Da.te: September 29, . ~970 :c .
'F:rom: George M. rrouser .IO':\.
I have aon ..; a great . dr:sl of thinking since our Board Meeting on St~ptemb e r l h·l:h tr:;in:; to ·g r::t a µern}_) eeti ve on the .Amer:!. can ~'omrd ttee on Africa ar•l :i:ts -en.sh: . J:n edc1:1. t ~ton t :) ~:.r.C.s mcncr2.:idum, I ~.m enclozin.s one w-1.•lt'ten l unt April j1:s-t. : ~(; f'ore I star t ed m:,- f'cm· months 1 <:.ave . It wao d:: . s · ~ r :f.."t:J~:i.t~.c1 t~'..J ~t . h{::- I~ Who and What l\TC W~? TheI·e ere certc.in th:i.ngs which it 5.s necessary for us to take into accou.nt. to PndGrot:::nd what we are at th~ r:=-ecc:it mo::·.ent &nd what our :poten tial is wi tr.in the structure which 8:ists. '?>is is not to say that we cannot be rac.1c2.lly · che.ngcd, but to do so wor;ld take crit:!..c al new dec:i.sions on the p:ITt of' the !300.rd. 1. The firs;t[ f2.'.!t ve mus- '.:; take into account :i.s what our financial limitc:> ,t:i.o~ s r:-.r f! . I i,:-.l.ll no?:, repeat whs.';, is already cutlined in a. memo randt,!:1 :f1"c11 t:~:. ~ 8::,')c-;:::::.::i.l FJnancc Co!!cJ:~ ttcc 'eiM .~ h I also drafte:d. With :.,_,.; an expected c 1x~b:-:. ~k in pot'2ntis,l ftIDds for the work of the Com:.:ni ttee, ::cq. we do n.)t h:::?.v e tl1:: l"-lxury of talking e.s if we could a.o anyth:i.ng we wanted to in t h e i·72-Y of' p::cgrr.m. Therefore, I trust that the m~morandum from the S:pcci.nl Finc.nc.:; CorrJJj.ttee ~.r.i.11 be r2a.d c:irefully and note the problem 1 we i::Ul con f':::.' , : ~ nt as f ::-,r c::; the Ws::;hington offi.ce is concl'::rned, field worit 1 research rrcl l.i - ~ : :;~-c::ture, etc . 2. A si::ccnd f.::~·'. ; is t ha'.:; in a..."".ly orgcniza.tion ther ·~ must be a unity between prCJg~::.::n, r·.. :, ~b'.:'d of working , orgen:~z::.tional st1~c.ctur·e, and fi;lances. Without func'!2_-i.c:n'_; c_:_ r:l:.e.r:r:;c v~d new d i::c~ . s:~.or.:;, e.ny organization can!1ot ris e act:--"-'.;.; ~ rintcnt ~ . ::-. 1 C.!.c ' ~2.t ed l'J ,c:::e c'.:-ove f.'-S ~ O J:''.> . ACOA made certain decisions at its .:.~:..::. '..';:-·.... , ,, ". :::. "E' :: · '."~ c::.-:.~: l:~ c:::i.tly, "';L 0:1 'by !;.:18 choice of its Board mer1l:·ers and its progrcm 8'::'}.::b.z.:::~. s. F.s 1:i ~ ,.. .-.- ,):y ,,'.: .;·Sf' r,"rson involved at the beginning, I was :p erh~ps nor--.; r e s p c·::~ i;:,J.e f '.)r -i. ~ : s ~;t·, .~. _-~ ~ - :m t:: el::-"' We established ourselves i n or-;c:d·cio:::i -to t:>c rr.2.i.."1 t l:.rt:s t of A111-: rican po:i.::. ··:.- r. ,wa :· · ii~ Af:r:! r;:a. We el:l min.cn .. cd frcr:i p:::-ect~.·~e.l conGid .~r.tic:1 l':":is.:.ng funds by appealing to t:c.e gove:rnmcnt fc r contrr'cts , of a.c.<;i vcl;;- s ".:!<" i ~5. ~g funds fTom foundations, or structur::",. ng C'.l:::" program so 170 couJ.d r.::~~ivc 12rge cont ributions from some corpor ~:': ions doing bus::l.;'1.C'.':3 in J.f'l'.'icG.. 'l~:i s meant t hat we were auto matically cutting curselves off from the l a::-ge l u'I::f.' sum co::.tributions ~:!:.!.::~ ~;.:.L~,~·.;'~~ iiVl!. ~:.,- CU'J.~ l_j.1. (..'5..t. Cw..i. ;uJ.· \,;C.1 Lt:l. il1 u '-'llc.! · u.t:es~u 1.4:ic:i."1.J..Uilt; t,;u\..:14 t2.C AA!. operating in the Afr:!. ca field. We were set up as a "non-establishment" ,u·. ~ · . _! l ~l r\~. -2- i~··; t organization. Governmental representatives, foundations working in the .. Africa field, corporations interested in Africa have never considered ACOA an ally. We have been looked upon either as irrelevant or almost t as an enemy in some cases . Within the life of ACOA we settled the issue ~ ,,.....--at an election for Board members back in 1957 when a group of people tried to take over and if they had succeeded ACOA would be a. different kind of f organization today. Perhaps we wouldn't have the same financial problems, r but also, the campaigns which we have carried on would never really have r been started. I give credit to Peter Heiss then a Board member but not i President, who took the leadership in this struggle, supported by a good number of our other people. All of those who were part of the coalition f f to t.:c·1 {;o t :Ske over ACOA 1mcl set it on a different course, were defeated .. ?"'t :for continued. mem·oership on the Board as their time came up or they resigned l 'Voluntarily. Incidentally, only one vote separated the majority from the • I minority in that fateful election. t A lot has changed since that time and we have new issues. However, f•t. the course for ACOA -was set as non-establishment. But I would make a I distinction b etween th·_. t status and what might be called "anti-establishment". We have never been so completely alienated as an organization as to be out t of contact vi.th government. I have heard some people refer to the fact r that I was invited to become a member of an Advisory Council on African Af'f'airs back in 1961 or 1962 as an indication of the "establishment" char I acter of the Committee. This misses the truth by quite a margin. This 11Advisory Council" was set up in the early exuberance of the New Frontier i!i under John F. Kennedy. The Advisory Council never amounted to anything and I I suppose I .may have attended four meetings over a six-year span. Soapy t Wil.liams and Wayne Fredericks were trying to establish some medium for exchange between government representatives and non-governmental special i ists in African affairs. When some of the old-timers from the universities, foundations , and banks saw me on this Advisory Council their attitude re f1ected a great deal of amazement to say the least. It became clear after a few years that this Advisory Council had no real role and I woudl have resigned except that it went into non-use making such a resignation mean ingless. Because we have had to raise funds primarily from appeals to a list of contributors\ fund raising has always been expensive and risky. This has meant t hat as far as careful organizational planning is conce1·1.1ed we have never really been able to do it. The only time we have had a certein amount of money in the bank to plan on any real expansion was by special f~ds which had come earmarked for the Washington office and also for the fieldwork in Chica.go. Other than that,Olily expansion at all has always been based on faith and to say the least this has made it V.ery difficult and frustratirii; for the staff to try to think through what we would be in a position to d.D. in th,.:; -:::. .. months a.head, not to mention as much as a whole yer;.-r- _ 3- A tr.:.:·C. f:.>,.t:_ :.·~~-..:n ::.~ .:;t:ems to me is descriptive of ACOA is that we are-"! '7ctluse'1 organization.rather than a "movement" organization. I don't wish to get involved in a discussion of definitions here. A movement group · is a not too well defined organization with a great deal of sponten eity. It depends primarily upon volunteer labor with a few people paid at pretty__ _._ .... ,_, - low__.. ____ scales. ..,.. ACOA has never been, and I don't think has the potential ---P '\-.-~ ., •• Q:V v ...... w ...... _.,,. v ' ...,, ..... ""'_ ...... b .... --- .... ~-- .' _..,._- , \ · . .- .. ).. f· ''i .z .. .:.,,,..,._,,, __ .... ,.. . ...-:---·. - 3 - However, as i'ar as salaries are concerned, certainly at the beginning, finances of ACOA were on the "movement" level, When I and Lydia Zemba, later Catharine Raymond decided to c.o what we could in realation to the struggle for freedom in Africa; nobody was guaranteeing us anythfog. A great deal of our help was volunteer and for some years we lived through the frustrations and exhilarations that are part of thi s way of life. This situation· gradually changed a little bit because of the makeup of our Board, and because we expanded a little bit with a growing mailing list and new staff persons were taken on. One of the things I discovered, to rny dismay, at an early stage ::_ n this development, was that cause minded people were by no means obliv iot.:.s to .'?inancitll realities of life. I .might say that t he biggest jumps in salar y ~•hi ch I have . ever had have come as new people were adde.d to t he staff' who deman ded rnud1 more than .i. was getting at the time and it was felt ·that the D:'..rector ought not to be getting less than somebody else. I have never campa i gned for an increase of salary) not necessarily because ..r ' wouldn't want to get one, but because I knew that if I did get an increase I would i essentially have to rai se the money on the one hand and this would limit certain i program possibilities for us on the other. Over the years of being with ACOA I I interviewed s cor<;s of people who were interested i ll working for an organization i such as ours.;< :Yet very frequently those even who were very interested in our work did not feel they could accept the financial sacrifices involved or because I they :could get a mu.ch better offersorne pl.ace else. UnfortunC)tely, th3se were f frequently very competent people. Many among our present staff .people have not. I illogJ.caJ.ly pressed for increases which make quHe clear that they look at the organiZat.ion ·fo ;something .other t;han just "movement" light. He operate on a modest !i basis and cannot· compete _. with mariy other organizations because of decisions we have made in the past limiting · om· potential for 'fund raising. . I should like to point out what seems to me is very obvious and that is tt1at . ; ' if we -wanted to change the nature of ACOA from being a cause organization to being_ I something more in the nature o:f a movement then this would dictate very basic ·- .:. :~ I changes in our style, in the makeup of our staff and, of course, in the membership i of our Board as well. t - . •, 4. The fourth fact I would -present about our present setup is that we are not t a black organization . Rather we fall within the interracial tradition. I realize 1 there have qeen vast changes since ACOA was organized way · back in 1953 and I start ; ed working for H in 1.95'.5 . What might bave at one time have been called an "inter ractal11 organization is now l ooked upon as a "'il'hite '' organizat ion. Wi thcut tryi ns to get into definitions again 7 what is essentially clear is -that ACOA has served as something of a meeting g:cound between white and black c.s we have together tried to relate to the struggle for freedom in Africa. It isn't necessary to dwell on this any further. Again, I would simply point out that there definitely is_ and would be a role for a black movement related to the struggle for freedom in Africa, although this- cer"!:.ainJ.y would have to be combined with activities on the domestic scene. If the ACOA were to ·be come s:.ich it would take fundamental changes. I don't evaluate the desirability on such a change at this point, but. it is obvious that if the ACOA was to be such an organization it would take an almost complete dia i ,c:,~ i n staff :'lrid in Board makeup. I realize something of the pressures which play upon scmeone who i c. wori - 1~ - With these above-mentioned four facts as background, it seems to me that our problem is not essentiall y one of whet her we t·ake a position on the Middle ·· i East, or whether we completely back one set of li't:eration movements as over against another. I don 1 t say these may not be important issues for us. But whatever we may decide on such issues as t hese, it would not mean a great deal to us in terms of \ new constituency, or even in new funds for the job we must carry out. Is Our Job Finished? The first question we have _to face is - is our job finished? Have we got to tl".ie ple. ce where .. ·beca-\1se of c o11tradict:Lons 1.;i thin our society or e\"e11 in our Oi-ln structure, we can no longer do our job? I don't believe our job is finished yet. We _h_{:lve done some significant things in the past and I believe we .still can in support of the liberation sti'uggle in Africa. We can do still more in opposing U.S. support for c9lonialism and white supremacy in southern Africa. We can do some things to try to influence the direc tion of this policy, whether we can fundamentally change it or not, I believe with· all of the rest of us · that the crisis in southern Africa will continue to grow. Some organization has to try t0 relate to this. That combination. of organizations has not yet appeared which can take over this role. Obviously we can't. do it all, but we can make a contribution. Can We Change American Policy'! ' '..! ' . .. in this _context, I think it is important for us to deal for a moment with the question of how relevant it is for us to attempt to change American policy. As I see it there are essentially three approaches to this: . 1. There are some who believe that U.S. policy can be changed piecemeal. They might argue tnat we, therefore, are doing a fundamental job in ACOA as we press for disengagement, press for an end to the military alliance with. Portugal, etc, If we win these issues they might say a fundamental job will have been done. Some ACOA people certainly fall into 'this category if not among our Board, then among our contributors. · 2. There i~i the i:iosition that it is i:rrelevant ·to pressure for change because the U.S. as presently structured is beyond repair and only a complete revolution has any meaning. This is bot essentially an ACOA position although there may be some people working with us who t i l{_ e tb,is viewpoint. The kind of campaigns we have .initiated, and the work of our Washington office express neither a completely revol utionary position nor a completely alienated position. 3. There are also those who take the view that we must deal with particular aspects of American policy which can be opposed even if it is unlikely that fund• amental changes can be made this way~ - At least it is hoped we can have some effect, according to this view, in inducing chan6es which will ameliorate injustices in .Africa. I am sure there are AC_OA people who ta.'k"-= tlc.iz p ~ c; it.i..or:. Conclusion oi.; P:rogr.s,i:; ~!e ~:;~.. "~ ~:.:'=-~~~::t -:~~d~. :::::. .;c~ . -;:i-t~~~ 4':/~~A Q ~"",. ~ -.,;;: \:U~.1. keep tl-.iC;iij tU€>CtllCl: 50 lU11e;, as they accept a least cormnon qenominator. We ' represent a coalition approach to our task. . •_.,. . ·'' ) - 5 - We ere essentiaily non-establishment; ·interracial, arid reformist in our impact. Becausr ic task is not finished; because I believe our support financially ts from people who have a general sympathy for liberation rather than a great sense of ~ers onal lnvolvement; be cause I believe a mo·vc::cot ·could not b~ r:i-eated now which sustailJ itself either l'inancially or by volunteer workers - I conclude our emphas:Ls should be essentially which it has been but even f urther focused because of financial restraints. Thus I believe our program must stress the specific campaigns which have focused issues on ..AJnerj_can policy and P.rnerican in volvement; on the research we have done and the literature we have prepared which have outlined. our essential app:roach to the southern African complex of pr:_JbJ.em s ~nd Arner:Lc1m j_nvolvement; on at-'..;ernpt ing to press otl'1e r .::-,rganizations with much larg er rncr1i'be ~ st1ip t!1an v1e can ho1:ie to :b.a\1 e tc.~ take ac·G.Lon on th;.:; · SJ)eci.fi.c issues -:..;l1:icl~1 point out; on lobbying for sgecif:i.c measures because they help to focus <:.he :i.:.rn ue and aro1md these iss ues action programs can be buil.t; on occasional speakers 1 tours and conferences; and on support for the liberation move:nents directly in "'the limited "·: . ·ways which are open to us. TW6 Issues I should like to comment on two of thE prfociple issues which ?rexy raJsed in his . ; report to the September 14th meeting of our Board. First, irl_]:egard to the .Middle East conflict, I would hope that we would stay' out of it to the extent possible. As an organization we should limit as much as possible the controversies we become :Part of. We tried to do this as far as the Nigerian civil -war was concerned. We have tired ·to do this as far as the Sudanese war is concerned. Al though I can agree with many t~ings which are said in criticism of Israel's policy in Africa, I do riot believe that this policy has become anythirig' like a critical point in t he lib eration s t r uggle in southern Africa. Is it as critical for:ex:ample as the position which France has taken in supplying arms and other aid tc South .Mrica.? Is it as cr:i.tical as the support which Japan gives throt.igh her trade and growing investment in:, ~outh Ai'rica? Rather than thinking in terms of resolutions, our role should be OJ:le of making studies and making the facts known. We could very well put out a sej;.ieS Of studies, as bas been suggested by some staff members' Orl Japan 1 S role in. southern Africa, France's role in southern Africa, and on Israel's role. It will have relati ve little meaning for most people for the ACOA to pass resolutions or to take definitive action on many issues which through important, are not cehtral to our task. Seconu, I thfok it is very impo:ctant for the Board to have ;a thoro·;.. ) • '\J . ~ . , . - 6 ' We cannot possibly act.as if we were of the situation.knowing the reasons for the problems that exist based on tradition, language, etc. We should try to identify with the cause as ;nuch as we can, but not fool o\il'selves into thinking that we can be a part of the movements in the same sense as if we were born and raised and were .,part of the situation in Africa. ~- Therefore, my essential approach to the liberation movements is to see all of them as the principle and most important thrust against colonialism and white supre: macy. The genuine movements take on importance to the extent that they have any degree of effectiveness. I want to support the effective movements against Portuguse colonialism, :for examp le, and tbe effective movements against w!:tite sup:L'ernacy in Zimbabwe, I~amibia, and South Africa. I do definitely believe we should support some movements to a greater extent than others. Theoretically, there are three bases on which one might choose among liberation movements. The first test is the most important as far as I am concerned, and that is the t est of effectiveness. It is awfully difficult to know sometimes which move- ment is the most effective or in some circumstances. it might be which is the least i neffective. On what do we base our information? We would be most informed if we :.-; , were able to go to each spot. We cannot base our information simply on what we are :told by those who are in the movements because practically all of them claim that they alone~are doing an effective job and the other movements are in decline or have been completely eclipsed. Perhaps here the evaluation of the OAU Liberation Committee can be generally most helpful. A ·second· basis for choosing is that one wants to be a ;11 king-maker". Governments · can work this way, but private individuals or organizations cannot. We simply do not I have the resources to make whoever our choice might be more powerful by reason of the support we give it. • :. Third, we might choose particular movements for ideological reasons. My analysis on this point, however, is that most of the organizations are African nationalist in their. ideologies. Some have better ~rained and educated leadership than others. A f'ew of them ·have leaders with broad experience overseas. Most of the movements re flect one brand of socialism or another. In final analysis none of the movements are going to kowtow to any European or Asian power but ·are going to establish themselves independently regardle$s of . the suppor.t whi.ch they are getting today. ·Although the:re are some minor tendencies which differentiate the movements from one another. The legitL~ate movements have a .great deal in common ideologically. The most obvious and yet deceiving issue ideolqp.cally would be between movements which adhere to the Russian line as over against the Chinese line, and not those adhering to a western capitalist line. Therefqre, i t seems to me we should take our informed positions on the basis of what we know. We should respond to specific requests which come to us because they make sense ·and because our best information is that we ought to do some thing to support.the particular request. The OAU choice should be given special attention. As far .as the tqree m9vements in Angola are concerned, where the relationship between these movements is more complicated than perhaps any other area; I think each of them is viable. .My impression is that the MPLA has made greater progress over the last few years than either UNITA of GRAE. UNITA is a very appealing move Dleni., uecau::>t: ii., .i::; al.iuu::;i., 1.;u.u!J:i..t:t..t:::;_,y int.:::c:i..u:S.' tv the; cc.v.ntry, it;; :p<:<:::-tisans ::::~ l:!:: ing in the villages, the only strength they have is the strength of their own hands and of the peasants who support them. Any arms they have they have captured. r l ) - 1 - I probubly have more detailed information on GRAE than other other movement in Africa (with the possible exception of t:qe ANC) because of long association. I shouJ.d say t hat I don't t ake t he title of the Revolutionary Government of P.ngola in Exile (GR/iE ) too seri ously. 'I'he basic movement is . the Un i on of' t he Populations of Angola (U?A). My contact with this. movement .and its organizfog nucleu~ goes back to my f'irst t r j_p t o Af d .ca in 1 95 1~ . · I have seen it grow from a completely tribal organ izatj_on to one wh ich i s Angolan nationalist centered even if it doesn 1 t rise com.plet ely o."b ove tribal base. There has beeri a great exaggeration about the support ACOA has g tven to the UPA. We haven 1 t givlm them nearly as much support as we have to FRKGIMO nor rec€mt J.:y t 0 e ither the PAIGC or even the .MPLA. I'll be glad to discuss orally s or:ie of thE: weaknesses of t he UFA arnl of its l ead.e r shj_p _. but I don 1 t e are to :p~t i t jr; ·1n·i";:,::.ns, Su.ff i ce it · :~ o S C.) t hat our most s ignif i c2nt contri b ution there was paying :about $5,000 a year (bare subsistance wages) to Dr. Ian Gi l ~hrist.and his family who '..;r orked two years living at UFA headquarters in then Leopoldvil1e. Abcut. five year s·ago Gilchrist was forced to leave because of differences with the leadership and because he was in phys ical danger. himself'. Again this can be described orally if someone wants to Listen t o t he story. To those who have Holden Roberto tagged as an :imperialist stooge of some sort I would sJ.rnply like to remind th~m that at the point tha.t there was the greatest relation ship between AC()A and the UPA, Roberto had Lumumba 1 s support, was receiv.ing significant support f rom t he J?LN i n Algeria, was travelling on a Guinea passport and was aided · grea.tly by George Padinore and Kweme Nkrumah in Ghana where he lived for the b<::tter part of a year and wrote regula.rlv for the Accra Evening News under the name of Rui Ventura• * (see page 7A for contin~ation of paragraph). Personally, I find it most difficult to take the view that one should have no relationship vi th certa:i.n n: ovements as iong as it can be pointed out that they are working for the liberation of their country from colonial and white minority domination and as long as they are viable with some degree of effectiveness. We should bear in mind about most of movements in Africa · that they do not even drew the same lines we do in our associations with other .Americans and A~erican organ izations. They are happy to take assistance from corporations or from the AAI and .i who knows what they may have been willing to take from the lunerican government. '£he last point which I ,,,ish to take up in this already too long memorandum has to do -with my understanding of what the relationship should be betwe2n the Board and the staff', and t he staff t o one another. We have never -explicitly stated a policy on this, and perhaps we should cio so now. During most of the years of our existence it wasn 1 t . necessary beeause ,,·e haven 1 t had a large enough staf.f to require any special. consider• ·' ation. The Executive Director is in a unique relationship to the Board. He can be · hired and fired by the Board. The Executive Director in turn hires other staff. Wnen it comes to parti c ~larly important or sensitive policy making positions, I as / Executive Director have always asked the Board for advice. Therefm·e, when anyone in an E..xecutive capacity has be~n hired, it has been on the advice and with the agreement of a committee usually established by the Board. However, the Executive Director in final analysis does the hiring. ) - 7A - *Also it is important to remember that the mass uprising in Angola began in the North of Angola, that U.P.A. was intermately involved in it. The situation has changed over the years but the reputation ACOA has received for backing U.P.A. dates back to earlier years . From a Portuguese point of view we were involved in supporting a "Communinst" - Roberto. Thus the pamphlet by a group called The Port-; uguese American Conunittee on Foreign Affairs attacking ACOA under the title "Commun ists And Angola". One of our Board members sued them. Thus also the attempt to · · have us register as a foreign agent with a Department of Justice person assigned to ' investigate us . Thi s was dropped after our discussion tcb:cen some Board ciembL:rs ::ma attorney~.. Partisc!ns of MPLA looked upon us as partisms of U.P.A, which we are not. We are partis2ns pf the struggle against Portuguese colonfali.Sm • .. ~ . " .. . ~ .. ,. 'i'"' '1eo: .-· ·-· •. • t;. . . -~ . . -- ... \-' .. ! •• ~ .... ~ ..i - f •. . ·i ' : .· : - . ,_!... -~' '. . ' •: ';"_ -, ,,.-;, ..... '..... ~· ~ ; ·.: . ·: ... . · ~. ·•,. : ...- .I. .- . . '- --·~ . ~ _, . \ . -... . . ; r . '. .,.,...~ ...... ~.a.b. , :: r -· .. - 8 - The Executive Director is held accountable by the Board for the running of the organization . If things are going well, presumably he has had something to do with it. If they are not going we11, then he is at least partly responsible for it. Staff members need t o have a dfrect and ongoing relationship with the E..'\.ecutive · Dl.rectox . 'I'his is not something which should exist artificially nor is it anything v:bich should b e demanded. I certafoly never have . On the other hand, for a good -working r e l ationship among the staff , this is essenti al. When a staff' r:iember takes something up di:l:'ectly to the Board without consult atic:-:t w:L t h the Executive Director, this both re:flect:s a l r:i:ck or confidence on the one h;;md and t.:.ndermines the posit i_on '{) f -Ll:te E:,;ectrt:l.ve· l)irect1Jr on t l-1 t~ othe i...., l Tt1e sarrie · tl1:i~ ng is t.rt1e :i.n .n1y 1liew as fa~-1 as p0licy statements are c oncerned. They should not be taken by other staff members or even by Board members without consultation with the Executive Director. " vJhether we like it or not, the Executi·ve Director is held accountable not only by the Board, but most frequently by pe ople who It is very legi.t:L-nate that there should be differences among staff members and among Board members. But when there is the possibility of this existing, it is :important for the staff and the Board members to take it up among themselves and especially with the Executive Director so that he is not put in an impossible position. If staff or Board do not have confide nce i!1 an Executive Director, this is a serious problem and should be dealt with on its merits. If that is n~t the case, then there should be an exercise of' discipHne within 't;he organization as to how things are done. For myself, I will try to defend a staff member in a Boa:cd meeting, or if I am not going to, I win discuss the matter with tbat staff person before getting into a public discussion of j_t. This is the only wc.y to maintain decent relatiobahips and to carry on the wor·k effec"'~ively.