National conference proposed Sept 25

[ian neal]

I have taken the liberty to post this email exchange to invite wider input. Given the intention to leaflet and publicise widely I see no reason for this not being on the public forum

BW

Ian N

Dear Friends

We have secured the Circle Community Centre, Tufnell Park Road (Northern Line) as a venue for our national conference on Sunday September 25th from 11am to 5pm with a possible extension into the evening for showing 9/11 movies to others who may be using the Centre. It is an attractive space: an octagonal church converted to a theatre, with a cafe attached. Check their website: circlecommunity.org.uk

Could I have a decision on the following points:
- do we confirm this booking with the Circle Community? (if you don’t reply within 24 hours I’ll assume your answer is YES)
- do we confirm the LSE booking or cancel it if we can find something nearer Trafalgar Square?
- can anyone put up some cash to prime the pump for these events and leaflets ?
would any of the publishers (Ian and Rowland’s, Annie and David’s, Nafeez’s) be prepared to put in any cash for a book signing at the conference, on the grounds that there will be present potential book distributors from all over the country?


We have provisionally made the following arrangements, some of which the Circle Community were insistent upon:
- We pay them a deposit of £300 in advance
- We ask for donations of £3 to £5 from participants on the door
- We split the door takings with the Circle Community 50/50
- We have a doorkeeper (or a series of doorkeepers) on the door throughout the day who will work together with the Community’s doorkeeper(s)
- We produce 500 flyers advertising the event which The Circle Community will distribute through their own network
- We allow Community Centre users to attend the event
- We remind them a week before that we want catering for lunch on that day
- We have a team of volunteers to clean up after our event
- We put their website address, circlecommunity.org on our publicity

I have also asked them to put our web address on their publicity material. I understand they are producing a leaflet about a series of forthcoming peace oriented events, one of which will be our conference.

Additionally Belinda has secured a room at the LSE for a meeting on the evening of the 24th September after the Stop the War demonstration. I think that will cost £45. I was looking for a venue closer to Trafalgar Square, such as Westminster Friends’ Meeting House in St Martin’s Lane, so that, as on the demonstration in March, we could hold a movie showing and discussion with people whom we have met on the demo. Last March’s effort did not bring in many to watch the movie, but it was in Conway Hall which is rather distant from Trafalgar Square and a little difficult to find. I doubt we should secure three venues for that weekend. The LSE is about 10 minutes walk, for marchers on tired feet, from Trafalgar Square - east along The Strand and off The Aldwych. The Friends’ Meeting House is a mere three minutes away.

Another potential expense is the production of a leaflet or leaflets which link 9/11 with the London bombings. It is the initiative of Mike Stagman, an American in Swansea. I have been working on the design of this leaflet together with Keith, Nick and Seb. IMHO we urgently need a leaflet which links 9/11 to recent and current events in London, including the Jean Charles Menezes shooting.

Mike also wants another one produced about the attack on our civil liberties but, though this is a matter relevant to our cause, I’m not sure we would want to produce such a leaflet unless it drew a direct link with 9/11 and/or the London bombings.

Any thoughts on the programme for the weekend of the 24th/25th September would be most welcome.

My thanks to Belinda, Jenny and Kenyon who accompanied me to the Circle Community meeting last night where we struck the deal.

Noel

[ian neal]

Dear Noel

Well done for taking the initiative. I suggest we start a thread on the forum to discuss further. Anyone on this email list who is not registered on the forum, may I urge to do so.

Money

I will cover costs from the remainder of our general fund should other sources not be forthcoming.

Purpose and structure

We need a discussion amongst us all about the purpose and structure of the day and need volunteers to help organize. For example, I see little or no value in a conference that seeks to convince the undecided that 9/11 was an inside job (ie another presentation of the evidence). This should be about how we work together and how we build the movement. Strategy and practical action. As long as new comers (attracted by leaflets or from the circle community) understand this, then there will be no problem.

Election of committee?

There is also the issue of whether or not as a network/movement we need this much discussed management committee and if so how is it selected/elected. Alan Firminger has sent me a suggestion as to how committee members could be elected (electronically), which is one option (I will post this on the forum: see constitution thread in private forum. Anyone wishing to join this private thread please PM me). Others have suggested that a national conference could be used to select a management committee. If we did use the national meeting for this purpose, there is then the issue of who votes. What happens to those who cannot attend? Who votes amongst attendees on the day?

Anyway just some early thoughts. Let’s post something on the forum and get a wider discussion going

Ian N

[ian neal]

Thanks to Ian for putting forward the deposit for Circle Community Centre 25 September.

I was a little sceptical as to whether this was the best venue for a National Conference, being a bit 'out on a limb' but it's actually only 6 minutes up the Northern Line from Euston, then a 7-minute walk down a straight road from station to the church door, which shouldn't kill anyone. The space inside of the church is ideal for a meeting of this kind, being octagonal/circular it's both majestic yet at the same time informal.

Re. Ian's points

PURPOSE & STRUCTURE OF CONFERENCE
There will inevitably be people coming for the first time who are mad-keen to discuss the events of 911/want to know more about 911 YET who didn't get to the fim-showing the previous evening, haven't watched the DVD or whatever and we should cater for them. Having identified them on the inner door into the actual venue we can put them straight into one of the 'side-pockets' of the hall with the film (Loose Change) and one or two of us old hands fielding the subsequent discussion. Then, if they are convinced that yes, 911 needs to be looked at again and yes there's a need for a Truth Movement and yes, they want to join it!! then they can join the mainstream meeting, or if they still think the whole thing's a load of rubbish they can go home! and not disrupt our meeting!!!
In other words I agree we should make it VERY CLEAR that discussing actual events of 911 is not the main purpose of the conference but that there is space to do that. This is a conference for those 'already converted' to the need for a Truth Movement/the re-opening of an Inquiry into 911 and who want to know what they can do to help get it going.

ELECTION OF COMMITTEE Following on from the above I think it would be best to do the voting BEFORE the Conference, electronically, possibly using the Forum (?), and have the conference as the launch-pad for the new Committee, and to decide strategy and practical action for the coming year to September 2006, when we'll have another AGM presumably. However, we should keep open the option for newcomers who join us at the Conference for the first time and who are enthusiastic to get stuck in to join Teams doing particular things, such as a parliamentary team, a press team, an events team, a publicity team, a website maintenance team, a research team, etc. etc (see my email to Noel & Ian some time back). If any are super-keen they can get elected onto the management-committee any time thereafter but let's get people actually DOING things first.

Workshops in the second half of the day could actually be the beginnings of action for particular Teams, the venue lends itself wonderfully to small meetings going on around the main space. We could have some nice music going on in the main space while the workshops/team-meetings are in progress!

PRACTICAL HELP ON DAY Let's get people committing to coming along and doing all kinds of donkey-work, the sooner we get people committed the easier to plan and allocate jobs. I insist that any intending/hoping to be on management committee/conference panel still help put out the room and tidy up and sweep the floor afterwards!!!

24th SEPTEMBER EVENING FILM-SHOWING LSE is only provisionally booked. I agree about trying to find somewhere nearer to Trafalgar Square so I am now working on that, will let you know.

Belinda

[Alan Firminger]

Support and help offered.

I suggested online approval and election to acheive a nationwide organisation with no-one penalised by distance. That is still my preference, but it would be nice to combine that with voting at the conference. This can be done using one registration so that double voting is not possible.

I ask that no-one votes whose address is not known for sure. This may be done by accepting assurance from trusted people, Noel knows them all. Anyone else should register one week ahead by providing a stamped addressed envelope that we post back with a poll card. There may be a problem with several members at one address, proceed with care.

Remember that to stop entryism the LP requires one year of membership before accepting anyone to vote.

[xmasdale]

I'm going to let people chat on this thread more about what they hope to get out of the conference and what form they would like it to take, before making further firm suggestions.

However, I've renegotiated the terms with the Circle Community and they have now reduced the price they'll charge us because they consider us a worthy cause. We shall be asking on the door for a £3.00 to £5.00 donation for the day. If you can't afford £3.00 please e-mail me.

I have also cleared up the possible clash of interests between on the one hand those who may turn up who are new to the topic and therefore want to discuss evidence for what went on on 911 and on the other hand those who are already familiar with the evidence, committed to the cause, and want to plan strategy, events and discuss tactics and administration. We can show a movie and have a discussion with newcomers in the cafe while the main event goes on in the theatre.

Getting to know one another and learning through working together too are also important. I hope enough will be in London the previous day to make an impact at the Stop the War march and rally, with our leaflets, DVDs, banners and a stall. We hope also to be able to show a movie near Trafalgar Square at about 5pm on the Saturday. After that we hope to have a bit of a social event.

Please could Londoners offer accommodation to folk travelling from other parts and can we Londoners remember that an event like this is made more expensive for those outside London by the cost of transport? I recommend the Megabus as a cheap way to get about the country. http://www.megabus.com/ The earlier you book the cheaper it is.

Whatever is decided about voting, can we remember that we are not a membership organisation, but a network of individuals? We do need a means of taking decisions quickly without having to discuss everything with everyone, but the network has no constitution, so arranging elections to anything permanent would be impossible in the time available. We could however elect to a temporary steering group, one of whose tasks would be to decide what we want to do about a constitution. I suggest those elected or appointed should be activists prepared to commit time and effort, plus at least one representative from each local group.

We need to be clear that, though the Campaign for an Independent Inquiry has a constitution and steering group, the British 911 Truth Movement (or the British and Irish 911 Truth Movement) does not.

Having been to a conference in that space before, I warn that music playing while people are trying to discuss does not work well there. There is a very high ceiling and you have to speak loudly to be heard.

Please tell us what you want to get out of the whole weekend.

Noel