- - - Role of Working Group - - -

In general, to make a day of action happen at SoS! (or around the time of SoS)

More specifically, here are some possible roles this working group could have:

• organising a mass action, facilitatingSoS people to prepare/ be part of the action (kinda like Climate Camp 08)

• liasing with other people who are into organising actions or who already have actions planned and facilitating SoS people to participate- this means transport. food, support, etc (this is what we did, having a day in SoS where different groups all did independent actions, so this is what this doco is about, but if you have the energy, an SoS action would be cool!)

These are the the sort of roles we were thinking of initially but it really depends on how much energy you have and what kinds of campaigns are happening around the time and place of SoS.

- - Number of People - - -

We had 2-3 people but didn't organise any of the actions ourselves- with more people you could do more (obviously!!)

- - What we did - - -

• Decided in the SoS collective that we were into having an action day 
• Talked about different action ideas, what an action at SoS could look like (eg centralised, lots of different actions, affinity groups, etc)
• Researched different action ideas, so contacting people from different action groups, (eg, FOE, local CAGs, people interested in doing action, aka 'activists'), seeing what scope there was for various action ideas, figuring out how we could engage with other activists, etc
• After talking with different groups, decided having various diverse actions happening in the city during SoS was the way to go. Asking organisers from groups if they wanted to have an action during the week of So
• put the world out to potential organisers that there was date for SoS action (kinda like rent-a-crowd for them, rent-an-action for us!)
• schedule time in the program for briefing and debriefing everyone, and for the action day itself!
• Thinking and talking about how SoS participants would participate in the action, eg. all go to one and then split up, choosing which action to go to, having buddies, arrestable/non arrestable ways of participating
• Write a blurb about the point of doing actions, get action descriptions from all the actions happening, prepare logistical info such as transport and food for the day - get this into the program!
• prepare action breif-we did an action plenary at dinner the night before the day of action with people from each action speaking about their campaign and general logistical and safety information.
• make sure there is someone going to each action who can look out for newbies who might belost/overwhelmed/not sure what is going on
• We did not prepare a debrief but probably should have for the day in general- different actions kinda got back to camp at different times in the evening and debriefing continued independently for the different actions throughout the week.

- - Timeline - - -

-This is for a multiple action day, not if you are organising your own action with media, publicity, training and everything-

Start researching the possibly of different actions from day one- this can be a slow process depending on whether of not there are any obvious targets near SoS like mines or powerplants.

Thinking about logostics and and how people will participate in the action is ongoing.

May: You should know at least one action you can rely on for the day, and be thinking logistics whether or not other groups end up doing actions- if you can't find anything, it's probably too late to organise a really big public action at this point!

June-July: Meetings with action organisers, fine tuning logistical info, doing blurbs blurbs and spiels. Preparing the brief and debrief can happen later but if you do it now you'll be less stressed!

Last couple of weeks- fine tuning stuff like food, contact points, people who are planning to play support roles. Also get banner making and craft materials in case people wanna make props and banners at SoS.

- - Things to think about - -

What are the actions?

• No one's expecting the revolution, but are they rad?
• What are the actions for/ who do they affect and are those who are most affectedplaying a big part in organising the actions?
• Is the day going to be cenralised/ decentralised- how much agency do participants have in what the action(s) turn out to be (eg- is there a mass message for the media, does everyone do what they want?)

Is there scope for people to participate in the day in different ways/ is the day inclusive?

• Arrestables
• Non arrestables
• Kids and people with kids
• Diffabled people
• Creative stuff
• Crowds
• Small groups
• Who is doing the 'acting', (eg, occupying, locking on, singing, planting, whatever) is it a small core of people, if so, is it accessible to new SoS participants? What are the majority of people doing?

Will there be various forms of support? What is your (SoS's) responsibility and what is the responsibility of the action organisers?

• Legal advice
• Ongoing legal support
• Court funds
• Arestee solidarity
• Clear briefing, talking through politics and ideas with first timers, debreifing
• Support groups/buddies

Where are the actions?

• How is everyone getting there?
• Is it going to be expensive, and complicated for you to facilitate getting people there?
• Will people be intimidated/ stressed out/ lost if they have to get around unfamiliar places and how can you make it easier?
• Is it a place that will attract public attention?
• How will the location (eg if it is a uni) affect the future of SoS?

Feeding people on the day

Fun arguments to have:

• Is it a good idea to be a public nuisance? blocking roads and stuff can be empowering but can also make communters/the public hate activists.
• Should everyone do what they want during the actions (eg be antagonistic, occupy spaces for a long time if some people think it's counter productive?
• non-violence vs violence- where is the boundary, what is legitimate?
• Is the action about people's experience on the day or about the message you give? Who is the message for- the public? The authorities? How is it conveyed- mass media? Other media?

- - Tips - -

Meet with as many groups as you can at the start- Unions, Indig activists, specific campaign activists, local action groups, etc and don;t be afraid to tell them you don't have the whole thing planned out yet, let them know you can always get back to them and you're keen to work with them- tell it like it is! It's also really great to meet peopl and build relationships and solidarity just by showing them that SoS kids are keen.

Once you have an idea of what the action day is going to be, get the preparations for logistics, briefing and debriefing started as soon as possible!

- - Documents - - -

Action blurb and logistical info that never made it to the program...