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For Political Equality
All citizens vote on all policies: 20th Century Power Politics and their 21st Century electronic alternative
Orr, Aki http://www.connexions.org/CxLibrary/Docs/CX15008-Orr-For_POLITICAL_equality.pdf
Year Published: 2007
Pages: 217pp
Resource Type: Book
This book aims to motivate people to set up post-parliamentary direct democracy (DD) enabling all citizens to propose-debate-vote on all issues of society. Every citizen - one vote - on every issue of society. This political equality abolishes Power - the role of deciding on behalf of others - the main cause of violence and corruption in society. "To be" is not merely "to exist" but to decide all issues of one's life. Denying citizens' right to decide all issues of society reduces them to mere political pawns. All citizens have the right to decide all policies.
Abstract:
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Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Truth is not Reality
2. Priority Principles
3. Society creates individuality
4. Processes produce events
5. Means and Ends
6. Marx - right and wrong
7. WW1 and Lenin's Revolution
8. Stalin = industrialization + terror
9. WW2, "Cold War", fall of Socialism
10 The May 1968 strike in France
11. Women's Liberation
12. Imperialism transformed.
13. Politics of Poisoning
14. Big business or big government?
15. Post parliamentary non-Party state
16. Politics without Power?
17. D.I.Y. DD
18. Summing up
Appendices
Index
Excerpt:
20th Century politics were efforts by Big Business (BB) and Big Government (BG) to shape all other societies in their own image. BB won but most people resent it. They also resent BG. As a result politics today are at a dead-end as people resent both BB and BG but see no other system to replace them. However, mobile phones, magnetic cards, TV and the Internet provide the technical means for a new system: a post-parliamentary direct democracy where all citizens can debate and vote on all issues of their society - without any representatives.
As a non-parliamentary Left activist since 1952, I was inspired by seeing a new generation of activists continuing the struggles against BB and BG of my generation. However, listening to young activists revealed to me three major differences between their generation and mine.
1) We knew philosophy and had a firm philosophical foundation for our activities.
The new generation reads no philosophy. Their politics lack a philosophical foundation.
2) We studied histories of past revolutions and saw ourselves as their continuation. Today's activists hardly know about the Kronstadt uprising (1921) against Lenin's BG or about the greatest general strike in history (France, 1968), or why a BG world superpower like USSR rose and fell. They don't see their activity as part of an ongoing historical process.
3) We had a clear political goal: to replace an economy run by private owners for private
profits by an economy managed by all employees - not by the state - to serve all in society,
Our goal inspired our initiative and motivated us to act independently of what our rulers did. After USSR's collapse (1991) all ideas on public ownership of the economy fell into disrepute.
Left activists today have no new alternative to privatized - or nationalized - economy. While Capitalism (and Communist China) act, Left activists merely re-act. They protest against "outsourcing", "privatizing", or "globalizing" but Capitalism has the initiative. The reason? Today's activists see no new alternative to Capitalism/Socialism/Rule by Representatives (RR). They offer no new political system. People who have an alternative act to achieve it, people who lack it - protest.
My generation acted to achieve an egalitarian economy. Today's activists don't. This motivated me to write this book offering the new generation of activists three themes:
1) A philosophical foundation for their activity.
2) A brief history of 20th century politics.
3) A new political goal: to set up political equality, post-parliamentary direct-democracy so all citizens can propose-debate-vote all issues of society.
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