Reply to Laurie Penny: People power can be expressed in radical democracy

[I&R ~ GB]

*Direct democracy must become more than debate* and agreeing policy in
groups. Voting once every few years for an MP is a very INeffective way
to run our public affairs. In order to achieve genuine reforms we must
introduce those "tools" of citizen-led democracy which can enable us to
steer policy continually. For this, regulations must first -- and soon
-- be drafted for Parliament, leading to a "Democracy Act" which
establishes rule by the people.

The *occupy movement* and other critical voices have shown that many
aspects of public policy need to be changed -- it does not matter if
precise directions and policy details have not been agreed upon at this
stage.

The way to control public policy over a period of years and longer is to
use democracy for *deciding on public issues and policies* in addition
to electing politicians. The instruments or tools of democracy needed
for this job are well known. They include:

# *The Proposal. Also known as citizens' proposition or citizens'
initiative.* If a proposal can gather the support of a large agreed
number of voters (electors) then a debate about the proposal must be
held in public and parliament (at local level, council). If the proposal
is rejected by parliament then a ballot of all the people must be held
to decide the matter in legally binding manner.

# *Veto Referendum.* A government law or policy can be blocked if a
large number of voters call for a referendum to veto.

HOW DO WE MAKE SURE THAT THESE TOOLS OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY GET INTRODUCED?

The reality is that formal political power is currently monopolised by
parliament and government. So we have to put MPs and candidates at
future elections under pressure. Direct democracy campaigners must
become active, especially in marginal constituencies, to make candidates
for parliament promise, if elected, to introduce effective direct democracy.

STRATEGY FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS AND BY-ELECTIONS

Existing groups, trade unions, parties NGOs and activists are urged to
"add on" citizen-led democracy" to their campaign demands.

Some ideas for action have been worked out, see at
http://www.iniref.org/ the following link:

Elections UK By-elections and General Election 2015? Help the Campaign

=================
ABOVE IS A CENSORED REPLY TO AN ARTICLE IN "THE INDEPENDENT", A UK
NEWSPAPER OWNED BY A RUSSIAN BUSINESSMANN

Laurie Penny: People power isn't just a fad for a magazine cover
<http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/laurie-penny-people-power-isnt-just-a-fad-for-a-magazine-cover-6279127.html>
(quote)
Of course, we could wait. Let's wait until we see how bad it's really
going to be. Let's wait until years of austerity have broken the spirit
of another generation, and decent healthcare and education have become
the sole preserve of those with the money to pay for them. Let's wait
until the universities have become dull factories of complicity where
the struggling middle classes endebt themselves in the hope of
employment that never arrives. We could wait until the next stock market
crash, or the one after that. We could wait until the oil has gone. We
could wait until the water runs out. We could wait until the ice melts
and the oceans rise. We could wait until the power generation is
shuffling off into comfortable graves on the last remaining plots of dry
land, and then, if we are not too weary, too weighed-down by debt, we
can begin to speak honestly about the world we want to see. (unquote)

=================

I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/

[I&R ~ GB]

soupdragon wrote:

> I&R ~ GB<info...@OUTiniref.org> wrote:
>
>> ABOVE IS A CENSORED REPLY TO AN ARTICLE IN "THE INDEPENDENT", A UK
>> NEWSPAPER OWNED BY A RUSSIAN BUSINESSMANN
>

> What proof have you it was censored?

This follows a pattern. British elites, many journalists, politicians
and commanders of big business usually oppose the introduction of
citizen-led democracy. In contrast over seven of ten adults are in
favour of direct democracy.


Another example from the same organ as above:
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:40:36 +0100
From: I&R ~ GB <info...@OUTiniref.org>
Newsgroups:
uk.politics.constitution,uk.politics.misc,scot.politics,uk.politics.censorship,uk.environment,uk.gov.local

Subject: Censored comment: The Independent: Counterfeit democracy

It is curious and rather sinister, that a serious news organ should
repeatedly delay or censor responsible and relevant comments (such as
the one below) but allow trivial and absurdly prejudiced items to be
published at their web site.

INIREF comments

Ferdy Mount was a member of the Power Inquiry, which worked from 2004
until 2006 to study political power, democracy and governance in the UK.
Their report "Power to the people", still available on-line, (cited at
<http://www.iniref.org/poWEr.prelim.html> ) identified and spelled out
around thirty reforms of the ways in which we govern ourselves. To
assess how much progress we have made, it is useful to scan the short
version of this list.

Your assessment, that "to most UK citizens the link between a vote and
what gets done as a result of it is so convoluted as to barely exist"
would be confirmed by many. One of the recommendations of the Power
Inquiry was, not to abolish "them" (government, civil service and
related) but to introduce *partial* direct democracy of the sort steered
by citizens. The relevant section in "Power to the people" is,
"Recommendation 24: Citizens should be given the right to initiate
legislative processes, public inquiries and hearings into public bodies
and their senior management."
----------------------
In reply to:

DJ Taylor, The Independent 14 Nov 2010
Whoever you vote for, the Government always gets in: We live in a
counterfeit democracy, ....
<http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dj-taylor-whoever-you-vote-for-the-government-always-gets-in-2133472.html>
"The fact that we live not in a parliamentary democracy but in a
cunningly contrived counterfeit of one, where whoever wins an election
the same kind of people are still working the levers of power, is not
always appreciated by party activists."
----------------------