FACES OF THE FALLEN

HOW TO HOLD A TRUTH COMMISSION:

Components of a Truth Commission

Gathering Documentation- To have a Truth Commission we need to begin collecting the stories of the millions of people in this country who have been downsized, outsourced, cut off the welfare rolls, evicted, denied healthcare, and gone without food for their families. We have to talk to those around us, we have to talk to those we don’t know, and we have to record their stories based in any variety of ways. A documented human rights violation can be a photograph, a filled out form, a video, a poem, a song, a painting, a narrative or any combination of these things.

Organizing and Building Membership- The process of gathering documentation for a Truth Commission also serves as a great organizing opportunity. When going out and talking to people in our communities to get stories of those who are uninsured, unemployed, homeless, or without running water in their homes, for example, we should also use it as an opportunity to tell people about our organizations and recruit them and their talents into our movement. In this way, the documentation process can do a tremendous job of building an organizations’ membership.

Likewise, the process of finding “commissioners” from your community or elsewhere to present “findings” of your Truth Commissions, as well as the process of advertising and doing outreach to people to come to the Truth Commission can serve as an organizing opportunity and way to recruit members into our organizations.

Developing Leaders- Gathering documentation and helping with other organizing aspects of planning a Truth Commission can really help develop leaders in our organizations. Going out and gathering documentation, compiling it, sorting it, or coordinating other details in the planning process, can really show someone that they have ownership over a very important division of labor toward a very important vision. Leadership comes with responsibility and responsibility comes with leadership. They are intregally bound. Planning a great Truth Commission will make all those involved feel more involved and more committed as a result.

Breaking our Isolation- We want our stories to be heard and we want our images to be seen. A Truth Commission should involve widespread documentation, widespread outreach, and a press strategy, which will all work to attract people to the mission of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Afterwards, a publication reflective of the documented stories and the experience of the Truth Commission will serve to highlight your work beyond the one day event.

Education and Raising Political Consciousness- The process of planning a Truth Commission can be very useful in teaching people about the notion of rights and economic human rights in particular. So often poor people and American people more generally are told that they have to work hard to earn what they deserve. There is no projected notion of human rights to our basic needs. The Truth Commission and the process of planning enforces this idea of rights and is such an important element of building this movement. Part of the testimony at the Truth Commission can be research and statistics on particular issues, which will be an important learning process as well.

PREPARATION
THIS IS NOT A BLUE PRINT.

Logistics
This includes setting a date and location and developing the event program. Doing outreach without a date and location means many missed opportunities.

You should also ensure that there is a plan for childcare, food, transportation and any other accommodations that might be needed for the event.

Human Rights Monitors
These are the documentation teams who will go out and gather stories in our communities. This will serve as evidence at the Truth Commission. These teams should reflect the Campaign Mission Statement of being led by the poor, across color lines. They should be equipped with clipboards, documentation forms, something to write with, a notebook, and a camera (whether it’s disposable, digital, or video). If the date and time of the Truth Commission have been set, then the documentation team should have flyers with this information on it. They should also have another organizational flyer that explains what the organization does and has updated contact information on it.

Human Rights Monitors should conduct face-to-face interviews with anyone they can, focusing primarily on the base of the organization. They can knock on doors in the neighborhood, or visit health centers, welfare offices, social security offices, schools, labor pools, hospital waiting rooms, immigrant organizations, labor unions, other community organizations, religious congregations, and/or emergency shelters.

Monitors can either use the documentation forms or take notes in their notebooks, whichever they feel more comfortable with. A couple of people with legible handwriting should be in charge of taking written notes. If the person whose story is being documented doesn’t mind having their picture taken, then we should get their picture. One or two people should be in charge of taking pictures and keeping the cameras. Whoever is taking written notes should make sure to include a brief physical description of the person whose story is taken, so that when the film is developed the pictures will be matched properly with each story.

One or two people should be in charge of compiling the written and visual documentation, and they should keep this compilation in a binder or folder—any central location. If possible, we would recommend making copies of all forms and photos.

Choosing Testimony
Human rights monitors will have gathered a lot of evidence for the Truth Commission. Now we must decide who will present oral testimony. You can choose to have some members from your organization testify, along with some representatives from community organizations that you work closely with, along with some potential members from the community whose stories you gathered as evidence. You can choose any combination of people and any number of testifiers. Having 7-15 testifiers is a good range to stay within. Again, the testimony will ideally be based on our mission statement, reflecting poverty across color lines.

Finding Commissioners
This part sounds harder than it is. Some ideas of high profile people who you can invite to be truth commissioners are clergy, city councilmen, professors, labor leaders, entertainers and other upstanding citizens in the area. Sometimes it is good to send out invitations to truth commissioners even if you do not think it’s likely that they will participate, for example, the person in charge of homeless services for the city, etc. Whoever you choose will be responsible for listening attentively to the testimony given at the Truth Commission, conferring about it, and making a statement addressing the conditions revealed at the Truth Commission.

Translation/Interpretation
It is likely that your community will have non-English speaking people or deaf people. It will be important to have translation into appropriate languages. A small group of people should be in charge of securing proficient translators for the day of the event.

Arts and Culture
This will be an important component during the day. The idea of a Truth Commission is to tell the truth about our situations, but also to show that we are a powerful force trying to end the horrible conditions we are forced to live in. Having skits, songs, poems, paintings, dance, prayer and/or other resistance art will reveal this power and change the tone from potentially depressing, to reviving and hopeful.

A member of your organization who is interested in art and culture should be in charge of coordinating the collection of resistance pieces for the event. We should always keep in mind that there are artists all around us- we are not looking to famous or exceptional people who produce art. We are looking to our neighbors who write when they are frustrated and tired. We are looking to those who sing in their church choir. These are just a few examples.

Press
We want to call attention to our plight, and the Truth Commission will be an opportunity to do this. A press team should write a press release describing the event and which is no longer than one page long. This should be faxed to all local media outlets and follow-up phone calls should be made to make sure that reporters received it. On the day of the event, a point person from the press team should be in charge of directing reporters to the event location, making sure to get their contact info for the organization’s database, and guaranteeing that the reporter speaks with the appropriate spokespeople from the organization.
It be even more important to cover the event in our own independent media. Someone should write an article or report on the event for the organization’s newsletter, website, or other publications. Similarly, someone should be assigned to take photographs during the event so that these pictures can accompany the web update or newsletter article.

The event should also be covered by the national PPEHRC website, so a point person should ensure that press releases, photographs, and write ups should be sent to the national web person at cecilia@economichumanrights.org . Any press coverage should also be archived by the national PPEHRC press, so any articles should be sent along to press@economichumanrights.org and info@economichumanrights.org.

Follow up Report
A more in-depth, comprehensive Human Rights Report can be compiled as a result of the Truth Commission. Such a report would include a written form of the oral testimony given at the Truth Commission, the statement given by the truth commissioners, perhaps some of the resistance art, visual or written, and of course photographs. This report can be useful for attracting funders, creating more legitimacy for your organization, and educating others about the conditions of your community, among other things.

Even if your local or statewide organization does not decide to compile a Human Rights Report, the national PPEHRC would like to receive as much written information as possible about the Truth Commission so that we can begin forming the national Truth Commission for Summer 2006.

Education
Part of presenting the truth about our plight is presenting an analysis as to why we think these conditions are preventable, and why we believe they are human rights violations. Your organization should focus on the education of your members so that they leave the Truth Commission experience understanding the analysis behind the testimonies that are given, and the reasons why we are motivated, despite our horrible situations, to organize ourselves to end human rights violations of poverty in this country.

Schedule of Events
The schedule of events for the day should encompass all aspects mentioned above, but there is no concrete way to schedule the day. You might plan for a day long event with events leading up to a Truth Commission. You might simply invite press to the Truth Commission, or you might schedule a separate press conference before the event. You might intersperse art and culture pieces in between testimonies, or you might schedule an art and culture event for after the Truth Commission. There are many possibilities. Your judgment is the best judgment, but you should always feel free to seek advice from the national PPEHRC.