategic Objectives

Over the next twelve months Reclaim the Power will aim to achieve the following strategic objectives:

To have built a mutual support network with groups that challenge corporate power, through shared events, sharing skills and promoting each other’s campaigns.
To have effectively undermined corporate power and government policy over energy policy, energy security, fuel poverty and climate change.
To link fracking and other extreme energy with climate change.
To popularize the idea that addressing climate change requires collective action, not simply individual or government action.
To train facilitators, ensure our spaces are safer, creating a multitude of learning opportunities about anti-oppression, and to improve accessibility
To become educated as to what movement building is.
To make our gatherings and actions will be more reflective of wider society
To inspire everyday people to initiate, enjoy and participate in creative non-violent direct action
To have created political space for community and publicly owned renewable energy solutions.
To have built awareness and support for publicly owned and community controlled energy and demand reduction.
To have used positive solutions in our actions and also created a space where people can learn and practice using them

In addition to these strategic aims, we will:

Incorporate TTIP into what we do and our narrative and reach out to other groups working on this issue to support their work
Integrate planning for COP21 into our work over the next twelve months.

Clarifying questions and answers:
Why are we doing this? – Good process, chance to be involved, first time able to think ahead beyond summer, puts us in a strong position for future decision making
How does it feed into actions? We will use it in our next steps to decide the shape of the summer event.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

BRAINSTORMING THE SUMMER EVENT

A discussion was held in small groups, followed by feedback to all participants, around possibilities for the summer event. Groups discussed both focus and format.

The ideas expressed were too vast to capture in this document, but were displayed across the room to inform decisions made on Sunday.

SUNDAY MINUTES
FACE TO FACE SOLIDARITY –WORKSHOP

Groups broke into small groups to consider what we understand “making links” and “solidarity” to be. Groups were also invited to consider a positive example they had seen where “solidarity” had been shown.

Towards the end of the session, feedback was taken from all groups.

Group 1:
Solidarity. A wish list is a great way of allowing people to express solidarity.
We need to think of the tangible results. Find common ground. Find groups it makes sense to work with. Build trust. Build relationships rather than jumping in with a plan.
Start the process long before an action.
Skills are needed to build solidarity. Empathy, listening. Empower people by finding ways for them to help. People with homes and beds and lives of their own can be helpful if you help them to see how they can be of use.
When offering solidarity make sure you can deliver what you offer.
Networks – they’re not all on social media. How can we identify genuine networks and community? How can we then communicate with them?
Diversity– if you want to appeal to a diverse range of people, keep your own group diverse. Check your privilege.
Meetings can be intimidating – when you go to someone else’s, take a buddy.
Identifying leaders of groups can help. But be aware these people can be polarizing as well as influencing.
Group 2:
Personal involvement from the heart. Become part of other groups. It can feel uncomfortable getting involved with groups that aren’t the same as one’s own.
But solidarity is about building personal relationships.
We need to show a united front publically and not snipe at each other.
Group 3:
We have to be open to other peoples’ views. It’s not about us setting side our beliefs, but to be open to the views of others while still standing up for what you believe.
Be prepared when going out to other groups. We have to be clear and honest about what we want. It’s not just about saying we love each other. We have to find genuine understanding: we need clarity.
It’s not as intimidating as an action or a meeting.
SAY THANK YOU – having your actions and kindnesses recognized is powerful.
Groups 4:
Communicating. This is the platform for developing relationships. Find activities that help you to utilize your energy usefully.
Try not to make assumptions about others in terms of what you can and cannot share.
Deep links and starting points are important.
Solidarity – sometimes it can be about turning up with nothing. You turn up with a blank slate and allow the group you are supporting to instruct you. You have to work within their terms.
But you can’t always do this.
There is individual solidarity and group solidarity. You have things to give. And you have needs and desires.
It takes time to build relationships. We have responsibilities when we have relationships.
Skills required: patience, listening.
We have to consider privilege, and power around solidarity. We have to be honest about our agenda. Solidarity is an ongoing conversation.
International solidarity.
Further announcements on the workshop theme:
Resources – Eve is putting out showing solidarity info-sheet based on experiences in Palestine.
Phil Day’s film Autumn Diary. The film costs one pound and fifty pence.

AGREEING THE FORMAT AND FOCUS OF OUR SUMMER EVENT

Facilitators set the context of the event:
Referencing the strategic aims agreed on the previous day.
We’ve also already agreed, at the previous gathering, that we will hold the summer event between the 12th-19th August.
Need to take into account capacity and resources at all times. Be realistic.
Remember people who aren’t in the room who may be involved along the line.
Discussion:
Pretty much agreed summer event focused on fracking and fossil fuel industry. Multiple action on one day- ‘Raiding parties’ to scare the industry!
Yesterday we thought about ‘Format’ i.e. the logistical, practical nature of the event. This could mean a camp, a caravan, a conference. ‘Focus’ is more of a political focus. Fracking, fuel poverty, climate change, could all be a focus.
(2 Min discussions) Now it’s time for proposals! We would like a camp that acts as a hub to empower people to take direct action. Mutual support network with respect to different tactics. Provide a space where we practice positive solutions.
Fracture between camp and caravan ideas.
Caravan: Kind of migrating camp that will go between different fracking sites that can provide workshops around direct action, community energy. It would bring people to each camp with workshops and speakers. Some people may stay behind at camps, it will share skills, localities and stories between already existing camps.
Thinking beyond summer event, we should think about capacity of people to move up to existing camps. There was a lot of deflation after people left Balcombe, attempting to address this.
There are already little fracking sites existing, maybe at the end of the one large camp we ask people to move onto existing sites.
Proposals for Caravan: *Between fracking sites. *Speakers and workshops move around *Aims to show solidarity. *Highly visual. *Involve more people. *Media savvy
Force positive solutions.
Concerns of inclusion, accessibility around the caravan.
Camp: The value of lots of people coming together around environmental issues. There is already a lot of media attention around Fracking- keep it as focus. If there is a main camp it can bring people from Romania, Poland etc. Can try and be more global and facilitate this. ‘Week of solidarity’.
Spectacle of thousands of people marching in big camp is strong. Strapline to camp “Reclaim the Power- There is an Alternative” Use it to frame the alternatives are and how we need to get there.
Linking issues together should happen in a camp- relate the idea that profiteering energy companies are allowed to Frack. From this issues of social justice, energy, corporate power etc. all stem from Fracking issues. We could have a camp in an area affected by flooding, could serve as a strong reminder of how they are connected.
Name 6 or 7 Fracking sites and only announce one (concern about working with local community).
Wanted to run a workshop on movement building- People identify targets for action. Let’s facilitate people to pick targets, pick tactics and sort at the camp.
Concern is that camps are focused on media attention, which may distract from direct action. We may also be able to draw in people from the festival circuit who may be able to get involved in something more political.
We then came to agreeing certain ‘aspects of the event’ in principle:
Camp is agreed in principle.
Hub for direct action, agreed in principle.
Promoting positive solutions/alternatives.

Fracking is a core focus of the camp. Concern: Two new sites in UK are coal bed methane, already there is a diversity of fuels coming. The diversity of extreme energy is very important to get across.
Concern: Camp is bigger than one issue. If it was Fracking, then why not caravan?
Concern: Shouldn’t be single issue. Shouldn’t lost sight of overarching interests of corporate power. Is there no way we can phrase it as ‘extreme energy, corporate interest’ as the strapline.
Proposal: Logistically we will be targeting a fracking site with a camp. Clarification: Do we mean Fracking in the broad sense, including Coal Bed Methane etc? Response: Broad support for a camp at a fracking site, some concerns and clarifications.
Concern: We should work with all extreme energy site.
Renewed proposal: We should be targeting an extreme energy site. Agreed.
Proposal: Be open to diverse range of people, reflective of wider society.
Concern: If we put this as a core proposal we may be setting ourselves up to fail. What exactly do we mean diverse, diverse interest of groups?
Proposal: We will aim to make the camp more reflective of wider society. Agreed.
Proposal: Linking issues- Environmental, social justice, corporate power, any other issues to add?
Concern: Media power. Maybe media alternatives could be proposed and used in the camp.
Proposal: Bring people from outside the country into our event.
Concern: We may be taking too much on, this is all part of our core values and may draw people in.
Concern: There may be issues with people coming to the UK, if there is a call out then there are often solidarity events around the world, rather than travelling.
*Plans beyond the summer event. Agreed as core- nitty gritty will take place in smaller working groups.
Concern: This may overlook working directly with communities. We should arrange the camp relating to things following directly on.
If plans beyond the summer event meant that there was decision making space within the camp.
Transformational and empowering experience for all participants. Agreed.
Link the focus of the camp to the consequences of climate change. Not going in core
Concern: If this is a core objective we may be beholden to it.
Pre-announcing several sites will come into ‘how we announce this’ section later.

If we are talking about direct action, what ideas do we have, where are we targeting? If we are talking about promoting positive solutions then what are they going to be, who are we going to invite to help us achieve these?
Extreme energy- which corporations do we want to target, should we name a few?
Need to mitigate risk for all those involved and to us.
Concern: We need to create our hub for direct action, but being accepting of other tactics. (Could be alienating, want to be inclusive).
We are not trying to fine tune a proposal, just discuss what is crucial to this camp, what you think we need.
Just to clarify where we are in the process, we have drawn a proposal for our summer event, not decided it. We are going to test it for consensus now.
We then took stock of what we had agreed in principle, and begun to move towards the consensus process.

PROPOSAL: The Summer Event

The Summer Event will be:
A camp similar building on the format of last year.
A hub for direct action.
It will promote positive solutions/alternatives.
It will target an extreme energy site.
It will link together the issues of corporate power, the environment, and social justice.
We will aim to make the camp’s participants more reflective of wider society.
We will aim to make the camp a transformational and empowering experience for all.

Clarifying questions and answers:
Capacity check? Around 25 people voiced energy for working on the project.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS
WORKING GROUP FORMATION AND AGREEING REMITS

Various working groups were identified, with those with the most urgent tasks forming and presenting proposed remits to the group. The following remits were agreed.

PROPOSAL: Media Group

Press Releases – write them and circulate them
Deal with media enquiries by phone and email
Participate in and prepare for interviews – radio, tv, debates etc
Look for media hooks and opportunities

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

PROPOSAL: Participation Group

Prepare/source materials and train people to deliver the message to a diverse range of communities and bring these issues to their attention and to promote movement building and advance the camp.
Solidarity, outreach, movement-building
Work with other groups, encourage people and groups’ involvement
Produce materials.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

PROPOSAL: Infrastructure

Remit: We are responsible for: Sanitation, kitchen, transport, tat, tech, power supply, comms, meeting structures, all physical structures, definition (town planning/spaces).

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

PROPOSAL: Gatherings Group

Aims:
To ensure that all gathering attendees are fully able to particpate in our processes
To ensure that all gatherings are energising, educational, and inspirational spaces
To ensure that every gathering enables participants to make solid progress towards our strategic objectives
To improve our skill-set as a network of facilitators and self-facilitators
To maintain a functional systaem of internal communications between gatherings
To maximise democracy at all RTP events

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS

Anti-oppression: did not meet at this gathering, but we believe a draft remit has been produced (present next gathering).

Finance: did not meet at this gathering.

Entertainment and Education: did not meet at this gathering.

Website: did not meet at this gathering.

PROPOSAL: Next Gathering.

The next gathering will be on 26th-27th April in London.

NO BLOCKS
NO STAND ASIDES
ACTIVE CONSENSUS