Focusing the Proposal Process
On Friday, you received an important message with a new Draft Strategic Framework that, if adopted, will tighten and focus our work to stop the war in Iraq, as the linchpin of our long-term strategy to confront the imperial drive of the Bush Administration at home and abroad.
It will be up to you, the delegates, whether to adopt or modify this key document at the Assembly that opens just seventeen days from now. But to give greater clarity to the proposal process for the Assembly, we are making two further modifications to the process:
First, as you saw in Friday's announcement, we are extending the deadline for proposals to February 10. As before, submit proposals using our online form at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/assembly
Second, we are asking all makers of proposals to categorize their proposals at one of the following three categories or levels:
#1 Campaigns that will form the main work of UFPJ, requiring significant staff and/or financial resources
#2 Campaigns organized and led by member organizations or allies of UFPJ, which we will support through website publicity, email announcements, and/or other similar means.
#3 Campaigns or initiatives we simply endorse
National staff will contact all proposal makers to determine the category into which their proposal falls.
Third, we are asking those organizations submitting proposals focused on the war in Iraq (including all of its larger international and domestic ramifications) to adopt a common framework: What strategic point of vulnerability in the Bush Administration's war-plans will your proposal address?
We know there are many good ideas out there, but our job at the Assembly will be to sift out those proposals that most effectively confront and disrupt the war, and lead towards its end. Our related goal is to identify a limited, manageable amount of program work for UFPJ to develop and lead.
Here are the five major areas of vulnerability we have identified, and we urge you to submit campaign proposals that address one (or more) of these, or some other specific feature of the war that you think is a political liability for the Administration:
1. The war's increasing unpopularity.
Proposals should focus on increasing public opposition to the war through education and grassroots outreach, or on mobilizing that opposition using protests, direct action, and/or public forums such as the national and local media.
2. The war's financial burden.
Proposals should speak to how to cut off funding for the war, or should highlight the ways the war drains local and state budgets.
3. The war's impact on the U.S. military.
Proposals should address the range of issues relating to the troops, which might include the military’s abusive stop-loss policy and the inappropriate use of the National Guard and reservists; work to counter the intensifying recruitment drives by the military; support for and work with military families and veterans of the Iraq war; and support to those soldiers who choose to refuse military service.
4. The war's moral bankruptcy.
Proposals should address the cynical and sinister use of “morality” by policy makers in Washington to support the war in Iraq, as well as war crimes, the Iraqi death toll, and violations of international law. Proposals might focus on organizing within and outreach to religious communities and faith-based organizations.
5. The war's assault on basic human, democratic, and civil rights.
Proposals should target the undermining of the Constitution, violations of Constitutional rights, the detention and deportation of immigrants, and attacks on dissent.
If you have any questions about the proposal process, call our office at 212-868-5545, or contact Leslie Kauffman (lak@unitedforpeace.org) or Diane Lent (assembly@unitedforpeace.org).
The UFPJ Assembly Planning Committee
It will be up to you, the delegates, whether to adopt or modify this key document at the Assembly that opens just seventeen days from now. But to give greater clarity to the proposal process for the Assembly, we are making two further modifications to the process:
First, as you saw in Friday's announcement, we are extending the deadline for proposals to February 10. As before, submit proposals using our online form at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/assembly
Second, we are asking all makers of proposals to categorize their proposals at one of the following three categories or levels:
#1 Campaigns that will form the main work of UFPJ, requiring significant staff and/or financial resources
#2 Campaigns organized and led by member organizations or allies of UFPJ, which we will support through website publicity, email announcements, and/or other similar means.
#3 Campaigns or initiatives we simply endorse
National staff will contact all proposal makers to determine the category into which their proposal falls.
Third, we are asking those organizations submitting proposals focused on the war in Iraq (including all of its larger international and domestic ramifications) to adopt a common framework: What strategic point of vulnerability in the Bush Administration's war-plans will your proposal address?
We know there are many good ideas out there, but our job at the Assembly will be to sift out those proposals that most effectively confront and disrupt the war, and lead towards its end. Our related goal is to identify a limited, manageable amount of program work for UFPJ to develop and lead.
Here are the five major areas of vulnerability we have identified, and we urge you to submit campaign proposals that address one (or more) of these, or some other specific feature of the war that you think is a political liability for the Administration:
1. The war's increasing unpopularity.
Proposals should focus on increasing public opposition to the war through education and grassroots outreach, or on mobilizing that opposition using protests, direct action, and/or public forums such as the national and local media.
2. The war's financial burden.
Proposals should speak to how to cut off funding for the war, or should highlight the ways the war drains local and state budgets.
3. The war's impact on the U.S. military.
Proposals should address the range of issues relating to the troops, which might include the military’s abusive stop-loss policy and the inappropriate use of the National Guard and reservists; work to counter the intensifying recruitment drives by the military; support for and work with military families and veterans of the Iraq war; and support to those soldiers who choose to refuse military service.
4. The war's moral bankruptcy.
Proposals should address the cynical and sinister use of “morality” by policy makers in Washington to support the war in Iraq, as well as war crimes, the Iraqi death toll, and violations of international law. Proposals might focus on organizing within and outreach to religious communities and faith-based organizations.
5. The war's assault on basic human, democratic, and civil rights.
Proposals should target the undermining of the Constitution, violations of Constitutional rights, the detention and deportation of immigrants, and attacks on dissent.
If you have any questions about the proposal process, call our office at 212-868-5545, or contact Leslie Kauffman (lak@unitedforpeace.org) or Diane Lent (assembly@unitedforpeace.org).
The UFPJ Assembly Planning Committee
Starmail - 2. Feb, 23:08
