For Lefties too Stubborn to Quit
News round up 05:10 Sat May 25, 2013 | doctorfive
Anti property tax revenue occupation 20:43 Fri May 24, 2013 | WorldbyStorm
General O?Duffy is smiling, while Connolly and Larkin are turning in their graves! 18:08 Fri May 24, 2013 | WorldbyStorm
Complacency abounds? 12:24 Fri May 24, 2013 | WorldbyStorm
They say the situation is? 09:27 Fri May 24, 2013 | WorldbyStorm
Cedar Lounge >>
Life should be full of strangeness, like a rich painting
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In God?s Country 00:39 Mon May 13, 2013
Fishy Talks Galway, 13 May 2013 13:36 Sun May 12, 2013
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Dublin Opinion >>
Joined up thinking for the Irish Left
?Self-Hating Jews?, ?Ideological Criminals of the Worst Kind? Fri May 24, 2013 13:01 | Seán Sheehan
Book Review: Social Work and Social Theory- Making Connections by Paul Michael G... Thu May 23, 2013 13:48 | Darren Broomfield
Ode To The Minister For State Security Thu May 23, 2013 10:09 | Kevin Higgins
Yes, Say it Again: Ireland IS a Tax Haven and it?s Worked Hard to Be That Way Wed May 22, 2013 18:13 | Donagh Brennan
Understanding European Movements: New Social Movements, Global Justice Struggles... Wed May 22, 2013 13:32 | Irish Left Review
Irish Left Review >>
Farewell from NWL Sun May 19, 2013 14:00 | namawinelake
Happy 70th Birthday, Michael Sun May 19, 2013 14:00 | namawinelake
Of the Week? Sat May 18, 2013 00:02 | namawinelake
Noonan denies IBRC legal fees loan approval to Paddy McKillen was in breach of E... Fri May 17, 2013 14:23 | namawinelake
Gayle Killilea Dunne asks to be added as notice party in Sean Dunne?s bankruptcy Fri May 17, 2013 12:30 | namawinelake
NAMA Wine Lake >>
A shot at bias in the media
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Blessed with nothing but good intentions Fri Feb 22, 2013 18:04
The Household Charge - How They Failed to Shape Our Perspectives Wed Apr 25, 2012 10:48
The web's political rainbow Wed Dec 07, 2011 09:47
The Forgotten Constituency: The Majority and The Irish Economic Crisis Fri Mar 11, 2011 11:49
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3Talk given at the Day School. Its already up as an event/article, can be read here http://www.indymedia.ie/article/102627
There was also a talk given on the first part of the Green Book on Democracy. The whole Green Book can be read here http://www.mathaba.net/gci/theory/gb.htm
The following excerpts on the nature of parliaments and parties were read out at the day school and discussed.
What we have!
“The mere existence of a parliament means the absence of the people. True democracy exists only through the direct participation of the people, and not through the activity of their representatives. Parliaments have been a legal barrier between the people and the exercise of authority, excluding the masses from meaningful politics and monopolizing sovereignty in their place. People are left with only a facade of democracy, manifested in long queues to cast their election ballots.”
“Immediately after winning the electors' votes the representative takes over the people's sovereignty and acts on their behalf. The prevailing traditional democracy endows the member of parliament with a sacredness and immunity which are denied to the rest of the people. Parliaments, therefore, have become a means of plundering and usurping the authority of the people. It has thus become the right of the people to struggle, through popular revolution, to destroy such instruments”
“If parliament is formed from one party as a result of its winning an election, it becomes a parliament of the winning party and not of the people. It represents the party and not the people, and the executive power of the parliament becomes that of the victorious party and not of the people.”
“Under such systems, the people are the victims whose votes are vied for by exploitative competing factions who dupe the people into political circuses that are outwardly noisy and frantic, but inwardly powerless and irrelevant.”
“Moreover, since the system of elected parliaments is based on propaganda to win votes, it is a demagogic system in the real sense of the word. Votes can be bought and falsified. Poor people are unable to compete in the election campaigns, and the result is that only the rich get elected”
“Philosophers, thinkers, and writers advocated the theory of representative parliaments at a time when peoples were unconsciously herded like sheep by kings, sultans and conquerors. The ultimate aspiration of the people of those times was to have someone to represent them before such rulers. When even this aspiration was rejected, people waged bitter and protracted struggle to attain this goal.”
“The party is a contemporary form of dictatorship. It is the modern instrument of dictatorial government. The party is the rule of a part over the whole. As a party is not an individual, it creates a superficial democracy by establishing assemblies, committees, and propaganda through its members. The party is not a democratic instrument because it is composed only of those people who have common interests, a common perception or a shared culture; or those who belong to the same region or share the same belief.”
“The existence of many parties intensifies the struggle for power, and this results in the neglect of any achievements for the people and of any socially beneficial plans.”
“To do so, the opposition must minimize the government's achievements and cast doubt on its plans, even though those plans may be beneficial to the society. Consequently, the interests and programs of the society become the victims of the parties' struggle for power. Such struggle is, therefore, politically, socially, and economically destructive to the society, despite the fact that it creates political activity.”
“A party that is formed in the name of a class inevitably becomes a substitute for that class and continues in the process of spontaneous transformation until it becomes hostile to the class that it replaces.”
The Alternative
“First, the people are divided into Basic Popular Conferences. Each Basic Popular Conference chooses its secretariat. The secretariats of all Popular Conferences together form Non-Basic Popular Conferences. Subsequently, the masses of the Basic Popular Conferences select administrative People's Committees to replace government administration. All public institutions are run by People's Committees which will be accountable to the Basic Popular Conferences which dictate the policy and supervise its execution. Thus, both the administration and the supervision become the people's and the outdated definition of democracy - democracy is the supervision of the government by the people - becomes obsolete. It will be replaced by the true definition: Democracy is the supervision of the people by the people.”
“All citizens who are members of these Popular Conferences belong, vocationally and functionally, to various sectors and have, therefore, to form themselves into their own professional Popular Conferences in addition to being, by virtue of citizenship, members of the Basic Popular Conferences or People's Committees. Subjects dealt with by the Popular Conferences and People's Committees will eventually take their final shape in the General People's Congress, which brings together the Secretariats of the Popular Conferences and People's Committees. Resolutions of the General People's Congress, which meets annually or periodically, are passed on to the Popular Conferences and People's Committees, which undertake the execution of those resolutions through the responsible committees, which are, in turn, accountable to the Basic Popular Conferences.”
“The General People's Congress is not a gathering of persons or members such as those of parliaments but, rather, a gathering of the Popular Conferences and People's Committees.”
“Thus, the problem of the instrument of government is naturally solved, and all dictatorial instruments disappear. The people become the instrument of government, and the dilemma of democracy in the world is conclusively solved.”
A video with information and photos of the First Annual Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi Day School and National Commemoration for All Anti-imperialist Martyrs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm_yuXYcKXI