INDES, chandigarh

The NINTH –ASIA/OCEANIA SERVICE MEETING will be held in Chandigarh, India from the 22nd – 24th July 2011.

Observers are welcome, with no voting rights, and with participation only at the discretion of the Chairperson.

The Theme of this event is; SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE. Here is one explanation issued by the General Service Board of AA in Australia.

‘’ Addictions to substances and practices other than alcohol existed long before the founding of AA and will, most likely, continue well into the future. From its earliest days, abundant AA literature and the Traditions have stressed, and continue to stress, the importance of AA’s Singleness of Purpose.

Our co ‐ founder, Bill Wilson, wrote in a Grapevine article in February 1958;

“Sobriety – freedom from alcohol –through the teaching and practice of the Twelve Steps is the sole purpose of an AA group. We have to confine our membership to alcoholics and we have to confine AA groups to a single purpose. If we don’t stick to these principles we shall almost surely collapse. And if we collapse, we cannot help anyone’’.

Perhaps the most compelling endorsement of AA’s Singleness of Purpose comes, not from AA, but from the World Service Board of Trustees of Narcotics Anonymous in a Singleness of Purpose Statement.

The autonomy granted to a group by Tradition 4 is tempered by the group’s obligation to AA unity. Mindful of this obligation, Traditions 3 and 5 and what has been stated above, we expect speakers to confine their comments to their alcoholism except for brief reference to their other addictions in so far as they are an important part of their drinking story.

Non ‐ alcoholics, if asked to speak, are expected to decline.