Roberto:
Dear all,
I wanted to make a little summary of where we are with the discussion on criteria for acceptance of Unaffiliated Individuals.
The first question that came up was whether we should keep the strict requirement that an individual not be at the same time a member of an ALS. The rationale for this, when the norm has been established in the early days of the RALOs, was that we did not want to give to an individual the opportunity of influencing the vote of her/his ALS and at the same time keep for him/her the right of vote as individual.
However, in none of the RALOs have the Unaffiliated Individuals an individual vote - at the most there is one single vote for the aggregate of all individuals. It seems therefore that the possibility of influencing an outcome is very slim, now that each RALO has dozens of ALSes. The question therefore arises on whether this requirement can be loosened.
Remembering similar discussions at the ALS Mobilization WP, I wonder whether we can require that an Unaffiliated Individual not be in an ALS in a leadership position. This could be a possible compromise, noting also that it will be virtually impossible to check whether an individual is a member of an ALS or not. We even had cases where an individual did not know that he/she was a member of an ALS. This “compromise” solution could also address the case in which on a specific topic a member of an ALS has a different opinion than the majority of the organization: this will give the possibility of hearing minority voices brought by people as Unaffiliated Individuals.
I would like to have all members and participants of this Working Party think about what would be the best solution, and express their opinion in the mailing list. We might launch a poll at a certain point in time, but for the time being I would like to hear the voices for or against one of the following options:
- to keep a strict rule (as is today) about incompatibility of being at the same time an Unaffiliated Individual and a member of an accredited ALS;
- to allow people being at the same Unaffiliated Individuals and members of an accredited ALS without limitation;
- to allow people being Unaffiliated Individuals only if they are not in a leadership position in an accredited ALS.
Of course, if you have other options beyond the three above please voice them out.
The second question that came out from the discussion was whether individual users can join as Unaffiliated Individuals only in the region where they have their residency or that they are citizen of, or whether they can join in a different region. In case the latter option is preferred, we should also decide whether an individual user can be an Unaffiliated Individual in one region only, or whether we allow multiple membership.
Also in this case we have multiple options, and I would like to hear the opinion of all WP members and participants on these alternatives (if you see other possibilities not listed please voice them out):
- an individual user can be an Unaffiliated Individual only in the region where she/he is resident or is a citizen of (this is the status quo in most of the RALOs, if I understand correctly)
- an individual user can choose to apply to be an Unaffiliated Individual in any region
- an individual user can be an Unaffiliated Individual in a region that is different from the region of citizenship or residence, but in this case he/she will have a special status (e.g. observer instead of full member) with limitations to be defined, related of the right of vote within the Unaffiliated Individual community of the region, or to the ability to have a leadership position in that community, or other (this is the case of EURALO, that has 60+ full members and 5 observers)
The additional question is whether an individual user can be an Unaffiliated Individual in more than one region. My reading of the current bylaws and other documents is that it is not formally forbidden, but that we do not have such a case. I am thinking of a person that is a citizen of a country in a region, and is a resident of a different region. We had in EURALO two cases of people who moved to North America, joined there as Unaffiliated Individuals, and resigned from Europe - but had they not resigned I am not sure how the case could have been dealt with according to the rules.
Please provide your comments on these points.
