RFK: Last Courageous Democrat

The Democrats haven’t had political courage since King or Kennedy. The Dems lost their souls to money and are just like the Republicans. Here, I am writing about the last brave Democrat.

A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.

Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic Senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism/ Democratic Socialist and member of the illustrious Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and acted as one of his advisers during his presidency. From 1961 to 1964, he was the U.S. Attorney General. Following his brothers assassination on November 22, 1963, Kennedy continued to serve as Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson for nine months. In September 1964, Kennedy resigned to seek the U.S. Senate seat from New York, which he won in November. Within a few years, he publicly split with Johnson over the Vietnam War. General Westmoreland was involved in fixing numbers so it looked like we would win, Johnson was fooled. In March 1968, Kennedy began a campaign for the presidency and was a front-running candidate of the Democratic Party. In the California presidential primary on June 4, Kennedy defeated Eugene McCarthy, a fellow U.S. Senator from Minnesota. Following a brief victory speech delivered just past midnight on June 5 at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, Kennedy was assassinated by a Security Agent standing behind him. Sirhan Sirhan was a victim of the CIA MK-Ultra expriment. He fired round, but RFK was hit from Behind, impossible for a frontal fatality. Mortally wounded and unconscious, he survived for nearly 26 hours, dying early in the morning of June 6. Kennedy also used the power of federal agencies to influence US Steel not to institute a price increase. The Wall Street Journal wrote that the administration had set prices of steel “by naked power, by threats, by agents of the state security police.”

“ If we believe that we, as Americans, are bound together by a common concern for each other, then an urgent national priority is upon us. We must begin to end the disgrace of this other America. And this is one of the great tasks of leadership for us, as individuals and citizens this year. But even if we act to erase material poverty, there is another greater task, it is to confront the poverty of satisfaction – purpose and dignity – that afflicts us all. Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product – if we judge the United States of America by that – that Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

“ Think that we could agree on what kind of a world we would all want to build. it would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress — not material welfare as an end in itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would be proud to have built.”

Dedicated to Terri Lee

Making Unions Strong Again.

The Labor Movement is at its they worse. And Unions have not been the champions of their own cause. There is a way to make Unions strong again. Now that the Industrial age is over and automation is deskilling labor. Unions can make a come back and here is how. Rather than negotiating with the bosses, the can be involved in empotheyring the people. How? Starting a worker owned Co-operatives for one, self help credit unions, Community service for pay, Here is one example: The Ohio Employee Ownership Center at Kent State provides preliminary technical assistance on worker buyouts. Some of the positive synergies bettheyen union representation and worker ownership theyre at play in a Toledo textile firm. In 1991, GenCorp was planning to close down an unprofitable division, but instead agreed to sell it to the 200-plus employees as Textileather. The Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) supported the buyout and joined with management in building successful employee participation. Training in participatory practices was implemented from the beginning, and an effective jointly led employee involvement structure resulted in a 28% increase in productivity, a 40% drop in scrap, and greatly reduced machine downtime in the first year. The company was immediately profitable. Ultimately, though, Textileather’s worker-owners decided that their primary goal was job security, not ownership. In 1996, when the acquisition debt was paid off, management and workers agreed to sell the company. The buyer not only paid 160% of the valuation price, but also agreed to increase wages, bring in additional work creating more jobs, and give the employees the first right of refusal if it decided to sell the plant in the future. As unions and co-ops engage in further discussion and collaboration, they may discover unexpected synergies bettheyen the two strategies. Ideally, such collaborations will turn out to strengthen and invigorate both the union staff and members and the worker-owners who are willing to cross over and work together toward a common goal of empotheyring workers. Assisting local unions in establishing community services committees and programs. Providing important information and referral services to union members, their families, laid-off employees and members on strike. Conducting educational training programs. Coordinating labor’s participation in the annual United Way campaigns. Implementing food drives and various community projects.

Self Help To date, they have loaned over $392 million to thousands of businesses and nonprofits, concentrating of those headed by or serving people of color, women, and rural residents. they lend to businesses that make a difference. Small businesses such as stores, restaurants, service companies, auto repair shops, and any other businesses that create opportunities where they’re most needed. Core community services like child care, public charter schools, health care and churches that stabilize neighborhoods. Commercial Real Estate Developments that revitalize low-theyalth communities. Environmentally Sustainable Enterprises Nonprofits Manufacturers that provide quality jobs. Green jobs are widely considered a route out of the current recession in the labor movement, but especially in the building trades, which have been hard hit by the downturn in building. Building trades unions regard the construction of wind, solar, biofuel, and hydro-thermal alternative energy sources as a potential bright spot. A recent report, widely cited by the building trades, supports the widespread view that the building trades will benefit from the switch to green potheyr alternatives. The report—Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low Carbon Economy — done by UMass’s Political Economy Research for the Center for American Progress—claims that a $100 billion green economic recovery package would create 800,000 construction jobs, a majority of which will pay decent wages (over $16 per hour). Most of the jobs would be in already existing occupations and would be geographically dispersed. Areas where the stimulus money should be focused, according to the report, are in sectors that currently employ trades workers, including: • retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency • expanding mass transit and freight rail • constructing ’smart’ electrical grid transmission systems • wind potheyr • solar potheyr • next-generation biofuels The report influenced the Obama’s stimulus package, which received strong backing from the trades. Green training is now standard in apprenticeship and post-apprenticeship training throughout the construction industry. Building trades unions are also active lobbying at the national, state, and local level for the permitting of alternative potheyr sources such as wind farms. High level meetings have been held at the White House with strong union participation for programs like the Emerald City Program to get energy efficiency projects up and running. This is a way to make unions strong again.

franken foods

Genetically modified foods are made from genetically modified organisms. Genetically modified organisms have had specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering techniques. These techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis (mutation breeding) where an organism is exposed to chemicals to create a artificial yet stable change. Other techniques by which humans modify food organisms include selective breeding (plant breeding and animal breeding), and somaclonal variation. Bans In 2002, Zambia cut off the flow of Genetically Modified Food from UN’s World Food Program. This left a famine-stricken population without food ssistence.[ In December 2005 the Zambian government changed its mind in the face of further famine and allowed the importation of GM maize. However, the Zambian Minister for Agriculture Mundia Sikatana has insisted that the ban on genetically modified maize remains, saying “We do not want genetically modified foods and our hope is that all of us can continue to produce non-GM foods In April 2004 Hugo Chávez announced a total ban on genetically modified seeds in Venezuela. In January 2005, the Hungarian government announced a ban on importing and planting of genetic modified maize seeds, which was subsequently authorized by the EU. On August 18, 2006, American exports of rice to Europe were interrupted when much of the U.S. crop was confirmed to be contaminated with unapproved engineered genes, possibly due to accidental cross-pollination with conventional crops. On February 9, 2010, Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, imposed a moratorium on the cultivation of GMF “for as long as it is needed to establish public trust and confidence”. His decision was made after protest from several groups responding to regulatory approval of the cultivation of Bt brinjal, a GM eggplant in October, 2009. Intellectual property Traditionally, farmers in all nations saved their own seed from year to year. Allowing to follow this practice with genetically modified seed would result in seed developers losing the ability to profit from their breeding work. Therefore, genetically-modified seed are subject to licensing by their developers in contracts that are written to prevent farmers from following this traditional practice. Many objections to genetically modified food crops are based on this change. Monsanto Canada Inc. v. Schmeiser Enforcement of patents on genetically modified plants is often contentious, especially because of gene flow. In 1998, 95-98 percent of about 10 km2 planted with canola by Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser were found to contain Monsanto Company’s patented Roundup Ready gene although Schmeiser had never purchased seed from Monsanto. The initial source of the plants was undetermined, and could have been through either gene flow or intentional theft. However, the overwhelming predominance of the trait implied that Schmeiser must have intentionally selected for it. The court determined that Schmeiser had saved seed from areas on and adjacent to his property where Roundup had been sprayed, such as ditches and near power poles. Although unable to prove direct theft, Monsanto sued Schmeiser for piracy since he knowingly grew Roundup Ready plants without paying royalties. The case made it to the Canadian Supreme Court, which in 2004 ruled 5 to 4 in Monsanto’s favor. The dissenting judges focused primarily on the fact that Monsanto’s patents covered only the gene itself and glyphosate resistant cells, and failed to cover transgenic plants in their entirety. All of the judges agreed that Schmeiser would not have to pay any damages since he had not benefited from his use of the genetically modified seed. In response to criticism, Monsanto Canada’s Director of Public Affairs stated that “It is not, nor has it ever been Monsanto Canada’s policy to enforce its patent on Roundup Ready crops when they are present on a farmer’s field by accident…Only when there has been a knowing and deliberate violation of its patent rights will Monsanto act. Can you believe that scientists are now actually modifying plants to manufacture pharmaceutical compounds (a technique known as “pharming”), trees which will yield fruit and nuts much earlier in the season than they would naturally, plants that produce new kinds of plastics, and fish that reproduce more rapidly! What are Genetically Modified Organisms ? Farmers have had free seeds in America for 600 years, and now these same free seeds are owned by private sector corporations. Scientists have been and are currently introducing genetic material into organisms to alter, create and affect changes in living plants and animals. These radical changes scientists are developing create specific, desirable traits that might never evolve naturally and in my opinion are extremely dangerous. Collectively called recombinant DNA technology, this practice changes the core genetic make-up of organisms. This genetic manipulation gives scientists the ability to create any trait that they wish, or suppress natural traits they don’t want. There are several reasons this unnatural genetic manipulation may affect you. It’s usually not clear which consumables have been genetically manipulated. You don’t know the long term health effects of these genetically modified foods. Initial research has shown that short-term reactions can be severe. Agro-chemical companies and the government are planning to charge farmers fees to grow their GM crops, thereby negatively affecting the economy and environment. Cultivated Genetically Modified Foods – From bacteria (E. coli) and fungus, fruits and vegetables to animals, genetic manipulation is becoming more and more common in our society. In the US market now, 60 to 70% of the processed foods are genetically modified. In 2006, United States GMO crops reached just shy of 135 million acres, with the total global area exceeding 250 million acres!1 This is a short list of the genetically modified food crops that are grown in the US today: Sugar cane , Sweet peppers, Tomatoes, Bananas ,Strawberries , Soy bean Corn Potatoes , Pineapples ,Cocoa beans ,Yellow squash Zucchini REFERENCES Brief 35: Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops: 2006, Accessed Nov 2007. Available for purchase, http://www.isaaa.org/resources/publications/briefs/35/ The True Food Shopping Guide, http://www.truefoodnow.org/shoppersguide/guide_printable.html, from The True Food Network, http://www.truefoodnow.org/ 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods, by Nathan Batalion, http://www.raw-wisdom.com/50harmful Ibid. American Rice Banned in Many Countries After Genetic Contamination, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_1605.cfm, by Thomas Whitman, ed., Ecological Farming Association, August 21, 2006 Health Begins in The Colon, ©2007, by Dr. Edward F. Group III, p. 131 Pharm Phresh Frankenfoods, http://www.mindfully.org/GE/GE4/Pharm-Phresh-Frankenfoods7oct02.htm, by Margaret Wertheim, LA Weekly, 7Oct02 Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/pusztai.html, by Arpad Pusztai. An ActionBioscience.org original article

MOVIES

Super Size Me

 Food inc

Illegal Arms Trade

Just as America’s streets are flooded with weaponry, so is the global market-place. From the American-bought hand-gun that killed a Mexican presidential candidate this year to the varied weapons of war equipment used by Iraqi forces during the Persian Gulf War, weapons of every variety are moving undetected across world borders.

Here in the United States, violence-weary Americans have begun standing up to the once all-powerful gun lobbies.  In Philadelphia PA there is a murder everyday.

America’s arms export policy point to three problems
1. Connected gun merchants are above the law. 2. Many foreign Nations
Aren’t subject to us regulations. 3. Secret Government are complicit  in international gun merchandising.
Even a single American-supplied weapon can change an entire contry’s history. Luis Donaldo Colosio, the 44-year-old heir-apparent to the Mexican presidency, was killed in March by two bullets fired from a .38-caliber Taurus. The gun was originally purchased in 1977 by a security firm executive in San Francisco and had crossed the Mexican border some time later without a  trace, say authorities from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF).

After the end of the Cold War, the Soviet Union collapsed. Tens of thousands of ex-Soviet soldiers were put out of work. Much of Eastern Europe was the same. In Africa, the lack of superpower support meant that the traditional militaries collapsed. And societies were beginning to fragment into numerous rebel groups ( National Liberation Front, Democratic Liberation, ETC)  and there was a great demand for military arms. Many of the former Soviet citizens  became arms dealers. The situation  went from a situation traditionally emphasized heavy arms to one which emphasized small arms — what the soldier could carry. These would have been AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortars, that sort of thing. They were cheap, they were durable, and they could be concealed and easily transported. And I think the fact [is] that the West kept track of the state-to-state arms transfers, but what made this a particularly difficult problem after the end of the Cold War was there was no tracking of small arms.
And it had a major impact on Africa — very devastating. I guess 7 to 8 million people had been killed by the turn of the century [2000]. There were millions of refugees and internally displaced [people]. Also, numerous people maimed or otherwise brutalized. Whole areas of Africa just ravaged. I think perhaps Sierra Leone, Liberia, and eastern Congo are the most terrifying examples.

The flow of arms into Africa is a worldwide phenomenon. Arms dealers use banks throughout the world. Transportation companies throughout the world, whether it be sea or airplane. Deals are made in one country for arms purchased in other countries. A lot of arms flowed out of the former Soviet republics. But there were also arms coming from European countries as well, and Asian countries. It was a bonanza. And it was unregulated.
The impact on Africa, if you could look at several different sectors of society. The Karamojong people living in eastern Africa, it’s a pastoral group, traditional warriors. Suddenly, they’re armed with AK-47s. It turned their society into chaos. In eastern Congo, where you had an invasion by the Ugandans and Rwandans and various rebel groups active in the area, it just devastated the entire portion of that country. I can remember speaking with some people who lived there. They said, “There’s nothing here. There’s no roads. There’s no police force. There’s no schools. There’s no medical services. There’s nothing. You’re on your own.” And that is the most egregious example. And then you have rising crime rates in places like Nairobi or Johannesburg, in part fueled by the easy availability of illegal arms.

Children and  millions around, not just Africa,  the world are being sensely murder and are victims of international weapons trade.

The Revolutionary United front (RUF) in Sierra Leone armed up to 23,000 child soldiers with illegally acquired arms. These children were mostly used to raid villages and guard diamond mines. They were drugged, raped and forced to commit such atrocities as killing their own parents  Many Children are dismember and hacked or shot to death.

The illegal arms trade makes the armed seizure of natural resources possible.

Small arms can be traded directly for natural resources such as oil, diamonds, and timber or for the profits generated by the sale of those natural resources.

This is like a cancer.

Social Anthropology

Social anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups and siuations. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive observation (Includin research and participation), the social organization of a particular person: customs, economic and political organization, law and conflict resolution, patterns of consumption and exchange, kinship and family structure, child rearing and socialization, religion,
Socialists must understand ; economic anthropology; environment ; development.
Ethnic and gender identity based politics; Intersectional of ethnicity/race, and class; Anthropology of human rights; Anthropology of human inequality; Ethnic inequalities and economic transformation in the planet mission to eliminate poverty. The development of civil society in the world. The impact on this process, climate change policies (focus on their impact on sustainable and livable  communities), Science and Technology Studies , sociology of organizations and institutional sociology, theories of power. anthropology of war, violence and conflict, nation-state, ethnicity, and economic anthropology.
Many Liberals and Socialist here in America are clueless to the culture and societies of others.
The problem is ignorance and inexperience. Many socialists feel that the world should adhere to American values and perpetuate socialism on those values. This is utter non sense.
People of different culture and societies have social morays and values of there own, which many American, even socialists do not understand..
In the beginning of Star Trek, Captain Kirk speaks about new cultures and civilizations.
When many Star Trek and its predecessor shows viewed the different values and natures of alien beings.
People criticized Benazare Bhuto when she had an arranged marriage. She explained, even as a Socialist, that this was her way and her religion.
If one where to go to Japan or Korea and start preaching the American gospel, they would tell you they have different values and culture.
People have their way of life, communication, environmental, and value system different from ours.
There are some who believe we should force people to see things our way. This didn’t work in Italy as I once was told by my cousin. A fellow socialist, this is Italy, not America, we do things differently here.
If American Socialist are going to be successful, we will have to follow the view of Gene Roddenberry. Also, Burt Wolf says, ” Travel melts away, ignorance, prejudice, and opens our minds.”
In dealing with people the mutual respect of being alien and foreign come to understanding. Democratic Socialism will free us all in different ways.
With universal understanding, tolerances, and acceptance of similarities and differences. We are all human beings and have many of the same needs. respect is a major ingredient. And diplomacy must be learned.

Socialist International-A View

The Second International, which was formed in 1889 and dissolved on the eve of World War I in 1914 and the Labour and Socialist International which dissolved itself in 1940 with the rise of Nazism and the start of World War II, constituted some of the same parties that would later form the Socialist International.
While the Second International was split by the outbreak of World War a skeleton form survived through the International Socialist Commission. The International re-formed in 1923 (as the Labor and Socialist International), and was reconstituted again, in its present form, after World War II (during which many social democratic and socialist parties had been suppressed in Nazi-occupied Europe).
During the post-World War II period, the SI aided social democratic parties in re-establishing themselves when dictatorship gave way to democracy in Portugal (1974) and Spain (1975). Until its 1976 Geneva Congress, the Socialist International had few members outside Europe and no formal involvement with Latin America. In the 1980s, most SI parties gave their backing to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas (FSLN), whose left-wing government had incited enmity from the United States.
Since then, the SI has admitted as member-parties not only the FSLN but also the centre-left Puerto Rican Independence Party, as well as the ex-Communist parties such as the Italian Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra (DS)) and the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO).
The Party of European Socialists, a European political party active in the European Parliament, is an associated organization of the Socialist International.

The SI itself is still a top shelf organization of the global left. They officially support the various anti-capitalist movements around the world. The SI calls for the international abolition of the death penalty. The SI favors every country adopting some kind of Ecological policies. They also favor canceling debts in many of the 3rd world nations. It is importantly to remember that the SI opposed the US led action of war on Iraq . Virtually every SI member party opposed the war.

The SI took a stand against apartheid In South Africa supporting Mandella. Being a champion in international human rights. In Jamaica Prime Minster Stanley took a stand against US pressure. The US gave the (socialist) People’s National Party government a hard time for Jamaica trying to get rid of poverty and having the nerve to embrace Cuba. In a Conservative government, the Jamaican begin toting M16 military riffles.

The Socialist Party of Allenede came back to power several years ago which is a adamant rejection of Augusto Pinochet’s fascist reign of terror and human rights abuses which lasted from 1973 until 1990. After the CIA backed overthrow of democratically elected Salvatore Allende.
The Movement toward Socialism organization in Venezuela is an observer status member of the SI. The MTS supports the justice and reforms of Hugo Chavez. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has to destroy the Socialist government of Venezuela. The USA’s northern neighbor, Canada. The New Democratic Party did fairly well. They picked up 5 seats in the House of Commons from 14 to 19. electorate.

The Socialist Party of America had had enormous success in Milwaukee when it was an SI party member. No since the early 1900′s has the USA had a real significant Socialist Party. That is Where the American Labor Party and Socialist International step in. The ALP/ISO will seek entrance to the SI.

Dedicated and Inspred by Mel Little

Democracy

“I am a Socialist because I am for humanity” Eugene V Debs

“I am a Socialist because I believe that Socialism and Democracy are the only Political Ideologies that allow people to be completely Human.” Tino Rozzo

Compiled from Various sources:

Democracy is a poliI am a Socialist because I believe that Socialism and Democracy are the only Political Ideologies that allow people to be completely Human.” Tino Rozzo

Compiled from Various sources:

Democracy is a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people, either by direct referendum (direct democracy) or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative

Democracy has taken a number of forms, both in theory and practice. The following kinds are not exclusive of one another: many specify details of aspects that are independent of one

Representative:

Representative democracy involves the selection of government officials by the people being represented. If the head of state is also democratically elected then it is called a democratic republic. The most common mechanisms involve election of the candidate with a majority or a plurality of the votes.

Representatives may be elected or become diplomatic representatives by a particular district (or constituency), or represent the entire electorate proportionally proportional systems, with some using a combination of the two. Some representative democracies also incorporate elements of direct democracy, such as referendums. A characteristic of representative democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in their interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgment as how best to do so.

Parliamentary:

Parliamentary democracy is a representative democracy where government is appointed by parliamentary representatives as opposed to a ‘presidential rule’ wherein the President is both head of state and the head of government and is elected by the voters. Under a parliamentary democracy, government is exercised by delegation to an executive ministry and subject to ongoing review, checks and balances by the legislative parliament elected by the people.

Liberal:

A Liberal democracy is a representative democracy in which the ability of the elected representatives to exercise decision-making power is subject to the rule of law, and usually moderated by a constitution that emphasizes the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals, and which places constraints on the leaders and on the extent to which the will of the majority can be exercised against the rights of minorities (see civil liberties).

Direct:

Direct democracy is a political system where the citizens participate in the decision-making personally, contrary to relying on intermediaries or representatives. The supporters of direct democracy argue that democracy is more than merely a procedural issue. A direct democracy gives the voting population the power to:

Change constitutional laws, Put forth initiatives, referenda and suggestions for laws,

Give binding orders to elective officials, such as revoking them before the end of their elected term, or initiating a lawsuit for breaking a campaign promise.

Of the three measures mentioned, most operate in developed democracies today. This is part of a gradual shift towards direct democracies. Examples of this include the extensive use of referenda in California with more than 20 million voters, and (i.e., voting).[57] in Switzerland, where five million voters decide on national referenda and initiatives two to four times a year; direct democratic instruments are also well established at the cantonal and communal level. Vermont towns have been known for their yearly town meetings, held every March to decide on local issues. No direct democracy is in existence outside the framework of a different overarching form of government. Most direct democracies to date have been weak forms, relatively small communities, usually city-states. The world is yet to see a large, fundamental, working example of direct democracy as of yet, with most examples being small and weak forms.

See: List of direct democracy parties

Participatory

A Parpolity or Participatory Polity is a theoretical form of democracy that is ruled by a Nested Council structure. The guiding philosophy is that people should have decision making power in proportion to how much they are affected by the decision. Local councils of 25-50 people are completely autonomous on issues that affect only them, and these councils send delegates to higher level councils who are again autonomous regarding issues that affect only the population affected by that council.

A council court of randomly chosen citizens serves as a check on the tyranny of the majority, and rules on which body gets to vote on which issue. Delegates can vote differently than their sending council might wish, but are mandated to communicate the wishes of their sending council. Delegates are recallable at any time. Referenda are possible at any time via votes of the majority of lower level councils, however, not everything is a referendum as this is most likely a waste of time. A parpolity is meant to work in tandem with a participatory economy

Socialist Democracy:

Contemporary social democracy:

A red rose is often used as a symbol of social democracy, mostly adopted in the period after World War II. The American Labor Party uses the rose, carnation, and cardinal.

The contemporary social democratic movement came into being through a break within the socialist movement in the early years of the twentieth century. Speaking broadly, this break can be described as a parting of ways between those who insisted upon political revolution as a precondition for the achievement of socialist goals and those who maintained that a gradual or evolutionary path to socialism was both possible and desirable. Many held a view of quite different objections to Marxism.

　

Social democracy should neither expect nor desire the imminent collapse of the existing economic system What social democracy should be doing, and doing for a long time to come, is organize the working class politically, train it for democracy, and fight for any and all reforms in the state which are designed to raise the working class and make the state more democratic.” Eduard Bernstein[15

Social Democracy Economic Planning, Mixed Economy, Participatory planning Market economics, Market-oriented Mixed economy Regulated markets: Social Market, Mixed-Market, Welfare State State ownership or cooperative ownership of the means of production and heavy industry State ownership or cooperative ownership of the means of production Private ownership of the means of production with minimal public ownership of some industry State or public owns resources and major economic institutions, uses the surplus labor to fund government programs, state-directed investment State, public or worker cooperatives own resources and enterprises, uses them to fund government programs, sometimes with state-directed investment State mainly funded through progressive taxation, government regulates private business and provides welfare Socialist economics, Economic planning.

The main feature, All people have the right to freedom and liberty. They have divergent points if view free opinion and expression.

This also means free and unhindered elections, with all candidates represented from various political parties with free and open access to the ballot for freedom of choice. access

　

Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations, to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation. The term is sometimes used synonymously with 'social democracy', but many self-identified democratic socialists oppose contemporary social democracy because it is based on the capitalist mode of production.

　

Democratic socialism is difficult to define, and groups of scholars have radically different definitions for the term. Some definitions simply refer to all forms of socialism that follow an electoral, reformist or evolutionary path to socialism, rather than a revolutionary one.] Often, this definition is invoked to distinguish democratic socialism from communism, as in Donald Busky’s Democratic Socialism: A Global Survey], Jim Tomlinson’s Democratic Socialism and Economic Policy: The Attlee Years, 1945-1951, Norman Thomas Democratic Socialism: a new appraisal or Roy Hattersley’s Choose Freedom: The Future of Democratic Socialism.

In light, Capitalism must be eventually burned out, become the exception and not the norm. Nationalization and th end of Neo-liberal programs are the mission.

Dedicated to Don Busky-Red Pen. RIP.

(originally destroyed by newsvine)

Workers Democarcy

Workplace democracy is the application of democracy in all its forms (including voting systems, debates, democratic structuring, due process, adversarial process, systems of appeal, and so on) to the workplace.
It usually involves or requires more use of lateral methods like arbitration when workplace disputes arise.
Workplace democracy theory closely follows political democracy, especially where businesses are large or politics is small:
movement, farm and retail co-operative movements,  Democratic Employee Stock Option Plans all made contributions to the theory and practice of workplace democracy and often carried that into the political arena as a “more participatory democracy.” The Socialist International Social Democrat, Socialist and Labor Parties should adopted this as one of their Main focuses. Workplace democracy norms such as  co-leadership, deliberative democracy applied to any major decision, and leaders who don’t do policy. The Democratic Socialist Parties have always supported the notion of work place democracy and democratically controlled institutions.
In Sweden, the Social Democratic Party made laws and reforms 1950-70 to achieve more democratic workplaces. The unions right to balance the management and have some influential power was rather radical at that time, but still within the capitalistic society. ( which should be burned out)
Politically, Salvador Allende inspired a large number of such experiments in Chile before his death on September 11, 1973. The book Brain of the Firm by Stafford Beer details experiments in workplace feedback that exploited systems theory extensively.
Venezuela has instituted worker-run “co-management” initiatives in which workers’ councils are the cornerstone of the management of a plant or factory. In experimental co-managed enterprises, such as the state-owned Alcasa factory, workers develop budgets and elect both managers and departmental delegates who work together with strategists on technical issues related to production.

Individual career development

Employee development, job enrichment, job rotation and entrance training can be arranged by the work team itself to suit its own schedule. Job sharing is also possible and desirable if a worker wants time off and another is in a position to do overtime, without the concern that this will set a precedent for management abuses or job losses.
Training should not be for insiders or the well connected but should benefit the community.
Succession planning is everyone’s problem: senior management will be replaced by whoever is elected to replace them.
There shall be no discrimination or class. All people will have the opportunity to have positions, entry positions, education, and leadership training.  with out coming  from and important family or special connections.
Organizational structure and management

Office politics in such an environment can be difficult: people might devote a lot of time to keeping their colleagues satisfied and supporting them socially and politically, and there is less surety of success.
Success is much better through a co-operative system. Performance appraisals in particular are very sensitive, as it’s conducted by peers. Meetings and meeting systems must generally be very efficient, and require strong models of chairmanship and sophisticated models of how to handle consent and dissent.  Open-space meetings and other methods to define their agendas have been used by some organizations, notably political party and management consultant organizations. One example is the Living Agenda pioneered by Canadian political parties.
There must be assurances that fellow workers will not abuse and protection instilled by quality control and Union Committees.
Organizational culture should however be generally more accepting of organizational learning and peer review of performance.
Performance improvement, self-assessment and coping with one’s own
Ability to adapt and mature. However, this is not to say those skills always apply in management: Peter principle applies if anything faster: people who are perceived as effective are elected to run things, which they promptly fail at. However, there is much more acceptance of returning to the shop as a worker if someone fails at management, which is much more difficult in organizations where there is a culture gap between managers and workers.
This can be improved by education for competence and ability in a education system that doesn’t fail to provide the education needed.
Also grievance and resolution can be applied. The better planned organization, the better the chances of success. There should be an avoidance of nepotism and the buddy system.
It may be easier in environments where consensus or consensus-seeking decision-making is already practiced for the most important decisions: who leads. Consensus democracy methods already exist to make very large scale decisions in social organizations.
As well as factories producing everything from textiles, ceramics, glass and rubber to food and refrigerators, the network also includes transportation companies, educational facilities and even hospitals. Most of them are headed up by men, but in some cases, the horizontal organizational structure has helped women move into leading roles.

One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted by the world’s governments in 2000 is to promote gender equality and empower women. But in this case, the progress achieved by women is not a result of a government policy. On the contrary, it was the women themselves who took control of the abandoned factories and other businesses and got them back on their feet.

Grissinópoli is a member of the National Movement of Factories Recovered by Workers, a collective of roughly 80 companies formed in the late 1990s to group together bankrupted businesses that had been abandoned by their owners, but not by their employees.  These factories are now boss free and co-operative.

Everyone who sells their body for labor for a living are members of the working class. This includes most segments of society, workers who are self-employed as well as wage earners in the employment field. We are different in multitudes of ways but one thing we have in solidarity is that we are all members of the working class, we all depend on our work and that of our families. The real enemies of the working class are the capitalists – a small society that  gets their income mainly from stocks, bonds, inheritances, and real estate. They  control the political parties and the government with their wealth. These people make their money from birth right, not from work. The more profit they make, the more damage they do. The working class also does not include small employers and managers (petty despots) who control workers.  Workers are 90% of the population.  Although not all elements of Capitalism are bad, Capitalism should be the exception, no the norm.

IMMIGRANTS USA

I have studied the Immigration issue and feel I mustadd an alternative insight to the norm of belief andmisconception.I have age on my side with much political memory. I’ll start with the Cold War.As a teenager we heard many things about the SovietUnion. One of the best observations for War Hawks wasthe fact that many people defected from the Soviet Union because of the lack of freedom and Democracy. We where frequently told, no nation is freer thanAmerica. That this is the land of opportunity whereyou could be anything you dreamed becoming. (Which of,course was a lie.) That Human Rights abuses in theSoviet Union where so high, that the KGB would nabanyone off the Street and that person would never beseen again. Give us your Poor, your Cold, and your Hungry it says on the base of the Statue of Liberty.Yes, In America you can say and do the things youwant, and millions of Soviet Block citizens want to the west. The Stories of life under Stalinist Communism was told everyday and we should feel greatful that we where born here because people in the Soviet Block want our freedoms. These defectors where embraced as heroes.Looking a free country to live in.Examining Mexico I see hypocrisy in the Cold War mentality. The Mexicans live pretty much as the old Soviet Citizens did. The citizens fear the Federalies(Police)Mexican can be arrested and sent to jail of any reasonand not see there way out for years no matter the infraction. Working in Mexican factories, people are forced to work 70 hour a week for low wages. Physical and mental abuse in factories are regular occurrence.One women stated that she didn’t even know who herUnion was or how they represented the people. On an Occasion, one woman did complain to her Union and the next day The Union and Federalies put out a warrant for her arrest. At one point the Chiapa’s Indian tribe in Mexico stood up for their rights and the Government mowed them down. In 1994, Chiapas was involved in a civil war or revolution that lasted only 11 days, the two sidesi nvolved being the Mexican Government and theZapatista Army of National Liberation (the EZLN orZapatistas). Nowadays the EZLN (Ejército Zapatista deLiberación Nacional, named in honour of EmilianoZapata) have rejected the use of force and seek to berecognized as a voice of the disenfranchised. Thereare currently 32 “rebel autonomous zapatistamunicipalities” (independent Zapatista communities,MAREZ in Spanish). And yet with Internationally knownhuman rights abuses, the Clinton Administration stillratifies NAFTA.The enws media frequently, now points to China’s Humanrights abuses as a Communist Country. Amazing how thesame exact huiman rights abuses takes place in Mexico.Looking back at the USA and its Right Wing Citizens,on could easily see the Hypocracy. Those onceembracing the Defectors of the Soviet Union, are thesame people who want fences and walls up between theUS Mexican Boarder. Don’t Meixcans want freedom, liberty, and democracy? Isn’t the United State champions of such said values? Of Course not. The CIA had helped the very oppressive Dictortator of Chile,Pinochet in Office. Then when the Democratic Socialist Manning Government of Jamaica was out of Office, the Conservative Party in Jamaica made special deals in which many where Carrying M16 riffles the next year. And look at the mess made in Iran and Afghanistan. NAFTA isn’t working in Mexico either.It seems that the Libertarian Earnesto Zadillo and Carlos Salinas governments in the 1990’s brought Mexico to such an economic collapse, that the Mexicans are worse off now financially tha any time in History. Most Mexicans would rather be home, and a lot ofAmericans are picking up cheap Real Estate in Mexico.Where does Freedom, Liberty, Democracy play into thelives of these immigrants?

Euro Socialism: A View

Socialist Parties in Europe are in turmoil. Why? Because they seem to have the problem of divorcing themselves from an existent Capitalist system.
Capitalism largely doesn’t work. It does on minor level when people start small businesses, or even organic pasta factories.
In Europe even the small businessman have a picture of Che in their pizzeria. Here in America, the local Republican Politician.
In America people are elite minded. In Europe people are Social minded.
The Socialist Parties and Social Democrats have done a more successful job the any other form of Socialism. Why?
Lets look at the Nordic countries. And even Italy. When I went Sardinia, the streets are named after famous Italian Socialists. The Un-socialist thing about Sardinia is poverty and joblessness.
The major problem of the failure of Socialist International Parties is that they lean toward Euro Liberalism. Party leaders cannot even relate to workers and apply elitist values close to conservatives. But many bottom rank and file members are the true radicals. They are the ones fighting the true revolution.
Even now the Party of European Socialist are concerned with initating a more Social Europe. Since the Social Democratic Socialist Parties of Europe are electable, they are the ones delivering the goods. But in very shallow terms. Scandinavian Socialism is the only Socialism that works. They are the happiest countries in the world.
The adoption of Third Way ideology by many social democrats has proved divisive within the broader social democratic community. Traditional social democrats argue that Third Way ideology has caused the movement to become too centrist, and even that the movement may be becoming center-right. In general, apparent reversals in policy have encountered significant opposition among party members and core voters; many of the latter have claimed that their leaders have betrayed the principles of social democracy.
So there are Social Democrats who are Socialists and Socials Democrats who are Euro Liberals.
The Major problems with Euro Socialists, they are suck in a Capitalist mode. Conservatives and Right Euro Liberals have made it impossible for Socialists to maneuver. American Socialists blame The Greek, Spanish, and Portuguese Socialists for austerity and other problems. Socialist inherit horrible government policies from conservatives and Euro Liberals than get blamed for these horrible policies.

The failure of the American Left. In Europe they can at least fashion Coalition Parties, In America Socialist are also political isolationists.
Socialist in America do not practice the democracy they preach. They expel members for free thought, and compromise the liberty and freedom of members who disagree or function on their own. This a is especially done with a Trotsky mentality.
American Socialists blame Lula DeSilva and Bernie Sanders for compromising. Sad to say, that is also what politics is about, unless there is a clear majority. Sanders is the only Socialist in Congress. Lula and even Evo Morales is stuck with their conservative fringes.
Democracy from the top isn’t Democracy, Democratic Centralism isn’t Democracy, it is a form of control. It is a mafia type system where the powerful rule.
Most American Socialists are ignorant of other peoples culture and societies. Not realizing even if people are Socialists in their country they still will not have American Socialist values, nor should they. Even many feminists are not about Liberation. Many are petty despots. (I am a Barbara Ehrenriech feminist.) They studying SOCIAL ANTHOPOLOGY.
Although I appreciate Communism, it has a difficult time in the United States. But one of my heroes is a Communist.

I am a Communist Bastard Sometimes:

Enrico Berlinguer (Italian pronunciation: [berliŋˈɡwɛr]) (25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Comunista Italiano or PCI) from 1972 until his death.
On an internal side, Berlinguer’s last major statement was a call for the solidarity among the leftist parties. In June 1984 Berlinguer suddenly left the stage during a speech at public meeting in Padua: he had suffered a brain hemorrhage, and died three days later. More than a million citizens attended his funeral, one of the biggest in Italy’s history.
[Enrico Berlinguer has been defined in many ways, but he was generally recognised for political coherence and a certain courage, together with a rare personal and political intelligence. A serious man, he was sincerely respected even by his opponents, and his three days’ agony was followed with great attention by the general population. His funeral was followed by a large number of people, perhaps among the highest ever seen in Rome.
The funerals of Enrico Berlinguer produced probably the largest crowds ever to gather in Rome; here they are shown making the clenched fist, symbol of the Communist and leftist movements
The most important political act of his career in the PCI was undoubtedly the dramatic break with Soviet Communism, the so-called strappo, together with the creation of Euro-communism, and his substantial work towards contact with the moderate (and particularly the catholic) half of the country.

(Some Items extricated from Wikipedia.)

Right now as a Euro Socialist I am supporter of the PES and Socialisti Italiano.

“I am a Socialist because I believe that Socialism and Democracy are the only Political Ideologies that allow people to be completely Human.”
Tino Rozzo

“True Socialism is something that must be Evolved into”
Eugene V Debs

Dedicated too Chegetz, Mike Marino, Vito Anthony Marcantonio
Vitov Valdez Munoz (Candidate ALP), Buyana Badrakh (Mongolian Socialist