An Overview of the 2022 World Conference
The 2022 World Conference of the Re-evaluation Counseling Communities was our first online World Conference. It had been scheduled for 2021 (four years after the previous World Conference—see Guideline G.9.) but was delayed because of the COVID pandemic.
We decided that we would take advantage of having an online conference and invite a larger number of people. We invited 374, and 328 attended. Those we invited who couldn’t attend had the option of attending just some or all of the classes, and 20 people took that option.
People from the following countries attended the conference (followed by the number attending): Argentina (2), Australia (12), Benin (1), Cameroon (1), Canada (14), Chile (1), People’s Republic of China (3), Colombia (1), Côte d’Ivoire (1), Democratic Republic of the Congo (2), Denmark (4), El Salvador (1), Eswatini (2), Ethiopia (1), Euskal Herria (Basque Country) (2), Finland (1), France (2), Germany (3), Ghana (2), Greece (1), Guinea (1), Hungary (2), India (2), Iran (2), Ireland (1), Israel (3), Japan (5), Kenya (5), Mexico (3), Morocco (1), the Netherlands (9), New Zealand (3), Nigeria (6), Norway (1), Peru (1), Puerto Rico (1), Republic of Korea (1), Rwanda (2), Scotland (1), South Africa (2), South Sudan (1), Spain (1), Sweden (7), Switzerland (3), Taiwan (4), Tanzania (2), Togo (1), Trinidad and Tobago (3), Uganda (2), United Kingdom (19), United States (164), Zambia (1), Zimbabwe (1).
The conference was interpreted into Arabic, Basque, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, Japanese, and Spanish.
Co-Counselors from almost every time zone attended. We needed to meet all together to approve the changes to the Guidelines and Goals and to have the self-estimation, and confirmation and selection, of the International Reference Person and the Alternate International Reference Person. So on the days when those things happened, we did meet all together. That meant that some people had to meet very in the early morning and some very late at night. For the other activities of the conference, which took place on the four days prior, the schedule was repeated twice each day, for two different tracks, to better accommodate the various time zones.
We realized that we couldn’t have lengthy discussions about Guidelines and Goals during the World Conference itself. So a year before the conference, a Guidelines committee prepared a proposal—to Tim Jackins, as International Reference Person for the RC Communities, and to the World Conference—for changes to the Guidelines. After each Pre-World Conference they updated their proposal, based on the input from that Pre-World. The International Liberation Reference Persons and Regional Reference Persons worked on specific Goals. They reviewed the proposals, from all of the Pre-Worlds, for changes to those Goals and then made their recommendations to Tim and the World Conference.
Everyone attending the World Conference was assigned to a Guidelines working group and a Goal working group, in which they considered the proposals for changes. These groups met once before and once during the conference. They considered thousands of suggestions, many of which were incorporated into the Guidelines and Goals.
Although most of the Guidelines were not altered by the World Conference, there were some important changes. One of these changes was a new Guideline addressing sexual misconduct. A group of us worked on and circulated drafts of that Guideline throughout the year before the conference. We had many meetings. Documents explaining and supplementing the Guideline were circulated and posted online. [See the “Summary of and Context for the Sexual Misconduct Guideline,” on pages 7 to 8 of Present Time No. 209, and the “Sexual Misconduct (Guideline M.5.) Resource Document” at <www.rc.org/publication/workshops/worldconference/m5_resource_doc>.]
The World Conference made changes to four of the Goals— Goal 1: The Elimination of Racism, and the Goals on Ending Genocide and Honoring Indigenous Sovereignty, on Growth, and on the Climate. Discussing these Goals kept the conference going for several hours longer than expected.
A change to Goal 1 was adopted with the understanding that more discharge and communication about it were needed. And a group met after the conference to work on one aspect of the new Unified Goal on the Climate.
Each day of the conference included either a support group or a Co-Counseling session. Also, excellent “optional groups” were offered every day. You can still see the list of these groups at <www.rc.org/publication/workshops/worldconference/optional_groups>. The “fun committee” led great activities during breaks and at the end of each day.
Tim’s talks were excellent. Reading excerpts from them will give you a sense of the conference. See the articles “Introducing the Unified Goal on the Climate,” and “Addressing Goal 1 at the World Conference,” on pages 15 and 20 to 24 of Present Time No. 209.
On the last day of the conference, I resigned as Alternate International Reference Person and expressed my support for Teresa Enrico taking on the role. I received many appreciations in my self-estimation. (Thank you, and I will remain active as an RC leader.) Tim was reappointed as International Reference Person but reminded us that these would be his last four years in that role. There was much enthusiasm for Teresa as the conference affirmed her as Alternate International Reference Person.
The conference was excellent. We accomplished all that we had intended to, and more. Tim handled difficult situations up front where people could see the role of a leader in making the decisions necessary to keep our work moving forward.
The new Guidelines have been edited and are posted here: <www.rc.org/publication/guidelines_2022/contents>. The new Goals can be found at <www.rc.org/publication/guidelines_2022/goals> and on pages 9 to 14 of this Present Time.
Shoreline, Washington, USA
(Present Time 209, October 2022)