Why I will not resign

So we have had occur what may were predicting not a few days ago – a mass walkout from the OAM by essentially the member nations that most strongly and vocally supported the Motion of No Confidence proposed against me in the OAM. We’ve also had a number people calling for my resignation for a variety of reasons.

It still strikes me as rather odd that many of the nations that walked out had previously said that they are supporters of democracy, with some even alleging that the OAM itself was undemocratic, and yet when the motion was democratically defeated in a fair vote, they refuse to accept that outcome and leave in a huff. Imagine if everyone did that – left after their proposal had been defeated in a fair vote.

In any case, the major reason for kicking me out is that I am apparently an illegitimate Secretary-General, due to me apparently not receiving a majority in the last election (37%). As Jeremy Oakes of Dranoria and a few others have been at pains to point out, with the election system that we have for Secretary-General, it is actually impossible to get a numerical majority, no matter how many votes you get. As there were four candidates, the highest percentage that any candidate could receive was 40%. Thus, I received almost as many votes as was possible. It was never and has never been a “…situation of minority rule”. Even if “minority rule” was the case, proponents of the motion totally ignored the fact that the exact same voting system had been used at every OAM election, and, as a result, no Secretary-General had ever been elected with 50% or more of the vote, as this is impossible. It is the first case of dodgy ‘facts’ and double standards in this whole saga.

The second most important case of double standards is the ‘issue’ of me allegedly “…refusing to recognise the sovereignty of any member-state”. Firstly, as I explained a number of times, I do not control A1′s foreign policy. Secondly, A1 does recognise the sovereignty of every member nation, under some foreign policy guidelines that, at worst, only affect part of our recognition towards any single member nation. Thirdly, as I also explained a number of times, there are many member nations in the OAM that do not recognise other member nations of the OAM. For instance, there are a number of OAM member nations that do not recognise micronations with claims on Micras. Stormark, Zealandia and A1 are just a few of the micronations that exist either entirely or partially on Micras. Nothing was brought against them and no condemnation was brought to bear. It is inappropriate and unfair to discriminate against me, as a delegate, because of something beyond my control and which doesn’t violate the Charter. Again, double standards.

I’ve since responded to the other main accusations made against me in the thread and elsewhere, which eventually turned into a “Let’s find dirt against Fish whether it exists or not” thread. There were even delegates who were suggesting that I would “shut down” the OAM should the motion pass, and that I was some sort of evil, anti-reform, power hungry dictator, drunk on power who simply deletes things he doesn’t like and will never let go of it in order to pursue my “ultra-conservative” agenda (amongst other things). I’ve had to deal with this sort of nonsense before and to be honest to all of those people who think these fantastical illusions, the worse the insults get, the less likely it is that I’m going to just get up and leave.

The people who accuse me of these things lower the bar of diplomatic protocol to the level of backroom deals, dirty tricks, unsubstantiated claims and name-calling. If they think that I will stoop to their level, they are also mistaken in that respect. I will continue to defend both myself and the OAM from such nonsense in a civilised and reasonable manner, backed up with factual evidence and rational arguments.

Finally, in direct response to those who are currently calling for my head as Secretary-General, I say that I am not resigning as Secretary-General. The OAM is only as good or as bad as its members make it – it has little to do with who is in the Secretariat. The Council has the power to change things, not me, the VSGs or any individual person. Thus, it is up to all delegates to take their share of the responsibility (including me, might I add) and not resort to finding scapegoats or individual people to blame.

I am staying true to the majority of the OAM and the member nations that elected me at the last election resoundingly. I am not resigning and I sincerely hope that the OAM can move on from this episode, and recover as we have recovered before from such apparent adversity. We will bounce back, the OAM is not a spent force and rationality will prevail over mere opinions and speculation.