The Seattle Local Peoples Assembly was formed in 2000, after the first Global Peoples Assembly in Apia, Samoa, to increase support in the Seattle area for global democracy and to promote new democratic processes both locally and globally. To Bring the vision of the GPA to bear on local issues and concerns, and vice versa. At present we have a diverse Steering Committee of 9 members, which meets monthly, with open meetings bimonthly. The open meetings typically have 15 to 30 people on a Saturday morning and use an Open Space format, with two Open Space sessions, in addition to opening and closing ceremonies and announcements.
Some people stay after for working sessions for part of the afternoon.
Individuals have linked with other groups to work on these and related issues. Our major proposal to the GPA is to study and test new democratic processes in the GPA and to consider how these might enhance the design of more traditional democratic processes at the global level. This meeting was organized by Mona Lee and Dick Burkhart, who had both attended the first GPA in Samoa, with 30 some people present. Instead of a traditional structure with officers for the new organization, it was decided go with a more informal Steering Committee, which would operate by consensus. Susan Partnow joined the Steering Committee and brought her experience with Open Space to help us structure subsequent open meetings.