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Mervyn Johnson kicked out of ISF?
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 Eastbourne, England. The International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) is expected to take away the life membership of its disgraced former president, Mervyn Johnson (right), as well as banning him from ever holding office in the organisation (see earlier calls for these actions: Decision time for ISF and Roy’s blog: Time for change at ISF).
These developments, taken at its Biennial General Meetings held in Eastbourne, England, on 10 and 11 June, go some way to placating growing dissatisfaction with the way in which the ISF conducts its affairs and particularly its response to the imprisonment of Johnson in Sweden for serious sexual offences.
But the refusal to change the venue of its next Fraternal Week, which is to be held in Sweden next year just 20 miles from where Johnson committed his crimes, has astonished many observers. This is seen by some as a gesture of support for a man who has disgraced the ISF and the Spiritualist movement.
Critics within the federation hope that the appointment of new members of the Executive Committee, as well as continuing protests against the decision, may result in the Congress being held elsewhere in 2009.
The decision to ban Johnson from holding office in the ISF was taken early on at the general meetings but his life membership, astonishingly, remained unaffected. That meant that on his release, after serving his prison term, he could resume healing and declare himself an ISF member.
A motion from the UK-based Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) calling for Johnson’s life membership to be revoked failed to appear on the agenda despite being submitted on time and its receipt acknowledged. If, as some suspect, this was a deliberate attempt to avoid facing up to the issue, it failed. Fortunately, David Hopkins (the SNU delegate), had also submitted the same motion by registered post and this was duly tabled.
His motion received 81 votes in support, with 27 against and 47 abstentions. However, it is up to the Executive Committee whether they take the “advice” of their members on such a motion or reject it and so far they have not given a response.
In contrast to the members’ vote, six of the 10 committee members voted against the motion, two abstained and only two voted in favour, but even the ISF’s staunchest critics doubt that it would dare to disregard the wishes of its rank-and-file members on such an important issue.
The SNU is an ISF founder and one of only two national organisations which continue to be members of the ISF (the other being the US-based National Association of Spiritualist Churches). These bodies were represented by three delegates but their voting strength was reduced from 20 votes to 10. The voting strength of smaller groups has been reduced from five to three votes. A total of 79 individual members also attended the meetings.
Falling membership figures must make sombre reading for president Ann Luck and her committee for they appear to reflect a general lack of confidence in the ISF. In the year from June 2007, individual membership had fallen from 383 to 302; one national organisation had not paid its fees this year; and local/independent organisations have dropped from seven to four. One of two associate bodies had reportedly not paid this year, either.
However, Eleanor Landreau – a former ISF committee member who runs a Paris-based Spiritualist organisation – tells a different story. She had been asked to submit the cost of two years’ membership, which she duly did, only to have her cheque returned with a note telling her that as they had not paid the year before, they were no longer members and their 10 votes would not be counted. She subsequently received a receipt for the cheque.
This “mix-up” is all the more surprising since Paris is the city in which the ISF was born and the French organisation has been a member ever since. There will be some who will wonder whether this extraordinary “mix-up” has anything to do with the fact that Eleanor Landreau was a vociferous opponent to an ISF decision that its committee members would be able to attend its week-long meetings abroad at no cost to themselves and that this would be paid for by increasing the cost to other attendees.
This decision, incidentally, was never put to the vote by the general membership who were, in effect, funding it.
Just as troubling, in the view of some observers, is the failure of the Executive Committee to follow or understand the rules that govern its constitution. For example, the outgoing committee appointed Sue Willison (UK) as general secretary, Orit Huilla (UK resident) as treasurer, Alan Law (UK) as minute secretary and Anne Robson (UK) as members’ secretary.
The federation bye-laws require that appointments for these positions must be made from member nominations, but as no forms were sent out there were no nominations. The federation’s defence is that its members were notified in its publication, Yours Fraternally.
John Goldingham (New Zealand) was elected vice president with 61 votes, replacing Bill Parkins who had taken over as vice president following the resignation of Garth Willey earlier this year whilst continuing as the federation’s treasurer. Parkins indicated at the time that he would step down as treasurer at the General Meeting, which he did, but he failed to win enough votes to hold onto the vice presidency. He also failed to achieve enough votes to retain a position on the committee.
There were three vacant positions on the Executive Committee and these went to retiring member Pat Campbell (UK) with 118 votes, Robin Hodson (UK) with 87 votes and retiring member Matthias Guldenstein (Switzerland) with 65 votes.
Sue Willison, who stood for the committee but polled only 18 votes, remains an ISF officer having been re-appointed as general secretary by the outgoing committee (see above), of which she was a member.
It remains to be seen whether the ISF will respond to demands by some members for a greater openness in its affairs, a rethink on the venue for its 2009 Fraternal Week, and a little more democracy and efficiency wouldn’t come amiss, either.
Meanwhile, we await news of its decision on Mervyn Johnson’s life membership. We’ll bring that to you the moment we know, since you are unlikely to find it on the ISF’s webiste. It makes no mention of Johnson, his presidency or his imprisonment.
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Posted on Sunday, June 15, 2008
Category: Spiritualism
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