How about something in London?

In a poll 66% said UK government is not by the will of the people.

At the last election only 21% of the electorate supported the present government.

The Prime Minister, by using the ancient Royal Prerogative, can declare war and deploy troops without even seeking the consent of Parliament.

It is a travesty of democracy and it is about time the people stood up and said so.

The worse thing you can do is vote and by so doing endorse a this sham.

Me and my mates are also all the way with you on this one.

I can also sheepihsly suggest that if ever there was a genuine exclusive on what is actually happening in Bethnal Green then that must be called the http:khoodeelaar.com

That web site has been publishing world ecclusives about hoe critically dysfunctional has been the Galloway Respect party right here in Tower Hamlets.


Have a peek and post your views.

I am not asking for an anti-Galloway trend here. All I want is for people to see the reality of finding anyone that we can actually vote for. Anywhere!

 http://www.khoodeelaar.com

 http://www.khoodeelaar.com

Changing What WE Control [138]
All over the world activist groups are using the wrong ideas to take on the Old World Order (OWO). Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Animal Liberation, and many other groups are often trapped by a wrong, but dominant, idea.

The idea involves changing what governments and corporations do.

A better idea is for us to change what we do. We still have control over many of our own actions, but almost no control over the actions of federal governments and global corporations.

Governments can easily ignore our attempts to make them change. They can also use the rule of law, and their considerable legal and financial resources, to defend whatever they do. Large corporations have similar capacities to resist pressures from ordinary people. Since the mid-eighties London Greenpeace has organised an annual World Day of Action against McDonalds. The protest takes place on 16th October. It attacks aspects such as the use of former rainforest land to graze cattle for beefburgers, the means of slaughtering chickens, the impact of fries and beefburgers on obesity, and the wages and conditions of employees. Greenpeace asks ordinary people to "..talk to friends and family, neighbours and workmates about these issues." Two activists, Helen Morris and David Steele were sued by the McDonalds corporation in 1990, for distributing a leaflet critical of McDonalds products and business practices. Although the pair came through the longest libel trial in British legal history with significant public support, and some favourable rulings, their leaflet did not change McDonalds products or practices at all.

Corporations like McDonalds can control what they do, and they can choose to ignore criticisms and use the legal system to silence those who speak out against perceived shortcomings in their operations and ethics. But individual citizens also have control over many aspects of their lives. You and I might not be able to travel internationally without visas, body searches, and currency restrictions, but we can still choose what we eat, what we watch, and who are friends are.

Withdrawing Our Support [139]
While we can't change governments and corporations, we can change what we ourselves control. Artificial scarcity is the bedrock of capitalism, but it is a two way street. By withdrawing our support for commercial products or government programs, we citizens can create scarcities of our own. We can cause a scarcity of consumers, a scarcity of program participants, and a scarcity of believers.

The latter form of scarcity is vital to diminishing the power and control of the Old World Order. Citizens, particularly those in the West, need to withdraw their support for official truths and the mechanisms that promulgate them. There might be good reasons to withdraw support from McDonalds products, but doing so would only harm that single corporation, and many of the people who work there. A wide refusal to consume McDonalds meals will never damage capitalism or hasten the transition to a Level 4 Civilization. However, a widespread withdrawal of support for the misinformation and lies disseminated by government and corporate spin-doctors, and the mainstream electronic media, can do so. Such a development can help us meet Daniel Quinn's key requirement for our survival as a species. "What we must have (and nothing less) is a whole world full of people with changed minds. "

Actions WE Can Take [140]
There are many actions that we can take to help the transition to a Level 4 Civilization. Some actions that are well within our power are suggested below, you can undoubtedly think of more.

*Turn off TV, to reject the propaganda of the OWO.
Become a 2nd Renaissance resident by choosing to describe your address in terms that exclude national identity.

*Establish and support the new category of Freeright, as a foil to Copyright.

*Rediscover kinship principles and establish support mechanisms that are independent of government programs.

*Widen civil scepticism and challenge the official truth - everywhere, every time.

*Expect high-level corruption and help to identify and publicise it.
See the War on Terror in context. Spread the understanding widely.

*Reject military solutions to terrorism. Spread understanding that wars cannot prevail against non-state opponents. Work to stop support for the War on Terror, on the grounds of its poor cost-benefits potential.

*Challenge restrictions of civil freedoms. Support secessions from federal systems and democracies that are spiralling into decline.

*Learn about new science and share your understanding widely. Do the same in respect of ancient knowledge and suppressed inventions.

*Seek to understand new technologies and their impact on scarcity. Spread information about new social and economic choices that arise from abundance.

*Confront the doctrines and practices of economic scarcity. Understand and spread awareness of the flawed nature of taker philosophies, and the growing opportunity to live differently - as leaver-givers.

*Move house. Congregate in new centres of 2nd Renaissance thought.
Help to develop the 2R centres. Help them break free of federalism.

*Stop voting. Stop supporting pseudo-democracies. Where voting is compulsory, vote informal. Reduce the numerical mandate of the OWO to legitimately govern states and federations of states (by creating a scarcity of voter support).

*Become involved in highlighting the failures of capitalism, federalism and nationalism. Use Freenet and whatever other channels that are available to send the messages out; across the world.

*Maintain resolve and hope, no matter what the OWO might do or say. Remain non-violent but always focused and insistent on rapid change - towards a Level 4 Civilization by 2014.

Turn Off TV [141]
The acclaimed linguist and author, Noam Chomsky, reminds us that most of our communications technologies are exclusive to the West. He says, "The Internet is an elite organisation; most of the world has never made a phone call." People who don't have television or access to the WWW, are both winning and losing. They are being spared the deluge of propaganda that comes from the major TV channels, but they are also missing the wealth of valid information that is available on the Internet. We are more fortunate. If we so choose, we can keep the Internet but stop tuning into the TV propaganda of the Old World Order.

Keep your TV set for viewing rented movies if you like, continue to use the print media for sporting and other information of a non-propaganda nature, but disconnect the TV broadcast feed from the antenna or fibre-optic cable. Your children will be better off growing up without an ever-present propaganda medium in the living room.

In due course, there will be global TV broadcasts emanating from various free cities and regions, that will be unencumbered by federalist, nationalist, and capitalist doctrines. Such transmissions will come to your home through the earth, without using existing communication cables and channels. In the meantime your family can be spared the intrusion of the OWO into the home, by the simple action of disconnecting the conventional signal feed to your TV set.

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2006/02/106816.php

I used to think that a 'not bothering to vote' was a good vote until I realise that there are just far too many die hard voting twats out there. When you live in a conservative constituency with a 27,000 majority it is stupid not to vote. Potentially they could win with 1 vote (and you can vote for yourself!). That's why I joined The Green Party. O.k the whole electoral system and parliament is shit but I have had enough of David fuckin' Cameron saying, 'if you think Green, vote Blue' and the Lib dems moto of the year - 'for a fairer, greener world'. The last time I looked the Lib dems were pro GM, voted in favour of incineration in Sheffield and Norfolk as well as road building schemes in Scotland, Charles Kennedy clocked up thousands of tonnes of CO2 emissions during his last election campaign by FLYING everywhere despite them chanting on about the fact that air travel needs greater taxes. The Torys are certainly no better being pro nuclear, pro big business and promising the CBI that the UK needs greater road building schemes. Despite David Cameron saying climate change is the greatest threat we face, his own unsustainable offspring all wear disposable nappies whilst he and half of his chums bomb round in gas guzzlers. On a local level it is the Tory party that have unanimously voted to build 1,200 homes on our green belt and ancient woodland site. The only party that speak out nationally and locally have been The Green Party. Unfortunately when I went to the last electoral count I was shocked at how many tabloid reading idiots are actually voting BNP, simply not voting doesn't register with that kind of voter. It's simple, the Tory party and Lib Dems are scared of exactly how many people are voting Green and how many Green Councillors there are throughout the U.K. Isn't it funny how all of a sudden these 2 parties are getting closer to The Green Party policies yet The Greens are definately not aiming to get any closer to Labour, Tory or Lib Dems. Not voting is a wasted vote.

Not shooting politicians is a waste of ammunition. Prince Charles pretends to be green but I wouldn't want him as my absolute monarch. Nor would I prefer anyone as absolute monarch, the entire concept is unjust. Nor do I trust any politicians to rule over me. Anyone who seeks power should be kept well away from it. Anyone who votes is endorsing the system and the state they vote for. Whether individual anarchists vote or not is as uninteresting and irrelevant as whether they pick their nose or like sugar in their tea. You can be a green anarchist but you can only be a Green statist, they are mutually exclusive things. Absolute monarchy didn't get reformed into 'democracies', it was toppled. Standing in voting booths in fake democracies is like going to confession with a paedophilic priest because you believe in a higher power dispensing future rewards. In the time it takes to vote Green you could do a direct action that'd have more real effect.

Every election brings out the same old anarchist 'no vote' campaigns - though to be honest campaign is putting it too strongly, usually it's a case of a few stickers, a poster or some grafitti. The old slogan of 'Don't Vote, Organise!' would be sound if only it were true. In the real world the fact is that it's 'don't vote, apathise'. Not only does encouraging voter apathy feed into the general cynicism about politics - and that includes radical 'anti'-politics as much as it does Nu Lab, Tories and the rest - it also encourages the feeling that we're powerless to resist or change things.

When it comes to council elections this apathy makes even less sense. While it's true that local councils have been rendered almost powerless by the relentless authoritarianism and centralising tendencies of successive Tory and Labour governments, local councils are still closer to most people than what goes on in Westminster. If there's a chance to make a splash it's here. If we want to reconnect people's interest in change then it's here.

Encouraging apathy and cynicism is ultimately self-defeating. Do we really want people to believe that they have no power to make a difference?

Shame you couldn't have run this campaign in Iraq in October 2002 for the Presidential referendum. Do you think your arguments would have had much effect on the 100% turnout and the 100% vote to extend my term by another seven years? Now that really is what I call representative democracy.

Cute idea, harness the apathetes and claim they're in your favour.

OTOH it's more positive perhaps to register protest by voting and spoiling your paper. A concerted effort say to encourage writing "NONE OF THESE" at the bottom of your voting paper might not go unnoticed ;)

Spoilt ballots have to be counted and the number announced. The thing about just not voting is that you get counted as agreeing with the status quo.

If you really can't support any candidates then wouldn't a spoilt vote have more of an effect? The spoilt vote might be counted if you are lucky, and then you can't be accused of apathy.

"Do we really want people to believe that they have no power to make a difference?"

No, we want to show them how to make a real difference without resorting to superstitious practices like voting in rigged elections for an unjust and immoral regime. If the activity they are taking part has no power to make a difference then it is silly to encourage it, we should be showing alternatives like the original poster suggested. Encouraging them to vote to improve their lives is like encouraging them to pray to God that your rulers will be nicer. Everyone who votes endorses the practice.

"The spoilt vote might be counted if you are lucky, and then you can't be accused of apathy."

A spoiled vote still endorses the state, it just rejects the candidates, and spoiled papers are often attributed to one party or the other by corrupt officials.

You lot have to think, what the are you voting for ? You are voting for someone to rule over you, you are endorsing some bastard to steal your own personal soveriegnty, for a police force to oppress you, for corporations to steal from you, and to give some millionaire public school boy the 'right' to send our young lads to die for his personal profit. And you expect praise for such submissive behaviour ?

Accuse me of apathy to my face and I will rearrange your face. What have you done for the past week to accuse other folk here who are suggesting positive action for real change of apathy simply because we don't pull down our pants and bend over ever time a politician asks us to ? You aren't activists, you are Blairs rent boys, and worse, you are trying to pimp the rest of us.

Suggest people read these if they are tempted to vote.

 http://www.infoshop.org/faq/secJ2.html#secj23

Also see

 http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/rbr/rbr5/elections.html