New Members Welcome

Also, people have been contacting the page asking to join and that – so we could ride on the positive waves? Being new, I’m happy to foster this – would be good to get some feedback/thoughts!

xx

Absolutely! We need to set up some procedures for new members. I think there’s been some conversation on one of the pages. I’ll try and dig that out for you. xx

Here’s what I found in this page: we.riseup.net/ribeana/notes-for-18th-mo...

From Wanji:

Alright, now ‘moving forward’, here’s a suggestion on recruiting members:

We really need to start growing again. Great work for those who were going to bring people in tonight, it’s cool that we have these people interested. But yes I totally agree with Tisha that we need to know how to go about it. So here’s what I think could work nicely:
When we meet someone, particularly if the person is not a (close) friend, then there should be a rota system so that 1 or 2 LBR members (preferably 1 man and 1 woman, but we can talk about that) meet with the recrutee face to face. The recruiters would have list of questions that I think Arnie and Josh already have, right? If everything goes well on that f2f meet, then the recrutee could be invited to a monthly meeting for all LBR members. The rationale here is that the Monday meetings are quite practical/technical, so not only are there issues about security (i.e.. what Tisha said about giving too much info to new members) but it’s probably also really boring to new ears. And I wouldn’t want new blood to think we’re boring and take too long to get things done. And also, a lot of these recrutees, at least the ones I meet, seem to be really keen to talk about how they feel, and their experiences of racism and brutality. They wanna talk about the big stuff. So wider questions than ‘who do we build accountability’, ‘who’s gonna print the flyers’. So I think the monthly meeting could be a space where all of us can reflect on who we are as a group, what we do, why we do it, how we’re moving forward, how what we do fits in something greater. Ideally the first monthly meeting we could draft some form of manifesto. I think that would be great for us, to have a space for reflection, and pretty good for new members too. What do people think?
I’m sure people can feed into this idea and add a couple of thoughts on security.

From jvblackrevs:

I have 3 (possibly 4) potentially new members, one whom we dined with (big afro) and 3 from Brixton/Streatham. I realise that we have no isolate our procedure so I acted out the above as suggested by Wanji, and formulated on an urgency basis by a few of us. I have informed these 3 dudes the above procedure, I am however aware that this is not the final process, and they will be fine to be informed of any new decisions, I needed to let them know they can’t come to the Monday meet (we had invited them before).
Explanation of the procedure went down well, they understood and appreciated it. My 4, plus another 3 I know of makes 6 males and 1 female.. the group, the last time we were in full capacity in the room in Southbank, was near enough 50/50.. So how can we proactively ensure balance in the group.¶Edit

from hads:
- process for new members

- we are low on capacity so need to expand and do so without compromising the trust, security and positive vibes of the group.
- i support alex’s proposal

Other ways low capacity can be addressed?
- reaching out/call outs to allies/down and trusted groups and individuals
- could be useful e.g. for logistical help at actions and demos
- seems to be increased energy for collaboration and linking up between groups e.g. sisters uncut/LPA interest
- work group/study time – getting together to do some of the work e.g. article writing, although it can be done online and remotely, I for one find it easiet to be in a room with ppl boucing ideas back and forth and being able to make quick decisions. Realise we may hit same obstacles with regards to ppls availability but perhaps worth a try.
– more delegation (directly asking rather than a to-do list? sometimes i respond better to that tbh, though the onus shouldn’t always be on the person taking the lead)

I like the idea of having a rota to welcome people. If someone can vouch for them, then immediately invite them to a meeting and add them to Crabgrass. Maybe do a quick check on them if they are completely unknown just to avoid infiltrators (state agencies or Arnie)

Agreed; new members should be checked out first, and then if they’re cool invited to a regular monthly meeting and Crabgrass.

Other groups that I have been part of used a system where we had a tiered system of engagement for new members. we could try and use something similar -

You have three circles
1. Inner circle – these are people who are involved in the tactical and strategic decision making of the group. They would have access to crabtree and be able to attend the weekly meetings.
2. Activist circle – these are people who wish to be active with the group. This group forms the basis of those who help organise activities but dont make the decisions about what activity we do, or it strategic direction etc. They meet on a monthly basis.
3. Supporters circle – these are people who join the general mailing list. They like to know about our activities but usually attend as supporters but not as ‘members of the group’.

Process:
All new activist contacts/requests to join our group would be added to the ‘general activist mailing list’. This would be the list to do activities with, but not the list, (ie crabgrass) where strategic or tactical decisions were made.
Others names would simply be added to the mailing list (I like the simple sign up link that is on Arnie’s FB page to help build up our own mailing list – can we add something onto our FB page?).

Meetings:
We would aim to have a monthly meeting of the activist circle – maybe the last Monday of every month.
The inner circle would meet the other three Mondays of the month.

How to move between the circles:
For those people wishing to join the internal core – two things would have to happen.

1. known activists – where someone is known and can be vouched for by someone in the ‘internal circle’.. that person would post the persons name and say a little about them, how they know they them, what their political engagement is and why they want to join. There would be a 5 day grace period where anyone on the list could object and state why they wished to block this person from immediately joining the inner group. A political rationale would have to be given for a block. If a person is blocked they remain on the activist list and there has to be at least 2 months before they can be proposed again. In that time we can try and get to know the person and decide if the political block is still valid.

2. Moving from activist circle to inner circle – after we have worked with them over a period and got to know their politics and their general level of engagement (so we could exclude disruptive elements from disrupting the internal dynamics). Someone from the list could propose the person as a useful addition to the decision making circle and we would use the same 5 day grace period for any objections.

It should also be possible for people who are currently in the inner circle and who may have other matters to deal with (family/studies/work/personal etc) to also ask to shift down from the inner circle to the activist circle. That way we can also skill up and develop new layers of activists and their ‘leadership’ skills, as well as ensuring we have a gender balance in the decision making circle.

We should be open and transparent to all our supporters about our decision making structures – that we operate using an inner and outer circle. We dont have to identify who is in the inner circle, if people dont wish to be identified – but at least some people should be willing to be seen as visible ‘points of contact’. That will set us apart from LBR – and now that we have made a critique of the ‘undemocratic’ nature or LBR we have to show we are different.

Hope thats helpful
Asad

All this info is great! I can draw up something tonight tying up these suggestions and come up with a proposal to move forward? Are there any more comments ?

Also, I know that with some of the more established members that things are much trickier for you guys, just down right heavy – so as a newbie myself I want to send out some love there. And hope with some new fresh faces that momentum will pick and restore your faith in humanity.

Peace and Love x

The proposal sounds good Asad. And thanks Zak for helping to draw up a proposal.

I don’t know if we want to do something similar but I saw that Plan C offers to pay childcare costs for people who come to their general meetings.

Thanks Zak! Great idea. All I would say is that we need to think hard about this. I do relaly like the idea of an inner circle, especially if we are really open about that and the fact thta this is how we operate. At the same time I don’t want to be called out on our lack of horizontality. SO we need something written and clear (hence need for manifesto… once again…).
x

Dope Zak! Think we should definitely try hard to do that Plan C point, know that meeting some people who were interested in becoming members months ago was made more difficult for them because of a lack of child care facilities.
Looking forward to the proposal!