[atlarge-discuss] New panel elections?

[Vittorio Bertola <vb@bertola.eu.org>]

I have not made my mind on this yet.

From one side, it is evident that a good part of the panel has decided
to neglect their original commitment, or doesn't believe any more in
the organization, or whatever - but they have stopped participating,
up to the point of almost paralyzing the panel's activity.

It is true that we may replace them with the next in line from last
elections, but we still have to understand whether the new ones would
be more motivated and active, and the more original members you
replace, the weaker (politically) the panel will be.

From the other side, it is also true that if we believe in democracy,
we have to believe in its rules; and that it is very dangerous to let
democratically elected bodies be dismissed by the pressure of a
self-organized mass effort. This poll was conducted unofficially and
without having been approved by the organization, so while I have no
reason to say that its results aren't true, I also have no reason to
say that they can represent a binding direction to the panel.

When the panel was initially elected, it was due to expire next
August, and there are no provisions for new panel elections unless the
panel expires or all the possible panel members, including valid
replacements, resign. So if we want to achieve new elections, formally
we still have to ask to all these people to resign (or not to accept
to enter the panel). But it is also true that our rules are still at a
draft status, and surely incomplete. So, for example, a formal
membership vote might in my opinion remove the whole panel - but such
vote, presently, can only be instated by the panel itself.

Moreover, the panel was also due to accomplish targets that,
presently, seem to be unrealistic, because there's plenty of
disagreement on what they are and how they are to be reached, and
total scarcity of people actively willing to pursue them. So it is
true that a replacement panel would perhaps only delay the problem and
let the organization lose some more months.

So I'll take more views from panelists and members, and then I'll try
to follow one of the two realistic options: either the remaining
members of the panel decide to officially ask the membership about
having new panel elections, or they do not decide to do so, and in
this case I will start to call replacements in the panel; in this
case, once no more replacements can be found, the vacant places in the
panel may be filled by a new election.

I may add that, personally, I would like to have a chance to be more
active, ie to call for elections tomorrow, or to start doing things on
my own. But, apart from the fact that my time and strength is not
unlimited, as Chair of an organization which claims to desire to
implement online democracy, I take the word "democracy" seriously. The
burdens of democratical policy-making processes, which require lots of
time and effort, may prove excessive for us at this stage, so that we
end up being perfectly legitimate and perfectly inactive. But the
whole effort was designed to be like this, and not just another effort
centered on the skills and activities of just one leader.
-- 
vb.                  [Vittorio Bertola - vb [at] bertola.eu.org]<---
-------------------> http://bertola.eu.org/ <-----------------------

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