1997 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Polly Parks <pparks@igc.org>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:36:39 -0700 (PDT)
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: Re: National RAB Caucus
 
It seems to me for a "community" based caucus to be successful in our
political context it also needs representation from groups within RABs that
reflect the governance of that community at both the local and state level.
RABs also includes this type of membership as well as citizens. I do not
see this being discussed in the NRAB postings thus far [other than the
comment in this posting "different from the military and regulators";
frankly I think it is a mistake to lump the two together]. 

If the to-be-established NRAB sees itself as being inclusive, I do not think
you will gain much by excluding allies from the start. While it may be
difficult for regulators to join (though its worth exploring), many RABs
also include elected officials or representatives of other local governance
bodies. If a key goal of the NRAB is to develop a focused, common agenda
for articulating concerns to D.C. and regions, I can see no reason to
exclude anybody who is not prohibited by law from undertaking that type of
education and advocacy. Of course it is more work, but you will bring in
forces who have significantly more resources than most community members.
It would also affect structure as people working in a coalition together do
not start from a common perspective. But then the common objectives they
develop have much more weight.

I would like to see some discussion of this. Otherwise, I am worried that
the NRAB will simply become a parallel group to networks such as the
Military Toxics Network which already exists. That is not bad in and of
itself; parallel groups can often work quite well with each other, and
CareerPro and MTN are an excellent example. It is just a mistake I think to
believe RABs are made up of merely military and amorphos community. 

Thanks.

Polly Parks

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