National Get Together for all UK 9/11 Campaigners

[Ian]

Someone has just suggested (in reply to my email about the 9/11 March and Rally on Saturday 10th September) that we could use this as an opportunity for a National Get Together for all UK 9/11 Campaigners.

It could either be on the Saturday, after the March and Rally, or on the following day, Sunday the 11th.

Although perhaps people would rather use the anniversary weekend for more public, awareness raising events?

What do people think?

[colinpower]

as part of the Bristol 911 movement we are currently holding an event on Sunday 11th as is Oxford I believe.
It Might be good to use this boost to lunch a demonstration.
We could get together on this and organise transport. get idea of numbers and sell coach tickets on the nights.

Power

[Andrew Johnson]

I think "Lunching" a demonstration is a good idea. These things always attract more people if you can "cater the event"....

Or did you mean launching - yeah - that would be good too!

More seriously. Maybe we could have a letter writing campaign to MPs, newspapers and the media - so that the letters arrived in the days prior. We have about 35 members now, so could we post a sample letter and encourage people to copy, edit it and send it in?

I am probably going to be at a rare family gathering that weekend, so won't be able to attend the march

[xmasdale]

I get the feeling that with events in Oxford, Bristol, Burton & Derby, plus a major demonstration in London's East End on Sept 10th which we will be sponsoring, in co-operation with a broad coalition of Peace and Muslim groups, we shall be spread thinly enough as it is that weekend.

The urgent need is to have an event at which activists' roles are defined and the tasks are spread more evenly around more people. We need this in order to increase our efficiency and enable more people to become involved. Getting to know each other better, discussing strategy and tactics, and of course lunch, are important too.

Location has to be decided as well as date. The old problem is that though London is a focal point of communications it is not central, requiring Northerners and Scots to travel far, expensively. If it is to be London, I was most impressed by the community centre squat in Tufnell Park where Peace not War held their national conference last Saturday. The building is an octagonal church, now refurbished as a theatre with a vegetarian cafe attached.

If it is to be further north, is there a group of activists who would care to organise it? Wolverhampton, Burton, Derby, Bradford, Dewsbury, Chester, Blackpool etc?

How about Sept 3rd/4th or Sept 17th/18th?

Not later than the 18th please - there is an urgent need to get on with things.

And Andrew, please note, that though we have only 35 registered on this forum, we have an e-mailing list of around 500 and the numbers are growing rapidly. The DVDs in particular are working their magic. Make sure yours are labelled with our contact details before you distribute them.

Noel

[truthseeker]

I'm a new member from Wiltshire and just wanted to say that I would be able to attend a national get together only on 1st weekend of September of early October.

Thanks.

[Keith Mothersson]

I expected to find this thread really busy!
Anyway, I understand that we will now be meeting in Tufnell Park, North London on Sunday 25th, the day after
a) national stop the war/solidarity against Islamophobia demo;
b) that evening we will be meeting socially to get to know each other prior to a more focussed organisational and strategies for outreach conference on the Sunday at which we hope to set up lots of working groups, one of which will be an umbrella facilitating communication and co-operatioon core group which will hopefully be more representative socially and geographically of the new blood in the campaign after the old informal mostly London-based inner core have gotten us to this point (hat's off the them).

I am in favour of these working groups, including the umbrella group, being created and personnel chosen to serve on/as them , at the conference itself. The alternative is to try to do it by e-mail but internet voting is exectly what we need to pit ourselves against as a matter of principle, IMO.

So I suggest people with strong views, offers of service on difft working groups, should mail letters with their views, what they have to offer and what they propose etc on the website in one of the specialist sites we could create within the closed bit of this forum structure, each area covering a different potential working group as per a draft leaflet by Belinda Mckenzie.

What do others think?

[Keith Mothersson]

The following is a proposal I have recently sent to the team who are most closely involved in conference arrangements (or national gathering arrangements).

It is a huge adaptation of Belinda Mckenzie's draft Specification document which she proposed this summer as something which (once agreed) could be given to newcomers so that they know how to orient themselves and can get involved in the geographical or functional or special interest or other working groups which should be the broad base of any umbrella co-ordinating or management committee we set up or adopt ('FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION').

I am hoping that we will have a lengthy period at some time on Sunday which allows us to mill around and cluster around pieces of card all round the room reflecting all the various possible roles/working groups we can think of (see below for my suggestions)
Cheers, keith

Draft –
Purposes: a) Basis for agreement at Sept 25th London gathering and
b) guide for subsequent constitution-drafters as well as
c) a guide helping newcomers to orient themselves and work out how they can become active along with us, not dependent on an overworked management committee. Note also the blank spaces: how many of these roles and working groups can we get filled in, with participatory clusters at the conference coming together to write job briefs and decide on initial priorities in each area of work?

AGREED STATEMENT DESCRIBING THE 9-11 TRUTH MOVEMENT

Following the creation of a London 9-11 skeptics group in early 2003

{our founder, Ian Neal has responded favourably to this draft and suggests that he/we could include some history stuff in this document},

9-11 study, outreach and campaigning has now reached the point (Sept 2005) where we are organising on a national plane in two distinct but linked ways:

a) We call ourselves the British and Irish 9-11 Inquiry Campaign when we organise most strictly around our 'lowest common denominator' commitment to ensuring the creation of an authoritative International Inquiry – into what happened on and around 9-11, not primarily why 9-11 happened.

In pressing for a re-opening of 9-11 Inquiry and/or the setting up of an international Tribunal or Truth and Reconciliation Commission we will make no attempt to come to conclusions as to what actually transpired on 9-11. The Campaign seeks the support a very wide range of individuals and organisations but will never support or endorse any particular view.

b) We call ourselves the British and Irish 9-11 Truth Process when we network to research, study and publicly share our different and developing understandings: e.g.

that the official story of 9-11 is false, e.g concerning air defences, assault on the Pentagon; collapse of World Trade Centre Buildings 1, 2 and 7, advance trades indicating foreknowledge;
what we variously think happened that fateful day, and before it (e.g. possible precedents and 'intelligence failures') and after it (e.g. Anthrax attacks, environmental scandal); and
how the Myth of 9-11 is being used to scapegoat Muslims, restrict freedom and legitimise war and imperial expansion.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The British and Irish 9-11 Truth Movement is a nation-wide, non-incorporated, participatory, independent Association by Membership, with a co-ordinating committee linking bona fide working groups [see also below] which are based on a) function, and/or b) special interest and/or c) outreach focus d) geographical location, all of whose representatives/officers report to and liase through the co-ordinating committee and are eligible to sit on it, along with a few individuals who have been elected or co-opted to the committee.

Any individual member or group is free to campaign and be active in their own particular ways, utilising the collective pool of publicity resources.
However it is incumbent on them
a) to inform the relevant regional and/or working group(s) representatives of their activity in order to avoid duplication, also to enable others to support them;
b) to make it clear, when they are expressing their particular view, that the UK truth movement contains a wide variety of different views about 9-11 but that we are all united in calling and working for an authoritative international Tribunal or Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

[Possible standard formula?:
'Though I [we] am a supporter of the British and Irish 9-11 Truth Campaign for an International Inquiry, the views I express should not be taken to officially represent it. Both it and the wider 9-11 truth movement contain a variety of viewpoints about official responsibility concerning 9-11, e.g. incompetence, complicity, procurement, direct authorship, etc.' ]

Appointment of officers & working-group representatives:
At the conference on September 25th 2005 volunteers came forward to fill the following roles, and in other cases (marked with an asterisk) the meeting elected officers where more than one person was keen to fulfil that responsibility.
We very much hope that before long it will be possible to pay full or part-time salaries to the Coordinator and Assistant Coordinator so as to ensure that one or other is available at all times to deal with enquiries. We also hope that a pool for expenses can be established, so that no activist or office-bearer has to hang back on financial grounds.

Pending formal constitution-adoption all officers and working groups serve and network on an interim and informal basis as if we already had the exact constitutional details nailed down!.

INDIVIDUAL OFFICERS name email: phone:
National Coordinator

Assistant Coordinator

Fundraising officer (on commission):

Treasurer/book-keeper :

Mailing-list moderator

USA/Jimmy Walter liaison

Diary & meetings secretary

Legal adviser (hopefully pro-bono)

Reminder/Progress chaser

Facilitator – with authority to intervene to stop meetings
becoming boring, face-the-front affairs dominated by a few,
also to help mediate if conflicts arise!

WORKING-GROUPS: convener: email: phone:

A) 'FUNCTIONAL' -
A1) Constitutional
– termporary role but vital in the coming few months:
Brief: to prepare and circulate consultative and
then final proposals (subject to ammendment
during adoption conference) with appropriate
precise words and formal particpatory structures

A2) B and I Truth Campaign:
observer status (technically stand alone):
to promote International Inquiry/Tribunal/Commission.

A3) Website & forum:

A4) Fundraising and budgetary:
to raise money and propose budgets
for how money should be allocated.

A5) Publicity & media liaison

A6) Media-technical support
(dvd etc production; mikes, recording, video, powerpoint)

A7) Literature and Resources –
making books, leaflets, dvds, etc available
or if necessary filling gaps which have
been identified from experience of outreach

B) 'SPECIAL INTEREST'
B1) Research and education:
potential for charitable status, in which case it
becomes a technically stand alone body and
would only send observer on non-voting basis

B2) Counselling
advice to help people through denial, or those
having difficulty absorbing painful implications

B3) Building collapse

B4) Other?

C) OUTREACH FOCUS GROUPS
(like other groups these may just start with one or two reference people, no matter, at least let us make a start and others will join in if we have a clear structure)
convenor(s) e-mail phone
CI) Parliament/Whitehall

C2) Muslim community/ies

C3) Other religious and Interfaith

C4) Other Peace groups

C5) Women's organisations

C6) Labour movement/party liason

C7) Liberal liason

C Conservative liason

C9) ‘Celebrity’ liaison

C10) Other?:

D) FUNCTIONAL GEOGRAPHICALLY-BASED GROUPS:
(later becoming integrated into regional structure?)
D1) Ireland

D2) London

D3) Bristol

D4) Oxford

D5) Wolverhampton

D6) Blackpool

D7) Cumbria

D Bradford

D9) Others as they come on-stream ...



FURTHER POINTS ABOUT ETHOS AND COMMUNICATION:

New members wishing to be active are given this document/file as a guide to Who’s Who in the campaign, to enable them to orientate themselves and select an area to work in;
Much communicating happens on our Website Forum at www.nineeleven.co.uk or by e-mail using Bcc as a rule; but please also bear in mind those who aren't on-line.

We intend that most decisions will take place by consensus following clear communication on the basis of goodwill and readiness to co-operate in the search for the best way ahead. When difficult discussions, frustrating delays and conflicts occur, please remember that we all make mistakes and have plenty of blind spots, so please try to keep being respectful and please be slow to assume illwill. Even if we think the meeting has made a 'wrong decision', often things turn out better than we imagine, so let us offer our contributions and not get too worried if we don't get our way!

'Inreach' and outreach: Most organisations are unaware of patterns of classism/sexism/racism/ageism – we would like to be different and we ask people to encourage participation within meetings and within the 9-11 truth movement as a whole which as far as possible at any given stage of our development reflects the demographics of the population at large. [NB many working class, ethnic minority and Irish people have fewer defences against being able to consider that there may have been abuse by those in authority, and many women believe Lady Di was murdered!]

Please don't keep bringing up details about 'what really happened on 9-11' if the meeting or forum you are contributing to is one with other purposes.
If you aren't prepared to share the work, be careful about making too many suggestions for others to carry out!

In reaching out to others we try to combine factual content with sensitivity to the psychological tendencies we all have to switch off and deny material which we aren't yet ready to take on board. To avoid adding to despair, fatalism,cynicism and hatred we try to combine information about the bad stuff with opportunities to get involved to make things better.

All this said: we really need you and encourage you to participate in many different ways. If we all do our bit then we can puncture this terrrible 9-11 myth and blood libel! The world of official politics and media (that can't talk about 9-11) is dying and our 9-11 movement can play a valuable role in catalysing and helping a more general awakening in society.

[ian neal]

Keith (by email) wrote

I suggest:
The aim of the gathering is to get to know each other, share plans,
discuss proposals and make definite organisational arrangements (working
gorups, projects, etc) for taking the work forward in the coming year.

Please note well
a) that it is NOT a public event, rather for existing 9-11 activists

b) The event will have a participatory structure (clusters, circles and
workshops) and only a MINORITY of our time together will be in plenary
session;

c) the event is NOT for discussing what happened on 9-11(time enough in
lunch break, or towards the end of the joint book launch which
immediately follows the end of the conference at 5.00, when Ian Henshall
and Rowland Morgan will talk about their book 9-11 Revealed, as will
Nafeez Ahmed about his book War on Truth .

Hope this is helpful

I responded with following

Hear hear Keith

How you have described it is exactly how I would like to see this day.

A few additions as well

I agree the events on the 24th and the 9/11 revealed / War on Truth book
promotion are the opportunties to invite new people to learn about 9/11
(ie anyone attracted by the flyers that are to be printed)

The day session on the 25th is about current activists getting to know
each other and building work groups and projects, building participation
and energy. .

This day is about building the structure to allow us to grow as a
community of activists that are united and empowered to take action at a
grassroots level whilst avoiding the common pitfalls of political
activism. We are so nearly there. The question is not whether we will be
bigger and more influential this time next year (we will) but whether we
will remain united and see 9/11 in its context as a catalyst for world
change. If there are areas of serious contention (such as the management
committee or website management) we have the opportunity to
use the private forums to discuss and agree these issues.

I suggest we get some discussion going on the structure for the day
going on the forum.

Below are my suggestions for the day

6 hours may seem like a long time, but make allowances for late
arrivals/start, lunch and a break before the evenings events (book launches/promos) kicks off and time soon gets tight. So my basic suggestions are these

Lots of brainstorming

Focus on creating lots of good vibes and energy, rather than bogged down
in detail or areas of contention.

Allow lots of time for introductions, networking and getting to know
each other. Rather than a formal meeting with a chair, minutes, voting
if necessary, I would tend more towards informality, small group
discussions and networking. More a gathering than a meeting. My reason
for suggesting this is that 1) we don't know how many will come, 2) we
don't know each other. We need to get to know each other and build
energy, cooperation and activity

An introduction (possibly by myself if you want) to the network, how we
have grown, the principles and vision for the network, the main purpose
of the network, questions that need resolution (do we have a committee
if so how is it elected and development and management of website)

The purpose of the marketplace is an opportunity for individuals and
groups to present ideas for projects/activities and facilitate group
small group discussion and brainstorming of ideas and hopefully get
agreement and buy in for action. I make a few suggestions of the type of
topics people may wish to discuss. People can then to sign up to or move
between different clusters or discussions as they wish.

This all said. I am happy to be over ruled on this structure if others
see things differently and can suggest an alternative.

Either way the priority is to get an email out to our mail list asap
asking for confirmation of people attending

My mobile is 07986 616941

BW

Ian

British 9/11 Truth Campaign National Conference Sept 25

1030 Coffee and tea, registration

1100 Welcome

History of network and local groups

Principles adopted: no endorsement, no spokespeople, united but
speaking in personal capacity, local groups independent, focus on
informing and empowering people

Role of the centre: connect and support activists, national website and
forum, funding conduit

Vision for network and movement in Britain and internationally

Future developments:

Formation and election of a committee,

'Appointment' of (unpaid) project coordinators.

Introductions and BRIEF summary of 9/11 activism to date (ideally
presented as groups) and hopes for the day (plus introduction wall/map)

Apologies and British 9/11 activists not present/who else should we know
about

Explanation of structure of day and purpose

Projects marketplace (I will prepare a brief explanation of project
market place. What I have in mind is lots of small groups with the aim
of building self organising projects under the coordination of named
individual but with input from as many as is useful, lots of
brainstorming, sparking ideas, sharing contacts and practical
assistance, etc. How this is facilitated, guided, recorded, managed, etc
needs discussion but will be a balance between spontenaity and
structure. If we want more structure we can agree the projects themes in
advance.)

1230 – 1400 Lunch

Projects marketplace: Number of groups depends on numbers and length
time given to each project

1) Management Committee

Process for the selection/election of committee: Option 1 Alan
Firminger: on line elections, Option 2: Peace not war structure
Roles and responsibilities
Constitution

2) DVD production:

Copying existing DVDs (Confronting the evidence, Loose change, In plane
site, production of own DVD, future with Jimmy, seeking donations

3) PR strategy and message for media

4) Building grassroots support: leaflets, stalls, books, DVDs, email,
screenings, etc

5) Fundraising and revenue generation: brainstorming: who, how, etc

6) Father s 4 Justice style publicity stunts, US embassy

7) Lobbying MP’s, media and key public officials

Website development and management

1600 Break

1700 911 revealed and War on Truth launch

Side screening through out the day of Loose Change and stall displaying
resources

[ian neal]

Here is a bit on this network's origins for inclusion in Keith Common Reference Point

In January 2004 as a result of initial emails sent out by Ian Neal, a meeting was held in London attended by approx 20 people. As a result of subsequent meetings and email exchanges/bulletins, a network of activists has grown organically across the UK. Key events on this path include public presentations including at the 2004 European Social Forum, linking up with Jimmy Walter, linking up with groups and activists during Stop the War events, the 2005 election (Kirby-Lonsdale), Jimmy's Tour and G8. As a result we are where we are today: a network with a shared vision that is doubling in size every few months that currently has + 300 activists and + 15 local groups connected by email and web forum.

Keith describes me as the 'founder' of this network, which in that I sent out the initial emails out of which this network has grown, is true. But just to be clear, this network has grown through the efforts of many people and so being its 'founder' is of no great significance

[ian neal]

A couple of further refinements

First from Keith

I think that it will be unrealistic for everyone to be introduced to
everyone else in a big circle: so instead I propose that
people sit in smaller circles of around 8 (7 others they mostly don't
know) for a while at the beginning to introduce themselves, their hopes,
ideas at least to a few folk.

Then somehow we need to move to a dynamic 'participatory cluster mode': I suggest that notices with names of all the potential roles and working groups [see exhaustive list in attachment] be posted up on walls and/ or spread on floor and people mill around at the notices which relate to the working group(s) or role(s) they are most interested in participating in or taking on, including putting down their contact details on the notice and paper-clipping on suggested brief/mission statement/priorities/proposals.

Then after lunch we come together to see how much of the future structure we already have between us as the mike goes round the many clusters or reference people who have volunteered.

At this point after the report backs, I suggest people sit in circles and
one of the circles should be a conference facilitation group, which can
then quickly confer on the best way ahead and send its suggestion around
the other circles to consider for five/ten minutes and then report back
on whether people agree or have better suggestions for the final hour and
a quarter or so.

After the conference someone(s) should write up the results. If my draft
common reference document is accepted then we would have ammended it and filled out names so that the document can be given out as the creation of the truth movement as a whole in the months leading up to our next conference, when we should be able to knock off the constitution in half a day??

The main thing is to give people the chance to network purposefully and
specifically in the months ahead, and if we can nail down at least some
such network structure plus wider interim committee reflecting that
structure, plus a constitution-drafting group, then we will have done
well and that will help to boost group morale, hugs all round!

Anyway, that's my fantasy.

Best keith

To which Ian Henshall replied

I agree with the agenda below with the following qualifications

1. We should have a contact number and spokespeople. The media want
spokespeople, if we say there aren't any they will come to whoever has
highest media profile. We could then get hijacked by some establishment
figure who sells out the whole project. Look how the Libdems took over the anti-war movement and then sold it out when the war started.

2. The formal endorsement of the commmittee and constitution, and decisions on committee membership, should be for an hour at the most. We've discussed this enough already. To discourage an open ended discussion that will get nowhere I'd suggest do it right at the beginning or right at the end.

3. The issue of whether we have membership can be deferred. Stop the War has gone pretty well without being a membership organisation, if we get bigger we can look at it then.

Ian Henshall

To which I would add

1) I support the constitution / committee discussion being limited to 1 hour max. (There is a thread on the private section of the forum re constitution/committee to which all are welcome to join if they PM me)

2) I have suggested previously that as a campaign we can recommend people to speak 'in support of' but not 'for' the campaign. For this we need to post a phone number (my mobile if so desired) to act as an initial contact point for the press. This press contact can then pass on a list of people who wish to speak 'in support of' the campaign and make recommendations as to who (in their opinion) is the most effective and eloquent speakers. This is as far as I would go with having 'spokespeople'. Any more and we are in effect endorsing them as some kind of defacto leader/spokesperson, which IMO should be avoided

BW Ian

Right that's all the relevant email traffic now posted on the thread. Sukhvinder is acting as co-ordinator for the event and can be contacted here sssohpal1 (AT) yahoo.co.uk

[ian neal]

Keith's proposal for the structure for the day. feedback and comments welcomed

Thanks

Ian

Rather I see the day progressing from arrival 10.30 for 11.00 sharp start

a) introduction (10 mins) and feeling part of a small circle (20 mins)
to
b) 11.30 to 1.00 market-place milling and dynamic clustering, with people locating ourselves and each other in relation to about 30 cardboard notices, with the names of all the Officers and Working groups written on them (as per my/our draft AGREEMENT, plus a few extra mini-workshops people propose)- with many people but not all choosing to move around to another mini-workshops discussion/enlistment at the end of each half hour period; [Incidentally, if people wear name badgs with name and where they come from then we can skip having geographical/regional working groups at this stage]
to
lunch at 1.00 to 2.00
to
c) 2.00 to 3.00 reporting back from each cardboard card! (hopefully according to a semi-standard REPORT BACK SHEET inviting people to fill in separate sections on
i)PERSONNEL and contact details (maybe more than one volunteer for Officers or co-ordinators/reference people),
ii) on the BRIEF/MISSION STATEMENT for each role or working group, and iii) on PRIORITIES for coming year;
to
d) 3.00 to 3.15 break for tea and for conf facilitation committe to (gulp) come up with proposals (help welcome) for

e) 3.20 to 4.40 - the final session, which should occur in penary but with people sitting in small groups for instant referring back for consultation if procedural disagreements arise, and/or quick feedback back up to plenary level on substantive choices; The aim of this final session is to
translating whatever good feelings and momentum have built up during the day into
i) a broad agreement as to overall architecture of the main functions/parts of the campaign;
ii) enough details sorted out for us to have collectively ammended, added to and filled in the draft AGREED STATEMENT DESCRIBING THE 9-11 TRUTH MOVEMENT (so we have a useful document to give to new people in the coming year, and also so that we have a good steer for .... the
iii) Constitution Working Group - inc finalisation from the gathering as a whole of its mandate/brief on consultation process and time-frame for reporting back to next National Gathering;
iv) and how to appoint/elect the latter or resolve any clashes concerning multiple volunteering for Individual Officers (where job-share not possible).

Aim to finish by 4.40 - with a closing circle and celebration over before 5.00


Cheers, keith

[Alan Firminger]

I have read from the top to the bottom, to no benefit. Please can the arguers settle their differences and post a clear definition of what will happan.