Stop the Database State

Sorry for these being late again; Convention on Modern Liberty stuff has been taking up my time. I'd like it if other people could volunteer to take minutes in future, and make no guarantees about getting them written up in a timely fashion (or indeed at all) if I have to do them myself.

Summary of Actions

ACTION: Dave to upload MP3s of radio appearances where possible

ACTION: Dave to get back to Pete re. Stockport motion

ACTION: Dave to contact Stu in Bolton to see whether he's active following the
end of the Congestion Charge debate.

ACTION: Dave and Steve will attend the Convention of the Left organisational meeting at 7pm on Monday 19th January, at the Friends Meeting House.

ACTION: Dave to prepare a list for the website of outstanding tasks.

Apologies: Dan Lee, Morag

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 4th Feb - Students Against ID Meeting, Jabez Clegg, 7pm

Sat 14th Feb - Street Stall, St. Ann's Square, 2pm-4pm http://manchester.no2id.net/content/street-stall-february-2009

Wed 18th Feb - Meeting, Town Hall Tavern, 7pm-9pm http://manchester.no2id.net/content/monthly-meeting-february-2009

Sat 28th Feb - Convention on Modern Liberty, UMSU, 9am-7pm http://manchester.no2id.net/modernliberty

Recent Activities

Dave has done some media work recently, on ALL FM and Southport Community Radio.

Students Against ID

We need to check who the cardholders for the society are and make sure we have access to the society budget ahead of the Convention on Modern Liberty.

There will be a Students Against ID meeting on Wednesday 4th February at 7pm in Jabez Clegg to discuss the CoML and the society in general.

[this was agreed as Monday 2nd at the meeting but has been changed before these minutes were written up - Dave]

Convention of the Left

We had a debate session at the Convention of the Left back in September during the Labour Party Conference. There's a recall convention on 24th January, and it'd be good to do something on ID cards at short notice, or at least publicise the Convention on Modern Liberty.

Convention on Modern Liberty

We are organising a breakout convention alongside the Convention on Modern Liberty in London. The venue will likely be Manchester Uni SU, though Manchester Met is a possibility if that doesn't work out.

Debate sessions are being arranged with NO2ID, Unlock Democracy and the Consenting Adult Action Network. We may have space for more sessions depending on how many rooms we can book, but having more than three at a time might split our audience too thinly. We can send out a call for participation.

Lots of people volunteered to steward on the day.

Preliminary flyers for the event have been produced. Publicity for the event will include Student Direct, Indymedia, an immediate press release followed by a second closer to the event. Flyers at the SU are being organised by Sarah and Gwyneth. We will flyer on our Feb 14th stall.

Other suggestions included a banner at the SU - either home-made, or a more professional one funded by SaID. An advert in the MEN - the convention is sponsored by the Guardian, who are part of the same stable as the MEN. Getting the University Comms Officer to plug the event in his weekly e-mail.

Airside Workers

We need to forge links with the air workers' unions (and other trades unions). Volunteers are needed for this. Christina Zaba, NO2ID's Union rep, may be able to help.

Workloads for 2009

Dave requested that other members of the group take on particular areas of responsibility, possibly organising the running of the stall for one month, or contacting a particular trade union. Manchester NO2ID isn't advancing as far as it can due to lack of central co-ordination time, and if more people did specific tasks, that would be a huge help.

If you'd like to volunteer to do something, please contact us and give an indication of how much spare time etc. you would like to give to the group.

Other Business

Meg Hillier has responded to NO2ID's Take Jane campaign claiming that it is cynical scaremongering.

We discussed the possibility of Thales' staff being searched as part of their employers' involvement in the ID card scheme and the possibility of a second demonstration there aimed at informing employees and contractors of this.