Hi Raoul - yeah, NSS has had trouble retaining members in some areas unfortunately. We only have one current member in Belgium, while there are 15-20 former members (including yourself). But if you're feeling motivated to start a chapter, there are some new online tools that we hope will make it a lot easier to keep in touch. Also we've been trying to encourage people in areas without a lot of current members to try "space.meetup.com" - a couple of locations seem to have had success with that so far.

The internet has enormous pros and cons for an activist membership organization like NSS - benefits in that so much is available so easily online, and it can greatly reduce costs to run an organization - but the downside is that people can find one another and the information they care about so readily online, the benefit of a traditional organization becomes less clear. We're still trying to figure that one out - any clues you have would be appreciated!

My relationship with NSS doesn't go back too far, but I've worked closely with the board and executive director for the past few years, particularly on the web site, and have attended the last couple of board meetings (at least partially) as an observer. I think it's worth a lot of support, but maybe that's just me :-)