Goals of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community
At each World Conference the RC Community sets Goals for itself. These Goals help guide our way forward. They also promote action in areas that have been difficult to focus on but are important to our progress out of distress.
Below is history of goals adopted at World Conferences. The current goals can be found here.
[PDF Available Here]
Adopted by the 2001 World Conference
(Reaffirmed by subsequent World Conferences)
GOAL 1:
That the elimination of racism, in particular the racism aimed at people of African heritage, be actively made an ongoing, central piece of the work of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community.
GOAL 2:
That the Re-evaluation Counseling Community put new and increased efforts into making Re-evaluation Counseling and the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities accessible to young people.
GOAL 3:
That members of the Re-evaluation Counseling Community put increased attention on discharging the distresses that have led to the continued degradation of the environment of the world and to discouragement about taking the actions necessary for its restoration.
Adopted by the 2005 World Conference
(Reaffirmed by subsequent World Conferences)
GROWTH
That the RC Community and its members put increased attention and effort into reaching a large and diverse population with the ideas and practices of RC, and into assisting them in becoming members of the RC Community.
That in order to intelligently pursue this goal, Co-Counselors have ongoing sessions on the distresses that interfere with their thoughts and actions in this area and that classes, Areas, and Regions organize gather-ins, support groups, workshops, and other events to assist Co-Counselors in this effort.
That as part of this goal, Co-Counselors target the distresses that hold them back from making a thoughtful and sustained effort to reach those with whom they already have caring and committed relationships.
Reaffirmed by the 2009 World Conference
The 2009 World Conference chose to reaffirm the four goals of the last two World Conferences without adopting additional goals.
Adopted by the 2013 World Conference
CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
That members of the RC Community work to become fully aware of the rapid and unceasing destruction of the living environment of the Earth. That we discharge on any distress that inhibits our becoming fully aware of this situation and taking all necessary actions to restore and preserve our environment.
Distresses have driven people to use oppression against each other and carry out destructive policies against all of the world. A full solution will require the ending of divisions between people and therefore the ending of all oppressions.
The restoration and preservation of the environment must take precedence over any group of humans having material advantage over others. We can and must recover from any distress that drives us to destroy the environment in our attempts to escape from never-ending feelings of needing more resource.
Adopted by the 2017 World Conference
BACKING INDIGENOUS EXISTENCE AND LEADERSHIP
That non-Indigenous members of the RC Community work to heal from the effects of all past and current genocidal policies that humans have enforced on Indigenous peoples. That we stand against and work to end these policies of genocide in the present. That we discharge any distresses that interfere with our ability to learn from, support, and follow the leadership of Indigenous peoples, whose lands we all occupy and use resources from.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND YOUNG ADULTS
That members of the RC Community be committed to creating a world in which the thinking of young people is respected and at the center of decisions that affect their lives and the world. That getting the theory and practice of RC into the hands of more young people and young adults be a significant part of building the RC Community.
That young people and young adults challenge the internalized oppression that separates them from adults and each other and that limits them from taking initiative, leading, and building the RC Community. That adults, including young adults, discharge on and recognize the powerful role they can play as allies in young people’s liberation.
That we in the RC Community commit ourselves to growing and supporting young leadership across the RC Community, and that adults work to eliminate the distresses that prevent them from connecting to younger people and backing young leadership. That all Co-Counselors work to heal from their own experiences of young people’s and young adults’ oppressions and stand against these oppressions in the present.
ENDING CLASSISM
That the members of the RC Community, in order to move toward a rational society free of exploitation, commit ourselves to do the following:
Build connections with and learn from members of economic classes that are underrepresented in our Communities yet who represent the majority of the world’s people—the sector of the working class engaged in the direct production of goods and services, and poor people.
Get the theory and practice of RC into their hands and encourage, support, and follow their leadership.
Face, discharge on, and challenge any distress that causes us to believe that some lives are more important than others, to seek economic advantage over one another, or to be preoccupied with irrationally seeking comfort and security.
Discharge toward a full understanding of the class society and its inherently destructive nature and communicate this understanding to others in our own way.
CARE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
That members of the RC Community become knowledgeable of the clear evidence of the continually growing damage to the environment and all life forms, especially the climate change resulting from the ever-rising temperatures caused by human activity.
That we face and discharge any distress that interferes with our finding sustainable solutions, including the ending of the oppressive and exploitative nature of our societies. That we decide, discharge, and act against any distress that inhibits us from determining immediate steps, as large and radical as necessary, to end this damage, and from organizing and agitating for their adoption by governments and industries.
That we do this work together with everyone, especially oppressed communities, which are currently experiencing the most damage from climate change.