Process Working Group Intro - Sunday 1-9

author: - 09.09.2002 18:36
http://www.all4all.org//2002/09/380.shtml

The Introduction to the Process Working Group took place Sunday morning with over 25 people. The agenda items included a definition of PGA, a brief PGA history, a look at decisions that need to be taken at this PGA conference, proposals made by EuroDusnie and MRG thus far, other thoughts and ideas about the process, and general clarifications of the issues brought up.

Notes
Intro to the Process Working Group
Sunday, September 1, 2002 10:00 - 13:15

Agenda
I. What is PGA
II. History
III. Look at decisions that need to be taken and what has been proposed so far for the PGA European Network
IV. Other ideas and thoughts from the group
V. Clarifications

I. What is PGA?

II. History of PGA

III. Decisions that need to be taken and what has been proposed so far PGA European Network presented by someone speaking for EuroDusnie

Question - There was something about global contacts that the note-taker did not catch

Comment - there is one other proposal that is not in paper, it involves more local meetings and decentralisation, and then a delegate structure that would send regional delegates to the European structure [I am not quite sure if I got all of this right] This could get more people involved, prevent from big plenaries, and [something I missed].

Eurodusnie Proposal

MRG Comment

The fact that the structure was already strictly defined beforehand about how to talk about the process was not good. MRG has proposed a fourth point for decision as a part of this - talking about PGA as a global network (not about how PGA Europe relates to other PGA outside of Europe) They don't want to loose the spirit of PGA as a global network - this is especially important for the Spanish State, as they have lots of contacts in Latin America. They question if we going to open this process and make a decision about which issues we will talk about or is it closed?

MRG Proposal

Other Proposals or Ideas?
[each bullet should be one person]

Clarifications

Quick Summary for Newspaper

The Introduction to the Process Working Group took place Sunday morning with over 25 people. The agenda items included a definition of PGA, a brief PGA history, a look at decisions that need to be taken at this PGA conference, proposals made by EuroDusnie and MRG thus far, other thoughts and ideas about the process, and general clarifications of the issues brought up.

More about PGA and its history can be found in this paper as well as on the website. While only one person from EuroDusnie was present, their proposal was presented and can be found in the first conference newspaper. MRG's proposal will be printed in this paper, but they also expressed criticism at the strictly pre-defined structure for the process debate that has shaped how we discuss these issues.

Additionally there were many other thoughts that came from people outside of EuroDusnie and MRG. They included a strong sentiment that people have a commitment to the process of how we work together rather than being overly concerned about efficiency (which is a capitalist concept in itself.) To this end there was a strong but not unanimous support for consensus.

Many people acknowledged that change in the PGA process is necessary in order to survive as a workable structure, people were still suspicious of change, especially as related to defining more structures and PGA visibility, which may not only lead to bureaucratic tendencies but also to domination and centralizsation.

As such there were several proposals to decentralise the European PGA process into regional conferences which would send delegates to a European conference. The European conference would then send delegates to the international PGA conference. There were many variations on this, but they all seem to highlight that such a process would allow for greater participation and access to information on the local level which can make the European level more transparent.

And finally a note from the note-taker - as the meeting lasted for three hours and there were a diversity of thoughts, it would be impossible for this short summary to represent accurately what was said. Furthermore computer problems, time constraints, and article space constraints have made this report very short. The long version of the notes will be posted on the internet.


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