[Crsd] CRSD Delegate Meeting: September 16, 2018 (please read)

[Eric Grey]

CRSD Delegate Meeting: September 16, 2018



Minutes by Eric (IWW)



Present at meeting: members of IWW, PSL, DAF, and Che Café Collective
(observer)



The IWW hosted this meeting. The observer from the Che Collective was the
first to arrive. He expressed the view that Che Café had little to offer a
left coalition in San Diego. He felt they only have a meeting a performance
and space and that it was isolated on the UCSD campus. It was pointed out
that left spaces are badly needed and that UCSD will soon be connected to
the trolley system making the campus, and the Che Café, much more
accessible to the working class.



PSL announced a decision to withdraw from Collective Resistance and be
involved with member groups on an action-by-action basis. They stated the
time commitment to regularly attend delegate meetings as being the primary
issue. Colectivo Zapatista expressed the same concerns previously.



IWW proposed suspending quorum rules for delegate meeting for the
foreseeable future and returning to a more plenary meeting structure.
Proposals discussed at meetings must go back to member organizations for
approval or rejection anyway, therefore quorum at meetings is redundant.
Suspending quorum will allow organizations like the PSL and Colectivo
Zapatista to remain part of CRSD. PSL will consider this proposal.



PSL stated that three attempts at their radical soapboxing project were
unsatisfactory. The locations of the attempts were Balboa Park and Horton
Plaza. The PSL representative needed to leave the meeting but in later
discussion it was noted that the IWW’s historic soapboxing took place in
the Stingeree district with a target audience of day laborers waiting for
work and those seeking food assistance. This was very different from
affluent shoppers, tourists, and people with the leisure to lounge around
the park.



IWW proposed a CRSD page at newindicator.org. Initial text to be derived
from the existing CRSD (re)introductory letter to serve to introduce the
organization. Later content would be subject to approval.



A CRSD action committee was proposed. Due to the small size of our
coalition the most effective structure would be a committee of the whole.
The listserv and other channels can be used to informally discuss ideas
pending member organization approval. Actions might include protests,
door-to-door work, resistance block parties, workshops on getting our
messages past the barriers put up by liberals, and whatever else we can
think of.



DAF will provide a report on recent sexual misconduct on the local left.
The latest problems involved a cis-male preying on women. A similar series
of incidents came to light less than a year ago involving a gender queer
person preying on men. Despite the differences, there are similarities in
the patterns of both perpetrators. Both had ambiguous, ill informed
political views but used the pretext of being radical and/or marginalized
to gain access to their victims. Both moved between orgs, actions, and
radical spaces constantly and used left disunity to conceal their patterns
of behavior. This is a example of why we need better communication and
coordination on the left. We need to develop an inter-organizational
agreement on community standards of behavior.



Reports from member organizations:



DAF is involved with the Democratic Socialists of America. They report the
organization has two internal tendencies. There are some focused primarily
on electoral activities with the goal of moving the Democratic Party back
to a centrist position. DAF is part of the left/direct action tendency in
the DSA. They say DSA is particularly strong in San Diego and the two
tendencies are less divided. They believe they are having a ripple effect
within the organization.



IWW is preparing for a second meeting with the Employee Rights Center to
find test cases for their Wage Theft campaign. Thousands of workers who
quit or are fired never receive their final paycheck. Our goal is force
employers to pay the workers through direct action. Based on similar
campaigns, a sternly worded letter on labor org stationary is enough to get
results in the majority of cases, however we need to be able to reliably
carry out the “further action” (protests, leafleting etc) in those cases
where it is not enough. We are building a text message contact list of
those people who want carry out these actions. At the moment it contains
only nine contacts. We would like it to have closer to twenty-five so that
if only half can make an action we are still an intimidating presence.
Please join our contact list.



Personal meeting evaluation by Eric:

The “organized” left in San Diego consists of about two-dozen tiny,
atomized organizations struggling to maintain minimal membership. CRSD was
created to address this problem. On the way we became bogged down in formal
procedures that turned us from a resource sharing mechanism into a resource
draining one. This cannot be allowed to happen. The state of the left in
San Diego must be addressed. We need CRSD. A less formal more organic
approach suitable for a network of less than fifty people can work. Please
consider the IWW proposal. It is my sincere hope that the PSL will
reconsider its withdrawal in light of this new approach. I also urge
Redneck Revolt and Colectivo Zapatista to reopen communication with the
coalition.



Thanks for reading comrades.
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