All,

The Board recently voted to hold two referendums: the first is scheduled to run from October 1 to October 31 and will determine whether or not IVAW takes an official position on immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan; the second is scheduled to run from October 1 to December 31 and will determine whether or not Afghanistan is included in our Points of Unity, which are a requirement for membership. The second vote would therefore potentially result in some members having to resign if they disagree.

Many of us believe that this vote was pushed through much too quickly and does not allow adequate time for members to register to vote, inform themselves, address their questions and concerns, and engage in healthy debate.

If you agree, please read the below petition to the Board, reply back to me at curryrm@gmail.com affirming your agreement, and call the members in your chapters and regions and ask them to read it and reply back to curryrm@gmail.com if they agree. We intend to deliver these signatures to the Board on September 30, before the start of the two referendums.

Ray Curry
IVAW DC
Curryrm@gmail.com
215.498.3419

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Members of the Board,

We, the below-signed members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, would like to call your attention to information related to two quickly approaching votes which will determine whether or not IVAW takes an official position on Afghanistan and may also result in the forced resignation of valued members who have done excellent organizing work. In the interests of IVAW and in order to promote sound and unquestionable democratic decision-making processes we request that you vote to postpone the referendums in order to allow time for members to register, inform themselves, voice their questions and concerns, and engage in healthy debate.

We understand the following information to be accurate and indicative of the need to improve our internal communications in order to proceed responsibly and democratically with a vote of such fundamental significance to the future of our organization:

Less than 300 out of approximately 1400 members currently have on-line user accounts, making it impossible for them to log in to the membership side of the website and therefore impossible to vote on-line or access the Member Forum, where much of the notification and discussion on Afghanistan has taken place.

Fewer than 170 out of approximately 1300 members voted in last month's Board elections; only 17 of these voted on-line. This represents less than 15% of the total membership at the time- a shamefully low figure.

Approximately 15-20% of our members are on active duty, which presents special challenges to their inclusion in the decision-making process. It is unclear how many of them have access to computers.

Of the two known groups discussing the Afghanistan issue, both the “IVAW_Afghanistan” and “Afghanistance” Google Group are comprised of less than 60 members. A similar number has been involved in discussion on the on-line forum.

In short, without adequate efforts to inform the membership of the upcoming referendums and make it possible for them to cast their ballots; without adequate efforts to offer them a reasonable window of time to voice their questions and concerns and to provide them with time to educate themselves, these votes cannot be regarded as democratic or legitimate.

Several of us are in fact in favor of immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan but we see no reason to rush this vote to the point where it creates an unnecessary internal conflict and potentially causes us to lose very valued members. We would also like to see more healthy debate, consensus building, and capacity for facilitation and internal communications throughout our organization. More time spent on this process prior to the referendums will allow all of our members to better articulate their views on Afghanistan if IVAW does take an official position on it.

We therefore request that you convene via phone before the opening of the first referendum on October 1st or, if this is not possible, that you convene as soon as practicably possible in order to hold a Board vote to postpone the Afghanistan referendums to a more reasonable date and communicate with all interested parties on the practicalities of the matter.

If you have questions or comments please direct them to Ray Curry at (215) 498-3419 or curryrm@gmail.com.

Sincerely,