Statement of Principles for NO-LIST

"A process based on respect"

"We want to construct a national organization in a way that insures that process is respected and inclusion really does happen."

The above statement, taken from the organizing proposal which has led to this list, forms its very foundation.

What we are working toward is expressed by the following.

"What we hope to create by this is 'a national organization not dominated by any faction or leader which has constant grass root input which puts forward a unified face not a face of infighting'."

Inclusion and respect are the very foundations of the process embodied in this list. They will be measured by our willingness to engage fully the issues involved in creating a national organizing process based on those foundations.

We do not expect the process of this list to be free of conflict.

We expect the process of dialogue to include disagreement both heated and passionate. Our philosophy is that conflict is constructive when it is open and is authentically focused on the issues we face in pursuing our mission. Conflict becomes corrosive of the work we need to do when it becomes closed in on itself or when it strays from those issues.

Evaluations and judgments of issues and of processes are needed here. Evaluations and judgments of individual personalities and of individual feelings are not constructive and are not acceptable.

Some discussion of individuals is a necessary part of organizing, but it will be done in a respectful manner and it will be focused on participation in and contribution to our process.

We do not expect the discussion here to be focused on philosophy, though we expect that some of that will be necessary. We expect it to be focused on the practical issues needed to further the "process based on respect."

This list will be moderated by a committee of moderators. All new subscribers will be moderated, and will be taken off moderation when a history of acceptable posting has been established. Because we are deliberately tackling issues that have torn organizing efforts apart in the past, and because we are deliberately reaching out to diverse constituencies with a history of conflict, this list needs to be moderated in a mindful manner.

Once you have been taken off moderation, if in the opinion of the moderators you are transgressing the boundaries of what is acceptable on the list, you will be asked to change your approach. If you persist with posting which violates the space in which the list needs to function, you will be placed on moderation. Egregious violations of list policy will result in your being immediately placed on moderation. If posting is approaching these boundaries or is otherwise threatening the workspace of the list, we as moderators will step in and try to guide the process in a constructive direction.

This means that we as moderators are the "guardians" of this list, not that we are its "rulers." It is the responsibility of each of us on this list, moderator or not, to take our part in creating a collective atmosphere in we all, with all our differing perspectives, treat ourselves and each other from a basis of respect, and we all can contribute in a meaningful way. The future of the initiative that we are pursuing depends on it.

As human beings, we do not anticipate this process to be perfect, but we do expect to further in a concrete manner "a process based on respect."