Event:2021/08/05 Delegates

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Omni Delegates' Meeting - August 5, 2021 7pm-9pm

Meeting Roles

  • Facilitator/s: patrik
  • Stacktaker:
  • Timekeeper: rachel
  • Notetaker/s: yar
  • Next meeting's facilitator(s):

Delegates

  • ANV: Inactive
  • CCL: Patrik
  • CSC: Arnoldo, Roberto
  • FNB: Joe
  • FYE: AB
  • GWS: Rachel, Jane
  • LL: Inactive?
  • Sudo Room: Yar, reluctantly but inactive
  • Sudo Mesh: Jenny, was inactive
  • Quorum (2/3 of active groups):

Agenda

intros

  • We are front-loading most of the meeting into these intros! Now is the time to put forward any of the following things, many of which used to have their own meeting sections
    • introduce yourself: name, pronoun, affiliation, if you're a delegate
    • do you have any unmet access needs at this meeting?
    • what meeting roles you'd like to help with
    • discussion topics or proposals you'd like to put on tonight's agenda
    • report-backs from any of your working groups
    • updates from your collective
    • any brief announcements
    • updates on any conflict mediation
    • if you've asked anybody to leave the building due to safe space issues
  • please be BRIEF! Less than 4 minutes per person! Anything that might take longer must be put on the agenda as a discussion item

  • patrik he/him ccl delegate
    • we'd love the lock on that door to CCL/Sudo. reports of theft during free store hours
    • ccl has a free little ice cream freezer w/sliding glass lid. not great for storage but serving frozen food.
    • what's happening with electrical?
  • sarah she/her building, safer diy
    • electrician working yesterday/today/tomorrow. almost done removing FPE panels. will send docs to insurance when that's done
    • we did not get an extension for insurance's august 3rd deadline
    • but fire inspection is delayed until september 2
  • maryann she/her fundraising, csc
  • jane she/her gws, poor peoples campaign
  • ab/asaad fye delegate
    • bipoc market + block party @ pro arts
    • august 20 telegraph BID picnic. fye will have a booth
  • robb, fin/fun, "future production working group"
    • resigning as treasurer, and from finance & commons wg
  • rachel, gws delegate
    • been very busy working on child tax credits
  • yar - been away for 2wks, happy to be back
  • john may pop out soon
  • joe he/him fnb delegate. Booking WG having trouble setting up meetings
    • berkeley is sweeping encampments, enforcing 3x3' sidewalk rule. march & rally against that next thursday 5pm @ downtown berkeley bart
  • jake sudoroom
    • gonna do more electrical things tonight
  • arnoldo (AG if you can't roll rs)
    • csc annual zapatista gathering, august 21st @ peralta hacienda park
    • we need more ship-building discussions to know each other better. i'm interested in more interacting. being able to show who we are, what our values are. how did we get to this point, not just this screen but the work we're all doing. our organizing work, our dream work. what is it we really want? we're an unprecedented grouping. what are we gonna do together? ...besides omni?
  • roberto
  • jenny, sudomesh
    • sudoroom & sudomesh are moving in different directions. sudomesh rebooting in ~2 weeks. can't speak to sudoroom.
  • jenny: wants to ban robb for safe space reasons. it's the reason i haven't been participating. lots of people very upset about the dude acting as a cop who lives in the space. he continues to ignore it and contest it and i think that's fucked up. we've been needing to address this for over a year. it's severely impacting the health of our community space.
  • david keenan
    • how to permanently prep for inspection? i propose we consider removing the couches & furniture & stuff in the basement, and set up storage areas w/gaffe tape for items that'll move from the ballroom. have fewer hangout spots and more storage in basement. maybe lots of clear plastic totes w/labels instead of a jumble.
    • sarah: it'd be mostly things and less furniture?
    • david: maybe just making it more organized in terms of storage and the common areas. haven't written proposal yet. maybe ANV would have area for plastic crates, or even working there. they usually have 4 people in ballroom. enough room downstairs.
  • teslim: i was at omni earlier today, was reminded of solidarity statement. i know there's bylaws, etc. arnoldo said... values can be living breathing thing shared amongst the group, not just words on paper. very interested in that. there's always competing things with omni, values and thinking long-term and also the realities of fire inspections and financial health. just trying to wrap my mind around everything that's swirling around. i know it's a lot. trying to figure out how to plug in and be most helpful.

fye rent

Proposal for COVID-19 Rent Relief - FYE Collective Dear Omni Commons Finance Working Group & Collective Delegates, This is our formal request for COVID-19 rent relief, as discussed over the past months. We apologize for the time it has taken us to formulate this and we are grateful for your patience in us reaching out. We currently owe the Omni Commons rent for all of 2021 (Jan-June) up to this day, except for this current month July 2021: Jan 2021 - $350* Feb 2021 - $350* Mar 2021 - $350* Apr 2021 - $350* May 2021 - $350* June 2021 - $350* July 2021 - $350 [paid] $2100 total due

discussion

  • it was sent over consensus
  • sarah: this is after a couple months of discussing and clarifying the procedure
  • jenny: we didn't formally discuss this but i think we're obviously going to stand aside, but i'd like to just speak to the difficulties of spaces that have not been able to have any events and who rely on events over this past year and a half, with the struggles and covid and all. i'm hoping sudo will put together a similar proposal in the coming weeks. i'm sorry we haven't put together that proposal thus far. definitely advocate for rent forgiveness for fye.
  • patrik: probably doesn't need much discussion. waiving jan-june rent, $2100
  • asaad: ideally you should read it
  • consensus
    • IN FAVOR: fye, ccl, etc
    • ABSTAIN: sudoroom
    • OPPOSED: none
    • passes!
  • roberto: who else is behind on rent?
    • sudoroom is behind. anv is caught up now. not sure about liberated lens

sudoroom rent

  • jenny: we're maybe 8-10 months behind, ~20k. Bulk is currently in bank account. Have done many $$ of electrical work. Seeking consensus on partial rent forgiveness. Income linked to people coming to use the space. Hope to have concrete proposal by next meeting
  • sarah suggests maybe if sudo pays august rent that'll demonstrate to people who are on the fence about their value to omni, that they're moving forward with paying. jake & fitz & others have done a lot of work. that's really important.

electrical

  • Did decide to hire electrician for last 2 panels, because of insurance deadline
  • jake's about to go there now and do a couple more things that the electrician called out. we ran out of time so we hired someone. also the last 2 panels would be easier for a professional who has all the parts rather than have to gather scraps.
  • After last 2 FP panel upgrades, we should no longer have any required changes to electrical.
  • david: thank you! staggaring & tremendous amount of work.
  • robb: we're in default of our insurance requirements
    • sarah: the procedure is that we demonstrate the panels have been removed. we're in the process of fixing it. sounds like work might be done as earlier as tomorrow, in which case we send them the stuff. maybe we'd have been without insurance for a few days. we can't do anything about it now. let's be positive about it.
  • patrik: i don't think they're gonna make a big deal of it
  • yar: let's be clear for people to be careful around omni, it's possible any property damage that happens right now would not be insured.

basement

  • david's proposal goes here -- remove furniture from basement and dedicate area to storage/prep for Free Store, NOMA, FNB, and ANV; also get more plastic totes so that things can be easily stored:

Basement Proposal:

1. For the near term: to dedicate common areas of basement primarily to organized storage of various items and associated work activities that became staged in the ballroom during the pandemic, and some of the pre-sorted items from the free store / entrance hall that would fail an inspection.

The motivation is to lessen stress and prep work around re-starting gatherings and lawful assembly in the ballroom and/or entrance hall. To preserve our maximum occupant load and legally accommodate assembly, the ballroom cannot be full of stored items that had sensible uses during the ballroom's closure. The ballroom needs to be basically empty of everything except tables & chairs, a/v equipment, & the moveable walls.

2. Removal of couches & related furniture from the common areas of the basement, as well as any abandoned / archaic items still stored in basement common areas, to allow for organized storage and modest associated work areas.

3. Donation / procurement of a great number of large clear plastic totes to store all material that can be labelled with the owning group member.

4. Impacted community member groups are primarily: ANV, NOMA, & Free store:

- Free store: Specifically, for the free store, my proposal is that pre-sorted donated items that are presently staged in the rear of the entrance hall, now be stored in basement on ingest to be sorted, and that sorting of donated materials also occur in basement, rather than in the entrance hall (sorted / organized items can stay in entrance hall). I talked with Dane about this today.

- NOMA: I understand that this week NOMA has already moved most of its items out of the ballroom and created an organized storage area in the basement along the CCL-adjacent side of the basement wall. IMO it looks great and should continue as a model for the other items being proposed as staged in the basement.

- ANV: ANV items / ANV use areas in presently in ballroom, to be staged in basement. Optionally, as with proposal for Free Store, tables used by ANV could be staged near their stored items to facilitate their work. My understanding is ANV has about ~4 ppl working around the tables, if so, my proposal is that ample space for such work be provided in the basement for that to continue in the basement rather than in the ballroom.

I had intended to propose this directly to each group; I am mentioning it pre-emptiv ely here at the meeting basically to help get the word out. Open to all feedback and thank you

discussion

  • david: i want all these inspections to be less of a stressor, work parties to be easier. while we're reactivating the ballroom or having gatherings, it'd help to have the basement be a place for organized storage. 1) gaffe taping areas 2) buying totes 3) removing furniture. if free store & anv were able to store their items & do their work there, that'd mean they don't need to move stuff in & out of the ballroom during events. that's my proposal.
    • patrik agrees. the trade off is we're not gonna have any basement parties anytime soon. shouldn't anyway.
    • sudoroom abstains
  • joe: i'm concerned about too much stuff piling up in those storage areas. needs to be demarcated and limited. but good idea.
    • david agrees. the idea is to clearly deliniate where stored items go for different groups. DIY will pay for totes.
    • jenny: omni should pay for it, not diy
    • sarah: omni can host a benefit fundraiser for diy later. we have bands that wanna play
  • patrik: NOMA's stuff is organized right now - totes and boxes on wire racks.
  • asaad: is this a proposal?
    • david: yeah, it's a day-of proposal
    • but it's not being voted on today
    • FYE would love to be in the loop so they can be a part of the process and coexist with it. please make a written proposal. we'd love to help.
  • sarah: also fix electrical and add lights over media lab

door

  • Who's going to finish the door lock to sudo & ccl? Locking it was already approved years ago.
    • Patrik: I believe someone named Alex was working on it?
  • jenny will check in with alex

google meet hosts

  • to help host google meetings, you need a gsuite account, which is like a separate google login. yar can make one for you. just need an existing email address to link it to.

secretary

  • jane is resigning as secretary as of this meeting, in protest of the way robb has been treated. all the glowing talk about great work being done today, but no mention of robb. keeping things safe, clean, fixing things for inspection. i'm staying with fundraising but have no interest in being part of the kind of ganging up against a person who's done a lot of work keeping omni together. that's my firm opinion.
    • maryann: jane, did you say you're staying in fundraising? (yes)

Robb's resignation + safe space ban

  • robb: Due to repeated & ongoing personal attacks against me for following policies that the delegates & working groups have initiated, i must resign from all roles that have a responsibility to uphold said policies, including Treasurer & Finance & Commons Working group. Furthermore, i encourage the delegates to consider adopting a whistleblower or non harassment policy for those who shed light on policy violations.
  • robb: i'm forced to resign, because if one asserts or reminds people or somehow enforces some consensus that the wgs or delegates have come to, one is deemed yknow, you name it. a target for oppression. it's really the only way i can explain it. it's like if you hold someone accountable for holds a privilege at omni, you'll be demonized and abused and harassed until you relent, and that's my experience at omni, and i cannot continue to hold a position of responsibility for our finances when anytime i bring to the forefront some abuse of our processes, i'm deemed some enemy. there's just no way to continue for me.
  • jenny: i'm fucking sick and tired of getting messages every other week from people encountering robb's coplike attitude towards them. we can't afford this right now. we need to build solidarity, more positive relationships with the community. this is toxic. robb, i know you love omni and have the best interests of omni in your heart, but honestly you need to take a goddamn break. go to see family. do something else. for 3 months or something. that's all i was pushing for from the outset. just take a break. you're not in a good place. it's been really toxic for a lot of people to encounter you in the space in this coplike role. it's really pushing a lot of people away and honestly it very much feels racialized because of your role as a white man in power who's constantly in the space. i know you don't sleep there but you're there 24/7. take a fucking break. go home, visit your family, just do something else for 3 months. it'll be so good for you. i'm not trying to ban you forever, i'm just sick of getting the messages and had to speak up. even though i know i'm complicit. but i took a break for a good 9 months just to remove myself from this role of power. i think it's the best for omni, for you, and people who just ... step up and play significant roles in making omni awesome, which is what we're trying to do here. everybody wins if we can all agree on this.
  • rachel: i in gws have worked with robb for many years. for goodness sake, what are you talking about? what i can see, he does try to uphold policies and gets shit for it. climate of witchhunting has been despicable. it's sad to see omni go after somebody who may be a bit gruff, but he has qualities. none of you see that. all you see is just criticism, one after the other. it's the same few people scapegoating robb and using all kinds of stuff against him. where's this coming from? robb is a man, we're in a womens org, and we support robb being there. he's been a great technical resource. as you said, he loves omni. i just wish this could end and we could see each other for the good we all have. we all have good & bad.
  • maryann: robb, are you resigning from fundraising too?
    • robb: i dont' see how the fundraising wg has any role in enforcing or upholding any kind of ... i don't actually see a problem with the fundraising wg. we're just reaching out to funds and trying to get em. i don't see a problem there.
    • maryann: i'd like to second what rachel said. i worked with robb, who i really didn't know that well beforehand, but when he became treasurer we started working iwth him in fin/fun. he's really good to work with. we didn't have any difficulty with him as people describe. i don't know who the people are who are saying this and idk what their experience is. i can't just other people. but my experience has been positive.
  • joe: robb's been my right hand, always available to help. what's been going on is a terrible divide that's really taken its toll on omni. it started with the problem between silver and robb. i think that really hurt them, i've been speaking to them. robb does not back off. that's one of his yknow, both strengths and weaknesses. when something has been told that it's hurting somebody, he doesn't get all warm & cuddly, he sticks to his guns. it's been really damaging that it hurt silver so much, but i will say that from what i've seen, robb has cooperated totally in the mediation process and it's still ongoing. it's been hard for some reason to get that moving, but robb has been there from what he told me. i find a lot of fault with the way jenny presented this. please stop shaking your head jenny. oh fuck me? what's wrong with this. [jenny yelled and cursed on mute, but then left the meeting]
  • ab: i think the way jenny just talked about robb is not only biased, but manipulative. robb and jenny have been on-again-off-again relationships for years now. that's been such a driving factor. so many people... i think it's time that we all as a collective realize [] we can't entertain this behavior. personal issues need to be handled between them. i'm really tired of this shit. i'm tired too. it's not ok. stuff that isn't professional [AB disconnected]
  • david: i wasn't planning to speak on this, i'm not there a lot. i have this idea in my head that omni's one of the organized spaces with grown-ups keeping the lights on and there's a whole world of spaces out there that don't even have 1% of omni's capacity and resources. but i've seen this go on in many many other spaces. seems endemic to organizing. people work so hard that there becomes a breakdown of professionalism frankly. they care so much about the work they're doing, there's a lack of emotional distance. that can lead to emotional relationships.
  • ab rejoins: hearing jenny say those words to joe was unacceptable, especially after what she said about robb. the way we're talking about robb is super weird like he's not here. it's not community spirit, we're isolating someone and talking about him like he's a trading card. certain things we can discuss in collective, and certain things directly. i'm taking a side against ignorant fearful behavior. i think the whole unprofessionalism between jenny & robb is unacceptable. it's structurally poisoning omni because they're 2 foundational people. we can't just snap a finger and expect them to disappear. but also not let that be a reason why we're enabling peoples' toxic behavior. i heard that many times when jenny was being problematic for [] reasons. if that's the [] then it should be held for robb too. it cna't just work for one person and we end up [] by one person. robb started off by submitting his resignation and jenny hijacked into a discussion topic. we just went ahead and indulged in jenny's rhetoric. those are 2 separate discussion topics.
  • david: ab i wasn't trying to stop your input... i think all the way around there's an inclination when we're overworked and overtasked to villainize them or lionize them. IMO for both jenny and robb, they both worked extremely hard. that should be commended. no amount of bad or unfortunate things erase the value of the input they have. nobody's perfect or evil. we're all complex, we all have failings. when things get to this tempo because of fallout of a relationship, or work, or whatever, that's time to take a step back. this isn't a job, it's a community project. you're allowed to step up and step back. i don't like this thing of where there's a communal escalation. i've seen 150 spaces like omni. this problem is just everywhere. it's a community/collective space problem. in every case it's like when people are like "i don't like what this person said so i'm resigning".... "i'm going to be even more emphatic"... eye for an eye and the whole world is blind. we're supposed to bring the world togehter. we should be thanking and celebrating more. can we take it down a notch and try to be professional and not turn this into a personal thing?
  • patrik: saddens me to see this animosity. in my ideal world the two of them would get along well. i've seen robb say something racially insensitive and then apologize later. i've seen him interrupt people but i suffer from that too. i don't think i've ever seen robb do anything as drastic as jenny just did. but doesn't take away from the tremendous amount of work that both of them have done. it'd be great if we could trust some arbitration or process to patch things up between the two. but sometimes it requires one of the parties to take some distance and time and space between each other. i don't have a solution for this either.
  • sarah: as someone who suggested that robb resign.... i'm new, i've appreciated stuff robb's done. for me it's frustrating that your'e capable of being a different person, but you go into asshole mode. there's ways to enforce policy/rules, to remind people how to do things. but it's lessons in bad communication skills. i honestly was at the point where i was just fed up with robb. constantly saying negative things about jenny, david, others. unexplained contexts. being gratuitously rude. regularly make assertings about things that are actually wrong and have trouble admitting you're wrong, and from my perspective, expect perfection from people. we all make mistakes. like you wanna punish people instead of giving the benefit of the doubt or being friendly or generous or nice. idk you very well, we've hung out a couple times and you've been a decent guy but you've already been a massive raging dicks. i wouldn't like you as treasurer becaues you're difficult to work with. you don't really do your job either, i'm doing it. i get paid for it, but when you complain about others doing this or that... dude we all make mistakes.
  • maryann: asaad said dealing with things more professionally. robb isn't the only person who's been attacked. jane, rachel & i have also. what seems to be issues that come up & repeat themselves. they can be addressed without personality issues. they can be addressed with certainly debate or argument, whatever. but there's ways of dealing with the issues that continually come up. what i need to know... i'm gonna be on vacation for a couple months. idk exaclty whether i'm willing to continue doing any kind of work at omni. i've pretty much had it. i'm not making any rash decisions or accusations against anyone personally, but if the issues that repeatedly come up are not addressed in a professional way (as opposed to accusing people of things and lying - the lying is unbelievable) i'm not sure i can continue in any of the working groups either. i know we're supposed to do that, but it's really become a difficult situation. there's issues of race & power that are constantly coming up and used to attack people, especially robb. robb was the first and the biggest victim in all this. there are ways to deal with our racial inequities & distribution of power & rotation of it. placing limitations on it so that no one amasses the kind of power that people then complain about. i'm really asking that that be done. it has to be done in a professional setting, and addressed without personalizing it to certain pepole. if people are interested in that, there's a possilbiity - nothing certian, no promise, no guarantee - of maybe being able to get grant money to sit down with some professional peopel who do this for a living and help us address these issues so we don't continually personalize them and attack each other.
  • yar: we do have a safe space policy, and I have seen Rob harrass people - that's not OK. Jenny has been doing her best to address. We are all responsible. Bringing forward a safe space ban was her way to be responsible. I don't want the harrassment issue to be ignored. The fact he has not harrassed all women does not make the issue go away. Are we going to use our anti-harrasment policy? If we had this issue 5yrs ago, I don't thinkRob would have lasted this long. We used to have a group of people really committed to upholding safe space. People equivocate on this issue. Need to get on same page what our anti-harrassment policy means. Instinct is to honor Jenny's requiest for a spafe space ban while we sort this out. If someone accussed me of harrassment, I would gladly extricate myself. [actual yar: i don't remember what i said, but it wasn't quite this. definitely not my words here.]
  • sarah: we had a thread on commons wg list...
  • joe: i'd like you to respond ot the fact that mediation was supposed to be part of our process for dealing with people that were accused of violating safe space. i wanna know why that hasn't progressed and if you still hold any hope for it. and speak to what the latest harassment has been. can you describe a situation - not hte original one with silver, and say whether things have gotten better? has he respected his pledge to not interact? i know they've tried to stay away from him. jenny's behavior tonight addressed at me was one thing, but we have to remember some of the other flagrant bad behavior we've seen from jenny and wonder whether she's really taken care of some of those problems if she wants to come back as she seemed to be ready to come back tonight in some sort of position of leadership. i don't get the feeling from her that we should offer or tolerate that.
  • jane: i feel like the toxic atmosphere that's developed is hard on everybody. it does not bring forth energies to change the world in the ways we're wanting to improve it. it's just digging us down under. it's not in the least bit inspiring. it's sort of scary. it's yknow, people ganging up, the things i've heard about robb - the doorbell, he told the person they should start acting like a human being - yeah he could have handled it in a different way but he was the one who came to the door. when he thought someone might be stealing, he confronted someone to see what was happening. situations like this get blown up, a case is made against them. excruciating, uninspiring. [] people who want to build a better world, we can't do it like this, it's just awful.
  • arnoldo: i've been coming to these meetings, there's this pattern that happened tonight again. it's discouraging on one level because we don't get to the work we should be doing. this is work for me. tonight is really useful because some of the comments that were made... ab broke the ice. at the same time, everybody might have different types of interaction with robb. idk what the harassment is about - is it sexual? or things like jane said where something irritated him? first time i came to omni, some white guy didn't want to let me in, said "who are you?" i just walked right in - what's he gonna do, put his hands on me? i'm not gonna blame all of you. at the same time it's unacceptable behavior, but getitng rid of him isnt' gonna change the dynamic that already exists at omni. there needs to be deep discussion about who we are and how we're gonna work together. maybe you did that work before but it doesn't seem aparent to me. what yar said, when safe space policy was made a few years ago, maybe it was working then and now it doesn't work right - but are the same people around yar? what happened to those people you were mentioning? we have to have a re- .... re-tie ourselves togehter and not allow this type of dynamic to divide us. banning people is a really strange concept. sometimes divorce or separation is desireable, but the language of banning someone is ... what is this about? i don't have that power over anyone. i don't want to. there's a lot of people that our values are at odds, working for justice, changes, anti-racism... sometimes there's not consistence and that's ok. doesn't mean the soultion is banning them. maybe that's worked for omni before, it's a weird value. what do we do when someone's personal [] is being politicized... [?] wait a minute, maybe we need to help you but it's not our respionsibility. but it is, if someone's harassing the public or another member. but coming together feels like, we don't have our act together. i don't mean dispa

raging. it's an invitation to call in, talk, let's listen to each other. good talk. let's behave like good relatives and see what happens. i'm not willing to give up on omni yet. i can't speak for all CSC, but i want us to revisit relationship on how we're gonna work. i have a lot of questions. it'd be healthy for us to use a different language. stay away from profanity. when i use it it's an expression of frustration. but i bring myself back and say "i'm sorry i didn't mean to talk like that". put our heads together - that's my hope.

  • ab: i wanna simplify things and move forward in tangible way. when we encounter situations that are delicate & complex we end up talking in general philosophical way. i wanna echo what yar said about honoring jenny's request. if someone puts forth a safe space ban we need to honor it. i'm keen to recognize the bias - for years i've never voiced this - that yar has for jenny. but it's very evident & apparent. frankly i'm really disappointed and disgusted by how jenny's behavior was not called out by you, yar. jenny's .... repeating specific accusations, tired of getting messages ... if that's really happening it needs to be put forth with proof. we're not going to just [] off of peoples' words because of how useful we perceive them at omni or whatever. i'm saying this being the youngest person at this meeting right now. some of the shit i've seen you all do is unacceptable. some of this behavior that's really enabled by white privilege. would have never been in other spaces. elephant in the room between jenny & robb. how many email threads have been polluted by their stuff? fact that it's been [] with silver is unacceptable because they do have trouble with robb but ... if there's paid mediation it should go towards jenny & robb. i tihnk if robb's being banned, then in the same essence jenny should be too. it has to be reciprocated. on behalf of fye i'm requesting that jenny is banned. i can go into why, state specific instances where jenny has made spaces unsafe. [unintelligible] it's unacceptable guys. the more we entertain it in a cute way with love & affection & stuff, the more it's going to ... set a firm foot against robb and jenny both.
  • jake: i've known robb a long time, jenny a long time. just because people haven't had a problem with robb doesn't mean there aren't people hwo are getting affected by him. the question specifically we're talking about jenny and silver... we're hearing silver being spoken about in both directions by other parties because they're not here to speak on their own behalf. those issues as well as other people that haven't been mentioned tonight, that all needs to be figured out so we have a sense about what we're gonna do with this. everybody acknowledges that robb's behavior has problems. [jane shakes head] what are we gonna do? say that people who aren't coming around anymore are too sensitive? when we're asking for someone to take time away from space, it's not supposed to be a huge big deal. a lot of people in this meeting haven't been to the space in months, if not a year. asking someone to take time away while we figure things out, shouldn't be such a huge deal.
  • david: an entire working group was formed at omni's foundation to ensure the conversations like tonights (like people being the wrost ever) doesn't happen at delegates meeting. there needs to be a space where people can feel comfortable and supported addressing those issues. that's a space of transofrmative justice to the liking of the parties that are in conflict. structurally that's why we're in a bad place. we've been at this exact point so many times. robb's not the first person that's ever been accused of something or was hurt. we've replayed this so many times. the reason it's not working is this isnt' the forum. it's not on the delegates to balance the scales on who's a better human being. on questions of who's harmed, you can have both parties being harmed, but in general we make sure that the person being harmed is believed, without needing to bring proof. especially women. to me, asking for proof is not what omni's about. if we're talking about issues of power - the reason for delegates was to do the thankless paperwork to support mission & each groups. 95% of focus was suppoesd to be supporting groups, not [too fast]. power has congealed, it's a problem (?)
  • patrik: i gotta go. suggest we talk about concrete solutions. what's our safe space policy? what would a ban mean? asking jenny to take a break as well? what concrete steps can we take going forward from here to make sure jenny is heard and that we come out of this with some kind of solution that ... it's never gonna be perfect but should be an improvement over current situation
  • maryann: idk how someone's proposal to invoke a ban, how that's handled procedurally. what happens? does it go back to collectives for their vote? what happens? also, joe asked, what's happened to the mediation?
  • questions to yar
    • how did bans happen before
    • status of mediation
    • why didn't i call out jenny tonight

getting to know each other

  • not tonight!

End of Meeting

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