At 04:08 PM 2/21/01 -0000, you wrote:
>> My question remains. It's one that's been asked before. What is
>> to be done?
>
>At the risk of seeming facetious, the answer is you have to call a meeting of
>like-minded people and form a political organisation. What is required is
>someone to organise this meeting. Are you available? I could certainly help
>out. Anyone else?
>
>Mark
Seems we are in a meeting, albeit an unstructured one. I'm available.
Here's a suggestion. Let's organize a meeting using this medium, email.
Here are some thoughts.
An example (true): I'm organizing as state-wide meeting in North Carolina
for October, to form a kind of political organization, but just for the
sake of thinking about THIS meeting, let me review the process that makes
the meeting happen.
I am going to have around 100 meetings in 100 days, contacting people who
might know people, who are interested in progressive politics. In these
meetings, I am listening more than talking, because I am listening for that
person's values, and keeping an eye peeled for danger signals, like
--disruptor, whiner, flim-flam artist, new-age guru, etc. I also bird-dog
new contacts.
Second round of meetings, with a vetted group from the first round.
Confirm shared values and goals. Now I am determining if the person has
the individual charactersistics and skills to do what we're looking for
(organizing). Consciousness, maturity, persistence, willingness to give
and accept criticism, effective communicator, HAS THE TIME... stuff like that.
Third round, the invitation.
Next step, preparation. We begin with a proposed context (vision
statement) and mission statement, then an agenda proposal, a proposal for
by-laws (in this case), and a proposal for structure. Begin building
consensus on these proposals. Everyone weighs in, and one
organizer/facilitator takes the initiative and becomes the clearinghouse.
Next step, prior to the actual meeting, we draft a list of terms and
concepts that will likely be used, and define each of them as precisely as
possible. We also gather a basic list of pertinent documents which
everyone must read and study, to ensure we are all beginning from roughly
the same place, using roughly the same language.
Finally, coordinate the time and place, and finalize the agenda. Ensure
that at least one key action step is at the end of the agenda, which leads
directly into whatever activity follows up on the meeting.
I am for the meeting, Mark. But let's have a process that makes the goal
(an organization) the dog and the meeting the tail. Never let the tail wag
the dog. (-:
Let's do it.
Stan
"...all truly great scientific abstractions are both universal and simple.
They are simple not because they explain so little but because they explain
so much. Generality does not arise because an abstraction represents
everything that could possible happen, but because it remains valid no
matter what happens."
Alan Freeman
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