Dear Gabriel,
I write to you as company secretary of PNL [Peace News Ltd] to tender my resignation.
Thank you and the whole of PNL for the opportunity to see anarchy and consensus at work inside an institutional setting.
If I can be of any further assistance to PNL outwith my role as director, most especially to the staff of PNL as they move forward with what I hope is equally as impactful work as that which it has been a privilege to support over the last 18 months, please do let me know.
As you know, my resignation is a result of the bullying PNL have been subject to at the hands of Glyn Carter, PNT chair.
Glyn is shockingly under-qualified to be the chair of PNT, having announced his rejection of core values – an overt rejection of anarchy, little interest in the peace movement or understanding of feminism.
[X]’s email of two weeks ago really spelled out the root of the problem.
I only hope for the sake of our organisations and the wider movement, PNT will move to remove him from his position, before he brings a catastrophe on the organisation.
As I have described at many points over my tenure, I believe that he is in danger of inviting a number of serious constructive dismissal cases, including on the basis of protected characteristics, where the award against PNT/PNL would be legally uncapped and could be at a level which is in effect the end of the whole of PN, Housmans and the legacy which the organisation is responsible for protecting.
Please feel free to pass on my resignation statement as appropriate. I have already shared concerns about constructive dismissal to Glyn directly and am aware that PNTs sit on PNL Board so will have heard my concerns.
However, I feel strongly that PNTs should be advised again of the existential danger the chair’s behaviour poses. I am available to any member (staff; director; trustee for example) of PNL or PNT except for Glyn Carter, for an exit interview or other debrief processes.
Yours sincerely,
Eve Wedderburn
This article originally appeared in Peace News 2674 (September 2024)