Theos-Talk Archives (September 2009 Message tt00082)

Interesting comments from Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson, formerly the International Secretary during the election,
recently commented:
+++
But at present there is the danger of a more serious dichotomy. Following
the recent Presidential elections, which resulted in a large majority of
votes in India for the Indian candidate and a large majority of votes in the
rest of the world for the American candidate, many tirades of hate have
appeared on the internet. The idea of two Theosophical Societies - East and
West - has even been broached.
+++

I feel that the conclusion and reasoning behind the above observation is
very faulty.  Some may be day dreaming of two societies. This is not going
to happen. Even if such a move is attempted, it is bound to end where
similar attempts ended in the past.

Let us look at what has been going on since the start of the election
nomination.

For an ordinary member, the events seem to point to a smart very well
coordinated and planned effort (we are yet to know the role played by Mary
behind the scenes) which did not pan out per expectations due to two key
factors. First, the critical role played by Internet. Second, the untrue
reason put forward to defeat the sitting president.

This is the first election in which Independent Internet played a critical
role. In the past, the TS  leaders controlled the flow of information (and
misinformation) to membership due to their control of the medium of
communication. With Internet forums such as theos-talk, which is outside the
control of any organization or leader, members around the world were
provided instant information. This led to a lot of discussion among members
from around the world. This provided bright light to shine on the
information (and misinformation) fed to the members to defeat sitting
president. Such bright light brought out the truth behind information put
out to sway the membersâ votes and defeat sitting President.


The election propaganda started on a wrong foot. To defeat Radha Burnier,
there was an orchestrated allegation that she was sick, both mentally and
physically and this was the lay menâs and womenâs opinion and was shot down
by three well known physicians from two continents and one was a long-time
theosophist and section leader. Members who saw thru this did not buy the
allegation and understood what was going on.

It is a very well known fact that Indian Section always was the largest in
the world even in the days of Annie Besant. She, as a veteran leader,  knew
this fact and advised George Arundale to get to know the Indian Section
members and win their hearts which was critical for anyone who leads TS.

This fact is true today too. The Indian Section has been progressively
growing while the membership  outside India is either declining or not
growing. In addition, the retention rate outside India is  very poor. The
membership trend outside India is in such a poor state that none of the
leaders from the West want to discuss the hot potato.

Past elections such as in the case of John Coats has proven that Indian
membership is open minded and very fair in their support of the candidates
with no bias. We should note that Coats defeated two well known candidates
from India,  Rukmini Arundale and Radha Burnier with support from Indian
membership.

Even looking beyond TS, Indian masses  have demonstrated to the world of its
open minded approach as compared to countries outside India. India had a
very powerful woman Prime Minister for a long time, has a woman President
now, had a Moslem President for a predominantly Hindu country and also had a
president from the untouchable class. Western countries, including United
States cannot claim such open mindedness. Neither US nor the TS in America
yet had a Hispanic president for a country with a sizable growing Hispanic
population.

It is very telling about the TS leadership outside India. After failing to
defeat the sitting President, unfounded allegations were made from the West
about the handling of elections in India and when challenged by the Indian
Section, there was no verifiable evidence to prove the allegations.

Matters would have ended there, but for the shock and dismay members met
with. A very secret move was made by a quartet of general council members
from the West, which included the defeated candidate, to disenfranchise
members around the world and seize control of the appointment of the
President and make the president a puppet.

Timely discovery of the ultra secret move and world-wide Internet
dissemination shocked the members world-wide. Secret attempt to seize the
power to appoint the President spoke for itself and many members could not
even believe their leaders will even think of such a self-serving attempt.
This resulted in many members to have a very low level of trust in their
leaders. No leader can lead without a very high level of trust.

Compared to other dissent ions during last century, we do not have leaders
with charisma and a high level of trust. Also with the help of Internet,
members are now better informed of the political landscape and members are
intelligent enough to see what has happened and come to their own
conclusions.

Any attempt to try to form two Societies - East and West is bound to fall
flat on its face and the reputations of many well known members is likely to
be irreparably damaged.


MKR

There is no religion higher than Truth


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