Adopting Organizing Principles

One accomplishment of the day was the revision and further development of the Organizing Principles that will guide our internal work together. Below is the updated version of these principles followed by outstanding questions raised during our discussion (to see the past version of these principles, please visit http://www.ijsn.net/en/ijsn/principles/M12.)

Organizing Principles:

Work collaboratively
IJSN seeks to work in a collaborative and accountable way that emphasizes cooperation with and support for other anti-Zionist organizing efforts that don’t contradict our Points of Unity.

Building effective unity
Our Points of Unity mark the principles and politic that all members of the IJSN have agreed to in choosing to affiliate with this network. We invite participation in the network from all who share our political Charter and Points of Unity. Within this basic framework, our network will encompass people of many different ideologies, political affiliations and religious and spiritual beliefs. We intend to value these differences through the mutual respect expressed by utilizing those differences to learn from each other the various political processes, language and terminology they represent.

Building alliances
We recognize that we are one part of larger movements in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and against racism and imperialism. Our Points of Unity mark the forces with which we are hoping to build. We have a commitment to not antagonizing organizations that are engaged in Palestine solidarity work that does not align with our politics, yet may serve as tactical allies. We will build strategic alliances and work in broader coalitions with forces that align politically. We will create tactical alliances with forces that don’t align politically if there is political ground to be gained that does not compromise our long-term goals.

Make Decisions Democratically
Decision making will follow democratic practices, welcome input from other organizational bodies in the network, and be effectively harmonized with other decision making processes in the network. Decision-making should be transparent, well documented and available to share with any member of the network. If conditions should require decision-making shortcuts, that choice should be processed and evaluated as soon as conditions allow. Leadership development is a necessary and ongoing aspect of our democratic process and shall be deliberately fostered.

Consider Politic, Strategy and Tactic
Organizational, strategic and tactical decisions should be made in line with our overall vision, strategic purpose, goals, strategy, and democratic principles.

Uphold a Basic Principle of Respect
Members are committed to embody a high degree of respect in our internal interactions and in those with other organizations and individuals. Respect may at times be expressed as courtesy and at other times require a commitment to struggle with each other as we build relationship and work toward political change.

Challenge Oppression
In line with the politics that bind the network, respectful attention will be paid to dynamics of race, caste, nationality, class, ability, gender, sexuality and age and other matrices of oppression. We support leadership of oppressed national and ethnic groups, economically marginalized people, people of color in western societies, women, and queer and gender-queer people and other excluded or oppressed groups. We support intergenerational learning of both elders and youth. By our actions and internal culture we strive to express our alliance with other movements that challenge imperialism and colonialism and the institutionalized, systemic mechanisms of oppression which maintain them.

Leadership selections
A creative democratic practice is required to involve and incorporate voices from various parts of the world and various socio-economic locations in an international network. The filling of leadership positions will be based on criteria for both individuals and the organizational bodies in which they will participate. Criteria for individuals include political capacity, political relationships, relevant skills and the ability to work which match the role they will fill. Criteria for the composition of organizational bodies include gender, ethnic, age and regional representation.

Integrate lessons
IJSN is committed to consciously learning from our experiences, challenges, and successes as we build a new organization with new organizing approaches. Through assessment, evaluation and redirection, we seek to continually refine our politics, practice and strategy and increase our effectiveness.

Address internal conflict
If concerns or conflict arises between individual members, members of the network are committed to address it directly. It should be raised to the person involved if possible and with the help of others if appropriate. If the situation cannot be resolved through discussion, it should be raised with network leadership.

Refrain from Self-Promotion
People are expected to not use the meetings and activities of the network for gratuitous self-promotion.

Be Open and Transparent about Organizational Affiliations
Members participate in IJSN as individuals and not as representatives of other organizations or to further the organizational agendas of other groups. IJSN supports members’ participation in other activist groups and forums.

All members of the network are committed to being open and honest about their organizational affiliations. IJSN, in turn, also has a commitment to transparency with its allies and potential allies regarding its process and politics. IJSN does not infiltrate or employ other unethical methods to influence other organizations.

Be Open and Transparent About Relationships to the State
All members of the network are expected to be open and honest about contacts with government agencies that can affect our work.

Orient toward the Strategic Goals of the Network
This is a network of activists committed to strategic action for the purpose of effecting change. Its purpose is not to express ideas or an ideology, explore Jewish culture and/or identity or serve a humanitarian function although these all may legitimately arise in the pursuit of our organization’s goals.

Evolve these Organizing Principles as the Need Emerges
Our Organizing Principles may evolve over time to reflect our collective experience, developing needs or changing conditions. Our guiding agreements should neither be altered lightly nor clung to rigidly.

Guard security
We will have each other's backs: we will protect the security and personal safety of IJSN and its members.

Outstanding questions:

• How do we articulate our policies and attitudes regarding leadership and leadership development in light of both our stated commitment to democracy and the diversity of conditions and traditions represented in our network?
• How do we (Or do we) address the likelihood that we will attract members who agree with all our stated principles intellectually but may not have integrated genuinely anti-racist or anti-oppression understanding into their practice and worldviews?
• What is the nature of our relationship to the struggle for liberation in Palestine? How do we build relationships of support and mutual accountability with it, while: not being an auxiliary to any one organization that would direct us; understanding that it is not our place to determine the strategies of people on the ground; and recognizing that solidarity work has an impact on the struggle? And what organizing principles do we need to develop around that understanding?
• How do we recognize our role in extricating Jewish history, politics, community and culture from Zionism while keeping issues of identity in perspective as part of an action-based strategy for change? Is there a need to address this question in the Organizing Principles?
  

How would you answer these questions? What further questions, comments and input do you have on these principles?