No gods, no kings, no billionaires
Nelson Mandela, in an interview with MSNBC:
“If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms.”
This morning I wrote a letter to Nigel Griffiths, MP for Edinburgh South. Then, while we were out shopping this afternoon, I hand delivered the letter to his constituency office. Mr Griffiths himself wasn’t there at the time, but his assistant assured me that he would get the letter when he was back in the office this afternoon, and that he would be writing to all concerned constituents who had contacted him. Sounds good. I’m interested to see what his position is.
I’ve attached the text of the letter below.
I’m sick of being encouraged to remember the people who died in the attacks on the Twin Towers last year. The more the memory of their deaths is used to fan the flames of hatred, the more this memory becomes corrupted and evil.
I think it’s time we started remembering the Afghanis who died as a result of Western bombings.
It’s time to remember the Palestinians who have been killed as a result of George W. giving Israel carte blanche to murder innocent civilians in the name of the “War against Terrorism”.
And it’s time to remember that if we attack Iraq, thousands more people will die than were killed on September 11th last year.
Not in my name. Punish the perpetrators, but not their families.
The Media Workers Against War web site currently features a link to the “Fax Your MP” web site (http://www.faxyourmp.com/). If you enter your postcode on this web site, it will look up who your MP is. You can then type a message to the MP, which the folks who run the web site will then fax to the MP in question. (I assume they’ve got this automated, instead of having to do all the faxes manually.)
You can use the service to get in touch with your MP about all kinds of issues, but right now it makes sense to use it to make your views known about a war on Iraq. It’s a quick and easy way to remind your MP that they are supposed to represent their constituents in parliament, and not their party’s whip.
Yeah, right.
In a capitalist world, monopolies are considered bad because they destroy (the illusion of) consumer choice. Oligopolies are just as bad: a shared monopoly is no improvement for customers. Likewise, in a democratic world, a monopoly on policial choice is bad for citizens’ rights. And a two-party system is just a shared monopoly on political power.
If you typically support Party A and despise Party B, what do you do when Party A starts acting unreasonably? Go to the opposition? Even temporarily, just to get the message across? Great–that leaves you with Party B in power afterwards. A two-party system is almost as bad as having no choice at all.
What incentive do MPs have to actually listen to their constituents, and put forward their views in parliament? The thought of being removed from their seat at the next election? Well, if they’re high enough up in party hierarchy, then the party will just parachute them into a safe seat the next time one comes available.
For a politician who wants to keep their job, it may therefore be a better strategy to climb the party hierarchy, and keep on the good side of their leaders, than to do what they were supposedly elected to do: represent the people who voted for them.
Which is why we in Britain are currently in the situation that well over 50% of the population do not want to attack Iraq, yet our Prime Minister is spouting the rhetoric of full-on war like it’s some inevitability.
It’s also why someone like George Bush can become President of the United States.
What’s the answer? I don’t know. What can be done in practical terms? Right now, we have to get the message across to our so-called leaders that they will face massive revolt if we step up hostilities against Iraq. (I say step up, because preliminary action has been underway for some time now.)
In Britain, the Prime Minister is not elected by the public. The public elects the MPs, and then the governing party elects the PM. By the same token, the PM can be removed by the governing party as well. Does the will exist within the Labour Party to do this if Tony Blair takes Britain into a war? (Also, if the country is at war, is the cabinet even obliged to allow a vote of no confidence?)
When I first saw the “Fax Your MP” thing on MWAW, I thought I would do that. But now I think I want to actually write out a letter to my MP (Nigel Griffiths) and properly hand sign it. Will Mr Griffiths pay more attention to a letter than to a fax? Probably not. But it feels more appropriate, somehow.
Will this all make a difference? Again, I don’t know. But it’s pretty clear that in this oligarchic excuse for a democracy going to the polls once every four or five years is just not enough any more.
Just heard on the news that the US Secret Service have escorted Dick Cheney from the Washington DC to a “safe location” in preparation for the anniversary of September 11th.
You know how, when you need to find your passport after not using it for a while and can’t find it, you do know that you must have left it in a safe place?
Bush: So where’s Dick?
Secret Service Agent 1: You mean he’s not here?
Bush: You guys took him away last week.
Secret Service Agent 1: Oh, that’s right. Damn. Where did we put him?
Secret Service Agent 2: I don’t remember, either. But I know we put him in a safe place somewhere…
Here’s hoping!
Holy cow! The Independent says:
“Canada and Russia have announced, despite strong US pressure, that they are taking steps to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Their ratifications will bring into force the treaty on fighting global warming that Mr Bush has been trying to destroy ever since taking office.”
(Via DailySummit.net)