On the P:Itt Of' the !300.Rd. 1
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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~<J <:...-rd · :::cr.ihi::rs at ·: ~ 't;e P.;r1~ l ~ e e ti 1-::t..~ ~ i)t.L.i:. tfieJ: e '-":a.s rlot.. t:hue to discuss it. :In lookl11g it <)vez· t'.:£ '.dn , I think it i s ver<,f reJ.e:1a.nt to what we a.re afo r:.ussing now. It mci.kes ;.le;:i,r th~t I fel-t some th1e ego "i.<1·e had to h::rve t r~.:: · so:r-t of discussJon wh:i.ch ui=; ·wi1J. n ow h£iVc on Octobr:•r 8th. What I reil wr iting now reflcc·~. s the sr.:11e gcn2re1 perspective as the Aprtl memo, but cove r s m.:-n·e gro'.md. The conclusions which I indicate on pog$ 4 and 5 are som;:;what. ten't:c.tivc. They are b ased on ['S r ecliGtic nn e.J,JJ;Jra:i.sal as I c an give of our :present s:Ltu8.tion. s~hese cc:'1c1usions a.re not altogether what I vould m.:tl:=_n~ t~ sr.t5.sfy everything ~n myself, but I think to con- tirme ou::." w0:;:-k , wh:t.:;h should not yet be finish-:;d , these conclusions a.r~ · essentia!.ly cor rect . 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 ........