How One Man Destroyed the Legitimacy of Atheist Alliance International

by Martin Boers

In an earlier article, I claimed that Atheist Alliance International (AAI) was an illegitmate organisation, and I challenged AAI to publish the documents that would falsify that claim. Since that article was published, AAI have failed to make any of those documents public. Instead, there have been two major developments:

• Bill Flavell - current Secretary of AAI - suddenly stopped answering questions about the behaviour of the AAI board around the time of the 2018 "AGM". 
• John Richards - former AAI board member - suddenly started answering questions about the behaviour of the AAI board around the time of the 2018 "AGM".

These developments have make it clearer than ever that AAI has been an illegitimate organisation since 1 January 2018. New evidence shows that the legitimacy of AAI was destroyed largely by the actions of one man - Bill Flavell.

In September 2017, Bill Flavell appointed John Richards to the board of AAI. John Richards claims that he was appointed for a 3 year term. The 2013 bylaws, which should have been in force at the time, did not allow for directors to be appointed for three years.

When questioned on this recently, John Richards revealed:

• At the time he was appointed to the board of AAI, the bylaws were suspended because AAI had been placed under "Special Measures".
• While the bylaws were suspended, the AAI board was not operating under any other bylaws or corporate governance rules.
• Special Measures had not been imposed by an external organisation responsible for overseeing AAI, e.g. by the Attorney General of California (where AAI is registered), but instead Special Measures were imposed voluntarily by one or more directors of AAI.
• The idea to impose Special Measures came from Bill Flavell, who was "chief in the rescue committee" at AAI.
• Special Measures were still in place at the time of the 2018 "AGM", so there was no requirement for that meeting to be organised or run according to the 2013 bylaws.
• At no stage were the members of AAI ever informed that Special Measures had been imposed, or that the bylaws had been suspended.

"Special Measures" is used in the governance of UK public services, most notably in the UK's National Health Service (NHS), and this would be familiar to people like Bill Flavell, who had a management role in at least one UK healthcare provider. In the case of the NHS, Special Measures are only imposed on the advice of an independent oversight body, like the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

In the case of AAI, not only were the bylaws suspended under the Special Measures imposed by Bill Flavell, and not only were members not informed of this, but some AAI directors at the time were also not aware that AAI was under Special Measures, or that the bylaws had been suspended. This has recently been confirmed by two directors who were on the board at the time that John Richards was appointed.

John Richards claimed that the 2018 "AGM" on 20 May 2018 was not held according to the 2013 bylaws, because those bylaws were suspended at the time. This contradicts every other AAI board member who has ever spoken on this topic, including Bill Flavell, Jason Sylvester and Fotis Frangopoulos, who at all times have claimed that the 2018 "AGM" was organised and run in accordance with the 2013 bylaws.

So perhaps John Richards was mistaken, and the 2013 bylaws were no longer suspended at the time of the 2018 "AGM". In that case, the question remains - why did John Richards, Bill Flavell, and Howard Burman fail to put themselves up for election at the 2018 "AGM", as they were required to do under the bylaws, and how did every other director and member at the "AGM" fail to notice this mistake? The consequence of this "mistake" is that AAI certainly did not have a legitimate board after 20 May 2018, even if the board had been legitimate up to that date (which is also debatable). 

Some of the most damning evidence about the legitimacy of the 2018 AGM was presented in a recent episode of The Freethough Prophet podcast. In summary:

• The Atheist Union of Greece (AUG) and Atheist Ireland had precisely the same membership status when invitations to the 2018 AGM were sent out.
• AUG was sent an invitation to the AGM, and Atheist Ireland was not.
• Gail Miller, then AAI President, followed up personally with AUG to ensure that their membership fee was paid before the AGM.
• Despite regular correspondence in the lead-up to the 2018 AGM, neither Gail Miller nor anyone else at AAI invited Atheist Ireland to the AGM, or asked them to renew their membership, or even mentioned that an AGM had been scheduled.

This recent evidence clearly supports the claim that Bill Flavell has not been honest about the events at AAI in 2017 and 2018, and that Atheist Ireland and many other AAI members were deliberately excluded from the 2018 "AGM". That in turn means:

• The 2018 "AGM" of AAI was not a valid AGM.
• Every decision taken at that AGM, and since, has been invalid.
• The entire AAI organisation, including the current board, is illegitimate.

These claims are falsifiable. For example, here is the last set of questions that I asked Bill Flavell, which he has steadfastly refused to answer:

1. What date is on the invoice for the 2018 Affiliate Membership fee that was sent to the Atheist Union of Greece?
2. Do you know what date that invoice was sent to the Atheist Union of Greece?
3. Did Gail Miller (then AAI President) follow up with the Atheist Union of Greece on the unpaid invoice, on or around 11 April 2018, in an email where she discussed issues related to the upcoming "AGM"?
4. On what date did the Atheist Union of Greece pay that invoice?

The fact that neither Bill Flavell nor anyone else at AAI has offered answers to these questions, or to provide any other evidence that would falsify these well-founded and very serious claims, is remarkable.

It is incumbent on the people who currently call themselves the board of AAI, to either provide evidence to falsify these claims, or to immediately step aside and return the organisation to the 2017 members.