"Religion Versus Womankind" by Vexen Crabtree (2007)

Tags: gender, politics, religion
Current Location: Tower of London, UK

New page: "For an International Military Force" by Vexen Crabtree (2007)

A permanent international military force with its own international training camps, above the control of any particular government, can bring unprecedented world peace in the same way that fifty years of the European community has ended war between its members: war between countries such as China and Japan will become as unlikely as a new war between France and the UK. It will be paid for by national governments who then need to spend less on defence. Economies of scale then mean that the world as a whole spends less on defence. Uniforce would be answerable to a board of national defence politicians. The funding of Uniforce will be capped so that no particular nation can exert undue influence. An international force cannot be used for unilateral purposes because its men and officers would naturally refuse to perform such a role. National forces can concentrate solely on defence. If all countries concentrated on defence, warmongering would be much less successful because national assets would not be conducive to it. Rogue states would understand for all time that unilateral arms races are over; the international military force could not be matched by individual national armies.

Full text and arguments:

"Uniforce: An International Military Force" by Vexen Crabtree (2007)

Tags: democracy, military, politics, united nations, world government
Current Location: Starbucks, Hammersmith, London
Current Mood: weird

New page: "The European Union: The Euro, Democracy, Crises and Migration" by Vexen Crabtree:

The European Union is formed from a collection of treaties dating back to the European Economic Community founded in 1957. It has changed from an economic body designed to prevent war, into a wide and varied economic, social and political tool. Here are some of my notes on this growing megalith.

Contents:

1. Multispeed Europe Versus The United States of Europe
2. The Euro
3. The Successful Promotion of Democracy and Achievement of Regional Peace and Stability
4. The EU is Always in Crises
5. Crises: Popular Disillusionment with the EU
6. EU Immigration and Internal Migration
7. Strengthened Democracy Against Lawless Multinationals

Tags: democracy, economics, euro, europe, european union, multinationals, politics
Current Location: Camden, London, UK

"National Apologies for Ancestral Sins and Historical Evils" by Vexen Crabtree (2007)

Should we return annexed land to its original owners? Should we send immigrants home? And other questions relating to things done by previous generations... should we apologize for those things, on their behalf?

I enjoyed writing this page... even got in a bit about the Adam and Eve story from Christian mythology.

Tags: adam and eve, apologies, evil, history, immigration, land ownership, politics, repatriation, sins, slavery, war, world wars
Current Location: London
Listening To: "Love Will Find a Way" by De/Vision

You know I posted a list of petitions to my LJ... I didn't realize that once these were sent to No. 10, the Government would actually be making responses to those with over a certain number of signatures. The Government's answer is pretty comprehensive, clear, concise (not too long!), and I was well impressed at such a professional response to a 'daft' online petition. It makes me look forward to their responses from other petitions I signed!

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page10873.asp contains the response:

We received a petition asking:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to tax disposable plastic carrier bags to recreate the effect of the Irish 'plastax', reducing dependence on foreign fossil fuel supplies, reducing carbon emissions and reducing the volume of landfill waste and litter in our towns and cities."

Response:

"Although plastic bags only form a very small proportion of household waste and litter, as you know they can be particularly visible when discarded in the local environment. The Government is therefore committed to exploring ways to reduce the impact of disposable plastic bags on the environment, and welcomes efforts to support the sustainable development of biodegradable plastics from non-fossil sources.

A plastic carrier bag tax would significantly reduce the number of single-use plastic bags in circulation. There is, however, no clear evidence that such a tax would be beneficial on either broad environmental or litter grounds. This is because the overall environmental effect would depend largely on the nature and extent of substitution by other products, including the use of bags made from other materials, as well as alternative forms of packaging. For these reasons, the Government does not have any plans to introduce such a tax at this time.

The Government is, however, exploring other ways to reduce the impact of plastic bags on the environment. For example, through its Waste Implementation Programme, the Government has piloted a Reusable Bag Campaign with retailers, aimed at reducing the consumption of plastic carrier bags by promoting the message of reuse to the public. Working with the Devolved Administrations, the Government has now approached the major retail groups to discuss joint solutions for reducing the overall environmental impact of both paper and plastic bags.

The reason for the joint focus on paper as well as plastic bags is that if initiatives are only introduced in relation to plastic bags, this may result in a switch to paper instead. Whilst paper bags are derived from a renewable resource, the manufacturing process for them is resource intensive. Considerable quantities of oil are used, particularly for the extraction of the raw material, wood pulp and for transportation. As paper bags are heavier than plastic bags, they therefore require more energy to transport and result in greater emissions."

And they provided a link to: http://www.defra.gov.uk/ENVIRONMENT/WASTE/topics/plastics.htm

Tags: environment, government, petitions, plastic bags, politics, recycling, waste
Current Location: Germany
Listening To: "Existence" by Icon of Coil

New page: UK: Immigration, Economics and Pensions. The conclusion reads:

"The UK is ageing, and we need more working-age people to fill the emptying hole in our demographic make-up. Otherwise, multiple industries and all pensions are at severe risk. Already, some industries and local economies depend on immigrants, especially as cheap labour to do work that not many others want to do but also we have serious shortages in some skilled trades, for example, nearly half the new doctors and nurses employed in the National Health Service have qualified abroad. We already have shortages of medical staff. Imagine the world without half the staff of the NHS, cheap labourers working in industries that our ageing population avoids, no pensions for increasing numbers of the elderly, and you imagine a UK without immigration. Despite this, some extremist, simpleton and short-sighted parties (such as the BNP and NF) campaign for a complete stop to immigration, and even promise to send home nationalized foreigners. With a population that is ageing, they will soon find that they have rather a lot of pensioners and not many workers."

Tags: bnp, economics, europe, foreigners, immigration, migration, nf, nhs, pensions, politics, racism, tolerance, uk, xenophobia
Current Location: Germany
Listening To: "Monuments of Flesh" by Chaingun Operate

Some Petitions to consider signing! I know they're hardly effective but it makes me feel good sometimes to know that someone, somewhere, once counted some of our opinions! You know... a small insignificant petition can sometimes make the news, sometimes get quoted by sociologists (ahem) and be preserved as part of academia, and sometimes, those things just might help get something done about something. Clicking on the short intro sentence shows you more details (look out for another 'more details' link on the page, too, for even more than the intro paragraph. Grammar & punctuation are not my own:

• Stop tv companies turning up the volume during commercial breaks
• Reduce drugs packaging (Vexen - reducing packaging is good for environment & allows cheaper products)
• drop income tax for Territorial Army Personnel and all other Military Reservists (Vexen - its odd to have government employees pay tax back to the government)
• increase car tax on heavy polluting cars with top bands levying £1000+. At the same time make the cleanest available cars tax free
• Tax the fossil carbon in fuels so as to reduce our emissions
• all new houses built from 2008 have solar panels and / or a wind turbine
• Introduce a system of energy efficiency measuring for computer equipment
• Raise the legal age for buying tobacco products to 18 and increase the penalties to retailers who break this rule
• Reduce the need to recycle by compelling Retailers and their suppliers to reduce packaging and provide recycling facilities rather than place the burden and cost of recycling packing on consumers
• Abolish Sunday trading laws and make 24 hour shopping 24 hour
• Encourage the reduction of household waste by requiring producers and retailers to meet the disposal costs of their products and packaging, instead of passing these on to consumers and local authorities
• abolish the House of Lords and introduce a fully-elected second chamber
• Get all companies to deliver to BFPO addresses (for my sake! Companies often don't post to BFPO addresses such as mine, which are perfectly normal UK addresses)

Tags: activism, environment, government, opinion polls, petitions, politics, recycling, uk
Current Location: Germany
Listening To: "Barefoot" by Coptic Rain

Democracy: Its Foundations and Challenges

Bringing together various texts I had on the challenges to democracy (special interest groups, single-issue parties, mass stupidity, mass ignorance and voter apathy), and adding a little intro on the 'building blocks' of democracy: Authority, regulation of power, the voting-out of parties, a free press, freedom of expression and the division of powers.

The conclusion reads:

"Democracy, the control of the direction of government and the granting of its authority by the people, needs to be actively watched and defended. Special interest groups and single-issue lobbies (as well as parties) can, through their hearty activism, undermine democracy by giving certain an out-of-proportion focus at the expense of general good governance. Large multinational companies are able to outmanouvre and ignore local governments, which sometimes places them above-the-law. Mass stupidity and voter apathy means that the people normally vote (if they vote at all) on short-sighted, shallow and unimportant issues, which reduces the ability of government to make required sacrifces to overcome long-term problems. If the people vote on good-sounding but shallow policies, only good-sounding but shallow (short-term) parties will be elected. This is potentially disasterous and represents the biggest threat to democracy.

Solution to these threats include increased inter-governmental agreements on Law and Order, Trade and Industry Regulations (such as occurs within the EEC, etc), and multi-government agencies such as the UN and EU bring international commerce back within the reach of authority. To overcome the problems of mass stupidity and ignorance, meritocratic systems should be tested and implemented in addition to tried-and-tested methods of political revitalisation and public education.

Despite weaknesses, the strengths of democracy make it the sole superior method of governance and it has shown itself in history to be most capable of allowing human development (technological and moral), granting human rights and protecting the rights of citizens against corporations and government abuse. To this end, it is the duty of developed, stable democratic countries (such as the USA, Europe, India, Japan, etc) to help governments who rule countries with little stability. where history, strife and conflict divide the people, and for international institutions to declare and defend clear universal Human Rights."

Tags: democracy, globalism, governments, politics, stupidity, un
Current Location: Germany
Listening To: "Democracy" by Killing Joke

National Secular Society newsletter excerpts:
http://www.secularism.org.uk

"A Christian political party in New Zealand is being closed down after its former leader was
jailed for abusing young girls."

I think religion-based parties (being sectarian, theocratic and bad for democracy) should be banned (see my page on Single-Issue Parties!), and continued events like this show us that it's not just Islamist parties or ethnic reactionary parties that are dangerous, but any religious party.

Rulers and those in power should not be religious, or at least, should not form commitees or power-groups based around religion. Religion should remain private as it should be and simply not be a factor in politics.

Tags: democracy, new zealand, paedophilia, politics, religion
Current Location: Afghanistan

Scandinavia: The Crown of Civilisation: Profiles of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, the best countries in the world!

I will expand this page to include more countries (Iceland, for example), more geography and maps, and notes on religion past and present. But for now I don't have any of my books. (One month to go until I get my library back!)

Tags: countries, denmark, finland, iceland, norway, politics, scandinavia, sweden
Current Location: Afghanistan
Listening To: E Nomine

"The United States government said it could not find the men that Guantánamo detainee Abdullah Mujahid believes could help set him free. The Guardian found them in three days."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1810330,00.html

Tags: politics, usa

New Page: Single Issue Parties are Dangerous (BNP, etc). Looking at single issue parties as the result of special interest groups, parties that represent a specific religion or a specific ethnic group, and far-right nationalist parties such as the BNP, who epitomize trash-culture: short-term ignorant instincts at the expense of genuine good policy

Tags: democracy, governments, intolerance, nationalism, politics
Current Location: Germany
Current Mood: busy
Listening To: "Architecture and Morality" by OMD

New page as subject, the conclusion reads:

"Massive corporations can outmanoeuvre governments and therefore evade the law. Multinationals organisations like the UN and EU can fight back. The heads of large companies have massive power over staff, employment, industry, national economies, the environment and yet are not elected nor publicly accountable for their actions. Supra-national organisations, staffed by those on the pay roll of elected governments, empowers democracy with renewed control. National democratic consolidation of power is required in order to reign in multinational corporations that are presently beyond the law because they can avoid the laws of any one particular government."

It's a page I've been meaning to write for a year! I have quite a lot of further material but need to polish up what I'm trying to say, before I try to say it!

Tags: commercialism, multinationals, politics

Forget abortion and Guantanamo, the USA has increased its anti-gay stance internationally:

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/25/iran12535.htm

"In May 2005, the International Lesbian and Gay Association, which is based in Brussels, and the Danish gay rights group Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske (LBL) applied for consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council. Consultative status is the only official means by which non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world can influence and participate in discussions among member states at the United Nations. Nearly 3,000 groups enjoy this status."

"But, as of 2006 Jan... States opposed to the two groups’ applications moved to have them summarily dismissed, an almost unprecedented move at the UN, where organizations are ordinarily allowed to state their cases. The U.S. abstained on a vote which would have allowed the debate to continue and the groups to be heard. It then voted to reject the applications."

"As the U.S. government acknowledged in its 2004 country report on Iran, Iranian law punishes homosexual conduct between men with the death penalty". "The U.S. has reversed position since 2002, when it voted to support the International Lesbian and Gay Association’s request to have its status reviewed. Officials gave no explanation for the change."

Countries that voted against the applications included in total, apart from the USA: Cameroon, China, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Senegal, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.


Why??

Tags: gay rights, politics, un, usa

I am strongly and definately for a European Constitution.

It is a major document, comprehensively standing for Human Rights, the best constitution ever written. Commerically and politically it is merely a bringing-together of hundreds of treaties into a single document: Economically, nothing is new. In terms of power, nothing changes. All the same laws are there as already exist: They are brought together in one powerful, efficient and accessible document instead of a hundred different treaties with a hundred different names. In short, it allows humble citizens to know their rights within Europe in a way not possible now without much research.

It upholds equality of gender, sexuality and religion in a way no other constitution does. It upholds individual rights clearly and comprehensively; it is accurate and specific.

I do not know what the intelligent arguments against the constitution are. I am going to research them this month (it's on my list...), was wondering where all you stand... importantly, if against it; why? If for it, why?

Tags: europe, politics
Listening To: "For you (exclusive mix)" by Sero.Overdose