Human Rights & Culture

Spend the time to look and learn.....

Not in My Name

The EU elections.... you win some, you lose some.

It is with a feeling of pride and satisfaction that I see the results here in Sweden. Piratpartiet taking a little over seven percent of the vote and a place in the EU parliament - two if the Lisbon agreement is ratified. Moreover, according to exit polls, in the 20-30yrs age group Piratpartiet took the largest share of the vote -more than either Moderaterna or the Social Democrats.

That so many people are ready to vote for a 'single issue' party sends a clear signal that privacy and integrity are issues that are high on many peoples agenda - and it puts a presence into Brussels that will actively campaign to defend our democratic rights.

But.. I am at the sametime sad and ashamed. In Britain the far-right British National Party polled nearly a million votes, gained over 6% of the vote and will send two members to the EU parliament. That so many are ready to vote for a party that peddles racism and xenophobia dressed up as patriotism leaves me frankly bewildered and disappointed. What has become of my homeland?

Thankfully, there is hope... in the form of the Hope not Hate campaign which held in check further BNP gains as The Guardian explains..

"Their (BNP) failure to exploit these unique circumstances was in no small part due the mass mobilisation of opposition to them on the ground; a new politics of "Hope not Hate" forged beyond the Westminster beltway with unions, churches, voluntary groups, students and sometimes local political parties. The volume of literature distributed outstripped that of the main parties. Local "Hope not Hate" groups distributed 3,400,000 newspapers and leaflets; 1.6 million being hand-delivered in the North West alone, 850,000 leaflets in Yorkshire and Humber. On one day, 48 hours before the election, we held 180 simultaneous activities and hand-delivered 500,000 leaflets.

Over 50,000 people volunteered for our online campaign and 1,500 people donated. We placed anti-BNP articles in the national newspapers on a daily basis and our eve-of-poll email was sent to 600,000 people, the biggest single email in British domestic political history. We estimate that 5,000 people took part in the on-the-ground campaigns around the country, many for the first time in their lives."

Hope not Hate have an online petition called Not in My Name. If I had a UK postcode I would sign up... but I don't, so I am writing this....

Never in My name....

Footnote added: Who voted BNP and why from Channel 4

New voters, new views

Current in the news (as Rick Falkvinge highlights) is the results of school ballots that show the support for Piratpartiet outstripping the mainstream parties - taking more votes than the two leading parties put together. Turn out is low (~20%) - but even so, support of 30% or more shows how important PP's core issues are to the young (bearing in mind that the school ballots include a good slice of first time voters). Given that PP support is highly skewed between the sexes the support among young men must be sky high.

Critics - commenters on newspaper coverage - criticise the result as young people that 'don't understand' and are just interested in legalising filesharing, i.e. are voting for their own self-interest. Perhaps there's something in that, but it's nonchalant in the extreme to disregard their political awareness.

The young have the vision to see society how they would like it to be. They have yet to be bound in by the millstone of inertia in the existing establishment. They don't have jobs, and they don't have mortgages, or children, or elderly parents needing care - clearly they have different priorities in choosing which issues matter to them. Young voters are not voting for which party will give them the biggest tax cuts or the biggest handouts. ..and maybe the young have yet to learn by experience what a big bad place the world is.

But anyone criticising the young for voting Pirate really need to wake up and think about the real issues behind the filesharing debate. Today the world is moving fast towards a surveillance society where the Internet is a tool for the government to keep track of it's citizens.

The brightest, best and most creative thinking comes from the young... that they see the consequences of the introduction of the Internet - and the pressing need to preserve our freedoms and rights by protecting it's freedom from censorship and surveillance - should be a wake up call. What have you lost sight of?

Filesharing is a part of youth culture - and of course that means there is interest in defending that culture from 'the evils of industry'. But if that leads young people to be informed and engaged on issues of personal freedom and integrity then for me that is a great thing. ...a whole new generation that clearly see the need to defend rights and to create a better more open society.

Update: Check out Pure Nandi's description of a school political debate - and notice that it's integrity and not filesharing that is under the spotlight. (in swedish..)

Whales return in Alaska

Good news.... Blue Whales have appeared off parts of Canada & Alaska for the first time since they were eradicated by commercial whaling activities in the last century.

Scientists are now pondering just why they have re-appeared - one of the possible reasons being the affects of global warming on the krill population (krill being the whale's staple diet). Hopefully it's the other reason - that krill , and hence whale migrations, are affected by long term shifts in the pattern of ocean temperatures and that it is these that are bringing the whales northward.

They shall not pass....

This is one of my favourite songs... remembering the sacrifice made by the volunteers of the International Brigade in the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.



That I found this video tonight is thanks to a clip on Leon Rosselson's MySpace page commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Jamara. At 45 minutes though it's quite long..
It ends with this quote from the leader of the Spanish communist party.

"Sometimes you must be prepared to fight, even without a prospect of victory.. for in that way you leave a heritage, you prepare future battles.
So we fought."



Footnote: Jack Jones MBE, union leader and veteran of the XV International Brigade died last week aged 92. May he Rest in Peace.

Chopsticks

I was on the Political Compass site yesterday - interested to see where my views landed me...
(.. the answer to that was that they land somewhat close to those of the Dalai Lama)
I then went on to check out the same political compass on Facebook. Reading the wall discussions there it suddenly struck me how much of political discussion starts from a position of selfishness - particularly prevalent in the American 'Liberal' position which, to me at least can be summarised as "I want the freedom to not give a s*** about anyone else."

I was reminded of an old parable about heaven and hell. There are many versions it seems, used by everyone from the Pope downwards.. I found mine here... and it goes like this..

Once upon a time, in a temple nestled in the misty end of south hill, lived a pair of monks. One old and one young.

'What is the difference between Heaven and Hell?' the young monk asked his learned master one day. 'There are no material differences,' replied the old monk peacefully.

'None at all?' asked the confused young monk. 'No. Both Heaven and Hell look the same. They both have a dining hall with a big hot pot in the centre. In it there are some delicious noodles boiling, giving off an appetizing scent,' said our old priest. " and there are people sitting around the pot in just the same way.'

'Each diner has a pair of meter-long chopsticks to eat with." the zen master went on. 'but in Hell, no matter how hard they try, people always fail to get the noodles into their mouths,and they are all starving'.

'But isn't it the same for the people in Heaven?' asked the junior.

'Not at all. In Heaven they each feed the person sitting opposite them. That is the difference between Heaven and Hell.' said the old monk.

Yes We Can

Today, as they say, is the first day of the rest of our lives...
..and it seems to me a day for optimism and hope.



It's hard to know what a new face in the White House will bring - but it's not hard to believe it will be better than the eight years just gone.

Good Luck Barack!