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Leadership Committee
The Leadership Committee is May First/People Link's body for deciding the organization's political direction.
Membership
All leadership committee members are members of May First/People Link. The current members are (organizations are for identification purposes only):
- Maritza Arrastia
- Carlos Pablo Correa Hernández
- Juan Gerardo Dominguez Carrasco
- Carlos Fazio
- Hilary Goldstein
- Abi Hassen - National Lawyers Guild
- Louis Head - Southwest Organizing Project
- Mallory Knodel -- Associations for Progressive Communications
- Alfredo Lopez
- Stephen Mahood aka mv
- Jamie McClelland
- Grainne O'Neill
- Enrique Rosas
- Jerome Scott - The United States Social Forum
- Jackie Smith
Next meeting
The next phone meeting of the Leadership Committee meeting will be our face to face meeting in Mexico the weekend of February 15 and 15.
LC Call-in Procedures
mexcla is a simultaneous interpretation system for conference calls.
To use mexcla, either dial our main number (+1-718-303-3204) and press 6 (pressing 6 is not advertized - so you have to know it!) or if you have a SIP account, dial 9999@talk.mayfirst.org
.
When you join a mexcla conference, you enter the general conference channel by default.
In the general conference channel, you can hear all participants as they speak their preferred language. When you speak, all participants in the general conference channel can hear you.
If you press the 1 key, you enter the interpretation channel. On this channel, you can continue to be heard in the general conference channel. However, when others speak,you can no longer hear them. Instead, you only hear what is being said in the interpretion channel. You can return to the general conference channel by pressing 0.
If you press 2, you enter the interpretation channel as an interpreter. You will continue hearing what is spoken in the general conference channel, but when you speak it is only heard in the interpretation channel. You can press 0 to return to the general conference channel at any time.
For admin information about the software, please see the mexcla admin page.
Proposal for Re-organization
(This proposal is being submitted for LC discussion)
Our accomplishments this year have been considerable. We are stronger technologically. We have a higher profile in some movement circles. But these accomplishments, in the context of the changing political situation, the redefining by our governments of their social contracts and the growing movements of resistance demand improvements in our membership policies, diversity in the leadership of the organization, consciousness development among our members and the deepening of our involvement in the progressive and social justice movements.
To address this situation, we need to rethink and recast the way we have organized the implementation of LC decisions.
Proposal
The LC should form the following member workgroups and assign an LC member to each. This LC member's responsibility is to recruit MF/PL members to work on the workgroup and serve as the workgroup's coordinator.
Those group coordinators should meet weekly as an administrative committee to coordinate work and make decisions.
Each of these groups will submit a budget to the Leadership Committee in December or January for LC approval.
Infrastructure and Security
This group is responsible for all the infra-structural functions of the organization including server system planning, upgrade and maintenance; member technical support; technologist development; and security.
Membership and Internal Operations
This group oversees all member-related work and basic administrative and organizational operations. It is in charge of membership intake; communications with members (including internationalization); member orientation and discussion programs; and all administrative functions.
Outreach and Communications
This group is charged with our external relations and profile. It produces the materials we use, schedules our appearances and conference attendances, develops and works with our blog and media contacts, develops relations with other organizations and prepares periodic official statements under LC direction.
International
This group is encharged with all our international relations including our work with organizations like APC, international conferences and visibility, communications and recruitment work in countries outside of the U.S. and Mexico.
Note: this proposal eliminates the Co-Director position and the staff. All current "work teams" are to be folded into the above workgroups.
Proposal on Temporary Leadership
Appoint Juan Gerardo Dominguez Carrasco as temporary chair until December meeting.
Appoint Jamie McClelland and Enrique Rosas as temporary Co-Directors to make emergency decisions and oversee implementation during November. They may not make decisions that will impact the organization beyond November and must refrain from all long and mid-term planning.
(NOTE: the following committees would be replaced by the groups formed in the above proposal)
Subcommittees
Democracy
MF/PL has committed itself to becoming an organization built on a robust democracy among its members. How would we characterize our current democratic behavior? When do the decisions of our member organizations about the hosting of their resources and development of their infra-structure take on a political dimension? What concrete conditions would raise the level of democratic participation among our members? What kind of decision-making process do we need to develop and how do we do that?
In relationship to those questions, last year's Leadership Committee drafted a structure document that could be used as a basis for moving forward.
This sub-committee is responsible for expanding the structure document drafted last year into a formal proposal for organizational decision-making. The proposal should include the rules governing our decision-making as well as a process for having it approved by the membership. This proposal, or minimally a comprehensive outline, should be ready in time for our face-to-face meeting in February. This committee will collaborate with the Membership and Agenda committee in planning for the next membership meeting.
This sub-committee should use the following page for its work: structure, revising as necessary.
Promotion and Communication
To meet our political objectives, MF/PL has to define a strategy that involves what our members consider priority work in the bi-national situation in which we find ourselves, while building our infra-structure and the number of active members, broadening our human resources, our presence throughout the Hemisphere and our political influence.
What strategy do we need to meet both those goals?
Internally, MF/PL can serve as a vehicle for facilitating contact, collaboration and mutual support among our members as well as being a channel for information about their activities, perspectives and struggles. How do we do that? Should we have an "opt-in" members' directory with contact information and description of activities? What about an information system for news and analysis from our members reflecting their political and organizational experiences and those of their constituents and communities?
Given the serious social and political contradictions many members face, like those emanating from war, violence or repression, is it necessary and appropriate for MF/PL to participate in solidarity actions? Based on our commitment to Internet freedom and transparency as a political goal and area of work for us, how does the pursuit of such solidarity strengthen our work and how does it detract from it?
Externally, MF/PL needs to develop promotion and recruitment that attracts new members, develop and grow its technical support and broaden its capabilities. How do we attract and/develop technologists who share our political perspective and commitment to social change?
How do we identify the people who work on Internet governance and regulation, the important telecommunications corporations, the network of allied organizations and other important forces? What factors are important in our relationship to and with those people?
These responses should develop a draft plan to be presented at our face-to-face meeting February 9 and 10. A beginning document has been prepared to enhance the committee's work which is located here: promotion and communications plan
Voluntary and Contracted work Subcommittee
For MF/PL, voluntary work is an expression of the commitment to our organization and the morale of its members and it has always been an essential aspect of our organizational work and life. At the same time, there are concrete needs that our volunteer workers cannot meet. Thanks to the enormous contribution of our members, volunteers and staff, MF/PL has the resources to pay for work in some important areas of our operations. We consider the decisions on who is hired and for what work to be a Co-Directors' responsibility since they oversee our operations but we also need to develop a general strategic vision and policy about what work is needed and what type of person we hire and/or recruit to do that work.
What criteria do we develop to determine the balance between paid and voluntary work? What are people's motivations for doing voluntary work and how do we incorporate those in our practice? How do we assure that our membership recognizes their work? What policies should govern recruitment and/or hiring of people to do this work and how do we assure their understanding of and contributions to our politics?
The Voluntary and Contracted Work committee is responsible for drafting a proposal for the face-to-face meeting in February that conveys MF/PL labor principles and provides a roadmap for how we will build both our paid and volunteer labor in a way consistent with those principles.
Membership and Agenda
This sub-committee develops a document that summarizes the discussions and proposals made by members at the last Membership Meeting in October, 2012, including the priorities set at the meeting. It should also plan and organize our face to face meeting in February, 2013 and our periodic "remote" meetings in collaboration with the Internationalization and Support staffs. In addition, this sub-committee, in collaboration with the Democracy sub-committee, will lead the organizing of the next membership meeting.
Work page: membership and agenda work page.
Internationalization
Notes from this committee's meeting: leadership-committee/internationalization
Cooperativa Tecnológica Primero de Mayo/Enlace Popular
We are planning the creation of a coop that will represent MF/PL in México strengthening our presence and creating a team in charge of the admin, organizing, tech, and communication work: leadership-committee/mexico-coop
Call in Number
Leadership Committee phone calls use the following number:
Conference Dial-in Number: (218) 844-0850 Access Code: 526706#
Upcoming Meetings
none at this time
Past Meetings
February 9-10, 2013
November 15, 2012
January 24, 2012
December 10, 2011
February 26, 2011 at the Neighborhood Preservation Center
- Meeting page: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm.
- View 2010 agenda and the 2010 report to LC
November 21, 2009 at the Brecht Forum
- View our 2009 agenda and our 2009 meeting notes.
December 20, 2008 at the Brecht Forum:
- View our 2008 agenda and our 2008 meeting notes.