Dear friends,
I have come to the conclusion that, at present, the
center of gravity is the work on the national and local level. If some of us
succede on these levels (Sen.Gravel and Lee in the USA, Filia in Holland, the
Mehr Demokratie in Germany, myself and my colleagues in Czech Republic .... ),
the success will soon influence, by demonstration effect, the whole world. But,
of course, we must go on working with the WDDM as wel! Thanks to all of you who
persevere!
Sincerely,
Jiri
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 8:48
AM
Subject: [WDDM] Re on Bernard Clayson's
comment: [WDDM] Parties and Politics
Bernard Clayson
wrote:
If DD is ever going to be a reality, the activists need
to work on convincing the public, not trying to convince parliament to
change. The only way you will convince the public is to demonstrate how it
could work, that means you getting off the “speaker’s stand” and doing it,
then letting everyone know so we can learn from it.
I fully agree !!
Filia den
Hollander
op 29-10-2006 20:27 schreef Bernard
Clayson:
> Parties. > If the ambition is to become a DD Party,
the requirements of being a party > should be clearly
understood. > I do not know about other countries, but in the UK the
requirements are laid > down by various bodies, not least of which is
the Electoral Commission. > To comply with those requirements means you
will be squeezed through a very > narrow orifice, the result of which
will mean it will be the same as all the > others i.e. level playing
field. > Then you have to consider public perception, parties are viewed
with a great > deal of justified suspicion i.e. you will be painted with
the same brush. > > What is in a name? > If DD is ever
going to happen, it needs to rewrite the 'book', starting with > the
basics of > a) what it is called, > b) the public, not
parliament. > That leads to the misunderstanding of various
terminolgies; activist - one > who does something, advocate - one who
talks about it (hoping someone else > will do it). > Groups are
long on advocates, short on activists > If DD is ever going to be a
reality, the activists need to work on > convincing the public, not
trying to convincing parliament to change. > The only way you will
convince the public is to demonstrate how it could > work, that means
you getting of the 'speakers stand' and doing it, then > letting
everyone know so we can learn from it. > It will be a slow process, but
not as slow as shouting in to an empty barrel > (which is what preaching
to the converted amounts to). > > Regards > Bernard > > >
|