Posts Tagged freedom

Compulsary voting?

March 24, 2008 at 1:13 pm · Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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Unity and Compassion: Overcoming Intolerance.

March 15, 2008 at 7:53 pm · Filed under Misc. Poems, Politics, society ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Teaching intolerance
Under the pretext of care
Preaching love and compassion
When it’s hatred they wear.

Disgusting excuses and doctrines
That many people adopt,
Why can’t people’s differences
Be accepted for once?

Lost for words
At the vast hypocrisy
Saying their dogma is freedom,
And then they force you into their autocracy.

We should be equal
Not looking down at each other
There’s a paradox in some words.
We can’t let justice be smothered.

Tolerance,
And peace have got to lead the way
So we can live together
In harmony,
Let’s all be ourselves,
And still accept one another,
Work for a better future,
That the next generation
Will then gladly take over.

The right to have a religion,
Is crucial and just,
And their are a myriad of other liberties,
That also have our trust.

We can co-exist,
And thrive with one another,
Celebrating our diversity,
And loving each other.
But we can’t allow,
Intolerance and hatred to break apart this unity,
Which is why we struggle on together,
As a strongly bound community.

Peace.

—————————————————————

Note: This isn’t aimed particularly at religion, and definitely isn’t about hating religion, or any believers. It’s about accepting each other for who we are, and the right to diversity.

I have seen people be oppressed by religion, and I have seen hypocrisy. But I have also met amazing people of all faiths who want freedom, peace and justice in this world, and the majority of people do. It’s about everyone – regardless of religion, race, sexuality, gender or age – coming together and working for a better world.

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Arise

March 15, 2008 at 12:06 pm · Filed under Misc. Poems, Politics, society ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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SOCPA Section 132 – 138: Destroying the right to protest

January 29, 2008 at 8:37 pm · Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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Guantanamo prison: illegal, unjust, unconstitutional, shameful.

January 26, 2008 at 12:01 am · Filed under Politics ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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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Liberty for ALL

January 24, 2008 at 9:27 pm · Filed under Misc. Poems, society ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Fire rages in the fields of unity

Sparked by the fuel of prejudice and hate

The fuel of humanity multiplies the inferno

Until nothing is left of solidarity and peace.

 

Building walls of Jericho around their city

Guarding their segregationist fortresses.

They fight harmony with vicious war

And the armies, they eradicate their enemies.

 

Torturing compassion, with whips and with knives

 

We fight to bring down the walls of racism

And to join together as one

 

We fight to let our voices resound,

In unison, we sing songs of freedom and pride

 

We hold the hands of others

Who’s skin may be different,

Who may be of another religion or race

But we love each other, not because of

outward appearance

But because we’re all equal

And because we all face the same problems

But we will get through them together.

Because we’re all humans, we hold the responsibility

To care. To trust. To live. To love.

 

Because we all have our battles.

But we will fight them together.

 

We let our song resound through the mountains

Not clash in discord: but come together and offer a sweet melody

 

We see the swords of menacing discrimination,

And the vile words of false preconception.

 

But we join, and we charge, to knock down the walls of this partisanship

 

Liberty for all.

 

When the bombs come raining down, we do not cry in defeat,

But stand together and protect our friends.

 

Liberty, for all.

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In loco parentis

January 19, 2008 at 7:47 pm · Filed under Random Rants ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Loco parentis.

What a farse.

Schools act ‘in loco parentis’

Parents should act as parents

And this should be left to parents alone. Not a school.

Schools acting in place of a parent – an excuse to perform civil liberty violations. An excuse to batter freedom of speech and freedom of will.

Stupidity!

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Some of my favourite quotes on freedom

January 19, 2008 at 7:47 pm · Filed under Politics ·Tagged , , ,

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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The Schooling System essay part 1 – Intro and Democracy

January 19, 2008 at 6:01 pm · Filed under Politics, Random Rants, society ·Tagged , , , , , ,

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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