IndyMedia - Vrij Media Centrum Nederland

Hello dear interested people and nn-ers,

Because there are so many people interested in what is going on in ACU I am posting part of the notules from the last meeting so people know about the progress being made.
The notules that handle with the day to day care of the ACU I left out because that has nothing to do with the issue.

Enjoy, Hielke.

Changes in ACU/ACU future.

Many things have been said at the meeting and I think it is impossible to state everything that has been said as the part on the changes in ACU in the notules is 18 pages and I also wrote 6 myself.
I chose to summarise, if you miss anything you can of course still read the vergo book.
Because the discussion was not finished at this meeting and will go on at a special in between meeting the 20th of january I think the highpoints are what is necessary.
Again, if anything is left out, you can still read the notules in the book.
At the start of the discussion the question on openness was raised, who can be a part of this discussion and help solving problems. The meeting agreed that anyone who wants to help ACU is welcome.
The most important issues that came up were the issue of transparency (statutes and finances), the collective (what is a collective, are we a collective and should we change) and the accusations on internet about (sexual) harrassment and racism.
What you are going to read is what has been said so far. More can be added at the next meeting as this one was not conclusive.
So, here goes! Enjoy!

Transparency.

Questions were asked about the transparency of the stichting and the finances, these points were made.

Statutes.

Evaluation in relation to it’s effective legal power.

The statutes are just a piece of paper. In order to have a legal position as a stichting you need statutes. The meetings are for the decision making and the people at the meeting can make all the decisions.

Secrecy.

The statutes are not secret, everything is open amongst the volunteers.
People who want to read them can come to ACU and read them. You can find them behind the bar both in English and Dutch.

Annual reports.

Annual reports have to be published.

ACU does not have annual financial reports, people are free to write them.
Making reports public should be discussed first in the meeting.
The information there is is public to the volunteers which is what is important. With questions you can go to collegues or go to a meeting.
Questions about finances could also have been put in the special finance meeting in december.

The collective.

Many things have been said on this subject and there is no definition of how ACU is or should be a collective. This will come up on the next meeting as well.
First of all opinions about what is wrong in ACU.

Some people are more equal then others.
People feel blocked in doing things.
ACU has become an a-political partyhole.
ACU is not a collective.
There are many groups and no interaction.
Some people feel like they are in the middle of a conflict and they don’t want to take sides.
There is a lot of conflict and it is not handled in the right way.
Is there still something like consensus in the decisionmaking?
There is no respect or trust amongst groups.
People don’t feel the opportunity to join in different groups.
There are no books on the table about finances.
Decisionmaking over investments and expenses is unclear.
There are many different groups but no common goal.
There is no shared vision in political views or activism.
People have a lack of interest in other people.
Critisism often results in personal attacks.
There is too much focus on the negative shit.
People are not working together.
ACU is rigid, we keep doing things because they have allways been done in a certain way.
ACU lacks a common goal.
Discrimination is allowed here.
There is resistance to do political things.
ACU deals with harrassment in the wrong way.
There is harrassment in ACU.
Discussions are not face to face but are on indymedia and facebook.

These were opinions that were voiced at the meeting and, to some extend, discussed as well.
Next, opinions on how we can change.

Create a shared vision based on common grounds. All the groups in ACU can be different but should not forget this shared vision. Maybe have a workshop on this.
There should be a strategy on problemsolving when there are conflicts.
Look more at eachother and complain less.
Work together instead of accusing people all the time.
Respect eachothers differences, views and goals.
Accept the fact that not everyone has the same opinion, differences in opinion can also be constructive. Look at the different ideas as qualities.
Get some training on how to handle harrassment and agression, kicking people out and on what grounds.
Go to or invite people from other collectives or ACU-like groups and see how they are functioning.

It is clear from the meeting and the discussion that there is no actual shared concept within ACU on what a collective should be and what form would be best for ACU and it’s purposes. Most people have opinions on what it should not be.
This needs further discussion at the next meeting, as does,

Accusations about (sexual) harrassments and racism on internet and off internet.

- There have been incidents of racism, sexism and other types of discrimination within ACU, and we have failed to address these and/or resolve the underlying problems.
- There have been incidents of racism, sexism and other types of discrimination between volunteers.
- Over time power-structures and positions of power have been created by people, and even though there have been multiple attempts to dismantle these, none of these attempts have succeeded.
- Attempts by volunteers to raise awareness on/and counter-act sexist, racist and other oppressive behavior have been actively sabotaged by other volunteers.
- Political activities have been actively sabotaged by some volunteers.
- Attempts to raise political awareness in ACU have been actively blocked and sabotaged by some volunteers.
- Money belonging to the whole collective has (continuously) been spend without informing the rest of the collective, and against all pre-made agreements.
- Certain volunteers have and keep breaking rules and agreements made by the whole collective, and this has remained without consequence.
- There have been several incidents of aggression between volunteers, and these incidents have always remained without any consequence. There have been threats and intimidation towards other volunteers.
We can keep making this list longer and longer but we think that everyone gets the point. All the problems mentioned here have led to a grim atmosphere in ACU and within the collective. Volunteers feel no longer safe to be in ACU and/or safe to express their opinion. People who speak up are being ridiculed and/or silenced.

Very serious accusations were made on the internet (indymedia/facebook).
Most people in ACU don’t know where they came from but agree they should be discussed and dealt with.
Because the meeting was too short to discuss all the points, even if it was a four and a half hour meeting, this will have to be discussed at the next meeting.
As a personal note in between, I would very much like to see the people who made these accusations at the next meeting because, in my opinion, it is easy to accuse when you are nn on indymedia but it does not necesarilly make the accusations true. So please come forward because it will make finding a sollution for these problems a bit easier.

Next meeting.

To further discuss all this it was agreed to have a special in between meeting to speed up the progress.
This meeting will be the 20th of january and will be from19.00 untill 21.00.
It is agreed that this meeting will also be open to people that are not volunteers but do take an interest.
After the meeting there wil be the monthly informal gathering for ACU volunteers.

So, those were the things I could put together from the notules and my own notes. Again my apologies if anything was left out, it was not done on purpose. If you miss something, please bring it up at the next meeting.
If anyone wants to read the notules, they are in the office.
If anyone wants to give me a nice massage after rewriting this book please contact me.

Sincerely yours, Hielke.