Re: [WDDM] Thoughts about our definitions of democracy (and a general ramble)

[Giorgio Menon <giorgio.menon(at)pd.infn.it>]

Pras Anand wrote:

> What is Direct democracy?


Oh, good question. Why don't we first have a look at regular democracy
first? What does it mean and  who does it  nourishes?

> I'm confident that there are enough people in the corporate,
> government and other agencies that are good. As company policies
> change, so do the people who rise to the top. When good people are
> higher in a company, the company will be more responsible on the
> whole. It is too easy to point the finger and say the current way sucks.
>
> If the current way sucks - change it. Or sit down and shut your
> complaining.

We should first take a look at the way things go. To understand how
things go we must set our priorities first. To me the very first
priority is the environment. We're living in a rotten environment. And
it happens that we all depend on it.
The world first "ecological debt day" fell on 19 December 1987, but
economic growth had seen it fall earlier each year. We're currently got
to 6th oct, which means that it'll take the Earth 15 months to
rigenerate what's been consumed in this year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6033407.stm

It happens that i cannot change this. I have no multinational
corporation backing me, and even my wife disagrees with some proposals
of mine. I cannot change my wife's behaviour: do i have any hopes to
change yours (or anyone else's?). So i think that your proposal (change
it or shut up) is pretty unrealistic, driven as it is by an excessively
linear logic.  I do my best but i have very limited resources. Besides i
don't want to (don't care to either) change the people's behaviour.
We've got to the exact point we've planned for such a long time.
Democracy included. If this doesn't fit our needs that it's time to
change it, and here i agree with you. Yet the picture is not as simple
as you paint it.




> Things don't change that much because people don't change that much.
> Same old patterns, same old shit. Change today because you have the
> choice.


If you already know that people don't change why do you  expect me (or
anyone else) to change? Choice? Is it real or is it a hoax?

> I've seen a discussion about political ideologies but no reference to
> technology, media, commercial activities (and I don't mean hating the
> corporates as if they were a species of "evil doers").

That's my favourite speech. But i doubt it's of any use to help a
bureaucratic description of  Direct Democracy.

Best regards

Giorgio

PS Ah, about Bono, Geldof etc...
U2 concert in Glasgow.
Bono: "Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies......"

A voice from near the front pierces the silence: "Well, fucken' stop
doin' it then!"
http://www.counterpunch.org/bono10192006.html
It's commonly acknowledged that of the estimated $500 billion that has
been poured into Africa over the last 40 years, the majority has gone
no further than ruling dictators who keep the money and use it to
bankroll their opulent lifestyles while their disease ridden subjects
starve to death and are infected with AIDS from poisoned vaccines
generously donated to them by billionaire philanthropists who advocate
mass population reduction and genocide.

Deserves a read
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/august2006/080806bono.htm

The singer and his band U2 are facing for accusations of hypocrisy for
switching their financial
affairs to avoid paying higher taxes in Ireland, while berating the
parsimony of rich country
leaders and calling for public funds to go into financing debt relief
for poor nations.
Bono's California-based venture capital firm, Elevation Partners, has
also confirmed that it has
invested the equivalent of some £157m in Forbes, the US business
magazine often described
in the media as "the bible of capitalism"

Read how easily philantropy becomes exploitation:
<http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Ecclesia_-_Bono_in_hot_water_-_AUG-2006.pdf>