Re: [atlarge-discuss] As the Chair wishes...

["Ron Sherwood" <sherwood@islands.vi>]

Dear Joanna and Satyajit:

    As anyone who has ever participated in any form of democratic leadership
will tell you, leadership without power is an exercise in frustration.  Our
panel has been elected to do something that borders on the impossible.  We
have asked them to take masses of their own time and to do the intellectual
and physical work needed to create something that has rarely been attempted
before, let alone achieved.  We have asked them to organize, document, and
define a Global institution that will represent countless millions of people
in some two hundred or so different countries and geographical regions with
a multitude of languages and a million separate cultures.  We expect them to
not only define and create this entity, but also to populate it in short
order.  And, we expect them to do this for no pay, while subjecting
themselves to the whims and criticism of anyone who cares to become a
member, or even a lurker on the open list.

    The fact that there are good people, willing to undertake such a task is
something that most of us are extremely grateful for.  To be elected to lead
this panel, and to make a solid attempt to adequately deal with the myriad
organizational minutia while transparently dealing with internal conflict,
has already raised Joanna to the level of heroine in my book.

    Satyajit: Your obvious frustration and the difficulty you are
experiencing, in getting Joanna to agree with and meet your expectations of
her, are both understandable.  However, she deserves greater consideration,
more patience, and much less rancor on your part. There are better ways of
achieving your WG goals than attacking one of the people who could be most
helpful to you. Your position on the WG should mean that you are reporting
to the panel, not the other way around.  If you are going to expect Joanna
to work for you, I suspect you will find her time limited. That is why the
WGs were organized in the first place; to dilute and dissipate the workload.
More importantly, we must all recognize that membership of our organization
is the holy grail. The less-than-responsible tone of your comments will not
promote membership.  It is distasteful and embarrassing to read such a
public display of animosity. Please be more sensitive to the effect that you
have, on all subscribers to this list, when you engage in a disrespectful
and unproductive battle of words.

    We have recently seen a number of similar posts and, while frustration
levels must be expected to remain high in this difficult, formative period,
it will serve us well to remember the magnitude of the task that has been
undertaken and to temper our dialog so that comment remains constructive,
not destructive.

Sincerely, Ron Sherwood

----- Original Message -----
From: "Satyajit Gupta" <icheckemail@indiatimes.com>
To: <atlarge-panel@lists.fitug.de>; <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 1:54 PM
Subject: [atlarge-discuss] As the Chair wishes...


>
>  Dear Joanna,
>
>  I was not well and I informed you of the same BUT I did NOT offer to step
down as Co-ordinator of the WG on Incorporation & Funding. On the contrary,
I said I did NOT wish to be replaced when you unilaterally offered to
replace me.
>
>  Simultaneously, I requested you for more information on the Incorporation
and Funding work already going on which you have not yet bothered to answer
by replying to my email. This is why I am forced to use the publicly
archived mailing list and AGAIN request you to keep me informed.
>
>  I am only too happy to reply to you publicly if it means that you do not
get to blatantly distort my words. I shall continue to publicly demand the
necessary information which neither you nor anyone else has the right to
withhold!
>
>  As for personal attacks on me, I do not even wish to acknowledge them and
thus get into petty slanging matches which seem to be their forte...
>
>  I am very disappointed that the democratic, open and transparent forum
that we foresaw in the past has failed to materialize.
>
>  Remember, an enlightened despot is STILL a despot!
>
>  Regards,
>
>  Satyajit.
>
>
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>
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