Similarities Haudenosaunee Great law of Peace, and www.jhwh.be law
jos boersema
Peace maker, so the story goes. He pacified the warring people, at war
with everyone, also within the tribes, and gave his laws to the people.
I discovered for myself this peace law only maybe a month ago, far
earlier I'd made my own Constitution; more then a year before. Yet both
our laws have a representative Council Government ruled by 50 persons.
In the Great Peace law the chiefs are selected by the clan mother. She
can choose another, in accordence with the will of the people and the
character of the to be chosen chiefs. These chiefs serve the people, in
total there are 50 chiefs making up the grand governing Council of the
Hausenosaunee (Iroquois, 6 nations confederacy). The national governing
councils of each nation consists of the chiefs they have that are part
of the Grand Governing council.
In my model, "voter groups" are formed by people, 50 adults is a voter
group (it was 100 before, changed to 50 now, seems better). The voter
group chooses a "housekeeper," who is responsible for the election
process. The voter group chooses a representative, who is not a chief.
The representative has no power of its own. 50 representatives at least
must gather into a council, once they've gone through the meaningful ritual
described in law, the council becomes a legal local Government.
_3.1.d-2 Closest Government Body
The delegates assemble into groups determined by their own majority.
They are to mutually accept a joining with delegates who are unable to
form a legal council because of lack of delegates, see Article
3.1.d-1, Government Body, minimum size.
They choose from between them a council housekeeper that is chairing
meetings, is responsible for information distribution, overseeing
the vote block housekeepers that elect delegates, but has no vote right
in the council. They then takes a vote on whether the Council is with
too many, and if so how to deal with it.
After the size problem - if any - is resolved, and the Council has
determined a name for itself by agreeing that a majority has been
reached for a certain name, it can make decisions in that name, by
majority, within the context of the Constitution. Then the agenda is
set, conforming to Article 3.1.d-2.1, Council Agenda.
(See for complete 239 laws of my Constitution Proposal www.jhwh.be/law)
The national Council is formed by dividing the people into 50 about
equal parts, grouped geographically. The *delegates* in each sector
elect one representative, those 50 become the national Council. Regional
councils can be formed by doing the same inside one sector. Regional
councils are not mentioned in the Constitution. Regional councils can be
formed by the decision of the national council, or the initiative of the
delegates, and they can be given a specific task to oversee that which
is not yet overseen adequately (such as wide spaces between local
governments where nobody lives, and for instance be involved with
taxation money gathering, and/or other issues).
In my proposed law a representative can be replaced any moment by those
electing him/her, the delegates are to represent the will of the people,
and can be forced using referendums. In the referendum the non-voting
adults their votes are given to the representatives. After a 10%
petition a referendum must be held.
My laws are too detailed to explain in a simple post, they are detailed
in full elsewhere.
I thought it was interesting & promising to see such similarities
between the Haudenosaunee Great Law of Peace, and my proposal.
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I've also adapted the Haudenosaunee Laws as recommendations for how to
structure the councils internally. The Council can divide up in groups
of 10 persons, for instance geographically or on age. I suppose it
is useful to choose one rule for such divisions and keep to it. It
isn't a school childrens party, it is important. Lest petty squables
enter the council.
Everyone is in a group of 10. When someone has a proposal, they debate
it in their group. If the group agrees, they go to another group. They
can choose any group, because I think that makes it easier to find a
group who agrees sooner, so that a proposal is not blocked by a
disagreeing group and the others haven't heard about it yet. Then these
two groups debate until the debate has run its course.
If they agree, the proposing group makes the proposal to yet another
group.
If they do not agree, the proposing group can try another group.
An individual with a proposal can go to any other person in the council
as well, to talk about a proposal, is not bound to his/her own group.
Then the whole council can be called together, and debate the issue(s)
in a grand debate, headed by the council chair person who has given up
his/her vote in the matter. They strife for a consensus, but if the
debate truly has run its course and still no consensus is reached, they
can vote and rule by majority.
The national council is suggested to tour the nation continuously. Any
ministries and agencies being set up must be spread around in the
nation.
These are the things I've taken over from the Hausenosaunee, and really,
I think they will make all the difference.
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The international area is dealt with like so, roughly: you can become
sovereign usin a voting procedure, under my law at the most a country
can have 100.000.000 adults. The suggested ideal is somewhere in the
area of 10 to 20 million adults. The various countries are sovereign,
they do not submit to any international body or legislation of any kind.
The local people are the true and only sovereign in the nation.
The army is to train for all kinds of emergencies, according to their
likelyhood of occuring. The army is not allowed to cross the border,
unless the official flag of war is flown by the Government. The
suggested way of war training is guerilla warfare against an intruding
occupying force, on the home territory. This will discourage military
adventurism, and - I hope - eventually all warfare between peoples will
be a thing of the past. The high seas can only be patrolled by police
forces, and they must record any incidence of violence to all nations
wishing to see such information. With war unlikely, training for it will
be far and few between, eventually nobody is learning the ways of war
anymore, because they have become useless, forgotten, and against the law.
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My economic model is another subject.
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My representative model also has something of a head of state position,
its election is quite complicated, its role is to fight crime within
Government, to function as a single special person thus providing a
sense of unity and order for the people. The head of state can take over
the Government for maximum one year, to restore order, then it must
again be elected. The head of state is oldest of a group of 10 persons,
all elected. When too many of the 10 step down, a new head must be
elected. The 10 can order new Government elections at any moment, and
are to follow the will of the people in that. Their decision to elect
a new Government is beyond appeal, even by themselves. Normally every 5
years there are new elections for the delegates, this is different from
the Hausenosaunee who only elect a new Chief once the old one ends its
services. I want to mix the people and Government as best as possible,
not electing chiefs but really normal people. The regular western model
of separated police & judges, with evidence trials & lawyars goes on
under my law system.
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I think once the world has become a patchwork of sovereign nations
following more or less my proposed design, the hope of Deganawida will
be fullfilled: that all people will live under a Law of Peace in Justice
and Peace, forever, on our great and wonderful planet Earth.
To get there, that may prove to be somewhat of a challange.
*
I also thought it be a great idea to actually have a council fire
burning, a real fire. You can elect another chair-person any moment.
Both forms of Government are quite similar, aren't they. Still I think
my model would work better in the modern world, because there are so
many many people in such a small small place now. In the old days
everyone would know the clan mother, and her Chief. Nowadays, who would ?
I hope we can change the world soon, we ought to try to get it done
before 2017 - 2019, because the people who develop weapons aren't
stopping and can't be stopped. Things get more dangerous by the minute.
If we can make the changes in the next few years, much better much better.
It is your responsibility to do the work, I can't do everything from
here, how would that be possible. You do nothing, then nothing happens.
Right now, I got nothing, if even one person moved into action, that
would be the first besides myself. It all depends on you.
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http://www.jhwh.be/post/002/064-council-internal-organization