Care Manifesto & Policy

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We believe that caring, which includes looking after and nurturing our bodies, spirits, minds and relationships – to ourselves and others – is a political act. We believe that care is at the heart of transformative justice and that it is deeply political. It makes us feel safe, healthy, and well. It makes us resilient, protects us against and heals us from the violence around us and that we carry within ourselves. As WeSmellGas, we therefore commit to care for each other and ourselves, always.

We commit to fight punitive justice, guilt, any form of abuse, any transgression of boundaries, any exploitation of others or ourselves, overwork or stress within the collective. Through care, we aim to make the collective space sustainable, nurturing and based on continuous consent. We value and respect each members’ personal life, including their relationships, hobbies, and well-being practices. We strive to meet each member's needs in the working environment, including working conditions, collaboration practices, support from others, and division of work. We commit to distribute tasks and responsibilities in ways that are not harmful to any member and that do not reinforce existing power dynamics. We believe that the collective has the responsibility to care for its members, and that as members we have the responsibility to uphold these communal care principles and practices, for our own, other members and the collective’s overall well being.

‍We commit to a series of practices that will evolve and adapt over time, but that will never be neglected or dismissed until a collective, consensual decision has been taken. We do not judge, punish or scold anyone not adhering to these care practices; for we do not endorse punitive justice in any form. Instead, we indicate any transgression or abuse in the way most adequate to our knowledge or as preferred by a specific member. 

1. We communicate efficiently and caringly to allow everyone to work healthily and to uphold boundaries and working hours.
   
   1. We generally try to complete tasks from beginning to end as a member or as a team, delegating as little as possible and using the resources available to complete tasks.
   2. We only communicate via Wire (or Email) and use the appropriate channel depending on what is needed from the others. Especially in group chats, we communicate information or questions in condensed and clear form, allowing us to resolve an issue or answer a question with as little back-and-forths as possible.
   3. We regularly check in with members with whom we work about their preferred modes of communication (including shorter calls, messaging, emailing, etc., depending on the type of collaboration).
   4. We always communicate via the designated channels and only ever use other platforms (including Signal or WhatsApp in absolute emergencies).
2. We keep our weekly meetings brief and channelled.
   
   1. During weekly meetings we highlight completed tasks (rather than asking for permission) and discuss key points that need the approval or opinion of all members. We avoid cluttering meetings with: fundamental or non-urgent discussions on theory, political practices, or planning. When we need a second opinion, we first check in with our buddy, and only bring smaller issues or questions up in general meetings when necessary. 
   2. All members are responsible for preparing their contributions to the weekly meeting as necessary (including communicating any documents required for others to read) beforehand, and to communicate efficiently and clearly during meetings. When this is not possible, or difficult, everyone is to be nice about it, it's not a big deal either.
   3. The Admin person is responsible for setting the meeting agenda, to attribute facilitation and note-taking needs based on members needs.
3. We hold regular care meetings to check in on everybody’s wellbeing in the work-space and beyond, and to nourish our interpersonal and collective relationships. 
   
   1. Care meetings always take place during working hours.
   2. Care meetings are not cancelled due to overwork. If members feel stressed or worried about the amount of work or pressure they are facing, care meetings can be used to find ways that lessen these sources of stress and provide extra care and capacity support for particularly strained members.
   3. The care person organises these meetings in a way that addresses any issues or feelings raised explicitly by other members, and based on their thoughts and feelings of what the collective may need, and what they think all members will feel comfortable with (if unsure, they are to ask members specifically).
   4. Attendance for all members is mandatory, though members are never obliged or urged to participate in an activity if they do not feel comfortable with it (this excludes conflict resolution practices).
   5. At the beginning of each care meeting, 15 min are dedicated for each member to check in with each other in 1-on-1 conversations to raise or discuss any situations, dynamics, or feelings by one or both members.
4. We maintain a sense of openness and safety by addressing tensions adequately and as early as possible.
   
   1. Sharing feelings: If it feels possible and fair for the other person, we address situations or dynamics that hurt us, make us feel uncomfortable or unsafe in the moment (if only involving 2 people) or on the same day or week.
   2. If that doesn’t feel possible, the particular issue is to be raised in the  5min check-ins at the beginning of the care meetings (which can be prolonged by a maximum extra 5 minutes or be brought into the group, if either feel adequate).
   3. Finding solutions: If neither of this feels fruitful or resolving, we speak to the Care Person. With mediation of the care person, it is jointly decided what path can be taken to appease tension, heal hurt or reduce and rework other damaging dynamics. If no accord can be found, or if chosen paths are un- or counterproductive (according to one or more members involved), all parties are obliged to proceed according to the Conflict Resolution Agreement and/or the Accountability agreement.

Being transparent and caring: All conversations are to be held in a non-offensive, honest, and work-environment specific manner. If non-work related dynamics, including personal relations or any situations outside of work play an important role in the conflict, this is to be defined as precisely as possible, and agreed upon by both parties before it is to become part of a conflict resolution procedure.

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Practicing Accountability

WeSmellGas aims to resolve conflict and have members hold themselves and each other accountable through non-punitive, healing and justice-directed practices.

To WeSmellGas accountability means being responsible to yourself and those around you for your choices and for the consequences of those choices. By “being accountable” we mean a process that involves, but is not limited to

• Reflecting on and acknowledging what we have done, its consequences, and our own feelings about it,
• Apologising sincerely and specifically,
• Making amends and repairing what can be amended for or be repaired,
• Changing our behaviours through further reflection and concrete measures and steps as to avoid inducing harm.

As a collective, we acknowledge that 

• Working and being together we will inevitably do harm to each other,
• Punitive measures, including through the police or carceral system, exclusion, violence or retributive inducing of harm in response to already caused harm do not restore justice and do not allow individuals or the collective to become more just or aligned with their values.
• Harm is systematically and unjustly induced on individuals and communities. While this does not justify harming other people within the collective, it may be key to understanding the context of why and how someone has induced harm onto others.

We aim to make WeSmellGas an accountable community. This means

• Building an environment in which robust accountability is possible, expected and likely,
• Building collective knowledge and capacity to better understand dynamics of harm,
• Deepening individual accountability skills,
• Countering the notion that accountability is something that “happens to bad people” rather than a skill for everyone to cultivate.

All members are responsible for

• Being self-accountable: Taking responsibility for their own mistakes, carelessness, harm or violence on a daily basis, even on a very small scale,
• Learning more about themselves: Understand internalised dynamics that induce harm or obstruct accountability processes (including spirals of guilt or shame), and about their own needs, boundaries, and traumas;
• Holding each other accountable: caringly asking, voicing situations or actions through which others may have caused harm,
• Participating in accountability processes: this means both participating in accountability processes related to one’s own actions as well as that of others (either as a harmed person, as feels possible, or as a facilitator),
• Upholding a collective, non-punitive response to harm: Instead of using punishment and isolation to instead offer support, safety, healing and connection – even when it’s hard.

As a collective, WeSmellGas is responsible for

• Allowing members to participate in accountability processes by freeing up capacity, providing outside mediators and support networks as necessary or requested by involved members,
• Establishing, upholding and supporting structures that allow for conversation, vulnerability, honesty and self-reflection,
• Not establishing or institutionalising any structures or dynamics that induce or favour the induction of harm towards or among its members.

All formal or informal conflict resolution or accountability processes are always framed by, and based on the common agreement on the above values and principles within the collective. All members will do their best to embody and adhere to these values and principles within the workspace and towards other members and all non-member entities involved in or around the collective’s work.

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