Activist Guidelines
Here you will find all the info you need to be a DiEM25 activist. These guidelines address:
- Local Collectives – groups of members from the same area
- Thematic Collectives – groups of members with a common thematic interest
- Task Forces – working on specific tasks on behalf of the movement, set by the Coordinating Collective
Summary
Collective
Purpose: Self-organised group
Activity: Group must be active as a whole
Responsible: The Collective’s coordinator(s) elected by the group
Task Force
Purpose: Working on specific tasks set by the Coordinating Collective
Activity: All members must be active
Responsible: Coordinating Collective member(s) in charge of the Task Force
Local Collectives
DiEM25 seeks to combine self-organisation (horizontal structures) with the vertical integration provided by the Coordinating Collective and other elected or appointed bodies of DiEM25. Collectives are the backbone of the movement that facilitate not just grass-roots activism, but growth of our people-power to bring on the just transitions envisioned in our policies. As long as their actions are in line with DiEM25’s Manifesto, DiEM25’s policy papers, the current DiEM25 campaigns and our Organising Principles – their actions do not need validation.
Each Collective elects one coordinator and one co-coordinator, ideally of different gender. Coordinators will, on behalf of the Collective
- be responsible for maintaining communication flow within the Collective, with other Collectives, the elected bodies of the movement, and the movement more generally
- join the regular coordination calls of the movement
- decide together with the Collective on activities and ensure that the goals are met and the group is active
Activities of our Local Collectives
- Organise to confront power and make short-term change at the local level. Create your own campaigns by attending a monthly Campaign Meeting in order to brainstorm and get support.
- Organise DiEM25 Activist Circles to grow the membership and find like-minded, skilled people that are active in the local area (ask them to register here).
- Organise small events (online or offline) with a specific goal e.g. to mobilise existing members around a DiEM25 campaign or to expand the membership (See details in Event Guidelines).
- Help people in the community with solidarity work and be a face of DiEM25, providing information about DiEM25 to newcomers and interested people.
- Promote our organization through leafleting e.g. by joining demonstrations with DiEM25 flags and flyers.
- Organise gatherings and collectively discuss different topics and develop policy suggestions to submit via the People’s Gatherings project.
- Connect with DiEM25’s bodies to feed into their work, e.g. sending them news (example) on what you are doing, submitting an article that documents actions on the ground following our Copywriting Guidelines.
Areas, where activity requires coordination or is not to be done
- It is important for the world to know, where a message is from – to make clear that opinions expressed are those of the particular Collective, and not of DiEM25 for the whole region/country in which the Collective is located, Collectives will sign materials with their name or with “DiEM25 Activists in …”, so as to distinguish them from messages by elected representatives of DiEM25. See details in Social Media Guidelines.
- The media has to be approached in a coherent way – a press team coordinates all media activities in DiEM25 – please contact them first if a local opportunity arises via our Press Guidelines.
- Alliances and endorsements have to be approved by the international movement – agreement of local members is not enough! So do not promise or show support to other political organisations and political candidates. If you want to get international approval, see the details in our Election Participation Guidelines.
- DiEM25 Assemblies are to be organised by the Coordinating Collective (unlike gatherings or small scale events) – see details in our Event Guidelines.
- DiEM25 has an established system of collecting and spending donations – do not collect or spend donations outside of this system. See details in our Finance Guidelines.
- Local Collectives are not legally registered as an organisation (and cannot be registered), only DiEM25 International is. This means that local coordinators cannot sign contracts (e.g. for rent, data privacy, etc.) on behalf of DiEM25 or otherwise act as a legal representative. And of course you cannot engage in illegal activities.
- Our organisation is registered as a non-profit. This restricts the kind of activities we can do. For example, you / your group cannot use DiEM25’s name, logo, platform or organisation for commercial purposes, including selling merchandise and other products or services to DiEM25 members and outsiders
Now get involved!
→ Join a Local Collective: You find the updated list of registered and active Local Collectives here.
→ Start a Local Collective in your city/region you fill our new Local Collective form.
Thematic Collectives
Thematic Collectives are founded around particular policy themes or issues. Members that establish such a Thematic Collective choose from an approved list of themes. Thematic Collectives actively produce proposals around their theme but do not author DiEM25’s policies on that topic, nor can they represent DiEM25 on it outside the movement.
Apart from contributing to DiEM25’s internal policy creation process, Thematic Collectives also engage in educational work, such as running workshops for DiEM25 members on the issues a Thematic Collective is dealing with and creating articles and other materials to better explain DiEM25’s ideas to the outside world.
Note: it is not necessary to be a member of a Thematic Collective, or any Collective, in order to contribute to DiEM25’s policy papers. All members, whether organised in groups or not, are requested to contribute their ideas or requested to talk to affected people on the ground and bring back policy ideas. Thematic Collectives are merely formalised groups for doing so.
Now get involved!
→ Join a Thematic Collective: You find the updated list of active Thematic Collectives here.
→ Start a Thematic Collective: You fill our new Thematic Collective form.
Task forces
Task Forces work on specific defined tasks set out by elected bodies of DiEM25, such as:
- Translation, Subtitling, Graphic Design, Video Making
- Merging and adapting members’ contributions into a policy paper (ie. working on a Policy Pillar)
- Running a transnational Campaign for the movement
Task Force members are invited to the Task Force by the members of the Coordinating Collective, who are in charge of the topic that the Task Force works on, and/or its coordinator. All Task Force members must be actively working on the group’s assigned tasks.
The Task Force does not work in a vacuum. For Task Forces working on policy papers or other key documents, they are not to write these themselves but instead to solicit, collect and integrate contributions from Collectives and individual members. The Task Forces undertake the important task of transforming those contributions into actual policies. Policy positions are therefore developed in an inclusive and participatory manner.
Task Forces working on policy papers and other topics are a great reservoir of people who may represent DiEM25 at conferences, panels or for policy-related media appearances. When the elected bodies are given the opportunity to suggest someone for a conference, Coordinating Collective members, National Collective members and Policy Task Force members are the first that come to mind.
The Coordinating Collective is accountable to DiEM25’s membership for the political work of the movement, therefore all those who have appointed rather than elected positions, including members of Task Forces, are working collaboratively with, and are accountable to, the Coordinating Collective.
Spirit of our work
Our work is based on understanding. We are not dogmatic, we are open-minded. We have broad horizons because we have experience of different cultures. Foreigners do not arouse our suspicion; instead they trigger our desire to learn from them. We are a bunch, a swarm, a circus and an orchestra. We all know something – none of us knows everything. We work in teams because that way we get to know each other and learn from one another. We exchange news, views, information, knowledge, techniques and vibes. We welcome new members like old members welcomed us: by giving them space, stimuli, training and responsibility. The groups are helping the movement with fulfilling their tasks. We follow DiEM25’s Code of Conduct.