LONDON - 30th July 2018

Voices in Britain (est. 2012), a network of Hizmet-inspired organisations in Britain, is pleased to present its first ‘green paper’ titled ‘British Hizmet on Identity-Based Transparency’. Hizmet is a social movement primarily focused on education, dialogue and relief work. It came about as a result of the teachings and practice of Fethullah Gülen. Voices is not a legal entity and does not replace the decision-making processes of its member organisations (more information on Voices, and its full list of member organisations can be found here).

As Voices, we have decided to publish a series of ‘Green Papers’. In the British context, a green paper traditionally refers to a preparatory document that aims to provoke discussion and elicit feedback. Our green papers are preparatory in the sense that they aim to provide an accurate account of our ongoing and evolving internal discussions on a range of contested issues.

The objective of our green papers are four-fold, these are

• to map out a structure for the development of our internal discussions going forward by identifying areas of agreement, disagreement and points of further discussion
• to reinforce any advancements we attain, both at the theoretical and practical level by publishing a written document to mitigate against institutional memory loss
• to achieve a higher level of external and internal transparency
• to differentiate ‘British Hizmet’ from the wider body of ‘Hizmet global’ and Hizmet in other localities

Our first green paper is on identity-based transparency. We define this as transparency that relates to a particular group affiliation or identity. After a brief introduction, the paper posits the salient issues of identity-based transparency, followed by our respective reflections and responses to each. The paper discusses the challenges of identity-based transparency, some of which have prevented our member organisations from adopting this approach to date. It then goes onto state what our member organisations have achieved so far in this respect and possible points of next action and areas for further discussion.

This is our first green paper. We are therefore particularly keen to receive your feedback on both the style and content of this paper. We are eager to absorb any ideas you may have on how we can further advance the transparency of our identity and organisations, as well as any other feedback or suggestions you might have for other relevant issues for us to discuss. To share feedback anonymously, simply indicate in that in your email and all personal details will be deleted before your feedback is shared with others. Please email any feedback to greenpapers@voicesinbritain.org. (Any abusive communication will be shared with the police and hate monitoring groups.)

Notes

For further information, please email info@voicesinbritain.org

Voices is a consortium network of Hizmet-inspired organisations in Britain. ‘Voices’ stands for voluntary organisations to inspire, connect and empower society. For more information on who we are, what we do and our member organisations, please visit vociesinbritain.org.

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