2026-07-30 Spokes Council Meeting Point of Unity Discussion

Spokescouncil Meeting - Date: 07-30-2026
Agenda 
Intros
Review of prior POU materials
1-2-4-All brain storming of POU
Next Steps
Meeting Highlights
Attendance
shelby, myf, shea, lp, micro, paul, charlie, julie, cole, jackie, iris
New Action Items 
Formed a new group chat 
started a pad to draft specific language
aiming to have completed draft for proposal two weeks in advance of next spokes council meeting
Detailed Meeting Notes
iris: let's look at a few examples of points of unity
we don't want to define everything in the negative, we should positively state
our beliefs/positions.
st paul points of unity
early 2000s WTO coalition of activist in st paul / Minneapolis area
points of unity give us a way to agree on what we're going to do in an abstract way: like "we hate patriarchy/capitalism", "our solidarity will be "
anti racist action 
https://antiracistaction.org/points-of-unity/
myf: what do we actually want to get out of this?
iris: we can either draft a proposal today or put together a committee to kick the can down the road.
lp: we can also come up with variations that take into account what objections we expect people to have
myf: i was trying to get us a table at HOPE and couldn't come up with a one-liner for what this place is. woodbine's tagline was "an experimental hub for autonomy", should we reuse some of that
paul: don't let that be a blocker for dealing with HOPE, we can come up with something in the meantime
lp: i never liked the autonomy talk, I think the language on the programming flyer on the bathroom makes a lot more sense
iris: i want a sign to point to when explaining that certain types of behavior are not allowed. there's a risk that this will become an entirely apolitical space otherwise.
myf: is this doc about what is not allowed or what our aspirations are
iris: both. like a place that's welcoming to marginalized people will disallow certain behavior. it might feel obvious to us but as the RC population grows we'll have to deal with that stuff.
let's read the attempt from a year ago aloud together.
lp: maybe taking a look at the draft basement points of unity could be informative. it's a doc more about behavior and expectations around space usage.
iris: should we take a bathroom break and then a 1-2-4-all
all discussion:
micro: i liked charlie's "DIT": do-it-together, in the spirit of DIY but collective-- iris: if you wanna go fast go alone, if you wanna go far go together
myf: iris said the next step is accountability. iris: we are "leaderful rather than leaderless"
lp: I like slogans rather than explanations."understand what you take, appreciate what is given" etc
iris: the zapatistas do this. micro: we can adapt but it's good to incorporate stuff specific to a spaces needs.
safer space, not a safe space. there's no membership list here, this is still NYC
lp: we could maybe start with a doc that has clear, pragmatic sections like "leadership, facilities etc"
[i missed a lot of notes from the group discussion and then kinda stopped taking notes at 8:30]
charlie: what if spokes meetings were before dinner or something.
shea: that's when we have the admin meetings