Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 14:24:10 -0500 (CDT)
From: Jonathan Beasley Murray <jbmurray-AT-alpha1.csd.uwm.edu>
Subject: NEW LIST: Multi-Organizational Left Discussion list (fwd)


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 18:26:55 -0700
From: Nathan Newman <newman-AT-garnet.berkeley.edu>
Subject: NEW LIST: Multi-Organizational Left Discussion list 


(Please Repost)


	ANNOUNCING A NEW DISCUSSION LIST FOR ACTIVISTS CONCERNED WITH 
BUILDING A DEMOCRATIC LEFT IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN THE WORLD


	The Left List will be a discussion forum dedicated to bringing 
together activists organizing for fundamental social change and creating 
a common meeting ground for electronic discussion, debate and collaboration.	

	To join the list, please send a note to:

	listserv-AT-cmsa.berkeley.edu

	Place the following command in the body of the message:

	subscribe left-l <your full name>


	You will then be a member of the Left List and send messages for 
redistribution to the following address:

	left-l-AT-cmsa.berkeley.edu


	Please make your first post an introduction of yourself, the 
kinds of activism you are engaged in and a general sense of what you 
think we need to build a democratic left.
	
	To leave the list just send a message to listserv-AT-cmsa.berkeley.edu:

	signoff left-l

	
		CHARTER OF THE LEFT LIST


	The Left List is an uncensored forum for the discussion of 
building a broad democratic left in the United States and within the 
world that can seek fundamental change in our economic and social system.

	It seeks to create a common meeting ground for left activists of
all stripes who are dedicated to the principles of building an economy and
society controlled by its workers and communities in a grassroots
democratic manner.  Through dialogue, debate and challenging one another,
we can address the challenges of the 1990s of building a new democratic
left in the post-Cold War period. 

	Possible projects of this list include (but are not limited to)
developing a broad discussion FAQ on democratic socialism that can be used
for promoting a democratic left on the Internet and in the world,
developing an archive of facts and statistics relevant to supporting
socialist and progressive arguments, developing a detailed program of
short-term radical reforms that could be promoted publicly, and developing
a listing of democratic left organizations across the country to encourage
others to join them. 


DECISION-MAKING ON THE LEFT LIST

	All binding decisions on rules of procedure shall be made by 
majority vote of participants on the list.  All decisions shall be 
preceded by at least a week of discussion and members shall have four 
days to register their votes.  A majority of those voting shall decide 
the issue.  Where multiple options are available, ranked voting 
procedures shall be used.

	If anyone violates the rules established by majority voting, the 
moderator(s) shall send warnings.  After three warnings on the same 
offense, the moderator shall propose a vote of expulsion on the offending 
member of the list.  List members will have four days to register their 
votes on expulsion.  If a majority votes for expulsion, the offending 
member will be removed from the list by the list manager.  If a majority 
votes not to expel the member, the moderator will propose discussion on 
abolishing or modifying the rule that was broken (since the failure to 
expel may indicate that the rule is considered overly strict).

	In the case of a personally abusive assault by one member on 
another where the offending member refuses to stop, the moderator may 
suspend the offending member from the list pending the outcome of the 
vote on the member's expulsion.

	
ROLE OF THE MODERATOR(S)

	The moderator(s) primary role is to track enforcement of 
democratically-agreed to rules of the list and send private warnings to 
remind members of them.  Additionally, moderator(s) can encourage threads 
that have lost vitality but are still of interest to a few members to 
convert themselves to cc: lists away from the main list.  Also, 
moderators should take on themselves the task of encouraging new issues 
for discussion or new tacks on an old discussion.


ROLE OF THE LIST MANAGER

	The list manager (who may or may not be a moderator) performs the 
mechanical tasks of adding and removing members from the list.  All 
"housekeeping" messages will be sent to the list manager.  The list 
manager will only involuntarily remove someone from the list based on the 
decision of the majority or, in the extreme, suspend them based on the 
decision of the moderator(s).


ELECTION OF MODERATOR(S)

	List members will decide how many moderators should exist on the 
list and all moderators must be approved by majority vote of the list 
members.


     ------------------