Changes between Version 17 and Version 18 of projects/leadership-committee/meetings/2015-01-10/structure


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Timestamp:
Jul 9, 2015, 10:17:16 AM (10 years ago)
Author:
Enrique Rosas
Comment:

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  • projects/leadership-committee/meetings/2015-01-10/structure

    v17 v18  
    11[[PageOutline]]
    2 = January 2015 LC meeting Structure =
    3 Mallory, Louis and Enrique
     2
     3= Structure analysis and problematization =
     4Mallory, Louis and Enrique's proposal to promote MFPL structure discussion and further organizational development.
     5Created based on a LC meeting agreement taken on Junuary 2015
     6
    47[[BR]]
    58== I. Current Structure ==
    … …  
    3134== III. Evidence and Analysis ==
    3235=== Crises ===
    33 The profound crisis in which MFPL currently finds itself, as with other recent similar moments when internal contradictions have arisen, exists in two parts:
    34 1. Closure of the open Internet and increase in surveillance of all people, enabled by the Internet.
    35 1. Lack of democratic participation from most members in May First/People Link.
    36 
    37 What follows is the evidence for and our analysis of these two aspects of our current crisis, particularly focused on they are related to MFPL's structure.
     36The profound crisis in which MFPL currently finds itself, as with other recent similar moments when internal contradictions have arisen, have two key and combined aspects:
    3837
    3938'''1. Internet as a front of struggle'''
     39
     40Our organization has as its vision to contribute to the progressive movement, functioning as a democratic membership organization whose principal actors are our members. However, our organizing efforts in recent years have shown that those actors (when they are present in our calls) do not have a significant level of commitment either to MFPL or to one another in our context. Although they can and often do converge and coordinate in a variety of ways in other political contexts, projects and networks.
    4041
    4142Our failure to promote critical thinking and broad action against corporate concentration of information and massive surveillance, even after the Snowden revelations, should show us that the goal of developing MFPL as democratic membership organization with active members is impossible to meet in the short term, perhaps even in the medium term, given the incipient level of consciousness in the social movement about the Internet as a multi-dimensional front of struggle. Even if our members are generally convinced about our project, and even if they support our work by maintaining their membership in MFPL, that does not mean that they understand and share our conclusion that it is strategic that we build for the movement an option of a democratic membership organization to maintain an Internet communication infrastructure and make it grow as to cover our increasing needs, while we defend the Internet as a means for social change.
    4243
    4344At present, among our members no understanding exists of shared goals based on the political vision of MFPL. This precludes the possibility of having a democratic, member-led and controlled organization.
    44 
    45 Our organization has as its vision to contribute to the progressive movement, functioning as a democratic membership organization whose principal actors are our members. However, our organizing efforts in recent years have shown that those actors (when they are present in our calls) do not have a significant level of commitment either to MFPL or to one another in our context. Although they can and often do converge and coordinate in a variety of ways in other political contexts, projects and networks.
    4645
    4746If we want to build a democratic membership organization, then a key objective is to get to the point where our members are engaged in MFPL projects and that they are committed to making contributions to the internal life of the organization. Membership should be synonym of active-members. Members should be effectively politicized by being associated with MFPL to join mass struggle for an open Internet and take steps to protect their own networks from online surveillance.
    … …  
    5756At present we must prioritize the creation of conditions for internal democracy and motivation among the members who already participate regularly in MFPL (who we could consider MFPL workers), in order to reach the internal cohesion and stability needed to collectively increase member participation and organizational-wide democracy.
    5857
     58Some of our attempts to democratize organization-wide will be successful and some will fail, but they will require the involvement of us all (already active participants) and they will also need systematic improvement based on evidence and regular evaluation. This aspect needs to be addressed separately and in more detail.
     59
    5960Increasing internal democracy and motivation among all workers will help ensure that we welcome new, active members interested in engaging in our current projects by "holding a space" where there is satisfaction regarding the direction and overall collective development of our efforts.
    60 
    61 Some of our attempts to democratize organization-wide will be successful and some will fail, but they will require the involvement of us all (already active participants) and they will also need systematic improvement based on evidence and regular evaluation. This aspect needs to be addressed separately and in more detail.
    6261
    6362=== Mechanisms for Democracy ===