The NOWAR/PAIX info mailing list is intended to facilitate the exchanging of information, sharing of resources, and advertising initiatives that fall within the mandate of the Network to Oppose War and Racism/ Pacte contre l'agression, l'intolrance et la xnophobie, (NOWAR/PAIX). The network exists to link local individuals and groups who share the common goals outlined below, but may also be used by others farther away. The network was formed originally in response to the horrific events of 11 September 2001, the resulting declarations of war by the U.S. government and its military allies, the attack on civil liberties and the right to dissent, and the ugly racist and xenophobic attacks on innocent people of colour across North America. Since then, the network has expanded to facilitate work on numerous issues surrounding war, racist scapegoating, imperialism, militarization, the attack on human rights abroad and on the civil rights and liberties of residence within Canada.

There is a separate mailing list for organizers of events and activities. Come to a meeting to find out more about that.

You can contact the organizers of NOWAR/PAIX if you have questions or comments about the group's activities

To post to the NOWAR info mailing list:

You must first subscribe. To keep out spammers and trolls, new subscriptions are filtered by a moderator.

If you just want to read the postings you can browse the archives on the web

Posting Guidelines

The info list is a communication organ of NOWAR/PAIX. It is intended to keep members of NOWAR/PAIX up to date on events and as a tool for members to educate each other on issues relevant to its mission. Experience has shown that the list works best for most people when traffic is low: Messages are easy to find and keep up with, and this allows for occasional useful discussion.

VOLUME

To keep the volume manageable and prevent domination of the agenda by any one individual, list members are strongly encouraged to post no more than one educational e-mail per day. Official NOWAR/PAIX announcements will not count toward this limit. For those with multiple articles to post, the single email can contain multiple abstracts and links to articles.

CONTENT

Recent articles and discussions (summer 2005) have indicated the need for more specific policy statements on where we stand and what constitutes acceptable content posted to the list. The intent of the posting should be consistent with our guidelines and stated goals. Persons posting articles inconsistent with our guidelines will be warned. If the inappropriate content continues, the individual may be banned from the list, if agreed to at a meeting of NOWAR/PAIX.

CONTENT GUIDELINES

We believe as progressive peace activists that human rights (as written and accepted in the UN declaration) should be the paramount consideration in any situation, and cannot be negotiated away or given up. In particular, concerns such as national security and corporate profitability are always secondary. We believe that people should try to speak truthfully, fairly and accurately. We do not want to cooperate with efforts to distort or deny events for political or other reasons.

Examples of unacceptable postings

• support of deportation of anyone to torture;
• support of arbitrary detention for indefinite periods;
• support of the use of secret evidence at trials or hearings;
• support of demolitions of living quarters of people under occupation;
• support of injury or killing of non-combatants whether on purpose or "collateral";
• denial of the Jewish Holocaust;
• speaking exclusively of "Palestinian violence" without putting it into the context of Israeli occupation of Palestinia n homelands.

Technical notes:

This forum is "auto-moderated". The moderator software screens messages from people who are not yet subscribers, or for which there is some technical problem with the message. This cuts out inappropriate and 'hit and run' commercial postings. It strikes a balance between the ease of access available through public forums, and the responsibility in postings seen by 'membership required' discussion groups.

1. Messages must be From: a known email address.
2. FILE ATTACHMENTS of any type (graphics, wordprocessor files, "winmail.dat" format files, HTML messages) will be rejected. These attachments cause major problems for those using different software from your own, and these days often contain viruses. Instead, post plain text, a URL pointing to the alternate location of the file, or a brief message offering to forward attachments to those interested. Note: messages with attachments will be delayed until one of the volunteer list managers has time to remove the attachments and forward the message. If you want your message to get out in a timely manner, learn how to use your software such that attachments are never generated. If your software generates HTML or other forms of "rich text" messages, please disable this feature for postings going to this forum.
3. Articles larger than 60000 characters in size. Many people have limits to the size of their mailboxes, and some need to pay for their network bandwidth in bytes. If you have a large message you wish to post please consider putting it on a Webpage somewhere and posting only the URL to the discussion group.
4. Messages including large lists of Carbon-Copied recipients. These lists are often used to SPAM people so it is just not friendly to include them on a public list. You can use the Blind-Carbon-Copy feature to hide multiple recipient addresses, but ensure that nowar@list.nowar-paix.ca is in the To: header ( not the Bcc: ).
5. Suggestion: Word wrap your messages at 72 columns to make them easier to read in the web archives.

Additional non-technical policy points:

1. It is possible but troublesome to remove articles from the archive. Removing or modifying posted articles can reduce public and member trust in the integrity of the archives our commitment to historical truth.
2. You are responsible for obtaining any necessary distribution rights and checking legality of messages you post. The list manager and the hosting company do not have the resources to filter messages before posting or to review them after, and thus assumes no responsibility for message content.
3. Line-by-line refutations of other people's opinions are hard for other list readers to follow and tend to lose focus. Consider taking such discussions to private emails and summarizing results if any.
4. Repeated personal attacks (including in "self defense") is grounds for being banned. Exercising tolerance and good listening skills will promote increased understanding and lasting harmony among participants and by example to others for posterity.
5. Repeated posting of off-topic items or of items directly detrimental to NOWAR/PAIX mission is grounds for being banned.