Great list! A lot to do there!
I think the gathering of metrics is pretty key. We discussed this in XRWA Action WG. We felt that the best approach would be federated (where possible) - so Aus MM Actions would ask Regional Actions WGs to measure XYZ using ABC tools (a form, a spreadsheet, a meeting). This would, hopefully, bring the Regional Groups more âinâ to AusMM and also distribute the load of the AG Support function. For Local Groups who donât have a Regional/State group to do that, then they just link up with AusMM directly.
The conversation regarding timing of Wave 2 might then simply be : âHey, Regional Action Group - do you have the ability to hold a blockade for a day? Do you have (for example) 100 arrestables? Would they be well supported with pre-, during, and post-arrest support?â If yes, we talk dates, if no, we ask - âWhat can we do to help with that?â
We felt weâd be in the best place to run our WA Affinity Group Support network/circle - but weâd love to use common tools/methods as created by the Aus MM Actions group - no need to double-up on the various resources (for e.g. see our Affinity Group kit - what do you think? Does it look like yours? If so, lets just pick one, edit it and publish it on ausrebellion.earth. Within our kit are guides and descriptions for a variety of roles, @the-river-jordan mentioned, but just to expand, I think AusMM Actions needs to try to wrangle support for training of roles:
- Police Liaisons (with supplementary info for state-specific stuff)
- Legal Observers (with supplementary info for state-specific stuff)
- Arrestee Support
- De-escalation
- public Outreach during actions (how to talk to the public, how to recruit at actions)
- De-escalation
- Wellbeing/Regen - including the debriefing and regen cycle as Jordan mentioned
- Media liaison - how-to write media releases, or we provide templates to go with the template actions
I know that @MaryH and others have made a lot of progress on consolidating some of those resources above. I wonder if AusMM support might simply be to host weekly or fortnightly trainings or discussion groups on each of the role/topics - and advertise these as a regular series. Across Australia we already have this capacity - itâs just a question of SOS coordination.
Iâm kicking off my local suburb group - it would be brilliant to be able to go to ausrebellion.earth and just be able to download the guidebook for (say) De-escalation, and sign up our little group for the De-escalation session that runs every (say) Thursday evening, via Zoom, hosted by AusMM. In XRWA we currently do not have de-escalation training or capacity to run it⊠but someone of you out there does!!