Dear Vittorio
I suggest that the whole membership is contacted directly, and asked to vote
on whether they want a new panel or not.
At this juncture, I am more concerned about the democratic wishes and rights
of the electorate, than about the perceived procedures of a panel which
should be only too happy to hear the full view of the members.
I advise you to sidestep the panel, and deal directly with the membership.
You have the contact details, and you have the moral right (in a situation
where the panel has collapsed) to interact with the membership in order to
rescue this organisation. I will support you in that.
The membership has the *right* to decide its own future - at any time.
The remnants of this panel does *not* have the right to ignore what the
membership wants.
If anyone doubts, just ask the members direct.
Anyone can.
Some people may dislike such decisive action.
Who's going to stop you? Is a policeman going to come knocking at your door?
Of course not.
What you need to do is go direct to the members.
Once they say "Yes, we want a vote now" all the procedural arguments are
finished.
The members can simply effect a fait accomplis, and then the members PLUS
those who are willing can simply proceed with elections.
I will deal with this myself if you like.
But I will not continue on the panel. The panel itself has ceased to exist
as far as I am concerned. In failing to call new elections (or clarify the
need to) in the face of the members' clear wish for such elections, the
former panel (what was left of it) stepped outside and beyond the mandate
and legitimacy originally invested in them "to REPRESENT the wishes of the
members".
I believe in rules and procedures myself, but sometimes in the struggle for
survival, the procedures themselves don't protect the community, and then
organisations or communities may take emergency steps to survive.
But you can decide for yourself.
I advise you to ignore the formal claims of the panel in favour of the voice
of the members themselves.
They want new elections. Just ask them. They will say "Yes". At that point
the way ahead to new elections is clear, and you could use the Polling Booth
to determine the actual rules for a new panel.
As far as I'm concerned, the panel is not in the equation. The membership
is.
That's why I won't rejoin the panel. I'll just remain a member.
But as I say, you can decide yourself.
Preside over a farce (brought about by defiance of the popular will)... or
go direct to the members, and let them democratically decide the future of
their own organisation.
My sincere regards,
Richard Henderson
----- Original Message -----
From: Vittorio Bertola <vb@bertola.eu.org>
To: YJ Park <yjpark@myepark.com>; Richard Henderson
<richardhenderson@ntlworld.com>
Cc: <atlarge-discuss@lists.fitug.de>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: [atlarge-discuss] [Resignation] New panel elections?
On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:14:53 +0900, you wrote:
>Richard Henderson wrote:
>
>> It is clear that this Panel is dislocated and suffering from inertia. It
is
>> clear that this Panel has largely collapsed, as successive people
resigned
>> or just stopped participating.
>>
>> It is also clear from last week's Poll that most of our members want to
>> replace the whole panel. By all means double-check this with a second
Poll
>> if you want, but in the end, bottom up democracy means bottom up
democracy.
>
>I resign.
I was about to call a panel vote on new elections when I got this. May
I ask you and Richard to withhold your resignations for a couple of
days so that we can have a decent vote about dissolving the panel?
Otherwise I think I will resign too and let Jefsey continue with
Satyajit and whoever he wants.
Thanks,
--
vb. [Vittorio Bertola - vb [at] bertola.eu.org]<---
-------------------> http://bertola.eu.org/ <-----------------------
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