January 21, 1998
Algeria Watch International
P.O.Box 27423
West Allis, WI. 53227, USA
Tel: (414) 543-6534
AWI email: awi@afn.org
BOD email: afn33683@afn.org
URL: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch
January 21, 1998
Dear Friends:
Since last week, we have managed to make some important progress. As the
President's bi-weekly has already mentioned some of our accomplishments,
I will confine myself here to issues that pertain to the AWI membership. Here
is a summary of the main actions we have undertaken.
1. TASKS
(a) Position filled
Although our membership has officially increased only by three people since last
Wednesday (there are a couple more in the pipeline, though), many people
within AWI have decided to volunteer for a specific task (or tasks). According
to my last count, we now have 11 people assigned to some task or another.
This of course leaves more than half of the people not assigned, but nonetheless,
I want to thank those who reacted to my call for volunteering for a position.
To review the list of members and their assignments, please visit
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIMembers.html
If you find that you have volunteered for a task and it has not been assigned
to you, or that you have been assigned the wrong task, or a task when you have
not volunteered for one, please let me know and I will make the necessary
corrections.
(b) Positions to fill
You will find at the end of this message a list of tasks that we need to fill.
Please take the time to examine it and please pick a task. For a more
complete list of open positions, please visit:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIActivitiesAndArchives.html
There are a couple of tasks that AWI needs to fill urgently and to which I would like to
bring your attention:
(1) Legal advisor: as AWI begins to engage in official communications,
we will eventually need (and already do need, in fact) legal advice.
If anyone is a lawyer out there, or knows of a lawyer who might
volunteer his or her services, please contact us as soon as possible.
(2) Translators: as AWI begins to issue position statements, we
need to have people who are willing to translate AWI communications,
or in general anything that AWI needs to translate. Any and
all languages are welcome.
2. WEB SITE
Our Web site has been upgraded so that we now have a grand total of
12 MB of space available (of which we have barely used 1MB), plus
the annyoying popping advertisement windows has ben removed. Our
upgrade also provides us with an email address and a chat room, which
we are thinking of using eventually to help us better manage AWI's affairs.
(a) Archives
Many new pages have been added, and others cleaned up. The main
Archives page has been revised up and updated. You may visit it at:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIActivitiesAndArchives.html
As you have noticed, the names and emails of people assigned to
tasks have been added where appropriate. Again, if you see an error,
please bring it to my notice as soon as possible.
Most of the new links and pages are empty, but the following are active,
and I invite you to visit them:
US Government: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/US.html
The four links under it are all active. The two links we
have added interesting information to are:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/StateDepartment.html
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/WhiteHouseData.html
Under Academia: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Books.html
Perspectives: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Perspectives.html
(b) AWI page
A new page has been created to house information of particular interest
to AWI members. Please visit:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIPAGE.html
If you have suggestions about what to add in this page, please share
them with us.
3. OUTREACH
Both Middle East Realities and Muslim Student Association have contacted
us -- both in reply to our initiative -- to promise to help us spread
the message about AWI. We encourage you to spread the word about AWI
and to invite people to join our efforts.
4. GENERAL MANAGER POSITION
The GM position remains open, and we continue to solicit candidates to fill
it. As work begins to increase and as AWI starts making connections,
the management of AWI's internal activities becomes more and more crucial.
The division of the GM's labor across three people is creating an overhead
in coordination, so that not only do the present Board of Directors (BOD)
members have to take on extra duties to fulfill the GM's taks, they also have
to spend time coordinating their actions. This situation will clearly only
get worse as our work intensifies and as we move on to the next level of
activities. We urgently call on anyone who is able to help to consider
taking on the GM position as soon as possible.
5. FEEDBACK TO AWI MEMBER COMMENTS
Many members have voiced their concern about the identity of AWI
members and have expressed their desire for more information about
candidates to AWI. A member in particular has suggested that we extend
to more than 48 hours the period between the announcement within AWI of
a candidate's application and his or her subsequent inclusion within AWI
(in case there is no opposition within AWI). Before the BOD reacts, we would
like to invite more AWI members to share with us their thoughts on the matter.
The relevant section in the bylaws addressing this issue can be found in
Article 10, Section 2 in the Membership Provisions:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/membership.html
The BOD is always eager to receive feedback from AWI members. We
truly want everyone within AWI to contribute to its success.
A last note: I want to thank M'hammed Henniche for volunteering to
translate the Wednesday communication to the French. The French
version of this statement should be sent tomorrow. From now on,
you may consult the following page for an archive of the Wednesday
Updates:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIWednesdayUpdates.html
Thank you for being part of AWI. Please help us spread the word about
AWI, and please, as always, if you have not taken a position, please
pick one as soon as you can. Again, any and all suggestions are very
welcome.
Yours,
Ahmed Bouzid
AWI, GFO
TASKS OPEN:
1 - US Senate monitor
- Alert us to statements from senators, Senate committees,
Senate publications, that relate to Algeria
- Who in the Senate is interested in Algeria
www.senate.gov
2 - US House monitor
- Alert us to statements from the House that relate to Algeria
- Who in the House is interested in Algeria
www.house.gov
3 - United Nations monitor
- Alert us to statements, activities, etc., from the UN
- Who in the UN is interested in Algeria
www.un.org
4 - Algerian Parties monitor
- Collect information about Algerian parties
- Alert us to statements, actions by Algerian parties
5 - Non-political Algerian groups and societies monitor
- Collect information about non-political Algerian
organizations and societies abroad
4 - Think tanks monitor
- Collect reports, papers, etc., on the ALgerian crisis
issued by Think tanks
5 - Washington Post monitor
- Alert us to articles written on Algeria by the Washington Post
- Who in the Washington Post writes on Algeria
- Collect the editorials written by the Washington Post on
Algeria since 92
www.WashingtonPost.com
6 - Los Angeles Times monitor
- Alert us to articles written on Algeria by the LA Times
- Who in the LA Times writes on Algeria
- Collect the editorials written by the LA Times on Algeria since 92
www.latimes.com
7 - NPR monitor
- Alert us to NPR reports on Algeria
- Who in NPR reports on Algeria
www.npr.org
8 - Collector of interviews on the Algerian crisis