The "PCU_//\_Free Assembly Project" (aka 'People for Compassion &
Understanding') has pulled many volunteers into cooperation... It has been
the main source of public information and focus of advocacy on the Right to
Gather for over 4 years.
* As of October 1st it has a new mailing address in Washington, DC:
PCU_//\_Free Assembly Project
PO Box 5852
Washington, DC 20016
* The Chicago address is currently inactive... Brother Bob kindly kept
the watch since '94, but gave notice last summer he was leaving town,
& I've been outa there almost a year. Ah mee, Entropy. But the
'Regs Hotline' phone is still LIVE for Voice-Mail, with prompt followup:
(Time to change the outgoing message, though)
(312) 409-0018
* The new Website has stalled in-progress:
Composition was nearly done, but delayed by other demands; then our
beloved Webmaster Steve had some health problems, & had to leave his
job where the host server was set up, so the connection is down.
BUT... Plan B is in the works, look for it pretty soon:
A FEW NOTES --
The former addresses remain on PCU literature now in circulation, so
please note the changes if you use it to inform others. A new round of
blurbs should come out this Spring, but there's other work to do in the
meantime.
For the record... PCU business is no longer connected with the former
Washington address (POB 27217, DC 20038), nor with views & correspondence
that may originate there. PCU was formed to be independent of any other
group, 'family', personality cult, or ideology. This parting of ways was
long overdue.
Look for PCU's further evolution in the near future -- maybe even take
part...
As an open 'Coalition of Volunteers', PCU has been a vehicle for good
collaboration among a lot of people who wanted to DO Something to preserve
rights, with a simple shared premise and a straightforward mission:
If we don't TELL the Public & Officials what's going on, they won't KNOW.
If Nobody knows, Nobody can act, Nobody will be responsible, & Nothing
happens.
We gotta Get The Word Out, hold their feet to the fire, & help each other.
So, we have done some fairly sophisticated lobbying and outreach on Forest
Service anti-gathering policies, and the larger issues of Free Assembly on
Public Land.
Folks have put out high-caliber work on this... we've made many friends in
the civil liberties & environmental communities, and a solid record in high
places.
But the effort has been limited in scale.
It relies on the personal initiative of folks who want to help; we've tried
to encourage this by putting good info tools in people's hands, and urging
them to form local crews to make it fun. This only works 'sometimes'...
In part it's a matter of sheer logistics:
Those with knowledge and interest for this work are busy & distant, so it's
hard to pull together the critical mass of energies & build momentum. And
without means of raising funds to support the real costs of communicating
widely (phone, printing, etc.), it's hard to get people to do the work AND
pay for it out-of-pocket.
(I've been the biggest sucker by far, & by now I'm pretty sucked out.)
It's also a tough experiment in Cooperation:
We gringos were taught little more than how to stand in a grocery line...
this is pretty complicated stuff, calling for imagination on stategies and
discipline on gruntwork. Before we can envision new ways of organizing our
efforts, we have to overcome the prevailing malaise & disempowerment, and
see What Can Be Done.
('This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around.')
So, some folks are talking about how this loose alliance of committed
Eccentrics -- which has been pretty effective at times -- can evolve into
something more cohesive and sustained in the teamwork that is needed. You
are joyously welcome to join the dialogues on this question, plug in your
ideas, & see where we can go from here.
Haulin' Like A Mule,
-- scottie
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