A Long-Sanding Dream Fulfilled: Strategy For Successful International Drug User Activist Organizing
Report on the 2008 INPUD Annual General Meeting and International Drug User Day (IDUD2008) Gathering, “Moving Forward II”, Copenhagen, hosted by the Danish Drug Users’ Union – BrugerForeningen.
An Opinion Piece, by Cheryl White, Toronto Drug Users Union, Canada.
I have spent more than 20 years as an Illicit Drug User activist (IDUA), participating in the early years of forming local, national and international networks of common cause dedicated to harm reduction and DU activism. To say these periods were characterized by extreme growing pains would be to put it lightly indeed. Because our fight has been and continues to be a fight for our very lives, feelings are often raw and our activism is driven by a high level of passion. Sometimes this passion has been to our detriment; keeping us apart; raising suspicions; forging groups at odds; and keeping us from working effectively together – where we are concerned to build capacity and community rather than limit our aspirations and goals through in-fighting.
Straight up, a very lucky group of 90 or so IDUAs (and a tiny group of our long-time supporters) from many countries around the world recently got the chance to participate in an historical gathering that was nothing short of a huge collective success. Between October 31st and November 2nd of this year the Danish Drug Users’ Union, BrugerForeningen, located in Copenhagen, Denmark did a sensational job organizing, setting up and slogging away tirelessly to accommodate an international gathering of Drug User Activists. This gathering had the twin goals of celebrating International Drug Users’ Day and carrying out the annual general meeting of the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD). But something much more incredible took place, something significant and hopeful in its historical relevance for IDUAs everywhere: And what went down, where it went down and how it went down are worthy of attention and commentary. As a lucky participant of these events I’d like to share some of my experiences and views with you, views I’d bet the farm that most attendees would agree with.
What Went Down: A Brief History
A serious breakdown in communication between IDUAs took place at the IHRA conference in Barcelona earlier this year. I was not there, but heard much from others in attendance that came away from the INPUD meeting that took place during the conference extremely discouraged and seriously doubting the future efficacy and/or existence of INPUD. It was quickly decided that the former Coordinator would discontinue his service for INPUD and that a consultant, who luckily turned out to be Matt Southwell (UK), would be hired. He was commissioned to draft a Consensus Document, locking down a process that members and Board could function within as an interim strategy until we were able to meet at the 2010 IHRA conference in Liverpool, England, and ratify a clear board structure and mandates for them and the membership to follow.
In the meantime, the Consensus Document was approved overwhelmingly by those asked to read it, including all members of the INPUD google-forum group, such as myself. Based on the achievement it was decided to capitalize on the International Drug Users’ Day (IDUD) gathering as an opportunity for attending INPUD members to meet and hash out what our collective vision of a future INPUD could look like. And here, my friends, I am so pleased to report to you all that WE DID IT – without shouting; without crying (ok, a little bit of crying on my part); without trying to rip each other’s throats out: But with a collective spirit of good will, a combined desire to see INPUD succeed and a shared commitment to actively participating in ensuring that success.
Why it Worked:
- We had a physical space of our own to meet – a space we could smoke and bang in – very happy to note that no one had any negative experiences around using - many friendships were forged and old acquaintances were renewed.
- We had a psychological space of our own to meet in. There was none of the typical fear of judgementalism or condemnation for our drug using identities or practices – we were among friends, and safe to use (although there was a scarcity of drug types available, with most folks, including me, using opiates mostly).
- The events were carefully organized by a dedicated group of people, among whom Joergen Kjaer (Denmark) and other members of BF, our gracious hosts, including Eliot Albert (UK), must be singled out.
- We had a clear consensus around an interim strategy for Board and members spelled out in Matt’s document.
- We had good representation from different groups of IDUAs from around the world. But we still lacked sufficient representation from crucial areas, including South America, Central America, Aboriginal peoples from around the world, or any activists from Africa, the Middle East, China and the Caribbean, as cases in point. This problem was noted by all and everyone committed to increasing cultural-geographic representation in any and all ways possible for the future (encouraging marginalized IDUAs to apply for scholarships to attend IHRA conferences where we frequently hold meetings, and reaching out our membership drive to target these groups, for example).
- Gender was recognized as an issue demanding our collective attention. Women attendees were given our own meeting space to advance our goals and criticisms.
- The process/schedule, while neatly planned out for us, was flexible enough that we were able to accommodate changes in priorities and re-focus our attention during collective meetings to discuss issues we identified as having priority for us. These issues included an opportunity for members to get to know and listen to INPUD Board members as well as a collective meeting on the last day to firmly spell out what our collective goals, principles and political directives entail.
In particular, the AGM for INPUD ran on Friday, October 31st and included a collective meeting of members/participants. Matt then led a discussion and vote on the Consensus Document, which passed with no problems and with only minor recommendations for change or clarification. In the afternoon we heard a great speech from Pat O’Hare, former Chair of the International Harm Reduction Association, which praised the collective success of drug user activists on behalf of our long-time supporters, including Pat himself, of course. At this point we broke up into four working groups intended to foster discussion on what the role of INPUD should be. These groups included:
1. Membership
2. Regional Structures
3. The Relationship between national groups, INPUD regions and the INPUD International body
4. The Board role, terms and election models.
These meetings generated a great deal of discussion among members and the recommendations from each were presented at our final collective meeting of the day by the group facilitators. I can’t go over all the recommendations here so I will give an example based on my attendance at the meeting on Membership issues. The membership group conducted a talking-circle where each attendee was given a chance to speak her/his piece – and everyone in attendance did so. We reached consensus that individual voting members should be comprised of drug users ONLY and that members in good-standing should be able to identify groups and individuals that are NOT committed to harm reduction and user activism and potentially have them removed from membership and the ability to visit INPUD google-groups. We had total consensus on these issues and Jude Byrne, who very successfully facilitated the group discussion, reported them to the larger membership during our final meeting of the day.
On November 1st, we all participated in International Drug User Day. Sam Friedman (USA) opened with some of his recently published poetry. This was followed by a presentation by Rokki Baker (NAMA, USA) on Methadone Patient Stigma, which generated some lively debate from members who reject a pathologized/disease-based model of drug use (including me). After this presentation/discussion we broke up into groups to attend workshops being presented by various attendees. I was very lucky to be invited to present 2 workshops for female participants. The first was a presentation on “Women Navigating a Male-Dominated Drug Trade” and the second was a discussion group on “Women Negotiating a Male-Dominated Drug Users’ Movement”. In the afternoon session various strategies for addressing gender and regional representation issues within INPUD were generated and shared with the wider membership during the last meeting of the day. Other workshops included the following:
1. Two workshops on Ibogaine
2. Peer-Led Intervention and Education
3. Developing INPUD’s online presence
4. Drug User Magazines
5. The Dirty Truth About Injecting Equipment
6. Peer Distribution of Naloxone to Prevent ODs
7. J-Key Cards, a Proven Peer Information Card Series
We were supposed to have ended the day with a discussion on “Prohibition: the Elephant in the Room”, however attendees decided it was more important to us to have another meeting of INPUD members to hammer out the role of Board members. We heard from several members, while others opted not to speak until they had attended a closed Board meeting scheduled for the following day. While some attendees were disappointed to not hear from all Board members, it was collectively decided that the Board should meet alone the next day to clarify how the new mandates of the Consensus Decision could best be enacted.
Then it was PARTY TIME and here it was all BrugerForeningen members who made it a smoking good time. We had a great dinner and a fabulous desert of ice cream cake. We drank wine and beer. Pat O’Hare got up on his Saxophone and jammed with an international group of musicians, including myself. BF members also graciously invited me to play a few numbers myself (which I thought went off ok) (and then invited me to play at BF’s 15th Anniversary party on Monday – but by that time I’d talked so much that I’d lost my voice – figures...). Folks were dancing and we all had a great laugh when Joergen got up and faked a Beethoven number on the keyboards. After the party at BF broke up groups of us wandered around the city or ended up back at the hotel partying in the lobby and in each other’s rooms (which wasn’t easy because the rooms were tiny – but completely adequate for all our needs – and here again BF must be complimented on arranging accommodations for such a large group of people). By this time I’m sure it’s a well told tale about my sleep-walking experience through the hotel – lacking my garments – but somehow managing to not run into anybody, until I was in the lobby, finally awake, dressed in two wet towels I’d found in the hallway and requesting a key to my room… the staff at the Cabbin Hotel will not soon forget our group).
On Sunday, November 2nd, the final day, the INPUD Board met in private. A full account of what transpired during these events will no doubt be forthcoming in a short time, so I will just speak to a bit of the content and then focus on the process again, as this is what impressed me most. After the Board met we all came together a final time to have one more meeting to hash out the roles of INPUD. At this meeting we attended to very specific details about what constitutes INPUD’s business, including a focus on some of the following issues:
- A Women’s Working Group would be organized
- Our politics should necessarily address the lived experiences of the following types of groups: sex trade workers; the homeless/underhoused; prisoners; victims of torture/state execution; Aboriginal populations from all countries; youth; refugees; victims of racism, sexism, classism, ageism, homophobia, ableism and many other categories here not mentioned; a clear focus on those living with HIV and HCV
- Our focus should be on illegal drug users and those who use legal/prescription drugs illegally
- We must adhere to harm reduction philosophies that address issues of human rights and public health
- We must commit ourselves to doing away with all forms of drug prohibition and support drug decriminalization as a pre-cursor to full legalization
Once again, these are just some of the things we discussed and committed to. As I’ve stated, I’m sure a documentation of the events in some detail is no doubt being written as folks read this. But before I leave off I’d just like to comment briefly on the incredible job done by our gracious hosts, the members of BrugerForeningen (BF). I think it’s safe to say that all non-members of BF who attended these events came away extremely happy for members, but jealous of the space these folks have access to all the time. For many of us it’s just too much to even hope for at this time in our organizing but a definite goal for future development. The place is, frankly, unbelievable, easily accommodating all of us at one time. BF members took care of our every need with, as far as I could tell, absolutely NO problems whatsoever. Talk about crazy impressive organization: our lunches and diners, our recreational needs; our comfort needs, the whole nine yards. So hat’s off to all of you and thank you, thank you all so very much.
For those of us staying on, we were treated to another great gathering at BF headquarters on Monday, November 3rd. BF hosted a great party for event attendees and their own membership celebrating 15 years of existence as the Danish Drug Users’ Union. Man, the spread they put on, with chocolate-covered strawberries (need I say more), was so great. Live music, an award presentation to BF from the North American Methadone Association and the giving of gifts to BF members was the backdrop to a great gathering that was very well attended.
Finally it was time to go home. I just wanted to say that I knew I wanted to be at this meeting of International Drug User Activists (IDUAs) in Copenhagen from the moment I heard about it. From the first I hoped that it would be a kind of new beginning for IDUAs; somewhere we could come together and forge a future course based on inclusivity, common courtesy, kind consideration and collective equity/participation. Well, I got all that and much, much more. I got a chance to be part of a history-making meeting; I got to meet some of the hardest working, most compassionate and most committed individuals I’ve come across in my many years of political activism. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with each and every one involved in the events and I look forward to many more successful INPUD events in our collective futures.
Peace Out,
Cheryl.