A brief
summary
(and for
more background simply type Derbyshire into the Google search
box located at the top of our blog)
For some
time there has been an ongoing dispute between Derbyshire IG (or
parts of it) and a number of meetings in Derby City with various
allegations being levelled at the latter (based at the Sisters of
Mercy Convent, Bridge Gate, Derby, and running on Tuesdays, Fridays
and Sundays). These meetings place some emphasis on the fact that
they are “non-religious” (which in itself is hardly
controversial) but otherwise appear to be run in accordance with the
guidelines (although we would question their assertion on the
meetings' success rates included on their website). For a period
they were removed from the local Where to Find but subsequently
reinstated (at the request of GSO York apparently). Interestingly
Derbyshire IG itself has had its inclusion on the national website
suspended because the IG uses Google Maps as an aid to meeting
location. This has been deemed (by someone somewhere) as a
contravention of the traditions (presumably relating to
non-affiliation). (This latter instance illustrates the confusion
that currently exists within the General Service Conference when it
comes to AA's relationship with the internet. For example Derbyshire
IG is denied a presence on the official AA website on the above
grounds and yet the same website carries a link to the Plymouth Road
to Recovery (cult) group which regularly breaks the same guideline - and many others - at every opportunity). Moreover, and in our view
more seriously, the IG website carries a template produced by
(according to the IG itself) the Back to Basics movement (an outside
organisation based in the US with a not-for-profit tax status). The
information included within this template mostly relates to the book
Alcoholics Anonymous but with a commentary which clearly does not.
The latest
communication we have received from a representative of the above
meetings is as follows:
“Thanks
for your highlighting of the problems with the Derbyshire IG in the
past - I have an update for you
The
cultists are now going around the local meetings holding a referendum
to remove us from the list of local meetings and to petition York to
have us taken off the national list of meetings, after apparently
having had a kangaroo court at the last IG meeting in which we were
convicted in our absence of a number of supposed crimes. As ever
there was no pretence of natural justice. We were not invited to
defend ourselves against these charges, and no evidence was offered
to back them. Neither was the AA tradition of substantial unanimity
being followed. The IG is telling groups that the motion to expel us
was carried at IG, despite their being significant dissent at the IG.
There is also dissent in the meetings where the issue is being
discussed, and counted as passed based on a majority show of hands.
[this however is the standard basis for voting – a simple majority
usually suffices]
…......,
the cult dupe "in charge of" the helpline is driving this
campaign. He has decreed that no-one who attends our meeting is ever
to be allowed to do helpline or 12-step work under any circumstances,
despite the helpline now having half of its slots going empty, and
several of the the few people on the helpline doing three or four
shifts each.
….....
is a sad case, who got sober in our meeting and went to Milton Keynes
after a year with his job. Though he went there an atheist, he came
back a covert cultist, which we only found out when we caught him
using cult literature with a Buddhist sponsee. Now he is acting as a
sort of apostate, determined to stamp out the very meeting which got
him sober.”
(our
edits)
Cheers
The Fellas
(Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS We have
previously invited Derbyshire Intergroup to comment or respond on any
of these issues. None was forthcoming
PPS Our usual thanks to our correspondent
