Press lies about the Venezuelan presidential election 23:08 Sep 10 0 comments Israel told US it is modeling Gaza attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 22:35 Nov 05 0 comments UK Government manipulation of the BBC and social media over Covid 21:40 Sep 19 0 comments Good Riddance to Biden - Bye Bye Bidens 23:13 Apr 18 0 comments Exposed: Ireland’s Leading Far-right Politicians Unmasked… 20:58 Dec 07 0 comments more >>Blog Feeds
Anti-EmpireNorth Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi? Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi? Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi? ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi? US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty
Human Rights in IrelandPromoting Human Rights in Ireland
Lockdown Skeptics
Starmer Doesn?t Have a Feel for Politics and His Team Lacks the Skills to Run the Country, Says Vete... Tue Dec 24, 2024 19:00 | Will Jones
Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to ?Avoid Unnecessary Offence? Tue Dec 24, 2024 18:00 | Will Jones
Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 Tue Dec 24, 2024 15:42 | Will Jones
Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming ?a Fifth of Thos... Tue Dec 24, 2024 13:46 | Will Jones
J.K. Rowling Leads Backlash Against Sturgeon for Claiming There Was No Public Opposition to Gender S... Tue Dec 24, 2024 11:23 | Will Jones
Voltaire NetworkVoltaire, international editionVoltaire, International Newsletter N?113 Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:42 | en Pentagon could create a second Kurdish state Fri Dec 20, 2024 10:31 | en How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en |
Referendums,parliaments, Democracy.Greece-Ireland.
international |
politics / elections |
opinion/analysis
Tuesday November 01, 2011 14:59 by Costas - Personal capacity
Referendums,parliaments, Democracy.Greece-Ireland. We heard last night that the glorious prime minister of Greece, Jefrey George Papandreou (gobshite) decided to let the people of Greece deciding about "something" by having them have their say on a referendum!! I'm 37 years old and in my lifetime as far as I remember that opportunity was never given to the Greek people for no issue whatsoever!! Only the dictators hosted referendums!! |
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 3 2 1..make an attempt.
For starters..its a word..from the Greek(appropriate at the minit)'demos' the people meaning, I believe, the collective or public arena, as opposed to the private arena.
The Greeks also used the word 'idiot' to signify one who takes no interest in the public common arena, but is totally preoccupied with private concerns and considers the public issues irrelevant, except in so far as they further their own personal interests. I think this meaning should be restored and elevated, but then, thats a private opinion(oops, just gone public).
My own belief is that you should be allowed to define yourself to suit yourself, so long as it does not interfere with the orderly and just running of our collective wellbeing, always a balancing act that requires we listen receptively and with a commitment to that common good, rather than our own furtherance or power over the collective welfare.
At present the word has been hijacked and distorted by those whose collective interests are excusive to a cartel(or set of contending cliques, claques and cartels) who co-operate when it suits and contend when gain beckons.
It has many forms, and though 'primitive'(a pejorative term of the self-appointed 'civilised')tribes always practised this collective decision making our 'sophisticated' societies in the 'west' use the word as a weapon to deprive them of their resources in the interests of our version of development'.
You have opened a rathber large can there, AV. If there is anything you disagree with, I'd be glad to consider YOUR opinion.
That i think would constitute the practise of democracy: the search for COMMON understanding and MUTUAL benefit, but not to the detriment of absent parties to the exchange.
"Democracy is direct rule of people over their lives"
Ideally, I agree. But doesn't that really mean the right-wing dream of getting government out of our lives? And what happens if some of my fellow free citizens decides to rape my child, steal my food, or deprive me of my freedom to say what I want to say, and live as I want to live? Do I just get a gun and shoot the suspect? Or perhaps I round up several of my buddies to try him before I shoot him? And what happens if the rapist/thief is one of the guys who have appointed themselves to supervise this Heaven on Earth?
And what happens when the majority in a society identify themselves as middle-class rather than proletarian? Does this mean that the welfare of the majority must still be the priority of the revolutionary (pre-communist) state?
No one seems to be addressing these questions.
People are saying this is a deliberate effort in the background by goldman sachs to explode a financial timebomb they previously helped to create thereby keeping the euro weak and fending off attacks on the dollar as reserve currency.
George Pap made this decision unilaterally. It smacks of a corrupt payoff in tandem with market forces to make a killing on the market while protecting american interests.
Sounds like a classic goldman sachs manoeuvre