Theos-Talk Archives (September 2008 Message tt00356)

So be a candidate for General Secretary of your Section....lol well it is an option... By any event i I believe things will change for better. Not soon.  But eventually will. So do not quit.

Erica

--- On Sun, 9/28/08, Katinka Hesselink <mail@katinkahesselink.net> wrote:
From: Katinka Hesselink <mail@katinkahesselink.net>
Subject: Theos-World Re: reaction from the Dutch Section and John Algeo to the uproar about the proposal
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, September 28, 2008, 1:41 PM










    
            Hi Anand,



I would have loved to vote for someone other than the chair person who

just told me I should keep my mouth shut and stop abusing the internet

;) but the fact is - we don't have enough volunteers. All volunteers

who want to significantly change the way the magazine is run (for

instance) walk (or run) away pretty quickly from serious volunteer

work: there is just no chance with the current administration. 

Unfortunately it seems to perpetuate the current situation of decline.

Not sure what can be done about it - but passing this proposal

certainly won't help.



To Erica: the people in charge in the Netherlands are too young to

wait for. If I wait for them to die off - I'll be in my sixties or

something. I'd rather cut my losses and come back when (and if) the TS

is back in some sort of order. 

But hey, I haven't seen anybody defend this proposal other than the

people who proposed it. Also: the online poll is pretty conclusive. So

I don't think it will be passed. 



[this doesn't mean people shouldn't mail their local representatives

of course. let's keep them on their toes. this is important stuff.]



Katinka

--- In theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com, "Anand" <AnandGholap@ ...> wrote:

>

> Only 1/6 the humanity lives in India. 5/6 of humanity lives outside

> India. If some members like John Algeo want non-Indian President, they

> should work hard for Theosophy. Fact that outside India membership is

> low and shrinking proves that things are not managed properly outside

> India. And Radha Burnier got considerable number of votes from outside

> India also. So anybody who reads the proposal can know that it is

> meant to grab power by unfair means. 

> Very fact that elected leaders from America and Europe are removing

> voting powers of their own members show that leaders were unwisely

> elected by members in respective countries.

> 

> 

> --- In theos-talk@yahoogro ups.com, "Katinka Hesselink" <mail@> wrote:

> >

> > Hi all,

> > 

> > The Dutch section has sent a letter to all lodges and put on their

> > website which I take as a way of saying: this is our official

> > position. I know about this letter because it was my duty to put it

> > online.

> > 

> > Since the Dutch section supports John Algeo's position, and the letter

> > includes a Dutch translation of a letter by John about this - this is

> > as far as I know the closest we've gotten to an explanation of the

> > proposal by those who wrote / support it.

> > 

> > I'm not going to translate the English back into Dutch. I hope John or

> > Betty will issue some sort of statement in English himself.

> > 

> > The reasoning is as follows and includes details about the election of

> > the president that I wasn't aware of. My comments between square

> brackets.

> > 

> > The election had a 50% rate of response in the West. So 50% of those

> > who had a right to vote actually did. [when it's a government with

> > that kind of numbers, there's usually an attempt to get more people to

> > vote in future. but the conclusion of the Dutch section is to take

> > away our voting rights.]

> > The Indian voters however DID come out and vote. They also know Radha

> > Burnier better. So she won. 

> > 

> > John Algeo writes:

> > The Indian section has a majority of the members (would love to know

> > the precise numbers), so in practice they decide who gets to be

> > president. This is not democratic. [what he means is: it's not fair,

> > it IS obviously democratic]. Since the Indian section doesn't have

> > their administration in order and members of that section have

> > complained about this, it's best to just let the general council

> > decide who the president should be. Those who would elect the

> > president were themselves elected, so this is democratic. 

> > 

> > A note by the Dutch general secretary:

> > 

> > The general council consists of:

> > - all the general secretaries of the sections

> > - 7 to 10 added members [ she doesn't mention how those get elected ] 

> > - to be a section there have to be 7 lodges and 150 members.

> > - at the moment the council has 37 members.

> > -------

> > 

> > John's last point sounds like they are fixing one hole with another.

> > Because the Indian section isn't run properly its members should not

> > get a say in who becomes the president of the TS. 

> > 

> > It's clear that the general council is a weird body. It represents

> > each section equally, whether it has the minimum of 150 members, or

> > over 10 thousand. It has added members which, as far as I can tell,

> > get appointed by the president, for life. 

> > 

> > As many have noticed: the Western sections just aren't very

> > successful. Most of them are shrinking. This is certainly true for the

> > Dutch and American section - two of the ones supporting this

proposal. 

> > 

> > Not exactly the kind of resume that helps inspire confidence.

> > 

> > Sorry this is such a rambling post. The message asking me to publish

> > that letter on the Dutch TS website accused me of acting too quickly

> > and not thinking things through. I just sent an angry letter to the

> > Dutch board explaining my position in more detail. I'm actually

> > starting to look forward to canceling my membership. Not a good sign.

> > I do still hope this gets resolved.

> > 

> > Katinka Hesselink

> >

>




      

    
    
	
	 
	
	








	


	
	

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