[Foundation-l] New project proposal: Soviet Repressions Memorial

[Jon]

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Kurt Maxwell Weber wrote:
> On Wednesday 24 December 2008 18:43, Phil Nash wrote:
>> Geoffrey Plourde wrote:
>>>> Well where will it stop? If we have a project, we should have
>>>> a memorial project for all disasters. I echo Mr. Bimmler in
>>>> his concerns about the motives behind this proposal.
>> I'm in some agreement here because my experience of UK charity
>> law is that it is not generally permitted to have a "political"
>> purpose, and certainly taking such a strong line on any
>> "repression", "genocide" etc, would appear to be anathema to a
>> charitable objective. It's OK, I suppose, if the United Nations
>> has used such terminology, but I don't think we should be seen to
>>  be taking partisan sides in political disputes, because that
>> dilutes the educational charitable status of the Foundation. It's
>> entirely a different issue to support humanitarian aid to the
>> victims, however, and I am open to the idea that such memorial
>> projects might have that idea as a focus. However, the way it's
>> been put forward seems to militate against that construction.
>>
>
> I fail to see how simply presenting a list of peoples' names and
> telling their stories constitutes "taking partisan sides in
> political disputes."  It's educating people about the impact of
> these events, plain and simple.
I don't think it is something we should focus on.  Let us focus on our
existing projects, perfect them.  Reference my earlier rationale.

Jon
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