That all persons taking leadership roles in the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities, including Reference Persons and teachers, participate regularly in Co-Counseling and study, keep up-to-date on the developing theory, and attend classes taught by other teachers whenever possible. That all persons taking leadership roles shall be responsible for training people to be ready to step into their roles, shall encourage all Co-Counselors to become leaders who will produce and lead leaders, who in turn will lead leaders, and so on.
This will complement the peerness principle in practice, nurture those with leadership responsibility and develop enough leadership to reach all the people in the world.
That there be an International Reference Person to coordinate International actions and policies. That there be an Alternate International Reference Person.
That the International Reference Person seek consensus on policy through telephone conferences with Regional Reference Persons and International Liberation Reference Persons, through gatherings of Re-evaluation Counselors at workshops, and through circulation of draft proposals. That the International Reference Person, and the Alternate International Reference Person, be selected or confirmed by consensus at a World Conference of the representatives of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities.
We need central communication to coordinate our policies and activities throughout the entire Community. We need an individual person to play this responsible role. Such a person needs to check his or her judgment with others. Wider consultation has been working in the manners indicated.
That in geographical, ethnic, or language regions where strong, mature individual leaders have emerged who have demonstrated over a substantial period of time their ability to lead and organize strong, well-functioning Re-evaluation Counseling Communities and who have been consistently sound and correct on theory and policy and have corrected rather than defended mistakes where they have occurred and are respected and supported by other leaders and teachers in that Region, the International Reference person, in consultation with the leaders in the Region, may designate such a person as a Regional Reference Person for that Region.
Such a Regional Reference Person shall not assume any of the functions of the Area Reference Persons in any Area in which he or she is not himself or herself the Area Reference Person, but shall be available to these Area Reference Persons, any leaders' groups (Wygelian type) within the Region and to any Teachers Outside Organized Areas in the Region, for consultation and support. Such a Regional Reference Person shall undertake to give leadership, support, encouragement and assistance to the leaders of the Region, leaving leadership of Co-Counselors in general to the Area Reference Persons, Area leadership group and teachers.
Such a Regional Reference Person shall not view her or his region of responsibility as a sharply bordered domain but shall act cooperatively with Regional Reference Persons of any adjacent Regions to provide informed support for each other and coordinated leadership for all adjacent Regions.
Where such a Regional Reference Person is designated, she or he shall exercise judgment in endorsing all new credentials issued to teachers within the Region, along with the International Reference Person and the Area Reference Person and may organize and coordinate Regional workshops and make recommendations on the expenditure of International Outreach Funds in the Region.
The primary responsibility of the Regional Reference Person, however, is the continued re-emergence of both present and new leadership and teachers in the Region.
A Regional Reference Person is appointed by and is responsible to the International Reference Person and acts primarily as the International Reference Person's deputy in the area of developing and supporting leadership, holding the position at the discretion of the International Reference Person in consultation with the leaders of the Region.
The Regional Reference Persons can fill the gap in supporting and developing leadership, without, in this period, developing any unneeded administrative structures.
That Co-Counselors and classes cooperate in any one geographical area and stay in contact with the whole Re-evaluation Counseling Community through a leaders' group (Wygelian type) and, when there are enough Co-Counselors to justify it, (thirty to fifty active Co-Counselors) through an Area Reference Person and an Alternate Area Reference Person.
That as soon as there are two or more Co-Counselors in a given geographical area or of a given constituency, these two or more persons shall, in addition to meeting for Co-Counseling, class work, or as a support group, meet occasionally as a Wygelian leaders' group to discuss and plan the growth, improvement and organization of the area or constituency. That the people invited to these meetings shall be people who are functioning as leaders or who are willing to become leaders and that the Wygelian leaders' format shall be followed in these meetings. If such a leaders' group grows to be more than ten, subsidiary leaders' groups covering particular functions shall be divided from it and meet separately but one leaders' group shall continue to take responsibility for the overall growth, improvement and organization of the area or constituency. When the area or constituency has reached between thirty and fifty active Co-Counselors, the leaders' groups shall call for a meeting of the area or constituency to propose an Area Reference Person and an Alternate Area Reference Person.
That the Area Reference Person be chosen by the Area in agreement with the International Reference Person (in consultation with the Regional Reference Person where one has been designated). That the Alternate Area Reference Person be chosen by the Area Reference Person and the Area, in agreement with the International Reference Person (and the Regional Reference Person where one has been designated). That these choices be made, if possible, at a meeting of responsible people of the Area at which the International Reference Person or representative is present, and if this is not possible, through the widest possible consultation between the Regional Reference Person (where one has been designated), teachers and other active leaders of the Area, and the International Reference Person or representative.
That the Area Reference Person and Alternate Area Reference Person not be chosen until thirty to fifty active Co-Counselors are present to constitute an Area. That a consultative review of Area leadership may be initiated at any time either by the International Reference Person or by the Area.
FUNCTIONS OF THE AREA REFERENCE PERSON
All leaders, and all Co-Counselors in fact, are encouraged to be in complete charge of absolutely everything, including the entire RC Community. This is also true for the Area Reference Person. As Area Reference Person, in that role, his or her particular responsibilities consist only of (1) participating in the certification and de-certification of teachers, (2) approving Area activities that draw from more than one teacher's classes, (3) approving published material that represents RC on the Area level, (4) giving final approval to proposed uses of Area Outreach Funds and (5) making decisions for the Area Community in the rare case when consensus cannot be reached quickly enough.
That the basic job of the Area Reference Person be to think about the Area as a whole and to exercise judgment on which activities are consistent with Re-evaluation Counseling theory and policy.
That the Area Reference Person checks his or her judgment on short-range actions with the Area Leaders' Group (Wygelian type) which also furnishes the Area Reference Person with information and suggestions.
That the Area Reference Person may function as organizer, teacher, lecturer, public relations person, if she or he wishes to do so, but that these activities are in addition to the basic role which is that of exercising judgment.
That such other activities shall not be required or expected of the Area Reference Person unless she or he desires to perform them.
That any person undertaking new kinds of activities in the name of Re-evaluation Counseling in the Area shall first secure the approval of the Area Reference Person on their projected activities and proposals before proceeding with them.
That the Alternate Area Reference Person be someone who will immediately assume all the functions of the Area Reference Person when the Area Reference Person is unable to function for any reason.
AREA MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS
That an Area membership meeting meet at least twice a year to review and reach a consensus on long-range policies and actions. That it consist of all active Co-Counselors, or if necessary, the Area Reference Person, Alternate Area Reference Person, the Area Leaders' Group and representatives of classes and active counselors in the Area.
That the Area Reference Person and Alternate Area Reference Person are encouraged to undertake self-estimation and be confirmed by the meeting in their job during at least one of the two yearly Area membership meetings.
Self-estimationhelps the leadership be accountable to the Community. It is a self-correcting way for leadership to move forward, encourages the responsiveness of leaders to the intelligence of the entire Community and encourages everyone to take a responsible attitude toward leaders.
That whenever a substantial number of Co-Counselors with an important commonality around liberation, occupation, or interest issues have appeared within the Community, the International Reference Person may appoint as his or her deputy for that constituency an International Liberation Reference Person. This International Liberation Reference Person shall represent his or her constituency's interests in the International leadership of the Communities and shall be the International Reference Person's deputy leader of this constituency, holding the position at the discretion of the International Reference Person in consultation with the City- or Region-wide Coordinators, helping to propose and develop liberation policies, publications, workshops and conferences for that constituency's particular interests both within the RC Communities and in the wide world. He or she, in consultation with the International Reference Person and the Regional leaders of each Region, shall work to establish a network of City- or Region-wide Coordinators, support groups and leaders' groups (Wygelian type) of constituents throughout the country where a substantial number of his or her constituents reside. Such liberation leaders shall consult with and cooperate with the regular geographical leadership at every level.
The International Liberation Reference Person shall propose workshops, conferences and publications of her or his constituency for the International Reference Person's approval.
Such a leadership structure will make participation in Re-evaluation Counseling activities more attractive and effective for members of these particular constituencies.
That at all levels of our Community organization and leadership, a deliberate, aware effort be made to include in leadership bodies Co-Counselors from those sections of the general population which are not yet involved in Re-evaluation Counseling in numbers proportionate to their numbers in the general population, or which endure special oppression.
That, in addition to individual representation in leadership, Liberation Reference Persons from these groups of the population shall be organized at the International level, and that City-wide or Region-wide Coordinators shall be organized at City or Regional levels.
That these persons make recommendations to the geographical leadership bodies of the Communities. That they be consulted by the geographical leadership on the certification of new teachers from these groups of the population, on the expenditure of Outreach Funds to these groups and on the organization of special workshops, conferences and publications in these directions.
That leaders' groups (Wygelian type ) from each section of the population that shares a commonality (oppression or liberation, occupation, interest) shall be organized to give direct leadership to their section of the population, both those within and outside of RC.
That support groups for Co-Counselors from each section of the population that shares a commonality (oppression or liberation, occupation, interest) be formed in the Areas and Communities.
These support groups can be formed in RC by any RCer who has a certified teacher agreeing to serve as her or his advisor. They should be small enough to allow a reasonable time for each person at most meetings (two to eight people) and should be used to receive group attention and to discharge distress difficult to reach in heterogeneous groups. As with all RC meetings, they should try to include some (1) review of existing theory, (2) up-dating new theory and (3) actual discharge and re-emergence.
These support groups may be a point of entry of new people into Co-Counseling.
If fees are charged for support groups, one quarter should go to the Outreach Funds.
The oppressive societies have divided people from each other in every possible way and have tried to set each group up to support the oppression of the other groups. This isolation and alienation of groups of people from each other cannot be ignored but must be understood and dealt with in order that unity can be restored. Our experience is that each such group of people must first meet together on the basis of their shared commonality, develop leadership of their own and work out the beginnings of a liberation program, free from interaction with the other groups from which they have been alienated, before effective steps toward unity between the groups can be begun. The name "Wygelian" has been put forward as a term to stand for any commonality (e.g., young adults, women, machinists, cooks, black persons, leaders of a particular Area Community of Re-evaluation Counseling).
Wygelian Liberation Reference Persons and Wygelian City Coordinators can be spokespersons for their constituencies in the RC Communities (and outside as well) and can assume organizational leadership in seeing to the growth of the Community within their constituencies through the organization of Wygelian support groups and Wygelian leaders' groups among their constituents.
The boundaries of a particular Region may occasionally coincide with the boundaries of a national state, but in general we have tried to avoid national structures within the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities. This is because the "nations" which developed as the owning-class/working-class oppressive societies replaced the baron-serf oppressive societies, have been a crucial concept for the installation of disuniting patterns to justify oppression and alienate groups of people from each other.
"National patriotisms" and the distress patterns attached to them have been installed relentlessly in every currently existing nation as a principle mechanism for provoking and justifying wars and the associated profiteering by the ruling classes of each country.
From the beginnings of our Communities, we have determined to develop a world-wide approach, to insist that no humans anywhere have any rational conflicts of interest with any other humans, that "all men are sisters," and that RCers will work persistently for the closest possible friendship and cooperation between all RCers everywhere in the world as a model for all human beings everywhere in the world. Thus, the boundaries of our Regions to date often include several countries in one Region, several states or provinces in one Region, and often one metropolis and surrounding territory in one Region. There are also Regions which consist of parts of one country, parts of one state or province, and parts of one metropolis. Where a Region's boundaries coincide with a state, nation, or province, it is a matter of convenience and is never intended to divide the Community on "national" lines.
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