Today's GA - what you might not see on TV (or maybe you will, but I really hope you don't)

So at 1 o'clock this afternoon took place the Grand Assembly at Uni during which we were supposed to vote for or against a strike.

It was crazy when Galia and I got there. Students on strike from other universities were there - the funniest thing was they were all speaking French. They actually walked into the school at some point, shouting "En grève ! En grève !". Eventually they noticed nobody understood so they switched to "On strike! On strike!" Funny.

So we got in and waited a whole hour for everybody to get in and have a seat. Actually, there wasn't enough seats, obviously, so a lot a people had to stand at the end of each row of seats. And then, the Assembly began.

This might require some information for you guys, as, from what I've seen, a lot of people don't understand how an assembly works. Simple. Once it is started and all points have been proposed and seconded, the question/opinion period begins, and lasts until nobody wants to speak anymore or until somebody calls the question. Then we get to vote whether or not we're ready to vote, and then we get to vote for the motion in question. Then, and only then can the motion be admended. If everybody at the assembly this afternoon had known that, everything might've gone very differently.

So it didn't take too long before the question was called: we all knew what was a stake, thank you, and those who didn't, well, they never will. So everybody agreed to vote and the one-day strike motion passed, approximately 700 to 300. And after that, people massively left the auditorium, which is really the stupidest thing you can do, especially if you're against the strike. Because then somebody's going to propose a longer strike, and you wanna be there to limit the damages.

I was in favor of the one-day strike. Actually, I wanted a 3-day strike so I could on a trip with Tweety. Slightly beside the point, but whatever.
So the first person who spoke after the motion was voted asked to extend the one-day strike to an unlimited one. Another guy added that we should meet each week to check if the majority is still in favor, and soon after that the question was called.

Once again, we were ready to vote. First we voted in favor of the one-assembly-a-week amendment, about 300 to 30. (yes, when I said "people massively left the auditorium", I really meant massively - however, all counting wasn't over when we were told that result but it was obvious on which side the majority was) And then we voted on the unlimited strike motion, and it passed, about 320 to 290. People started going crazy until the chairmen added that this meant that there was no quorum anymore and that the decision wasn't valid. Then they went even more crazy, and the chair added that the assembly wasn't adjourned and that people who wished to stay to discuss this were welcome to; however, all decision wouldn't affect the strike as there was no quorum.

People, again, started to leave in large groups, until somebody shouted out that quorum wasn't called prior to the vote and, therefore, the motion needed to pass. Apparently - and I didn't even know - quorum needs to be called before the vote. We took a break so somebody could get the written rules fo GA's (Robert's rules or something) to get people to stop arguing and it turns out the decision was void even though quorum wasn't called. We decided to hold another GA next week on the unlimited strike - for now, all we have is a one-day strike.

I know, I know - just how pathetic does it get???