Changing the Fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous One Confe rence At A Time

The Gener al Serv ice Board of Alcoholics Anony mous, The Gener al Serv ice Conferenc e of Alcoholics Anonymou s(United States and Canada), Alcoholi cs Anonymous World Serv ices Inc., and Alcoh olics Anonymous Grapevine Inc. are not e mpower ed to change or alter The Twelve Traditions without a an affirmati ve vote of consent by 66 .33% of Alcoholics Anony mous Grou ps. As a r esult these four e ntitie s have exercised i n concert a self-e stabli shed “right of dec ision” to alter ou r Fellowsh ip’s i nterpr etation of The Twelve Traditions throu gh the publi cation of li teratu re, pamphlets, books and the personal stor ies se ction of our “Big Book”. The vast majori ty of this publish ing effort i s neve r viewed by th e Fellowsh ip-at-Large until after it has been distri buted and sold to our A.A. Central Offices. It i s the policy of th ese four entities to restrict the di ssemination of publicati on drafts th ereby shunti ng rev iew and critique from th e Fellowsh ip-at- Lar ge of new and revi sed pu blications u ntil such pu blications are a fait accompli . A 2 003 GSC Advi sory Acti on for a comprehensive r eview of the pamph let “The A.A. Grou p” and the following 2004, 2005 actions by these four e ntitie s is a cur rent e xample of th is planned and progressi ve str ategy to change ou r Fellowsh ip’s i nterpr etation of The Twelve Traditions with out actually changing The Twelve Traditions. In fact ou r Thi rd and Fifth Traditions clear ly define wh at an A.A. Grou p is. The pamph let “The A.A.Grou p” was a successful action to r einterpret Traditions Thr ee and Five and thereby re-de fine The A.A. Grou p. In 2005 the se fou r horsemen once again re -defined The A.A. Grou p for future gener ations of alcoholics.

I h ave included the following Gene ral Serv ice Confer ence material for your r eview and meditation: 1) 200 5 55 t h Ge neral Serv ice Conference Literatur e Committee Pre- Conf. Report – Agenda Item G. 2) Excer pt 200 5 55 t h Ge neral Serv ice Conference Literatur e Dele gate Area 36 Post-Conf. Report

200 5 55 t h Ge neral Service Conf erence Lite rature C ommitt ee Pre-C onf. Repo rt Age nda Item G.

Excer pt 2005 55 t h Ge neral Serv ice Co nference Del egate Area 36 Post -Conf. Repo rt

200 5 55 t h Ge neral Serv ice Co nference Reco mmenda tion: The commi ttee rec ommended that the manuscript of the revise d pamphlet “The A.A. Grou p” that inc ludes revisi ons su ggeste d by the committee be approved. D el egate No te : The re was a floor ame ndment to include a subsection title “Is there a differe nce be tween a meeting and a gr oup” above the paragraph about the differenc e. Thi s amendment originally failed. T he re w as min ority opinio n, vot e to reco nsider that passed and t he ame ndment pas sed w i th ~3 oppose d. The re was also a frie ndly amendme nt that was accepted to insert langu age on the $20 00 limit on bequests or in-memoriam contri butions. T he reco mmenda tion w as app roved with substa ntial unanim ity (~5 opposed)