From the small group I was in:

After introductions we each took a minute or two to say what we thought could improve Occupy Asheville as a whole. I did take notes on this part and here is what I have:

J – Participates on interOccupy calls and says that there is a lot of talk about the need to start figuring out what kind of governance we could set up as an alternative to the current system. (This is my language not J’s but, building dual power, so that if we are able to do away with the current system we’ve got something with which to replace it.)

F – Need to seek more opportunities to build solidarity among ourselves and with other. Need lots and lots of outreach.

C – Is connected with Occupy Charlotte because of frequent trips there, believe OA could feed off of Occupy Charlotte and vice versa.

R – Really work to bring in marginalized communities. ”occupy” generally had a huge impact changing the public conversation about wealth inequality. could we find an issue that was really important to a lot of people and focus on it. for example the minimum wage.

D – Need to build alliances. Make it really easy for people to join with us, be accessible in our actions.

A – OA was sucessful in a sense in involving a marginalized community, the homeless community, and the direct occupation gave visability to the issue of homelessness. Moving forward we may need a lot of one to one outreach. Asheville is very segregated by race and class and we may need to directly reach out to folks across those divisions.

K – Working on the issue of foreclosures might be an issue where a lot of people are directly effected and where we could provide direct support and involve new people.

Z – Helped out a lot with the food in the early months. There ended up being a lot of divisiveness. OA needs and internal process that is not just us against them. Also spirituality is important. Our language w/n OA should also be less us against them and instead seek to understand the ”sickness” of the 1% as a sickness that afflicts 100% of us and seek to heal that sickness.

L – There has been too much conflict and it has turned a lot of people off from OA. Too many personal attacks. Moving forward we need real accountability. We need away to respond to individuals that are being divisive.

D – Action is what will re-invigorate OA. And we can better publicize action so more people can be involved.

C – Need to acknowledge that lots of organizing and organizations laid the ground work for ”occupy” to be successful. We need to be humble about this, build direct associations with other groups who are working on and have been working on economic justice issues.