January 28, 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 28, 1998
Dear AWI members:
First, on behalf of the BOD, I would like to wish you all 3iid mubarak. May we
celebrate the next 3iid in better times.
Here is where things stand today within AWI.
1. PARTICIPATION OF AWI MEMBERS
The BOD is concerned about the lack to AWI members' involvement in the activities
of AWI. As the President's message to members a few days ago noted, the BOD
would like to see more AWI members input in the decisions AWI makes and the
positions it takes. We would like AWI members to view themselves not as
agents of the BOD but as full and equal partners. We should view the AWI
organization as a tool that we ALL have at our disposal in our effort to
fulfill our collective mission.
In that spirit, we strongly urge you to share with us:
(a) Thoughts on how to run things within AWI
(b) Suggestions on positions to take in regard to events related to the
Algerian crisis
(c) Information sources you may come across
(d) And anything that you feel will promote the AWI cause
As a first attempt towards getting AWI members' input (as mentioned in the
President's message to AWI), the BOD is requesting feedback on the idea of AWI
writing to PBS's MacNeil Hour's recent segment on Algeria. Please take a few
minutes to share your impressions and to give suggestions on what we should do.
For the full transcript of the segment, please refer to:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/jan-june98/algeria_1-20.html
2. AWI STATEMENTS
a) Public statements classification
To clarify things for AWI members (and also for ourselves), these are the kinds of
public statements that AWI can issue:
(a) Position Statements: these are statements that express a position that AWI
takes regarding some issue or action (i.e., that we applaud someone, or we
deplore something, etc., e.g., our support for the Troika mission).
(b) Action Calls: these are statements where we urge our reader to act in some
way (e.g., our Action Call to people to contact 60 Minutes).
(c) Alert Calls: these are statements where we would like to bring to the attention
of people some event, without taking a position (e.g., say telling people that there
will be a report on Algeria in 60 Minutes next Sunday).
(d) Public Comments: these are statements that AWI issues in response to
inquiries, questions, etc. (e.g., the President's answers to various questions
from algeria-net).
Our goal is to issue at least 1 public statement per week, possibly 2, so that we
maintain our presence and visibility.
(b) Statements issued
Since last Wednesday, AWI issued an "Action Call" encouraging people to contact 60
Minutes to thank them for devoting part of their program to Algeria. We have also
faxed a letter to them expressing our satisfaction. We urge AWI members to
contact 60 Minutes to express their opinion on the program.
2. TASKS
(a) Positions filled
(i) General Manager position
Finally, an AWI member has stepped forward to fill the GM position, although
for only 60 days. At this time, some formalities remain to be taken care
of, but we should be able to announce the new temporary GM within a couple
of days, if all goes fine.
(ii) Other positions
Since last Wednesday, we managed to fill only three more positions! The total number
of positions filled now stands at 14. Clearly, we are not making the progress we
should be making in terms of getting people motivated to take on a position. We hope
that with time, as we get more organized and as people become more familiar with our
mission, more assignments will be filled. At the same time, we would like to ask AWI
members to share with us their thoughts and suggestions on how to get more people
involved. Any and all ideas are welcome.
(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
As mentioned last week, there are a couple of tasks that AWI needs to fill urgently:
(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) TRANSLATOR: 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.
3. WEB SITE
(a) AWI main page
A counter was added to AWI's main page on January 21st. Since that day, our page
has been visited 862 times! This is not bad at all.
The main page is up for a major face lift. Much of the information that is present
in the main page today belongs to what is now called "Archives and Activities".
The main page will contain mainly information about AWI, while what we will call
"AWI library" will contain information about Algeria and the Algerian crisis, along
with all archives that we will accumulate and store. Please feel free to share
with us suggestions on what to put on the main AWI page.
(b) Archives
The archives continue to grow. The following links are now active and have content:
State Department: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/StateDepartment.html
White House: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/WhiteHouseData.html
Academia, Books: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Books.html
Academia, Scholars: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Scholars.html
Perspectives: https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Perspectives.html
(b) AWI members page
The AWI members page continues to be updated. You will find it at:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/AWIPAGE.html
4. OUTREACH
We continue to advertise AWI's birth and existence to all kinds of organizations. At
this point, we are compiling media addresses, addresses of organizations and of scholars
on Algeria to contact and to let them know of our existence. This is a crucial part of
our activities at this point and we urge all AWI members to help us propagate the word
about AWI. The more people and organizations know about us, the more relavant we become.
If you would like to advertise AWI, you will find for your convenience an
introductory message about AWI at:
https://members.tripod.com/~AlgeriaWatch/Announcement.html
Please use this message, as is, to advertise AWI around you. If you are
not able to take on a task at this point, please at least send around the
ready-made message to people around you. Please don't hesitate to make
printouts and distribute a hard copy of the AWI introductory message.
5. FEEDBACK TO AWI MEMBERS SUGGESTIONS AND COMMENTS
(a) In the last Wednesday update, we asked members to give us more feedback
on the concern some members had on the identity of new applicants to
AWI membership. Since there was no strong feedback, the BOD will confine itself
at this point to reiterating its present admission policy: as it is impossible
to truly verify the identity of new applicants, the BOD will rely on AWI
member objections to application as its filtering mechanism, as stated in
the bylaws, Article 10, Section 2 of the Membership Provisions. If members
have new concerns, the BOD is of course more than ready to consider them.
(b) The suggestion that we should make the AWIMembers.html page accessible
from the main page will be implemented during the upcoming AWI main page
face lift. We rely on you to double check that we did indeed follow through
when the new page is put in place.
*
As always, thank you for being part of AWI.
Yours,
Ahmed Bouzid
AWI, GFO
======================================================================================
TASK ASSIGNMENTS:
Here are the task assignments as of January 28, 1998. Please do not hesitate to point
out any mistakes that you may notice.
Non-governmental, non-political, and for-profit:
Human Rights Organizations: Troy Mutton
Government organizations :
Foreign governments:
US:
State Dept.: Bayazid Merabet
White House: Abdenour Achab
UK: Abdi Asghar
Netherlands: Larbi Alili
Political organizations: M'hammed Henniche, Executive Field Officer
Algerian Parties: Hussain Asaf
Academia: Mustapha Khan
Books: Mustapha Khan
Scholars on Algeria: Karim Boughida
Media
Television
CNN:
Perspectives:
Chronology of major events: Troy Mutton
AWI newsletter: Omar Hassaine, Executive Field Officer
======================================================================================
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 - Non-political Algerian groups and societies monitor
- Collect information about non-political Algerian
organizations and societies abroad
5 - Think tanks monitor
- Collect reports, papers, etc., on the ALgerian crisis
issued by Think tanks
6 - 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
7 - 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
8 - NPR monitor
- Alert us to NPR reports on Algeria
- Who in NPR reports on Algeria
www.npr.org
9 - Collector of interviews on the Algerian crisis