Goals of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community
At each World Conference the RC Community sets Goals for itself. These Goals help guide our way forward. They also promote action in areas that have been difficult to focus on but are important to our progress out of distress.
Below is history of goals adopted at World Conferences. The current goals can be found here.
[PDF Available Here]
Adopted by the 2001 World Conference
(Reaffirmed by subsequent World Conferences)
GOAL 1: THE ELIMINATION OF RACISM
That the elimination of racism, in particular the racism aimed at people of African heritage, be actively made an ongoing, central piece of the work of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community.
GOAL 2: YOUNG PEOPLE
That the Re-evaluation Counseling Community put new and increased efforts into making Re-evaluation Counseling and the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities accessible to young people.
GOAL 3: CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
That members of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community put increased attention on discharging the distresses that have led to the continued degradation of the environment of the world and to discouragement about taking the actions necessary for its restoration.
Adopted by the 2005 World Conference
(Reaffirmed by subsequent World Conferences)
GROWTH
That the RC Community and its members put increased attention and effort into reaching a large and diverse population with the ideas and practices of RC, and into assisting them in becoming members of the RC Community.
That in order to intelligently pursue this goal, Co-Counselors have ongoing sessions on the distresses that interfere with their thoughts and actions in this area and that classes, Areas, and Regions organize gather-ins, support groups, workshops, and other events to assist Co-Counselors in this effort.
That as part of this goal, Co-Counselors target the distresses that hold them back from making a thoughtful and sustained effort to reach those with whom they already have caring and committed relationships.
Reaffirmed by the 2009 World Conference
The 2009 World Conference chose to reaffirm the four goals of the last two World Conferences without adopting additional goals.
Adopted by the 2013 World Conference
CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
That members of the RC Community work to become fully aware of the rapid and unceasing destruction of the living environment of the Earth. That we discharge on any distress that inhibits our becoming fully aware of this situation and taking all necessary actions to restore and preserve our environment.
Distresses have driven people to use oppression against each other and carry out destructive policies against all of the world. A full solution will require the ending of divisions between people and therefore the ending of all oppressions.
The restoration and preservation of the environment must take precedence over any group of humans having material advantage over others. We can and must recover from any distress that drives us to destroy the environment in our attempts to escape from never-ending feelings of needing more resource.
Adopted by the 2017 World Conference
BACKING INDIGENOUS EXISTENCE AND LEADERSHIP
That non-Indigenous members of the RC Community work to heal from the effects of all past and current genocidal policies that humans have enforced on Indigenous peoples. That we stand against and work to end these policies of genocide in the present. That we discharge any distresses that interfere with our ability to learn from, support, and follow the leadership of Indigenous peoples, whose lands we all occupy and use resources from.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND YOUNG ADULTS
That members of the RC Community be committed to creating a world in which the thinking of young people is respected and at the center of decisions that affect their lives and the world. That getting the theory and practice of RC into the hands of more young people and young adults be a significant part of building the RC Community.
That young people and young adults challenge the internalized oppression that separates them from adults and each other and that limits them from taking initiative, leading, and building the RC Community. That adults, including young adults, discharge on and recognize the powerful role they can play as allies in young people’s liberation.
That we in the RC Community commit ourselves to growing and supporting young leadership across the RC Community, and that adults work to eliminate the distresses that prevent them from connecting to younger people and backing young leadership. That all Co-Counselors work to heal from their own experiences of young people’s and young adults’ oppressions and stand against these oppressions in the present.
ENDING CLASSISM
That the members of the RC Community, in order to move toward a rational society free of exploitation, commit ourselves to do the following:
Build connections with and learn from members of economic classes that are underrepresented in our Communities yet who represent the majority of the world’s people—the sector of the working class engaged in the direct production of goods and services, and poor people.
Get the theory and practice of RC into their hands and encourage, support, and follow their leadership.
Face, discharge on, and challenge any distress that causes us to believe that some lives are more important than others, to seek economic advantage over one another, or to be preoccupied with irrationally seeking comfort and security.
Discharge toward a full understanding of the class society and its inherently destructive nature and communicate this understanding to others in our own way.
CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
That members of the RC Community become knowledgeable of the clear evidence of the continually growing damage to the environment and all life forms, especially the climate change resulting from the ever-rising temperatures caused by human activity.
That we face and discharge any distress that interferes with our finding sustainable solutions, including the ending of the oppressive and exploitative nature of our societies. That we decide, discharge, and act against any distress that inhibits us from determining immediate steps, as large and radical as necessary, to end this damage, and from organizing and agitating for their adoption by governments and industries.
That we do this work together with everyone, especially oppressed communities, which are currently experiencing the most damage from climate change.
Translations of the 2017 Goals
Dutch
Japanese
Swedish
Adopted by the 2022 World Conference
ELIMINATION OF RACISM (UPDATED)
That the elimination of racism, in particular the racism aimed at people of Black African heritage, be actively made an ongoing, central piece of the work of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community.
ENDING GENOCIDE AND
HONORING INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY
That ending the genocide of Indigenous and Tribal peoples, and honoring and restoring full Tribal sovereignty over their lands and waters, be made an active, ongoing, central part of the work of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community.
GROWTH (UPDATED)
That members of the RC Community put increased effort into sharing the tools of RC with large and diverse populations.
That we make a thoughtful and sustained effort to reach out to the people we already have caring and committed relationships with, along with building new and diverse relationships.
That we assist interested people to use RC tools for themselves and, when appropriate, to become members of the RC Community.
That in order to pursue this goal, we keep discharging the distresses that hold us back from openly sharing what we find useful about RC.
That Areas, Regions, and Developing Communities organize classes, gather-ins, support groups, workshops, and other events to assist in achieving this goal, while continuing to support the existing members of the RC Community.
UNIFIED GOAL ON THE CLIMATE
Humans are on an unsustainable path that puts at risk most of Earth’s life forms, including ourselves. This path was created and is supported by destructive irrational policies carried out by the governments, institutions, and industries of our societies, for example, the fossil fuel industries. These policies must be completely transformed, beginning now.
To transform these policies, we must end the many forms of oppression our governments, institutions, and industries use to create and enforce the policies. We share a vision of a world free from oppression, in which people work cooperatively, in a respectful and harmonious relationship with the Earth, to ensure that everybody’s real needs are met. To make this vision a reality, we must significantly reduce consumption—especially by the globally dominant and more industrialized nations—by ending the irrational patterns of consumption our societies promote.
We in the RC Community commit ourselves to encouraging and supporting every one of us to act against and discharge any distress that might keep us from playing an active role, as large and radical as necessary, to resolve the climate emergency. For most of us, this will involve uniting with others to publicly oppose irrational policies and visibly support rational solutions.
The oppression of any group of people is unjust, inhumane, destructive, and against the interests of all people. Because our societies all use oppression to maintain themselves, we need to end all oppression to free humans from the grip of irrationality and end the threat to our climate.
To solve the climate crisis, we must transform the current economic system—with its focus on profits for a small number of people, its endless pursuit of growth, and its exploitation of both nature and humans—into a system that respects and sustains all life and ecosystems. To end the climate emergency, we must simultaneously work to end all oppressions and all forms of exploitation.
The societies that have exploited people and the Earth are the result of irrational behavior coming from humans’ vulnerability to distress recordings. The thoughtless, patterned desperation for more, without considering its damaging effects, has brought us to our current crisis. The distresses behind the irrational personal and institutional policies must be discharged for us to create policies that sustain our Earth’s ecosystems.
They must eventually be discharged fully, but we cannot wait for that to happen before we take large actions. The climate is deteriorating too rapidly, and the changes needed to address the crisis must begin now.
Working simultaneously on oppression and the climate emergency requires that we support and follow the leadership of Native and Indigenous and Global Majority people, and other oppressed groups—working together with individuals and organizations to build a united force that welcomes everyone to end the climate emergency.
In particular, we must continue the work of ending all oppressions, and understanding the ways in which they intersect:
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ENDING RACISM
We cannot end the climate crisis without ending racism. Racism and patterns of domination, colonization, exploitation, and extraction have created the conditions for the climate crisis. Also, Native and Indigenous and Global Majority3 communities and nations have been, and are being, exposed to far greater climate and other environmental danger than are the vast majority of white-dominated communities and nations.
The RC Community commits to creating opportunities for everyone to do the following:
- Implement the Strategies for Goal 1: Ending Racism4
- More fully understand the connection between racism and the climate crisis
- Discharge on the patterns and practices of white domination that have enabled, and continue to enable, rich countries to get rich at the expense of Native and Indigenous and Global Majority communities and our Earth
- Discharge feelings of powerlessness and any other feelings that would stop us from acting to end institutional and systemic racism and white supremacy culture
- ENDING GENOCIDE AND HONORING INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY
Protecting the Earth is inherent to Indigenous and Tribal sovereignty and to sustaining all forms of life. The RC Community commits to reading, discharging, and instituting proactively the Goal on Ending Genocide and Honoring Indigenous Sovereignty.
- ENDING CLASSISM
The RC Community commits to building connections with, learning from, and increasing the participation of the sector of the working class engaged in the direct production of goods and services.
These workers are currently underrepresented in our Community, yet they represent the majority of the world’s population.
Their leadership is key to making the changes and building the solidarity needed to end the climate crisis.
- ENDING SEXISM AND MALE DOMINATION
Women and girls are among the most powerful forces in ending climate devastation. They hold vital knowledge as caregivers, land and resource stewards, and leaders of communities. They offer their societies long-practiced, sustainable, community-based solutions.
The exploitation of women’s reproductive work, caregiving, and agricultural and factory work (along with poverty) leaves women more exposed to climate change and other environmental shocks. Also, their lack of material resources with which to adapt to and mitigate climate impacts puts them at greater risk of sexual exploitation and male violence.
Females of all ages are significant members of the working class and of Native and Indigenous and Global Majority peoples. We recognize the intersection of all their oppressions and the work needed to end their internalized oppression.
The RC Community commits to ending the divisions among women and to building a united sisterhood—while also welcoming and working with women’s brothers to end the exploitation of all women and girls and the environment.
- ENDING THE OPPRESSION OF YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people are at the forefront of facing the present and future effects of the climate crisis.
The RC Community commits to creating opportunities for young people to discharge the hurts of young people’s oppression and for adults to discharge the oppressor distresses that keep them from fully backing young people.
We support the leadership of young people. We also support adults to stay close and connected as they face the climate crisis together with young people.
The RC Community commits to discharging the early hurts from young people’s oppression that discourage us from taking action to transform society. People of all ages can unite and play large roles in ending the climate crisis.
- ENDING ANTI-JEWISH OPPRESSION
The RC Community commits to doing the work to understand anti-Jewish oppression, its significant rise worldwide, and the divisive role it plays in weakening liberation work (particularly the fight against racism).
We commit to discharging and acting against all anti-Jewish oppression patterns that have been installed on us.
We will take an active role to ensure that anti-Jewish oppression is addressed in all liberation programs and to end the use of anti-Jewish oppression to disrupt liberation movements, and the climate movement.
- ENDING GAY OPPRESSION
Historically and in the present, the oppression of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, gender non-conforming, and non-binary) people has been, and is being, used to divide and derail liberation movements and the climate movement.
The RC Community commits to understanding and ending Gay oppression, discharging and acting against all oppressions that target LGBTQ+ communities, and taking an active role in ending the use of LGBTQ+ oppression to disrupt liberation movements and the climate movement.
- ENDING THE OPPRESSION OF DISABLED PEOPLE
Disabled people are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. They are more likely to be displaced, injured, or killed. They are often the poorest of the poor.
Disabled people also model the cooperation and connection essential to addressing the climate crisis and assuring the future of humanity.
The RC Community commits to ending the oppression of disabled people by discharging the hurts that devalue disabled people’s lives and limit our view of what it is to be human. We also commit to building connections with and learning from disabled people.
- ENDING ALL OTHER MISTREATMENTS
The RC Community commits to ending all other mistreatments of groups of people in our societies. We will work to become stronger allies to each other and to remove any distresses, including oppressor distresses, that get in the way of our working together in a unified way.
The Draft Program on Care of the Environment is at rc.org/climatechangedraft.5