"The CFS is broken": A follow up (part 3)

This is the third follow up post to "The CFS is broken and can't be fixed." It will focus on the experience of delegates who are critical of the CFS that are chosen to attend CFS General Meetings.

Here are the others:

1. "The CFS is broken and can't be fixed"
2. Influencing internal politics (follow up post part 1)
3. Undemocratic structure (follow up post part 2) 
4. CFS's questionable finances (follow up post part 4)

General Meeting Experience

“Each of us has been asked by CFS staff to spy on delegates with known or suspected anti-CFS views. We have been asked to report back about who the suspect person was talking to and what they were saying. New delegates are often roomed with CFS loyalists in order to control their sphere of influence. We have been those roommates.”

You may read Gunn, McArthy and Irani’s description of CFS General Meetings and be skeptical but the experience of actual delegates confirms this.

The best example of this is the experience of Kelsey Hannan as a delegate in May 2010. Hannan was selected to attend the CFS 2010 Summer General Meeting as a delegate who was clearly critical of the organization. Hannan had participated in collecting signatures as part of the deferedation petition in October 2009.

Hannan’s experience played out quite similar to the description in Gunn, McArthy and Irani’s article. The only exception was he was able to be roomed with James Coccola since Coccola had attended an AGM before. Hannan describes how CFS loyalists and staffers were always nearby during the entire weekend. They would walk up to him whenever he attempted have a private conversation with another delegate and strike up a conversation with him. In Hannan ’s view, these were clear attempts to keep an eye on what he was up to and limit his ability to interact with other delegates.

While at the General Meeting, Hannan distributed a report by Titus Gregory titled “Solidarity for their own good.” This report is a thorough evaluation of the CFS as an organization and is quite critical in its conclusion. After giving out a few copies, Hannan was approached by CFS staff member Lucy Watson (the same Lucy Watson sitting on UVic's Referendum Oversight Committee) who gave Hannan a cease and desist order to stop giving out this report as well as instructing him to collect any copies he had already given out.

In short, this organization not a fan of those with critical voices. They undertake various tactics like these to ensure critical views do not spread amongst delegates.