From James in London UK, to Reinder in Maastricht, the Netherlands 2d December 2011
To clarify:
I already have my costs for diesel and ferry ticket paid by Occupy London
I already have £200 from Occupy London ready to give to you to pay for materials for the Demounits we already have. I do need to give Occupy London a receipt or invoice or similar back for this though. Even a letter signed by you will be enough to satisfy them.
I already have slightly more than £50 received in donations made to me directly on behalf of Demotech to bring you back and the good news even more is coming!
I think we can easily go scavenge and buy, beg or borrow the additional materials needed for the stoves.
The video stuff is really important as media team at Occupy LSX want to put it on main page of their website, it gets thousands of hits from all over the world, this will help gain further donations so we can pay for development of not only stoves but all the other wonderful things Demotech can do!
Some video already starting to appear online, note this was NOT anything to do with me, just someone who was so impressed they were able to take quick video and upload themselves. It's here:
Contibutons from Maastricht and where the money comes from
Reinder from the Demotech Lab in Maastricht, the Netherlands to James at Occupy Finsbury Square in London UK. 2d December, 2011
James, hello!
Thanks for the video link. There should be more of this stuff. I asked Elles to get contact info, name and adress from people actually making video of the demonstration. Maybe she did it.
The shaky video footage can be 'calmed down' with a special video editing program. That would increase it value a lot. Same for probably all video's taken with small camera's. You know about that? The people who edit video for you know about that? Wil they do it?
Now Program Steps:
1. Your confirmation that money for the project must come from donations and not from your own pocket. See for this the mail I wrote about it to you.
2. Here in Maastricht I have to make up the list of cost made for the first two project items (visit with Stefan + 4 towers), the second item: making with you and Matt the 20 towers, and then the third item: cost involved with the stove and my eventual second visit. I'll notify you about the numbers that come up.
3. Here in Maastricht I take some time to take up again the stove project conditionally: there should be explicit interest from the GA for application. You and your friends have to do some promotion with the help of the images I did sent. Then let me know the results. That could be done in two days time (Sunday, Monday)is my estimate. If I come with the stove, it should be a working prototype, not the mockup that I already made. For that job I need a few days.
I send you this for a start and will add up to it later. Now I just need to do other things.
Please also comment on the mail about alternative solutions.
On the 2d of December James in London wrote to Reinder at Demotech's Lab in Maastricht, the Netherlands:
We have a better video now.
This still isn't mine but I think is a good example of what you are looking for: http://vimeo.com/33032285
1) I am concentrating only on Occupy and Demotech. However, if there is a problem with getting finance from Occupy. But I have no problem doing some occational paid work as I have little else to spend money on. I have no rent or mortgage to pay. I have no electric or gas to pay. I don't have to buy food. We have other people who also do working jobs during the day and come Occupy at night, they do the same as me. We are united as one, divided by zero. I would rather spend any money I make on Occupy and Demotech. Just imagine the donations are coming from a businessman because they are!
That being said, support for the Demounits is growing by the minute in London. I do some online activity today with Facebook and Twitter etc as we often get donations from "outsiders" who send in money when they see us doing something amazing and positive. There is even talk that St. Paul's cathedral might like to put a tent inside the church as a representation of their support for Occupy! What better tent than a Demounit?! This is only at the talking stage at the moment though, not definite, but it shows what support we are gaining.
2) I had agreement from our General Assembly that I could get £200 for materials for the 20 Demounits that me and Matt helped to fabricate in Maastricht. I did not get authorisation for the materials supplied by you and Stefan on your original visit but I don't want you to worry about this. As support and awareness for Demotech grows we will raise the funds from donations to cover your costs in this respect. We easily gained £50 from people who donated directly to Demotech (not Occupy) on #n30 and I feel confident we will get much more on #d15 as I will be prepared with a megaphone rather than have to shout next time. You will see this on my video when finished!
3) I will do my best to get explicit consent from GA for money for stoves. The only problem with this is timescale and getting messages to people so they understand. The pictures you have provided will definitely be helpful in this. Bear in mind, even at LBB where the number of people is relatively few it can sometimes be hard to get consensus on how to proceeed. We are dealing with thousands of different people, spread across three different locations in one of the busiest cities in the world and without constant electricty and broadband. Very challenging!
Be assured myself and others work at this constantly. I really believe we can do this, I love Demotech and will always keep trying.
