Occupy Your Block 11 20 11

Occupy Your Block Day

• Date: Sunday, November 20, 2011
• Time: Evening
• Location: Everywhere
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Purpose

In solidarity with the shut down of the physical occupation, we're calling for a day of community action.

What is Occupy Your Block?

On Sunday, November 20th, one week after the police action against Occupy Portland, neighborhoods around Portland will take their own streets with block parties. Or if not block parties, potlucks. Or if not potlucks, a brief meet and greet. This isn’t just one day, and it isn’t just about blocking off your street. It’s about human connection and being stronger together than we are alone. So occupy your neighborhood to join the conversation and organize your community toward participating in a new direction for the Occupy movement.

How You Can Help

1. Download the Occupy Your Block Toolkit and start talking with your neighbors
2. Download and Print (as double sided!) our Occupy Your Block Foldy Comic with flyer and publicize your event!
3. If you can’t host an event, talk to your friends and neighbors to see if they can.
4. If you can’t take part this Sunday, consider organizing an event like this in the next few weeks or months!

We want to send a clear message that the movement does not end with the closing of Chapman and Lownsdale parks. Let's share dinner with our neighbors, and discuss our future together. We hope to make this an action that other occupations can follow in response to crackdowns on the physical occupations.

A point on the closing of streets: This is to send a message. It is legal for neighbors to shut down their streets for block parties, if they apply for a permit and get the consent of every house on the block. There isn't enough time to do that before November 20th, and this action will be an intentional action of civil disobedience.

HOWEVER! The goal of our project is community outreach and dialogue. So unless you get the support of your whole block to close your street, please don't. Consider putting a sign on the side walk instead. We should push for this action, but remember it is just a point of emphasis. Getting communities talking is the important thing, and if some neighbors are reticent it is counterproductive to shut down the road against their wishes.

We recommend reaching out to your neighbors by saying you're definitely having a potluck at your house on Sunday, but if everyone agrees to a block party, you'll have a block party! Then get them to put their name down on a piece of paper if they support the block party idea.

If you encounter neighbors who are expressly against the occupy movement, be gentle. Tell them that you know there is a lot of controversy around Occupy. The point of the potluck is to get neighbors connecting on issues that bring them together, like community gardens and resource sharing, not to dwell on issues that divide us, like politics or wall street. Let them know their voice will be heard and respected!

Other details
The question on everybody’s mind is what’s next for Occupy Portland. We’re organizing neighborhood-level events all around Portland on Sunday, November 20th, to kick off Occupy My House and the next phase of the movement.

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