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WORLDWIDE
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
(WDD)
Vol. 8 (No. 3) September 2006
Oligarchic Solidarity
by Jiri Polak
The raison d'être of current multi-party systems,
both parliamentary and presidential, is the existence of social conflicts inside
the respective society. Political parties have emerged to promote the interests
of major social groups (the Marxist concept of class is too abstract and
mechanical) in conflict with, and more or less to the detriment of, other
groups, and even society as a whole. An analysis of the concept of social
groups, as more adequate than the concept of class, has been
presented in George Sagi´s book New Democracy; Apolitical
Governance. Thus, all party-based systems are built on social conflicts and
without the underlying assumption of permanent conflicts, these systems would
not be able to survive. Consequently, the party leaderships, who owe their high
positions and privileges to the party system (whether one-party or multi-party),
are not interested in resolving social conflicts in co-operation with other
leaderships, or the whole citizenry; they are interested in nurturing and
rhetorically stressing these conflicts ad absurdum.
Party-based systems, promoting the interests of a certain category of citizens
(and, in reality, especially the interests of party-political elites) have never
been, and never can be, democracies. Members of the DD movement should
consistently avoid the word democracy when referring to these systems.
The use of this word implies the assumption that it is possible to mend the
obvious shortcomings of these, after all basically democratic, systems by the
inclusion of certain improvements, especially I&R, in some marginal areas
citizen deliberation, or some other procedures. To be honest, we should reject
such tinkering, we should reject the very principle of party-political steering
of society and, even if we admit that parties are still indispensable as the
expression of specific interests, we should consistently reject the idea that
these specific interests should be allowed, through their would-be porte-paroles,
to govern us all. We should call the current systems particracies, or
simply oligarchies. We should strive for nothing less than a
comprehensive change of the system itself. This will require new, people´s
constitutions, approved by popular referenda. As models I would mention, for the
USA the National Initiative for Democracy, Mr.Lee Gottlieb´s structural
blueprint (see www.voicesfordd.com ),
the models put forward by Mr.Donald Davison and Prof.Michael Noah Mautner, Prof.Behrouzi´s
Direct Deliberative e-Democracy, a well as Mr.George Sagi´s graphical
presentation; process oriented models have been developed especially by Prof.
Ted Becker, USA, and Prof. Peter C.Dienel, Germany; amendments to European
parliamentary systems have been put forward by Prof.Mohssen Massarrat,
Mr.Jaroslav Langer, both Germany, Mr.Bernard Clayson, UK, Eng.Jaroslav Koci,
Czech Republic, myself, and probably some others.
If we understand this, we also understand the behaviour of the party elites
vis-a-vis one another. To some extent, they are adversaries, trying to rob other
parties of as many votes as possible. But on the other hand, they also need
other parties in order to maintain the illusion that the citizens are free to
make a choice. The political spectacle performed on TV screens is instructive.
Discussions never cross a certain line. While criticizing party-political
adversaries´ policies, all political actors occasionally compliment the same
adversaries, explicitly or implicitly, on their "democratic" spirit.
All of them carefully avoid the very concept of DD as a possible alternative.
Some DD procedures are tolerated, but only if they do not encroach too much upon
the parties´ power monopoly, i.e. if they do not advocate any real systemic
change.
Similar oligarchic solidarity can be observed on the international scene. During
the cold war era, politological research showed that the American
military-industrial complex exaggerated all the time the Soviet threat in order
to obtain funding for increasingly sophisticated weapons ("overkill
capacity"), while the Soviet military-bureaucratic complex exaggerated the
American threat for the same purpose. Both these complexes helped each other to
milk people living in their respective countries. The "victory" in the
cold war and the collapse of the Soviet Union shocked and distressed the
American component of this partnership. How to justify continued armaments?
"Fortunately", Western oligarchies have succeeded in inventing and
conjuring up Al-Qaeda and terrorism, so that the spectacle can go on, even if in
a different shape.
Similarly, wars waged by Western countries against Moslem regimes meet only
limited and moderate criticism on the part of the arrogant oppressor's
"democratic" colleagues, while the "non-democratic" Arabs,
when defending themselves, are doomed to misery and genocide.
However, more and more people begin to see through this bluff. Against the
world-wide oligarchic solidarity, a grass-root solidarity is emerging, a
solidarity based on improved information, better insight and enlightened
self-interest. It is not difficult to guess what the final outcome of this basic
conflict will be.
This is the second volume of the work the first volume of which was presented in
the previous issue of this newsletter. In the introduction, the author writes,
"... the present volume sets out to formulate a new theory that restores to
democracy its ideal of the citizens´ direct participation in legislative and
political decision-making. As part and parcel of formulating the new theory,
this volume develops a philosophical foundation for the now-ubiquitous idea of
"e-democracy", and uses this foundation to argue that the idea
merits serious consideration." .... "In conceptualizing democracy as
the political empowerment of the individual citizens, the question of empowering
the people is then transformed into the question of equally empowering the equal
individual citizens who comprise the people." ... "....popular
sovereignty cannot be represented. The book relentlessly pursues these ideas and
attempts to incorporate them into the existing theoretical framework of the
American liberal democracy." ...
The book consists of four chapters. The first one is
headlined Conceptualizing Democracy as the Idea of the Political Empowerment
of the Citizen. "In reclaiming for democracy the ideal of the
citizen´s direct participation in decision-making, starting with this chapter,
the present volume will set out to formulate a new conception of democracy that
will lay claim to both remaining true to the original meaning of the idea and
being able to produce an actual model and institutional design for practicing
it."... "...democracy can be formulated as a conception founded on the
following two ideal principles: 1.The ideal macro principle of
political sovereignty of the individual (citizen); .... 2. The ideal
micro principle of the "social autonomy" of the individual (citizen);
....
The first chapter then formulates the philosophical principles on
which the author's conception is based: ".... the intuitively plausible
claim that a society founded on the basis of this conception of democracy would
be the most suitable social-political milieu for the realization of the ultimate
value of the human universe ...."
The second chapter is headlined A different Kind of Collective
Decision-Making Scheme. It consists of the following sections: A
Different Kind of Voting System striving for full expression and full
integration of the citizen´s will (FEFI); The Problem of Knowledgeable and
Competent Voters; The Problem of "Irresponsible",
"Ideological", and "Strategic" Voting; The Problem of
the Manipulation of the Voting Agenda; The Problem of Revealing the Wills
of the Voters "Truly"; Arrow's Impossibility Theorem
The third chapter bears the headline A Realistic Democratic Utopia
Here, the author formulates ".... a theoretical-institutional framework
within which one can attempt to develop a practical model for the actualization
of the idea." The text is divided into four sections: The Idea of ´e´-Democracy;
Institutional Arrangements of a Realistic Democratic Utopia; Citizens´
Participation in the Realistic Democratic Utopia; Concluding Remarks
Finally, the headline of the fourth chapter is The Theory of
Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy.
Sections: Direct-Deliberative e-Democracy and Liberal Democracy;
Equality and the Question of Property Relations; The "Guardians
of the Public Interests" and the Question of the Quality of Voting Outcomes;
Justifying Direct Democracy; The Public Political Culture and Civil
Society; The Question of Technology; Concluding Remarks
(Can be ordered at www.lexingtonbooks.com
)
Prof.Behrouzi imagines the transition to the system envisioned by him as a
process stretching over several decades. As the point of departure, he takes the
political reality of the present-day USA. Here below, I am putting forward my
own (JP) idea which differs slightly from the above model by trying to reform European
Parliamentary systems. It is less radical than the Realistic Democratic
Utopia in that it preserves some forms of representation and is meant to be
realized in a much shorter period of time, under the pressure of public opinion
enforcing the implementation of Citizens´ Constitutions. Such a Semi-direct
Democracy can be considered as an intermediary stage of the development
heading for Prof.Behrouzi's full-fledged e-Democracy.
Commenting on my model, Prof.Behrouzi wrote, "I thought it was an excellent
representation of how a substantive semi-direct democracy would work. In some
ways, the scheme could work with my idea of direct democracy."
INTERNATIONAL
USA
Senator Gravel's Presidential Campaign
Press Schedule for July 2006
July 9, North Hollywood, CA: Interviews and meetings
July 10: Tentative interview - Gil Gross, KABC RADIO, private meeting and dinner
July 11, Tucson, AZ: Vietnam Veterans of America Leadership Conference
July 12: Vietnam Veterans of America, The President´s Luncheon, The Coronado
Room
July 13: Las Vegas, Meet and Greet; Private Meeting
July 14: Departure for Manchester, NH ........
Press Release by Mr.Elliott Jacobson (excerpts):
"Tucson, AZ - July 10, 2006 - In a blistering attack against the Bush
Administration´s treatment of American War veterans, Democratic Presidential
contender and former US Senator Mike Gravel said at the annual Leadership
Conference of Vietnam Veterans of America, "A society is judged by how its
leaders treat its nation´s young, its elderly and the guardians of its shores.
On all counts the current administration has scandalously failed." ...
In connection with the War in Iraq, Senator Gravel said, "When I enter the
White House on January 20, 2009, the War on Veterans will end and just as surely
so will the War in Iraq. On that day I will order all of our troops out of Iraq,
to be put on planes headed for the United States. The age of uninformed,
ignorant adventurism and empire building will be over." ....
27 July, in Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc., Staff
Writer Keach Hagey, published an article headlined Presidential
hopeful slams ´politics as usual´ Excerpts: "Former Alaskan Sen.
Mike Gravel, the first Democrat to announce for president, stopped by Greenwich
this week to both campaign for himself and throw his weight behind senatorial
hopeful Ned Lamont. Gravel, who served as a senator from 1969 to 1981, decided
to jump back in the political fray out of anger over the war in Iraq and
frustration over what he calls ´politics as usual´." ........
"He called the Democrats who voted to give President Bush the power to
invade Iraq ´gutless´." ........
"But Gravel´s main reason for running for president is to push his main
policy goal of direct democracy and a revamped federal tax code." ... He
understands that Congress is unlikely to enact much of his agenda, and therefore
encourages citizens to do so directly through his direct democracy Web site www.nationalinitiative.us
." .... More information is available at www.gravel2008.us
as well as several other websites.
What are his chances? Traditionally, under "normal"
circumstances, to become a US President, tens of millions of dollars seem to be
needed. Probably, Sen.Gravel does not have such money. But: The current
circumstances are anything but "normal"! There is not only the
crazy war in Iraq, the fascistoid curtailment of rights and liberties in blatant
contradiction to the spirit, if not the wording, of the Constitution, the phony
"war on terrorism". There is something much worse, namely the threat
of a 9/11-"gate" (?) looming large.
These are the facts: (Information obtained mainly from the Global Outlook - Spring/Summer
2006)
1. Lack of military response to the highjacking (GO - p.23 - 38)
2. Bush's behavior when he received the news at Brooker Elemenary School (documented
on film; he certainly did not seem to be surprised!)
3. The lack of plausibility of a successful simultaneous take-over by
terrorists. ("It seems to me like 19 amateurs with box cutters taking
over four commercial airlines and hitting 75% of their targets, that feels like
a conspiracy theory. It raises a lot of questions," wrote Ch.Sheen in GO,
p.3.) Expert pilots say it's impossible to fly heavy aircrafts without training.
4. The virtual impossibility that steel constructions would collapse under
the impact of a plane. The burning fuel would by far not be sufficient to
produce such an effect, according to experts. Explosives must have been put into
the buildings in advance. It must have been a controlled demolition resulting in
an implosion instead of explosion. This fact seems to me to be the
strongest evidence in favor of the critics´ allegations. On pages 42 - 43,
GO brings the article presenting the lecture given by Prof.Steven Jones at the
Brigham Young University. Quote: "If Dr. Jones work ever breaks into the
mainstream media, and the rest of the country reacts the way the Utah County
audience reacted, traditional political divisions will evaporate like steal
beams exploded with thermite, and the whole lot of them, the Democrats and the
Republicans will be swept away, along with the military-industrial complex that
has apparently managed to subvert the constitution of the United States and to
con the American public, mesmerized by the shock of 9/11 and hypnotized by
spellbinding incantations of freedom and patriotism, into going along with their
mad plans for world domination."
5. Why has Osama bin Laden not been caught? "... the US military
evidently allowed him to escape on at least four occasions ... " (GO,
p.18). Evidently, those in charge want to keep him in place as a bogey.
6. The virtual impossibility for an amateur pilot to hit the Pentagon with a
plane. Experts say even experienced pilots would not be able to do that. The
hole did not correspond to the alleged attack. It looked more like a damage
caused by a torpedo. For a long time, no photograph was produced to corroborate
the official story. Finally, under pressure, the Pentagon produced a dubious
picture which could be a fake.
There are some more highly suspect circumstances which
indicate that the official 9/11 story is a hoax.
"Over the past two years, scores of highly regarded individuals have gone
public to express their serious doubts about 9/11. These include former
presidential advisor and CIA analyst Ray McGovern, the father of Reaganomics and
former Assistant secretary of the US Treasury Paul Craig Roberts, BYU physics
Professor Steven Jones, former MI5 officer David Shayler, former Blair cabinet
member Michael Meacher, former Chief Economist for the Department of Labor
during President George W.Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds and many more."
(GO p.3)
Imagine this scenario: Senator Gravel might include the demand for the
elucidation of the background of 9/11 in his agenda and take the lead of the 9/11
Truth Movement. Suppose the truth would finally explode in the mainstream
media, unleashing a political tsunami which would wash away the corrupt
establishment protagonists and, during this third "gate", bring to the
top the honest, courageous and charismatic politician who, after having greatly
contributed to the dismantling of the first "gate" (the Watergate),
could now repeat this achievement on a much larger scale.... If so, American
voters might well turn to him as the only person able to restore credibility to
American democracy and return the former glory to the great American nation.
Should this happen, we might well begin to believe that, indeed, "there's a
divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will" ....
10 August: These days, the Swedish TV was full of this
news, called sensational: In Connecticut, Mr.Lamont defeated Mr.Lieberman
in the battle for the Democrats´ nomination for the Senate. Now, Lamont is
supported by Sen.Gravel because he is opposed to the USA´s involvement in Iraq.
The Swedish TV's comment: It seems that the war in Iraq will be the main issue
in the coming presidential election. .....
Mr.Lee Gottlieb has updated his four internet books: The
Democracy that Never Was; The Malfunctioning Animal; The Democracy that Could
Be; A Theory of Subversion
(see http://www.voicesfordd.com/morebooks.html
). Recently, he has also written The Constitution of America.
His Overview of Proposed Organization can be downloaded from
http://www.voicesfordd.com/articles/aplan-3.html
Visit a new electronic DD periodical published by Mr. Mark Antell:
http://www.citizenpowermagazine.net/index.htm
CANADA
19 June, information from Mr.M.Kolar: "LINK: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=3036,3377687&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
- The Montréal Charter of Rights and Responsibilities is in force since January
2006. It covers democracy, economic and social life .... The Charter is ... the
first of its kind in North America ... It encourages citizens´ participation
... and enshrines some social and economic rights ...." ... "This
charter is also the expression of the grass-root calls that the right of people
for true local self-government be fully recognized .... "
MEXICO
28 July, information from Mr.Bruce Eggum: "I
offer this information on the People of Oaxaca Mexico who are demanding
"Direct Democracy" for themselves. ... " Mr.Eggum quotes the
letter received from Mr. George Salzman ( george.salzman@umb.edu
): ".... While the corporate media in the U.S. focuses our attention on the
slaughter in Lebanon, the remarkable popular rising of the majority of people in
the State of Oaxaca is receiving scant if any notice. But in the long run its
impact may be enormous, because what is at stake is not merely a political
change of who control the hierarchical governing power structure, but doing away
entirely with that hierarchy and its coercive power, replacing it with an
entirely different form of government. The article, ´A few of many strands in
the struggle for life with dignity: Palestine and Oaxaca, and now Lebanon, and
.... ´is at
http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-07-27.htm
GREECE
28 July, information from Mr.George Kokkas,
"Dear DD colleagues, I am proud to inform you that on July 14th 2006, the
day of the French Revolution for Democracy, we succeeded to make DD happen! I
coordinated the most serious event ever happened about Direct Democracy in
contemporary Greece. It was a gathering of the people (Demos) of the island of
Rhodes, as it happened in ancient times, in the Ancient amphitheater of the old
town, who voted before their local elections, not for representatives, but on
the major problems of the island in eight different entities (environment,
traffic problems, etc.) giving an order to all candidates to disclose their
views when they will be elected. Our NGO (Forum for Citizens´ Democracy)
organized the whole event with a big success, under the auspices of local
authorities and NGOs.
Please give publicity to this important event, as it inspires
us for authentic Democracy!" ....
"The whole event was a mixture of cultural and direct
democratic elements, with the objective to give safe orders of people to the new
local Authorities of Rhodes Island (to be elected next October) about the
priorities of policies that people request.
After a couple of short introductory speeches, we had a small
theatrical play, satyrizing the contemporary political life and then we begun
the political event of the Ecclesia, with short speeches of local
NGO´s spokespersons, limited to 2 minutes maximum, giving giving the tempo and
the sense of isegoria (equal speaking time) to the next citizen
speakers." ......
Congratulations, George ! JP
GERMANY
23 June, information from Mr.Ronald Pabst:
NEWSLETTER #16
Contents:
0) Editorial: Campaign (Info about recent activities and successes of Mehr
Demokratie)
1) How to Build an Organisation
2) Oneseat.EU
3) Berlin: Reform of Direct Democracy
4) DI-Book Project: Update
5) Athens: European Social Forum
6) ECI-Campaign
26 July, information from Mr.Ronald Pabst:
NEWSLETTER #17
Content
0) Editorial: A Visit from Bhutan
1) Report: Democratisation from Above
2) IRI Asia: Report on Direct Democracy
3) South Tyrol: Struggle for More Democracy
4) New Convention, New Supporters
5) ECI: Supporters Wanted
6) Germany: Fair Election Law
(Quotation):
....... "A few weeks ago, a visitor from Bhutan came to Cologne, Kinley
Dirji, editor of the newspaper Kuensel, visited Germany. He wanted to
learn how the Germans handle democracy. We had the pleasure to welcome him
because he wanted to know more about NGOs promoting citizens participation. But
we also learned from him. " ....
The full text of Mr.Pabst´s Newsletters can be downloaded from
http://www:democracy-international.org
UKRAINE
Recently, a group of students living in Kyev have founded a
DD organization called
Academy of Direct Democracy (see http://www.freewebs.com/academydd
)
On 30 July, Ms Maria Ivanova, chief executive,
a student of political science, wrote, ".... My organization is very young,
existing only for 3 months, and we haven't got any external financing yet. We
tried to get some grants but the procedure is rather formal and bureaucratic, so
it takes some time. ...."
On 7 August, Ms Ivanova explained, ".... So what we are
doing now is conducting the discussion (as far as we can reach, via internet)
about the creation of one all-Ukrainian youth parliament. This will contribute
to the increasing of the number of the citizens participating in the state
decision-making process, which is driving us closer to the participation of ALL
citizens in the decision-making process, which is DD actually." ....
Mainly, people don't take DD seriously. My older colleagues are like: ´OK,
children, play here with your DD and we'll do the real things.´ ...."
I (JP) mentioned that in our European network, there is only
one prominent international female activist, i.e. Filia, to which she replied,
"This is really strange as all girls are active here and take part in
numerous events and do their best but in the end, boys get to the top of all
organizations, groups, parties etc. In our youth parliament project, I've
suggested to guarantee the 1:1 representation of both sexes and you know what I've
got? A hot discussion on the subject that it is unfair and discriminative. .....
" (Comment: I believe that the requirement of complete equality of both
sexes is the obvious standpoint of all DD people. JP)
CZECH REPUBLIC
The voter turn-out in the June 2006 parliamentary election
was about 67%. Some say 63%. Owing to the anti-democratic and discriminative 5%
threshold, no DD party succeeded to get at least one MP. The co-founder of
DEMOCRACY (see previous information), Mr.Peter Czasch, decided
this time to promote the Common Sense Party which seemed open to DD
ideas. Mr.Czasch invested 2,5 million Czech crowns from his own pocket (about
70.000 euro), which was all he had. If there were more people like him, the
years of oligarchic rule in that country would be numbered. Thanks to his
effort, the Common Sense Party obtained about 25,000 votes, i.e. about 0.5 % of
the electorate, placing itself to the top among smaller parties. It was not
enough. The smaller parties together gained about 6%. The war goes on ...
Mrs.Jarmila Kubatova is presenting for the
Czech DD community an Internet-based Voting System. It is an ingenious
combination of book-keeping and electronic technology. It contains two ideas
which, to my knowledge, have never been proposed or tried in any country so far:
1.The direct inclusion of economic incentives in the voting procedure; 2.Special
authorization for experts in the respective field to cast advisory votes
concerning bills, before the voting in Parliament or referendum.
The procedure would be as follows (summary): Before each
election, all qualified voters receive an envelope containing:
A list of all parties and candidates who run on that particular occasion
An election bank draft consisting of two identical parts
Detailed election instructions
The drafts would be anonymous, containing only a serial number - a PIN code,
hidden below an effaceable foil. Combined with a proof of identity, the voter's
signature, and the post office's or bank's rubber stamp, each draft would
constitute the value of 100 crowns (about 3 euro). The voter would fill in the
number of the party or individual candidate he/she votes for.
Behind the screen he/she would rub off both foils, keep one of the parts and
cast the other one into the ballot box. The 100 crowns - the value of his/her
vote - would be transferred to the respective party or candidate. The hunred
crowns reserved, but not used by the person who abstained from voting, would be
transferred to the State.
All votes would be stored in the internet and each voter would be able to check
that his/her vote has been properly registered.
Mrs.Kubatova's proposal contains detailed descriptions of the procedures
involved. To me, the proposal seems to be worth of serious consideration.
Obviously, it would have to pass muster in the judgment of many more people. It
will be presented at the next meeting of True Democrats. (JP)
BELGIUM
23 June, information from Mr. M.Kolar:
LINK: http://www.democratie.nu
- Democratie.Nu
The movement for (direct) democracy in Belgium, formerly called "WIT".
EUROPE
11 August, information from Mr.Leopoldo Salgui:
The most recent activity of the forums at European Constituent Process has been
Everyone's a Citizen, Baby
http://europeanconstituentprocess.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49
and ditto ... t=50 - 53 ...
EUROPA-MAGAZINE 1/2006 http://www.europa-magazin.ch
published by the Forum für direkte Demokratie
"Das Forum für direkte Demokratie ist eine überparteiliche
Bewegung von Leuten aus dem ökologisch-sozialen Lager, die der offiziellen
EU-Politik gegenüber kritisch eingestellt sind."
Articles:
Kleine Länder und die Entscheidungsprozesse der EU - ein paar dänische
Beispiele
Irland - ein Kleinstaat in der EU
An interesting quotation, showing the real motives: "Minister als
EU-Gesetzgeber
Wenn der EU-Beitritt für kleine Staaten ein Verminderung ihres Einflusses
bedeutet, warum treten sie dann bei? .... Der wichtigste Grund besteht in den
Ambitionen und im Eigennutz der nationalen Politiker, der sie gegen die
Intressen ihrer Bevölkerungen handeln lässt. .... Auf der nationalen Ebene
können die Minister zur Verantwortung gezogen werden. Kan man die wichtige
Politik jedoch nach Brüssel verschieben, wird der fragliche Minister, im
Heimatland Teil der Exekutive, zum supranationalen Gesetzgeber auf der EU-Ebene,
einer von 25 Mitgliedern des EU-Ministerrates. Sie können gemeinsam Gesetze
für 450 Million Europäer hinter verschlossenen Türen erlassen, oft auf der
Basis von Paket-Lösungen, wobei die Grossen der europäischen Welt ein
Übergewicht haben."
Demokratie oder Mitmischen der schweizerischen "Eliten" in Brüssel
Buchbesprechungen, Kurzinfos .............
L´exemple de la directive sur les services
Die Folgen der EU-Mitgliedschaft: das ungarische Beispiel
Der Bock als Gärtner
Kurzinfos Varia
THE WORLD
4 May, information from Mr.M.Kolar: "I
recommend you to visit the Spanish site
http://www.worldvotenow.com
On 15 May, they organize a Global E-Voting Simulation as a practical
proof of the fact that the technology needed for "more direct"
democracy is already available."
Discussions about how to organize WDDM are going on.
On 12 May, Mr.Bruce Eggum wrote,
... "WDDM could be more secure and responsible if WDDM were a non-profit
organization which could solicit funds from the public, maintain a bank account,
and be accountable. This requires a structure (accountability) which is also
required by most if not all nations to license an organization.
Please note, the organization can be structured so it is accountable to the
members, such as a cooperative model instead of a hierarchical model. The
structure is determined in the "constitution" or "charter".
This all follows the intentions of the Prague Conference here: http://www.world-wide-democracy.net/thirdconf/wddmeo.html
I suggest we carry this conversation on at the Forum
http://www.world-wide-democracy.net/forum
25 May, Triaka sent round a proposal
concerning "The Constitution of United Diversity - The World
Cooperative". http://groups.yahoo.com/group/uniteddiversity
"DECLARATION - The CONSTITUTION of UNITED DIVERSITY is a voluntary
Universal Agreement of, by, and for Individuals everywhere which, by popular
acceptance and in harmony with the Natural Laws of the Universe, is hereby
declared Superior to all other Governmental Constructs."
On 12 June, Triaka sent this letter to the CICDD
discussion channel:
"Aloha! My perspective is that no government or political system is
´ethically valid´ without one's UNFORCED, EXPLICIT, DIRECT ´consent and
support´.
No existing nation-state on earth meets this criteria. For an ethical new
beginning, there is The CONSTITUTION OF UNITED DIVERSITY" (see above)
"What say you? Goodwill to you, Triaka"
SIMPOL
18 July, information from Mr.John
Bunzl:
"The latest issue of It´s Simpol!, the
newsletter of the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation has just been
issued. You can view and/or download it for free by going to
http://www.simpol.org.uk/pdfs/simpolsummer06.pdf
If you would prefer to receive a World version as an attachment, please let
us know by responding to this message."
The Simpol movement makes steady progress. The Newsletter mentions, among
others, the following events:
New Zealand: The Incorporation of Simpol-NZ, scheduled for July 2006.
UK: Membership nominations and elections for the Simpol-UK´s
provisional Policy Committee. ...............
"The Simultaneous Policy leaves this imperfect system (based on
indirect representation - JP) in place, but adds to it a ´parallel democracy´
that allows politicians - across the world - to carry on supporting their
party´s policies at national level but drives them to support, and ultimately
to implement global-level policies that citizens and voters are working across
frontiers to create. Now there is news that such citizens and voters may indeed
be a political force of increasing importance. In the UK, as an example, a
recent BBC survey suggests there has been a shift of opinion towards SPlike
values. This is because the survey reveals ´the emergence of a dynamic,
socially engaged and environmentally conscious voter - estimated to be 20
million in number .... ´
And in the USA, according to Donna Zajonc, cited by Center4Change, the maturing
´Millenium Generation´ ´will have a huge impact on politics and society´
because they will ´transform cultural attitudes, revolutionize work
environments and empower the disenfranchised by blending their fierce
independence with a vision for the common good.´" .....
Vol.8. (No. 3) September 2006
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