fully human
Oh the bloody irony. While the fighter jets of the US, UK and France drop bombs on Libya in the name of freedom and democracy, few are bothering to point out the undemocratic process that sent them there.
Continue reading ‘The undemocratic invasion of Libya’
Just finished an updated version of solidari.tv. Check it out, use it to share media, organise and act.
Because that’s what media is good for, informing us and arming us. But it means nothing unless we turn that into action.
That’s the hard bit.
Continue reading ‘Twitter does not a revolution make’
Get over the cheesy voiceover and suppress your cynicism for 3 minutes.
This is what it’s all about.
Source: Greenpeace UK
Last week, hidden under piles of news about wikileaks and student uprisings was a pretty shocking story about Chevron’s oil spill response plan for its drilling in the North Sea. It’s a worrying read, with lots about their repeated computer crashes when trying to model spill scenarios. Perhaps we shouldn’t expect anything else from a company who said that dolphins and wales would likely be unaffected by a spill “given their good swimming abilities, relative intelligence and nomadic behaviour”.
The government doesn’t appear worried though and seems happy to let them continue boring holes in the sea bed. Not reassuring.
Does anyone else think the spill picture looks like they’re giving us the finger?
Have a read of the confidential correspondence between the government and Chevron. Here’s their oil spill response plan.
Big respect for Bob Brown – leader of the Australian Green Party – who took a stand for borderless democracy in their senate a couple of weeks ago.
In a senate debate in support of the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, he said:
“We go to war over supporting democracy in countries elsewhere around the world. The opposition certainly supported the invasion of Iraq on the basis of extending democracy to that country. When it comes to a principle of democracy being given to the near seven billion people on the planet, it seems that there is no willingness to support that ethic of democracy whatever.”
Continue reading ‘Green Bob takes a stand for real democracy’
This blog has been dormant for a while – partly because I’ve been working flat out on Give Your Vote.
A few years back on this blog I floated the idea of Americans ‘giving their votes’ to Iraqis so that they could have a say in the decisions that affect them.
Continue reading ‘Give Your Goat Vote!’
Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, future Prime Minister Anthony Eden and Liberal leader Clement Davies all talk in Parliament about the need to rethink nationalism and introduce a democratic world assembly.
Labour, Conservative and Liberal leaders criticising everything from the UN Security Council veto to “the barriers that divide us”.
This the language of today’s anti-G8 protesters. Whereas 60 years ago it was the voice of our elected politicians.
Do we have to wait for another world war before we find that language in the mainstream again? Continue reading ‘Britain’s Radical Moment’
Today I had lunch with two colleagues, Samir and Farid.
“He asked what caste we are – I don’t know that!” complained Birmingham-born Samir, as he nudged his battered cod with a fork.
Samir is about to get married. Or at least he hopes so. He’s lined up a girl (a friend of his sister) and he’s trying to persuade her dad that he’s good enough for her. Last weekend, Samir and his parents went round to Aysha’s house to meet her family and get to know each other.
In the past week, Mohammad Khatami and Jack Straw have both called for British citizens to prioritise their ‘Britishness’. Halfiranian asks why.
Last Wednesday night, I went to hear the ex-president of Iran, Mohammad Khatami, give a talk entitled ‘Tolerance, Moderation and the Dialogue of Civilizations’.
I wasn’t that interested in the subject of his talk, I was more excited to see what kind of man Khatami really is. Unlike the demonstrators outside Chatham House, who see him as just another mullah in a theocracy with blood and torture on its hands, I left the discussion with a positive impression of the guy.
Continue reading ‘Khatami and Straw on “Britishness”’
I’ve got a new post about the need for a ‘world assembly’ … check it out here.
