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Hi Nigel... I think we need to identify what we mean by HA support. As far as I have gathered so far, support can work on two levels.

One is by providing publicity and links to a specific site or issue concerning a site (eg it's listed on the website with links to a organisation concerned with a specific site), providing information for concerned individuals to either access more info or become involved.

The other by actively supporting a cause and directly engaging in the process of dealing with the authorities or individuals that own or control the site (eg regular news/info updates on the website, letter writing campaigns, petitions, press releases etc).

My personal viewpoint is that all endangered sites should at least be given the first level of support, in so much as we help them to spread their message. Then people interested in the issue can act as individuals and choose their own level of militancy.

I agree that if we are to deal with the authorities and the press we need to appear professional and not go too far out on a limb, but I think we should be prepared to get our hands a little mucky and take a stance against the destruction of any site... whether it has crusty protestors or not.... otherwise, we'll just be seen as toothless tea n' cakes suck-ups by a large section of people involved in protest... we don't really need to alienate anyone. Once we have a few results under our belts, we'll hopefully be seen as effective.... but it would be good to have respect from both sides.

So yeah... we do want to be taken seriously by the people we are protesting to, but not at the cost of losing grassroots support from those who take a more radical stance.

Nicely put - that's what I was trying to say but more eloquent & in more detail! :-)

love

Moth

I'm going to fight my corner on this one.

First, I was prompted to raise the issue by getting an email from a TMAer who was unsure about joining HA and who said they didn't want to be involved if it was associated in direct action and dubious campaigning. This isn't my main reason, but it's worth pointing out that there are many people who feel like that and we could lose a lot of potential supporters that way (the flipside of losing support of more radical people!).I tend to agree with their feelings, and although I've been as radical as anyone in my time and I know it sometimes works, I also know it's sometimes counter-productive and impedes causes. I think it has a place but a separate one.
Second, I take a long term strategic view of HA and think we have set it up just right so that it will grow, in the form of an umbrella organization, to fill a big need. However, particularly while it's in it's infancy, and has few campaigns and no track record, it needs to protect it's image, which is the one and only thing our opponents can use against us. We have some stunning stuff and will do well, but why jeapardise our current causes needlessly? Later, when we are well known, and our persona is well embedded in the public's consciousness, we can afford to be less careful, but not yet IMHO. Having spent a week poring over some technical stuff I now think there are some absolutely scandalous things that we can bring to the public and no way will we be in danger of being seen as "toothless tea n' cakes suck-ups" but on the other hand exactly because some of it is so scandalous I'd like to leave absolutely no bolt holes.
As I understand it the HA umbrella will have individual campaign pages (1) from existing campaigns and linked to their websites and (2) created by us at the suggestion of the public, and the two types of page will be of equal weight and under the same banner and stated principles. (I've posted an outline as I see it on the HA site). This obviously involves trusting that all the campaigners act in a way that accords with our standards - our site, our banner, so we're associated. I just think there are some occasions when we can do without more than a small risk.
My solution would be: either make our pages that link to existing campaigns less prominent than our home grown ones on the grounds we can then minimise our connection with them if they're naughty (seems unfair and impracticable- we trust the Thornborough campaign after all) or we keep them all equal but are selective about who we allow under our banner.
None of this, of course, precludes us from maintaining an independent Nine Ladies campaign of our own or of maintaining a simple links page that would include a link to the Nine Ladies campaign website.