This is my proposal for Kult structure and organization. It is made up largely of structures and ideas which seek to address many of the valid concerns that people have brought up regarding the structures proposed so far. A lot of this is based on the ideas and values that most people seem to believe in for a structure for Kult.
This should cover all issues which are necessary to define before a structure can be put in place, and near the end of this document I will describe suggestions on how to implement my proposal.
Quick outline of proposal.
Answers to questions about this proposal.
1. CELLS
The org will take on a cell structure. Cells are groups of people who bind together for a certain type of activity or certain area of operation.
1.1. Cell creation
Cells may be created in the following ways:
1.1.1. Individuals decide to band together in a cell for a certain purpose.
1.1.2. A Ministry requests that a cell with a particular aim is created.
1.1.3. An existing cell decides that it can split its work among different
areas, and spawns subcells within itself.
1.1.4. A cell decides to split into two or more separate cells, or two or more
separate cells decide to merge into one.
1.2. Cell formation and registration
Before creating a cell, members who want to form a cell should determine what the intent of their cell is. It should be something which focuses on a particular action, preferably a direct action or other practical purpose (not just "getting together and smoking weed", for example). This can be a particular purpose (e.g. "making a radio show") or a general purpose (i.e. "acting as a fast-deployment mobile support team").
After determining purpose and initial membership, a cell should determine which Ministry (see section 2) best encompasses its activity or purpose. The cell should register its existence with that Ministry, and keep reasonable amounts of contact with that Ministry, including updates to cell mission, membership, rules, etc.
1.3. Requirements of cells.
1.3.1. Cells must maintain a roster and be registered with one Ministry.
1.3.2. Cells should provide at least one contact method for at least one member
of their cell to their Ministry for purposes of contacting the cell.
1.3.3. A cell must not have closed membership, and must adopt an admissions
procedure which does not conflict with the ten points of the Kult Virus,
especially those regarding discrimination based on creed, color, gender,
sexual orientation, etc.
1.3.4. A cell should notify the Ministry of changes to its purpose, membership,
and status (i.e. if it ceases to exist).
1.3.5. A cell should make the details its internal policies, missions, and
admissions procedures available in a public place (e.g. the Web.) This
does not have to include its roster.
1.4. Maintaining status of cells.
Each ministry will occasionally attempt to make contact with cells. Those cells which cannot be contacted or do not respond in a reasonable amount of time (e.g. one week) will be considered "inactive." Extensive periods of loss of contact will lead to the cell being removed from that Ministry's list of cells.
1.5. Clarification on cells.
1.5.1. A cell does NOT have to have a leader, but should have at least one
contact person.
1.5.2. A cell does NOT have to participate in organizational or Ministrial
decisions, but it is permitted to do so.
1.5.3. A cell should have a definite roster at any given time and should keep
track of who its members are, but does not have to make this information
available to anyone except to its Ministry on request.
1.5.3.1. A cell may have anonymous members, but should still list each of those
members by an alias or designation, and keep track of their status.
1.5.3.2. The cell should still be able to contact anonymous members under
reasonable circumstances and with reasonable speed.
1.5.4. A cell may indicate to its Ministry that itself or a portion of its
members will be unavailable for a period of time. This will exclude it
from the possibility of inactivity or delisting in their Membership.
The cell should report when it or its members are available again.
1.5.5. Multiple cells may exist which have similar or even identical missions
and purposes. This would ideally be avoided but will not be enforced.
Theoretically, such multiple cells would be registered with the same
Ministry, thus (theoretically) encouraging close cooperation among them.
1.5.6. If a cell feels it cannot find an appropriate Ministry, they should
bring this concern to the Lead Cell.
1.6. Subcells.
If a cell internally divides itself into subcells, those subcells do not have to individually register with a Ministry as long as they remain a part of the original cell. All members of subcells should be considered members of the original cells and should be part of the cell's roster. The missions or purposes of subcells should fit in well with the mission of its main cell.
Independent cells may decide to become subcells of other existing cells. If they do this, they become part of that other cell and will no longer be registered with the Ministry as their own cell.
2. MINISTRIES
A Ministry is an area of Kult which represents a fixed and pre-determined area of activity or interest. Ministries consists of cells which register with the Ministry and which should relate well to the area of activity or interest of that Ministry.
2.1. Ministry focus.
A ministry should focus on a broad but definable and distiguishable category of activity or field of interest. This should be inspecific so as to include a good number of possible cell missions which would not be a good fit in another Ministry.
2.1. Ministry responsibilities.
A Ministry's main responsibility is to keep good information on all the cells which have registered with it, including observing whether each cell fits best as a part of that Ministry.
The Ministry should have a good sense of the complete non-anonymous roster of all the cells that have registered with it. The Ministry also needs to keep reasonable track of which of its cells are active or inactive.
The Ministry should also maintain close relations with other Ministries to aid in communication, sharing of resources, and updates of activity.
2.2. Ministry structure.
Each Ministry must have at least one elected leader. One leader from each Ministry will sit as a Ministry representative on the Lead Cell (see Section 3).
The Ministry should have at least 3 people and no more than 6 people acting as an operational board, to divide up the tasks needed to operate the ministry, whatever they may be (for example, keeping track of cells and members).
There can be no more than 15 ministries.
2.3. Leadership election.
The process for choosing leaders of Ministries is to hold an election once every three months for a leader. Rules for that election:
2.3.1. All non-anonymous members of non-inactive cells in the Ministry must be
allowed to vote. Members of inactive cells within that ministry who are
active members of active cells in an other Ministry should also be
allowed to vote.
2.3.2. There must be at least one leadership position that is elected. If a
Ministry's leadership determines that other non-cell positions in the
Ministry need to exist, they do not have to be chosen by election, but
can be.
2.3.3. One leadership position (e.g. President, Commander, whatever) may be held
by more than one person if all duties and responsibilities (see above and
below in this section) are carried out, and any administrative power
granted to the leader of that Ministry is held equally and/or fairly.
However this is not recommended.
2.3.4. Only one elected leadership position will sit on the Lead Cell, and this
person may not change unless they quit their position in the Ministry.
2.3.5. A person representing a Ministry in the Lead Cell may not hold an elected
position in another Ministry.
2.3.6. If an appointed position is turned into an elected position, it cannot be
turned back into an appointed position.
2.4. Interaction with cells.
Each Ministry should:
2.4.1. keep a roster of its cells and the members of those cells,
2.4.2. maintain occasional communication with each cell, via at least one
point of contact, to assess inactivity,
2.4.3. communicate to cells information on other cells with whom they may want
to work closely with, whether in the same Ministry or another,
2.4.4. receive information from its cells regarding the work they have done,
2.4.5. be aware of each of its cells' missions and resources.
2.5. Operational board.
The operational board is responsible for carrying out the responsibilities of the Ministry. In some sense it is like a cell unto itself. The operational board may:
2.5.1. Hold elections to choose its members from among the members of the cells
registered within it.
2.5.2. Appoint its non-representative members from its Ministry, or from the
Mass. (See section 4.)
2.5.3. Reject a cell for registration based on it being an ill fit with the
Ministry's purpose.
2.5.4. Create any number of internal policies relating to how it carries out
its duties, including election procedures, job descriptions of board
positions, and anything not conflicting with requirements laid out here.
The operational board:
2.5.5. May NOT alter its purpose, name, or area of interest without approval
of the Lead Cell (under section 3.3.5.).
2.5.6. Expires all leadership terms after 3 months, to match the Lead Cell.
Term limits are optional.
2.6. Creation.
The Lead Cell has the only power to create Ministries.
When a Ministry is first created:
2.5.1. A Ministry representative must be appointed by the Lead Cell who is not an
elected member of any other Ministry's operational board.
2.5.2. That person becomes the leader of the Ministry and must begin forming an
operational board.
2.5.3. Upon first creation, the Ministry must form its operational board by
appointment. At this time only, the Ministry's board may be formed from
anyone in any Ministry or in the Mass who is eligble under other rules.
! Clarification: The responsibilities and requirements on the operation of a
! Ministry do NOT apply to the operation of cells, which can choose their own
! structure within the few minor requirements of Section 1.
3. LEAD CELL
3.1. Definition
The Lead Cell is the central council of Kult. It is a representative body which brings together all branches of the Kult network via the Ministries.
3.2. Structure
The Lead Cell is comprised of:
3.2.1. one representative from each Ministry, which is a member of that Ministry's
operational board and was a elected by the Ministry's cellular members,
3.2.2. one At Large Member for every full 100 members in the Kult membership, who
was elected by the entire roster of members (explained in Section 3.4.)
3.3. Responsibilities and powers.
The Lead Cell will have the responsibility to:
3.3.1. Resolve Kult internal disputes between members which cannot be resolved
at the Ministerial level, as well as resolve disputes between Ministries,
3.3.2. Display a positive image regarding the organization which is in line with
the Kult Virus and is in the best interest of the organization,
3.3.3. Ensure that each Ministry is carrying out its necessary duties as outlined
in Section 2.
The Lead Cell will have the power to:
3.3.4. Direct or approve the creation of new Ministries,
3.3.5. Direct or approve the restructuring of an individual Ministry, or the
mutual restructuring of two Ministries, without changing the number of
Ministries,
3.3.6. Direct Ministries to allocate available resources in crisis situations
which are necessary for the operation or maintained existence of Kult,
3.3.7. Direct a Ministry to include a cell which fits its purpose, or cannot
find a better Ministry to register with. (See section 1.5.6.)
3.3.8. Call a new election for a Ministry's primary leadership position.
All actions using such powers must be approved by a 2/3 vote of the Lead Cell.
3.4. Selection of Ministerial representatives.
From Section 2, each Ministry must have at least one elected leadership position.
3.4.1. If there is one elected position on the Ministry's operational board,
that leadership position will represent the Ministry on the Lead Cell.
3.4.2. If there is more than one elected position on a Ministry's operational
board, if there is one position that is considered the *primary* position
on that board, the person holding that position will represent the
Ministry on the Lead Cell.
3.4.3. If there is not just a single elected position on the Ministry's
operational board that can be considered primary, then one of the
highest elected positions in that Ministry must be defined to include
the responsibility of representing the Ministry on the Lead Cell.
3.4.4. If two people share the position that would represent the Ministry on the
Lead Cell, one of them must be chosen to represent the Ministry for the
entire term.
3.4.5. Because of Sections 3.4.1.-3.4.3., if this person becomes incapable of
representing their Ministry on the Lead Cell, they must either resign
or temporarily give up their position on their Ministry's operational
board. Their replacement must have been elected onto the Ministry's
operational board and must have regular responsibilities (i.e., other
than "the backup representative on the Lead Cell").
3.4.6. All representative terms last for three months, with no term limits.
3.5. Selection of At Large Members.
3.5.1. At the beginning of each term, at the same time as Ministerial leadership
elections, an organizaion-wide vote will be held for At Large Members.
3.5.2. Members of Kult who are an active member on the roster of an active cell
and are not anonymous are eligible to vote in this election.
3.5.3. The top number of candidates amounting to the number of At Large Members
(determined by Section 3.2.2.) are selected to sit on the Lead Cell.
3.4.6. At Large Member terms last for three months, with no term limits.
3.6. Prevention of conflicting representation
No member of the Lead Cell may sit on the operational board of more than one Ministry.
The At Large Members may not sit on the operational board of any Ministry.
If such situations arise, the person in question must decline or resign from all but one position.
! Clarification: As long as they do not represent a Ministry, a person may be on
! the operational boards of more than one Ministry. It is up to the Ministry to
! determine whether this should be allowed in their own elections and appointments.
4. THE MASS
4.1. Definition
The Mass is the collection of Kult members who are not on the roster of any active cells.
4.2. Rights and limitations.
4.2.1. Members who are in the Mass are eligible to use all main Kult community
resources. (Nidus, IRC channels, etc.)
4.2.2. Members in the Mass are not eligible to run for, vote for, or hold any
Ministry, Lead Cell, or At Large Member positions.
! Clarification: There is no restriction made here on unofficial Kult
! positions, such as poster to thekult.org, operators in Kult IRC
! channels, etc.
4.2.3. The Mass receives no special representation on the Lead Cell.
4.3. Comprisement.
4.3.1. Members who join Kult at first are by default in the Mass, unless they
join a cell upon being approved.
4.3.2. Kult members who leave all cells they were active in will become part of
the Mass.
4.3.3. Members of cells which fall into inactive status or are delisted from
Ministry rosters, and are not members of any other active cells, become
part of the Mass if they themselves are still active.
4.4. Maintenance.
The roster of the Mass must be maintained by an appropriate Kult administrative group or cell which maintains a complete roster of all Kult members.
5. IMPLEMENTATION
This section is not part of the structural proposal and only lays out the suggested initial process for creating the structure above from nothing.
The structure above could easily be generated from any number of processes, so this section is ONLY given as a suggestion, and should not be considered a necessary part of the structure of this proposal as laid out above.
5.1. Cells. In order for cells to become Kult cells, they must register with a Ministry. Although Kult members may have already formed cells, they should not be considered official Kult cells until they have registered themselves; therefore no official cells can exist before Ministries exist. After Ministries are created, cells can register with them. A cell should register with the Ministry that most closely deals with their area of activity, if such a Ministry does not seem to exist, there may be need for a new Ministry, or an existing Ministry may need to be redefined, or else special arrangements must be made. See sections 1.5.6. and 3.3.7.
5.2. Ministries. Although proposals have been made for a pretermined and predefined set of cells, there is no reason to believe that any such definition can fully include all activities and purposes that may be adopted by Kult cells. Some have already expressed different concerns about the appropriateness and robustness of the currently proposed Ministries. To resolve this issue, the following is suggested.
5.2.1. During a nomination period of about one week, anybody may suggest an idea
for a Ministry by submitting a name and a brief definition of what the
Ministry's focus would be.
5.2.2. The complete roster of Kult Members is determined (I suggest we go with the
current thekult.net registered user list), and an organization-wide
election is held.
5.2.3. Each person enters a vote for each Ministry that they feel should be
created. (Possibly by a web ballot with a yes/no box for each ministry.)
5.2.4. At the end of the election, those proposed Ministries which receive a Yes
vote from a majority of the number of people who voted will be immediately
created and available for registry.
5.3. Ministry leadership.
5.3.1. Immediately after the above election is held, a second nomination process
begins for one elected leadership position for each Ministry. This position
will represent the Ministry on the Lead Cell, and will also in this case
be responsible for the creation of the Ministry's operational board.
5.3.2. Each nominated person may give a short list of reasons why they are good for
the position. Alternately, the person who nominated another person may
provide these reasons.
5.3.3. After three days of nominations, another organization-wide election is held,
in which each Kult member may vote for one person to lead and represent
each Ministry.
5.3.4. If a person is elected to represent more than one Ministry, they must
decline all but one position. If this occurs at least once, there will
be another election within two days for all those Ministry positions which
are declined, and in this election, each eligible nominee may only choose
one Ministry to run for.
5.3.5. At the end of the process, the Lead Cell is formed. Each representative
must also begin forming an operational board to carry out their Ministry's
responsibilities, using the instructions in Section 2.6. for Ministry
creation, and accept registration of cells.
5.3.6. With the end of this election, all Lead Cell and Ministry terms begin.
5.4. Lead Cell.
The Lead Cell is formed at the same time as Ministry leadership, above.
The At Large Member(s) may be elected later in the term (to expire at end of term) or remain vacant until the next term, to minimize the amount of elections needed at this time.
5.5. The Mass.
After these elections, all members are immediately part of the Mass until they form or join cells.
6. Questions about this proposal.
If you have any questions about this proposal, please send them to me at romulus@jerky.net, and I will post your questions, and my answers, on this site.