I was at the GA two years ago when a lot of contentious debate took place over whether to hold a "justice" GA in 2012 or not. Some people were heard, some were not, some threatened to walk out pending a unsatisfactory outcome, and a few walked out, and at least one thing agreed upon in the middle of the night meeting amending the resolution didn't get typed into it because the person putting it together just got too tired, as she herself explained at the mini-assembly the next day. In the end, the assembly voted to ask the board to suspend GA as usual and business as much as the rules allow in 2012 in order to do social justice work, and in particular opposition to Arizona immigration law.
Yes, AIW will be suspended for 2012, but many think they should be suspended altogether, and yes, the focus of the speakers and workshops are on justice-related topics, and yes, many non-uua orgs have been brought into the planning.
Yet, looking at the preliminary program, while it looks like many great speakers and great topics related to social justice, it appears as if 99% of GA will be happening in the Phoenix Convention Center including exhibits, with two(?) off-site immigration justice-related events. Is this final program really what almost caused a divide reminiscent of what has been labeled "the black empowerment controversy" of the 1960's? Is this the program that puts people of color at risk when attending (which was one reason to boycott Phoenix altogether)?
http://www.uua.org/ga/programming/18214.shtml
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