Fighting the Trust resistance to Democratization - Alcyonenews

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Islands Trust

Posted October 11, 2019

Fighting the Trust resistance to Democratization

Click on the Trust Website and you will be treated to a blue pop-up reading:

“Join the conversation to Islands 2050 – Learn More”

Coca Cola, Apple and Sony keep on advertising incessantly, everywhere. Is the Trust so naive as to think that it would “engage” the populace by flashing a pop-up on its own website? Does it pretend being thrifty while spending freely our money on Consultants to buy expertise on “managing” us?

The pop-up links to the Trust’s September 6th News Release which is an interesting piece of PRropaganda literature. Their plan is to divert attention from the post-2017 referendum consensus that the Trust is in dire need of being reformed. They are prodding us to cry in the wilderness, beyond earshot of the populace.

They bait the hook with the meaningless question: “What will the Islands Trust Area of British Columbia look like in 30 years?” And then they jig the hook:

“Ready to dive into the Thought Exchange?

We have two questions to get you started, and will post more later this fall.

* What do you value about the Islands Trust Area?

* In the context of a changing climate, what concerns do you have for the region over the next 30 years?”

Will we bite? Well, who knows? Who knows what “Paradise”is like? Has anyone ever sued a preacher for misleading advertising? The Trust would be as immune if we let them drag us into bickering about 2050, it being 30 years hence, this in a society presently in a transition unfolding with lighting speed.

The consensus is to reconstruct the Trust into one that would operate in the open so that it has nothing to hide; e.g. a Trust we can trust. This is what we need and the suppression of it amounts to raping Democracy.

In the first stage of the Trust’s “Islands 2050" sham, they pompously bill “Public Engagement” and have “cleverly” scheduled it for the remainder of 2019. Thus far, the Trust held a session on Bowen Island and pitched an Info-tent in the SSI Fall Fair distributing an infographic pamphlet. This they call the “Thought Exchange” stage.

The Trust has not advertised the “campaign” in the mass media; and has it very “strategically” timed it for the period the populace is engulfed in the Federal elections hullabaloo! Clever?

The second stage is slated for the beginning of 2020 and is labeled “What have we learned?” “We” is the Trust who, in itself or with its consultants, would mash down what they “learned” at the previous stage, filter the stuff through their prejudices, shape it with their cookie cutter and bake it ready for the next stage.

The third stage they set for the spring of 2020 and it is billed as “Sharing what we have learned”. It means a PRopaganda campaign to persuade us that we have spoken and told them that we adore the Trust. Indeed, the way the Trust goes about that has added to what we knew about the Trust and augments the need to reconstruct the Trust from the ground up. But it is us who must shape our “local government”; it is us who would thrash out our ideas in OPEN and FREE DEBATE to shape our government. The Trust and its mercenaries are merely an obstacle to overcome.

Let us glance at the Trust Staff “Request for Decision” processed through the ExCom on May 8, last. It was “presented” hidden in the bowels of the Agenda Package, together with the 200-page “Be the Change” consultants’ report, on which the Staff Request is based.

A glance at the “SWOT Analysis” may suffice to outline the objectives they seek. The acronym stands for “Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats”. It is a tool for manufacturing defense for the “Inside stakeholders” against the threat posed by the “External stakeholders”. Think of a government feeling threatened by the Opposition and moving to safeguard its hold on power.

The Trust SWOT comprises 13 “Strengths”, 15 “Weakness”, 7 “Opportunities” and 6 “Threats” totaling 41 items to work on for the Trust to evade reconstruction. Space constrains limit me to one sample from each category.

Strengths: #12 “The breaking down of silos within the organization.” Translation: Every body within the Trust is scared of a Trust Review.

Weaknesses: #5 “A poorly designed website that is not serving our communication or engagement needs”. Translation: Boost the Propaganda Broadcasting potential.

Opportunities: #1 “A website renewal that will enhance our online presence.” Translation: Supercharge the PRopaganda apparatus.

Threats: #2 “A well-established anti-trust lobby and sentiment exists on many of the islands.” Translation: Suppress the vox populi.

As the sampling indicates the whole SWOT is a despicable attempt to sell the Trust to us, to fool us into believing that our senses fail us and we, therefore, need be paternalized.

It is the consultants who came up with the“Islands 2050" trick with the fake invitation of “public participation” to trick the populace into playing the “engagement process” game. The Trust is wasting our money to evade the re-examination of the Trust, by itself, and this alone, validates sufficiently a review of the Trust on a Zero Basis, as it reaches the age of half a century.

Like that Brit said, “to be or not to be”, that is the question. The Trust has to face it and while it may have a say, the determination of our local governance is exclusively ours to do. That is which the Trust approaches us in the fashion of a submarine prowling an enemy shipping lane.