Posts Tagged democracy
March 24, 2008 at 1:13 pm
· Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged change, choice, democracy, freedom, futile, government, law, people, Politics, reform, system, uk, voluntary, voting
From the Guardian:
‘A significant overhaul of electoral legislation to give voters a second vote, open polling stations at weekends and make it compulsory to participate is being proposed by the government to increase turnout and improve the legitimacy of the Commons.’
Let me paraphrase that. The most important and shocking section of that paragraph is the ‘ compulsory to participate’ . This means under the new voting system in the UK, people over 18 will be forced to vote.
This is ridiculous for many reasons. Voting is an essential part of a healthy democracy. Voting is a choice – a conscious, political, voluntary participation. If people don’t want to vote – that’s their decision. Choice is freedom. So forcing what should be a choice upon people contradicts the purpose of a democracy – freedom and choice.
This new voting system would be like the death penalty for attempted suicide – in essence, while they are supposedly trying to bring back democracy, they are actually destroying it. It is a political paradox.
Like fucking for virginity, these radical changes will be futile and stupid. That is what this new voting system is like. The traditional voting system works because people who want change choose to vote. Those who aren’t bothered don’t. And the people who don’t vote are usually not politically opinionated, so would be a bad electorate to be made to vote – people who aren’t interested with the government or don’t like any of the candidates simply don’t want to vote – and that’s obvious. Making people vote is insulting to democracy.
Perhaps they should put more effort in to what the people want rather than going ahead with frankly retarded ideas like this without asking for the People’s views on it. The People giving their views is democratic and is what should separate our country from dictatorships in which the government makes unwanted and unnecessary changes.
I oppose this new plan. It’s not realistic and it’s definitely not democratic. VOTING IS VOLUNTARY.
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March 15, 2008 at 12:06 pm
· Filed under Misc. Poems, Politics, society ·Tagged anarchism, arise, conscious, critical, democracy, freedom, listen, move, people, protest, revolution, rights, stand, stand up, thinking, wake up
The alarm rings,
Everyone rises,
But they’re all still unconscious,
In a comatose slumber.
The music plays,
But the lyrics are paid no attention,
Picking out what we want to hear,
In reality, we’re just not listening.
Wake up,
Reasoning is refuge.
Critical thinking
For when the lights flash red.
Wake up,
You have to listen for once.
Analyzing the evidence,
Make up your own mind,
Challenge why things are missing.
The megaphone resounds
In the subway,
But the people are too busy
To turn their robotic heads.
To open up their unfit eyes,
And look upon their insidious misery.
The revolution is inchoate,
But it’s here in an alpha release,
Loopholes surround it,
Because it’s an unfinished piece.
The fundamentals are there,
You can find the rest,
The conscious pivot towards freedom
Is real democracy,
So let’s get moving for the best.
Stand up!
And speak for what you believe.
Take heed,
And supersede; transcend the indoctrinating creed.
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February 16, 2008 at 10:29 am
· Filed under Politics ·Tagged america, ban, blog, bloggers, bush, congress, constitution, democracy, equal rights, government, habeas corpus, intelligence, law, left wing, legislation, prison, senate, survey, terror, terrorism, torture, usa, veto, vote, water board, waterboarding, white house
A recent poll showed that 68 percent of Americans said water-boarding was torture. And that result is from CNN, a particularly right wing corporation. Imagine all the people who do not participate in CNN surveys. I expect the result would be even higher than 68 percent in that case.
The senate have recently passed legislation to ban water-boarding, regardless of Bush saying he will veto the vote, on his usual, pathetic, lazy stance that it will encourage ‘terrorism’. Yes, because kidnapping, arresting, then illegally torturing foreigners (and Americans) without fair trials is keeping terrorism down. Well done Bush, you ignorant liar.
Bush also said that they are placing to much trust in the intelligence ‘community’, by placing their trust into the hands of left-wingers. Of course! How silly and solipsistic it is to trust people who believe in equal rights, habeas corpus, and the constitution…
Another recent line of Bush is:
‘The American people will find it baffling that on a day that House leaders are trying to put off passing critical legislation to keep us safer from the threat of foreign terrorists overseas, they are spending scarce time to become the first congress in history to bring contempt charges against a president’s chief of staff and lawyer’
No, Bush, the American people will finding baffling in the future, to think that someone as authoritarian and evil as you could get into power. That’s the confusing part.
57 percent of likely voters also oppose telecom immunity. In a real democracy, the majority call goes through. But the USA is not under a democracy. It is under despotism.
I can’t wait for Bush to get out of power. The world is getting tired of his ridiculous, irrational decisions and comments. Obama will be a breath of fresh air for the world if he comes into presidency, because the statue of liberty must be pretty depressed right now.
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February 6, 2008 at 7:10 pm
· Filed under Politics ·Tagged america, barrack, bush, clinton, conservative, democracy, elections, fear, government, iraq, liberal, mccain, president, romney, super, torture, tuesday, us, vote, voting, war
The US presidential elections in 2008 are a big deal. A really big deal.
With a global hegemony, massive arms supplies and a lot at stake, who wins in 2008 is going to make a large difference. Of course, this is obvious, but some people do not realize the seriousness of the situation.
I live in the UK, and from here, I feel fear for the world about who is going to become the new president. They are a superpower, so why shouldn’t we be scared. It is vital that whoever wins is going to make choices that will benefit not just America, but the rest of the world.
My heart is filled with dread. Dread that the person who wins the election could be like Bush. It reminds me of a cartoon I saw where a family were standing by the TV, waiting for the results of presidential elections with guns to their heads.
However, despite all this fear, I have immense hope for the future. Hope that the next president of the US will choose to end war, to end torture, to follow international law, to shut down Guantanamo along with other illegal, secret prisons over the world and give the inmates fair trials at last. On top of these things, the US needs to rescue the economy; to get rid of the PATRIOT act and to stop invasive, big-brother-like citizen surveillance, among many other issues.
Sadly, US government do not really have a left wing. If you look at places like Sweden, even the most ‘liberal’ of US politicians look like despots when compared to Swedish politicians.
Despite the lack of liberal candidates, I believe there is a great hope for America. Super-Tuesday has just gone, with Barack Obama achieving great success in the elections. Hillary Clinton also did well, which in my opinion is a shame due to her support of the Iraq war.
John McCain and Mitt Romney got a large number of votes for the republicans. This is shocking since McCain stated that he thinks the US should stay in Iraq for 100 years, and equally disturbing is the fact that Romney has previously tried to justify totalitarianism, and, shockingly, is part of a group set up to deny the facts of global warming. That will go down excellently with the oil corporations. As you can tell, both Romney and McCain are very conservative.
I think Barack Obama will make a great president if he wins the elections, despite the ambiguity concerning his support or opposition to the Iraq war. This is a vital time in America, and the elections could mean that, if the right candidate becomes president, the US could get back on track again – away from war; away from torture; away from the crumbling economy and the rapid destruction of civil liberties.
I hope Americans have done what they think was right in who they voted for. Whoever wins, the winner is most likely going to be better than Bush..
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January 29, 2008 at 8:37 pm
· Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged 2005, act, civil, democracy, demonstrate, dictatorship, freedom, government, law, legislation, liberties, liberty, oppose, protest, socpa, tyranny, uk
I am writing to demand democracy in England. To get back our right to protest, which has been mindlessly, tyrannically stripped away under section 132-138 of the Serious Organized Crimes and Police Act of 2005 (socpa).
Section 132-138 effectively remove the right to spontaneous protest. These sections silence dissent and opposition, and are a disgrace to what we once called a democracy.
These sections of Socpa (or ’so-crap’ as it is often called) make spontaneous protest within a kilometer of parliament square illegal – meaning Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister), Whitehall, Westminster Abbey, Scotland Yard, the Middlesex guildhall, and the home office. But most outrageously, this area covers Trafalgar Square – the area where protesters have got their views across for years and fought fiercely for their rights there. But now, it is illegal to protest in these areas. It is illegal to protest without permission of the police, rendering democracy useless. Having to get permission to protest is an insult.
The horrible thing is, not only does this silence dissent, but if one chooses to protest without ‘permission’ within a kilometer of parliament square, then you can be arrested and imprisoned for 51 weeks.
I am sickened by this act. It is dictatorial and goes against everything the UK once stood for. An explicit attack on our civil liberties, under the common pretext of ‘fighting terrorism’. The freedom to protest has never provoked terrorism. Before the act, terrorism was not a large problem in the UK, and the government know it. But they are adamant on controlling us and repressing the public.
Socpa needs to be re-written with section 132-138 completely removed. And we need to fight, even if it protesting is illegal and punishable, for it’s removal. It is a sorry state of affairs when permission is needed to be able to demonstrate near parliament.
I hope that you will join me and others in opposing this authoritarian piece of legislation.
Watch this video for more information: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2008/01//389116.mp4
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January 26, 2008 at 12:01 am
· Filed under Politics ·Tagged cuba, democracy, detainment, detention, fair trial, freedom, guantanamo, habeas corpus, human rights, justice, prison, terror, terrorism, torture, trial, us
Why does Guantanamo bay prison still exist?
Guantanamo bay, as of August 9 2007, holds 355 people. Most, if not all, are probably innocent. None have had a fair trial, all the inmates are detained without ever seeing a judge or a jury. There are even children there. It is unconstitutional. It is illegal. Habeas Corpus does not exist in Guantanamo bay detention center.
Conditions are so bad that 4 people have committed suicide, many self harm and there have reportedly been hundreds of suicide attempts. The Bush administration is ignoring international law and violating the human rights of all the inmates, and is completely going against the Geneva conventions.
Guantanamo is a ‘monstrous failure of justice’. It is not right for people to be tortured at all, but when people are tortured without being given a reason and without going before a court, it is truly sickening that the way these people are being treated.
What would you do if you saw someone who was chained to the floor, with no chair, water or food and deprived of sleep, and these people are very likely innocent. They have been ripped from their homes and put into prison without having a trial, let alone a fair one.
It is an outrage that Guantanamo bay detention center exists. It is an outrage towards human rights, justice and liberty. It is an insult to all things good and to democracy. It is as unacceptable today as it has ever been. Torturing innocent people is not going to stop terrorism – it is going to fuel it. It is not going to protect national security, it is going to endanger it. There is no excuse for what is happening at Guantanamo. It is unjustifiable. It has made no-one safer. It is a shameful act of terror towards humanity.
Put simply, Guantanamo bay is a torture camp. In it’s six years of existence, it remains a torture camp.
Information gained by torture is unreliable. One British detainee confessed to being in a video with Osama Bin Laden, when in fact at the time the video was filmed, he was working at a store in the midlands.
For the families of the detainees, some of them don’t even know where their children are. They have never been informed. These parents often do not know that their child has been scooped up and dumped unlawfully in a detention center, and been exposed to horrific abuse, and terrible conditions.
However, Guantanamo is a mere distraction to the 13,600 prisoners, whose names aren’t even known, in secret American prisons all over the world. The ten British Guantanamo prisoners there in 2007 were all promised legal aid by the British government, but none was ever given. The British government is doing nothing to stop this abomination. Nothing.
How can we turn a blind eye to this monstrosity, to this evil prison, and other evil prisons supporting, run even, by so-called democracies like the UK and America, around the world? How can we be living in democracies if our countries don’t even adhere to international law or the Declaration of Human Rights? If this is a democracy, then I’d hate to live under a dictatorship.
Guantanamo is driving inmates into madness, due to psychological and physical abuse. And it is driving the world into madness.
Guantanamo, and all other illegal prisons, must be shut down, and the inmates must finally get fair trials. Let justice come at last.
We want justice; We want Guantanamo prison shut down.
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January 19, 2008 at 7:49 pm
· Filed under Politics ·Tagged bias, celebrities, democracy, ignorance, media, representation
Now, aren’t the media supposed to be fighters of ignorance,
Informers of the public,
Non-biased heroes that go for truth?
Or are they just gossipers.
Last time I looked,
The headlines are about celebrities,
Not about the end of democracy,
The farcical ‘War on Terror’
Or the economy that is in billions of pounds of debt,
Low working standards,
A free market that wrecks lives,
Corporate crimes,
Monopolistic company synergy,
An environment that is in ruins,
A war that is going on forever
And the militarization and commercialization of space?
Why has the media become a means to dumb the masses
To keep people blind;
To hide the truth;
To lie;
To deceive;
To entertain?
If the media told the truth and the real stories,
Our government would be different.
Because people would realize what is happening.
How we no longer have fundamental human rights.
How thousands are homeless on our streets,
Millions are living in poverty,
And the dire situation in our energy supplies?
Media – Wake up.
If you wake up, the people will wake up.
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January 19, 2008 at 7:47 pm
· Filed under Politics ·Tagged democracy, freedom, liberty, quotes
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759[
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 – 1790)
While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State.
Lenin, “State and Revolution”, 1919
A lie told often enough becomes the truth.
Lenin
Patterning your life around other’s opinions is nothing more than slavery.
Lawana Blackwell, The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark, 1999
You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.
Malcolm X (1925 – 1965), Malcolm X Speaks, 1965
The love of liberty is the love of others; the love of power is the love of ourselves.
William Hazlitt (1778 – 1830)
Go on, get out. Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.
Karl Marx
When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.
Dorothy Thompson
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)
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January 19, 2008 at 6:01 pm
· Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged autodidact, democracy, freedom, home education, learning, school, schooling
I am writing because the future of our world is in jeopardy. It is in jeopardy because our education system is failing the children of today, thus failing the leaders of tomorrow. While this may seem extreme, it is very much true. It is failing because the fundamental aspects of formal education in the U.K. rely on strict, irrational authority, monotonous, restricting uniformity, and constant conformity. This leads to a regime that equates to the opposite of education; the antithesis of learning – where the right to pursue knowledge is inhibited – and in some cases prohibited. The youth of our nation need a real education, and are being denied this right. Therefore, I write in a desperate plea, a call to arms, to parents and children alike, to all erudite citizens, all uneducated citizens, non-citizens, immigrants, prisoners and elderly people of the UK- all who wish for our young people to have a good future – to fight for a decent education for Britain’s youth. Using a one-size fits all standard of schooling does not work. In this essay I shall express my concerns, motives and reasons as to why the ‘education’ system is falling apart, and what to do about it.
Democracy
We are told we live in a democracy – a land of liberty, security, freedom of expression and speech. Why then are we, as teenagers, being raised in prisons? Why, are we as teenagers, being brought up in an authoritarian environment, an environment that is quasi-fascist and ultimately dictatorial? Why are the sole learnings of a graduated teenager how to live under tyranny? The sole philosophies of schooling are to never question authority, to obey blindly all commands and to be passive, instruction following robots. Does this sound democratic to you? It seems reminiscent to a Stalinist nightmare. For almost 12 years, under practically compulsory education, children and adolescents are forced to become obsequiousness
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