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No-one's acknowledged or replied to this email yet (sent 2 days ago). Can
we clarify this asap?<br>
<br>
ta<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
<br>
<br>
Hi<br>
<br>
I hestitated in joining this list but said I'd try it as my understanding
is it is to solely discuss local grass roots anti-authoritarian community
organising.<br>
<br>
If its going to be about central london policing and other general issues
I can get that elsewhere so will take myself off the list. I might come
off it anyway after a while (no offence to anyone on it!) as there are
other similar lists I'm on.<br>
<br>
If its not clear what the list is for I suggest a sentence or two should
be added to the list information link, and everyone be made aware of the
exact purpose so we dont get any other stuff on it.<br>
<br>
<br>
ta<br>
<br>
Dave<br>
<br>
<br>
At 06:08 13/05/2009 -0700, Mark Barrett wrote: <br>
<blockquote type=cite cite>Agreed, it's not about endorsing any
campaigns. I think we should be talking about our sense that a campaign
for real democracy is what's needed in this time of economic and other
crises, and now public atmosphere of anti-politics (or, desire for a new
politics). And our belief that what is needed is for local groups and
individuals concerned to make democracy a reality to link up across
cities, towns, villages and country. And to encourage people based in
London interested to do that to get in contact. And for people based on
other places to do the same and contact us to so we can build a movement
capable of both local and joined up regional/national activity. <br>
<br>
Regarding Monday venue. just got this<br>
<br>
"Fine to use the room - one holds about 20 and the other is a little
larger. Jesse can sort this out. I don't know how you feel about him
also providing vegan food - it's mainly the burger/chix nuggets/falafel
type stuff but he is expanding and will be doing salads. He also does a
range of vegan pasta dishes. What do you think would be the success of
charging people, say, £2 a head to cover the room and a drink/food?
There is a tv in there and the room has also been soundproofed.<br>
<br>
Actually, whilst I was in there and talking to Jesse there was a guy who
said that he would be interested in coming to the meetings. I got his
email address so it may be worth sending him some background info. [will
send you this separately James]<br>
<br>
Let me know what you think"<br>
<br>
Obviously though the venue sounds lovely this isn't ideal although maybe
we could use it once or twice for a central London meeting over the
course of next two weeks, before we find a central free space that's
suitable. I'd be ok to cover the cost for people who come and can't
afford 2 pounds. Shall we go for it this coming Monday? Also, I will ask
around as the 21st C Network meeting on Transition Towns this eve as
Francis now has some good venue contacts. Alt is there anyway of using yr
SOAS/CC connections James to get a regular space there? Brit Museum
courtyard cafe is also a stop gap possibility..<br>
<br>
Mark <br>
<br>
2009/5/13 james holland
<<a href="mailto:james@dogmanet.org">james@dogmanet.org</a>>
<blockquote>
<dl>
<dd>i'm happy to print something to let people know about it to start
<dd>building up our human resources (i'm already working on some text),
but
<dd>less happy to start endorsing campaigns. this is a strictly consensus
<dd>process that hasn't met yet so this is the kind of thing it can't do
yet.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<dd>James Holland<br>
<br>
<dd><a href="http://risingclevel.blogspot.com/">http://risingclevel.blogspot.com/</a><br>
<br>
<dd>Mark Barrett wrote:
<dd>> Hi James & Everyone
<dd>>
<dd>> Maybe we should draft a small flier for the big 23rd May United
Campaign
<dd>> Aagainst Police Violence demo, to introduce the campaign.
Hopefully we
<dd>> should have a venue for (bi-weekly?) meetings by then, but even
if not
<dd>> we can surely drum up some interest. As most of you will know,
the UCAPV
<dd>> initiative came straight out of the G20 debacle, although it has
roots
<dd>> going a long way back with police abuses of power.
<dd>>
<dd>> Could we make a strong, short statement making clear our
position on the
<dd>> police's role in a democratic society and calling on campaigners
and
<dd>> police alike to join us in our struggle for a very different
society
<dd>> where power is dispersed so people can act honourably and
responsibly -
<dd>> and powerfully together?
<dd>>
<dd>> Unrest is linked to injustices, perceived and real and the
police are
<dd>> being forced to defend a clapped out system - not an easy
position to be
<dd>> in. People and polcie should be able to steward their own
neighbourhoods
<dd>> together so that truth, justice and a keeping of peace are
served and
<dd>> preserved. Likewise - by extension - the whole of our
<dd>> society. Apparently the mood out there anti-politics, and/or for
<dd>> a different kind of politics. Surely we can make some
democratic hay
<dd>> with that on 23rd May?
<dd>>
<dd>> Mark
<dd>>
<dd>> PS Dawn and Panda, any news on the venue? I'll be in central
London this
<dd>> afternoon if you need to direct me to the place you suggested on
Friday,
<dd>> please do! PPS looking forward to Rachel's this Friday! All
welcome.. xx
<dd>>
<dd>>
<dd>> 2009/5/11 A World to Win
<<a href="mailto:info@aworldtowin.net">info@aworldtowin.net</a>
<dd>>
<mailto:<a href="mailto:info@aworldtowin.net">info@aworldtowin.net</a>>>
<dd>>
<dd>> Hi Mark - thought the 2012 listers might want to read
today's blog
<dd>> from A World to Win.
<dd>> Cheers, Corinna
<dd>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
<dd>> *Parliament versus the people*
<dd>>
<dd>> The shoddy and demeaning spectacle of MPs milking their
expenses’
<dd>> system at the taxpayers' expense for all it is worth knows
no
<dd>> bounds. They have been claiming for just about everything:
£60,000
<dd>> (Employment minister Tony McNulty) for second home
allowances, and
<dd>> £25,000 for security patrols (Barbara Follett) down to 69p
for a
<dd>> packet of biscuits, £2.50 for eyeliner and even for Kit Kats
and an
<dd>> Ikea carrier bag.
<dd>>
<dd>> MPs have blatantly engaged in property speculation, using
allowances
<dd>> to do up homes before selling them on. “Never in my 20 years
in
<dd>> politics have I seen the public as angry as they are today
and,
<dd>> frankly, who can blame them? It doesn't help that the
revelations
<dd>> have come at a time of recession.” Thus the Liberal Democrat
Norman
<dd>> Baker, MP for Lewes, East Sussex, once home of revolutionary
<dd>> democrat Tom Paine. Baker’s remarks are part of a growing
chorus
<dd>> warning about the yawning credibility gap between the
electorate and
<dd>> those who purport to represent them in parliament.
<dd>>
<dd>> And are the Honourable Members, who include 13 members of
Gordon
<dd>> Brown’s Cabinet, expressing any shame or remorse for their
venal
<dd>> attitude to office? No, sublimely oblivious to criticism,
they are
<dd>> complaining that their abuses were exposed to public
scrutiny. The
<dd>> House of Commons authorities are even asking the police to
track
<dd>> down the source of the leak that showed how deeply MPs’
snouts are
<dd>> in the trough.
<dd>>
<dd>> As the /Observer/ commented yesterday, the distance between
MPs and
<dd>> ordinary people is now so big that they consider a £24,000
second
<dd>> home allowance as an “incidental” perk. For most, that is a
lump sum
<dd>> they would never dream of seeing in their bank account. And
so,
<dd>> warnings of the breakdown of trust upon which bourgeois
<dd>> parliamentary democracy relies are flying thick and fast:
<dd>>
<dd>> * Baker concludes that auditing, transparency and limits
on
<dd>> expenses must be imposed – warning that “If we do not,
then
<dd>> the trust between the people and Parliament will have
been
<dd>> irrevocably damaged, with all the dangers that holds.”
<dd>> * The /Daily Telegraph/, which first blew the whistle on
MPs
<dd>> expenses, concludes that: "There is no doubt that
the current
<dd>> system is rotten and cannot survive.”
<dd>> * The /Daily Mail/ says it means a “terminal wipe-out”
for New
<dd>> Labour and that Blairism’s claim to moral virtue has
been
<dd>> “blown to shreds”. The question now, it asks, is what
will be
<dd>> the consequences of all this. “For with such an
unprecedented
<dd>> breakdown of Parliamentary integrity and loss of
public trust,
<dd>> we are surely in uncharted territory.”
<dd>> * And last, but not least, a /Guardian/ blogger points
out that
<dd>> the corruption shows “how alienated the political
classes are
<dd>> from those they serve”, demanding that Oliver Cromwell
come
<dd>> back with a peoples’ army to shut the whole thing
down.
<dd>>
<dd>> The haughty obliviousness of New Labour after 12 years in
power is
<dd>> indeed mind-boggling. Of course the Conservatives, and
indeed Sinn
<dd>> Fein, have also been playing the system for all that it’s
worth, but
<dd>> New Labour’s arrogance is far greater than that of the rest
<dd>> combined. It comes at a time when income inequality in
Britain is at
<dd>> its widest point in 40 years after 12 years of Labour
government, a
<dd>> result of low wages and benefits held below inflation.
<dd>>
<dd>> MPs have justified their greed by pointing to the difference
between
<dd>> their pay and the vast salaries paid to executives in the
private
<dd>> sector. In doing so they show that they have nothing in
common with
<dd>> the people that they are supposed to represent. Instead they
draw
<dd>> their “morality” from the capitalist economic system which
<dd>> parliamentary democracy oversees and keeps in place.
<dd>>
<dd>> The populist right like the /Daily Mail/ is aware that the
limits of
<dd>> parliamentary democracy have been reached and that they will
be
<dd>> breached. By its actions, New Labour is opening the doors to
<dd>> dictatorial rule. It’s time to sound the alarm bells loud
and clear.
<dd>>
<dd>> The current scandal shows the urgent need to campaign for a
People’s
<dd>> Charter for Democracy
<dd>>
<<a href="http://www.aworldtowin.net/about/Rights21C.html">http://www.aworldtowin.net/about/Rights21C.html</a>>.
The aim is not to
<dd>> “re-build trust” in a corrupt and undemocratic parliament
but to end
<dd>> the rule of political elites, and create new forms of direct
local
<dd>> and national democracy through peoples’ assemblies.
<dd>>
<dd>> Corinna Lotz
<dd>> A World to Win secretary, 11 May 2009
<dd>>
<dd>>
<dd>>
<dd>>
<dd>>
<dd>> >
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<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<dd>--
<dd>Petition to Abolish Tax Havens
<dd><a href="http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/tobintaxnow/">http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/tobintaxnow/</a><br>
<br>
<dd>In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle,
but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. Indirect
tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth,
unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they
end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away to return
once more. Sun Tzu
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<br>
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