By Ekow Mensah
 |
| Jerry John Rawlings |
Those who taught that Mr Jerry John Rawlings had come to a
deal end in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) may have to rethink.
The man has changed
his tactics and is gradually but surely warming his way to the very centre of
power in the Mahama administration.
Photographs of him and his wife posing with President John
Mahama with smiles all over their faces must be the envy of the savvy PR
practitioners.
Mr Rawlings
featured prominently in a Peduase Lodge gathering where diplomats spent an
evening offering new year salutations to the president.
Somehow, Mr.
Rawlings has managed to create the impression that he was angry with former President
Mills and not the NDC and President Mahama.
Mr. Rawlings also distanced himself from the National
Democratic Party (NDP) formed by his wife in spite of the fact that the party
constitution names him as a co-founder.
He has also
skillfully avoided open and direct criticisms of the Mahama administration.
There are
indications that Mr. Rawlings’ new approach is paying off.
NDC serial callers who used to lash out at him are now
full of praise for their founder and NPP serial callers who used to hail him
have gone mute.
Mr. Rawlings is definitely re-engineering himself and it
appears that he is succeeding.
EDITORIAL
There are some elements in the political arena who are taking freedom of
speech to really absurd limits.
They think that adherence to principles of free speech means that they
can incite public hatred against well meaning citizens and call for the
destruction of everything Ghanaian.
These elements have become one of the greatest dangers to the effort to
nature democratic practice in Ghana.
The other day, somebody claiming to be a sympathizer of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP) called for the making of bombs and their explosion in schools.
He said that the NPP needed to
smash cars and kill people in order to send a signal that it is serious about
pursuing its election petition in the supreme Court.
It is shocking that the NPP has
failed to condemn this extremely reckless speech almost one week after it was
delivered.
The Insight warns that such extraordinary recklessness can easily lead to
mayhem in Ghana.
The security services must take decisive action now to prevent adventurist from plunging Ghana into full
blown anarchy.
RE: WATER PROBE CEO SETS THE RECORDS STRAIGHT
The Chief Executive Officer of K. A Water
Engineering Services Limited (KA WESL) formerly K. Adu Construction and
Plumbing Works (The private operator of the Ga- West Municipal water project)
Mr. Kwaku Adu Boateng has denied the content of the report of the Committee
that mentioned the name of his company being indebted to Ghana Water Company
Limited to the tune GH¢ 1 02,563 .00 and not having contractual agreement with
Ghana Water Company Limited among others.
Our company is not aware of any Committee
set up by the ministry and we did not appear before any committee of enquiry
only to hear of a report published in the "insight" news paper.
We therefore, completely reject and deny the
committee's report. We see it as factually inaccurate, baseless, selfish,
designed to serve the interest of some individuals at Ghana Urban Water Company
Limited and Ghana Water Company Limited who think they should be managing
directors at all cost at the expense of others and a calculated attempt to
tarnish the image of a hardworking Ghanaian entrepreneur on the following
accounts
of facts.
of facts.
1.
Contractual Agreement: Contrary to the
allegation by the report we wish to indicate that a Committee of its supposed
stature should have done a credible and responsible inquiry as part of their
scope, by so doing they would have found that a contract document of volume
number GWCL/024/20 11 for the distribution of mains extensions at
Amasaman Abeheanase, Obeyeyie and Achiaman was
awarded to K. Adu Construction and Plumbing Works now K. A. Water Engineering Services Limited after he submitted his own proposal to be piloted under the Public Private Partnership. Copy attach as appendix 1
awarded to K. Adu Construction and Plumbing Works now K. A. Water Engineering Services Limited after he submitted his own proposal to be piloted under the Public Private Partnership. Copy attach as appendix 1
2.
Reconnection of Pipes
Mains to Amasaman Project Area. KA WESL wish again to indicate the decision to
restore water supply to Amasaman was arrived at a board meeting of Ghana Urban
Water Company Limited at the Ag Managing
3.
Directors office on
Wednesday 26, September, 2012, after the unlawful disconnection by a team of
armed men from the Swat team and National Security, where the board directed
that supply should be restored after an initial amount of GH¢ 10,000.00 we paid
and remaining balance of GH¢82,564.25 is to be spread over 12 months equal
installments which we agreed even though the irresponsible
disconnection affected the operation of our company negatively
disconnection affected the operation of our company negatively
The Ag Managing Director of Ghana Urban
Water Company Limited, Mr. Amengor Senyo who
is a member of the Board and present at the meeting wrote to the Eastern Regional
Chief manager to ensure that reconnection to Amasaman is done as agreed at the
boarding meeting. Copy attach appendix 2.
We therefore find it strange on the part of
the committee and double standards on the part of the Ag Managing Director Mr.
Senyo Amenyo as published in the "insight" news paper that suggest
that the issues were not addressed before the reconnection and that management
of GWCL ordered for the reconnection which is false.
On the allegation of
indebtedness to the Ghana Water Company Limited, KA WESL wants to find out if
the committee was out there for witch hunt or to issue a report that would suit
individual's interest. If not, the committee would have found out that, the
said amount is GH¢82,564.25 and this is spread over 12 equal installments of
which payments is ongoing till date. Copy of receipts of payment attached.
Appendix 3.
Management of K.A. Water Engineering
Services Limited wishes to remind the committee and other committees that, they
are bound by the interest of the state as required by Law and not individual
interest as portrayed in the report published and further call on the Ghana
Urban Water Company Limited and its Greater Accra Divisional Workers Union to
rather concentrate on how to improve supply of water to residents as that would
better serve the public and mother Ghana. The government's "Better Ghana
Agenda" is to see that state institutions like Ghana Urban Water Company
Limited act professionally and responsibly and not the use of falsehood to
sabotage companies working hard to improve the lives of residents in areas they
operate.
On the issues of the six hundred (600)
meters which we paid Twelve Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 12,000.00) out of
Eighteen Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 18,000.00) without receipts issued to our
company, we never doubted the sources of meters since it came with GUWCL
vehicle accompanied with their personnel and that the final supply will be done
before receipts issues to our company. We are therefore in consultation with
our counsel and we will advice ourselves afterwards.
REVEREND
PROFESSOR EMMANUEL ASANTE SPEAKS ON;
HARMONY
IN DIVERSITY AND PARTNERSHIP IN PARLIAMENT
AFTER ELECTIONS
INTRODUCTION
I would like to begin this keynote address with the observation:
"Reality is diverse." In philosophical terms, one would say "being
expresses itself in diversity." This fact of being's diversity has its
basis in creation itself. The reality is
that the Creator God did not just create a monad. On the contrary, the Creator
God, through the act of creation, brought
into being organisms that are not rigid, but can adapt to changes and survive
in the environment.
 |
| Rev. Emmanuel Asante |
Diversity here
understood as gender, socio-cultural, political, economic,
racial and ethnic differentiation is a palpable reality in any human
organization. Experts have argued that in order for organizations to benefit
from the inescapable reality and certainty of diversity, groups, must find
effective means to integrate perspectives, embrace
disagreements and differences, and utilize the productive management of complex
tasks. The submission is there is strength
and alternatives in difference; there is strength in diversity.
Diversity affects organizational
effectiveness negatively only when differences disperse in the sense of leading to separation and different
directions instead of producing a synergy of ideas that goes to complement
differences in view of the good of the nation.
Otherwise, the very concept of diversity
provides a framework for organizing a group's effectiveness. It is a fact that
the whole is constitutive of many parts. Indeed to borrow Glenn Pease's observation: "All of life; all
of nature; all of history and all the universe is based
on the principle of interdependence and the fact that everyone
needs what someone else has; and everyone has what someone needs. Only God is
totally independent and self-sufficient All else and everyone else are
interdependent.
The good book uses the analogy of the
body to describe the church. Taking a cue from the good book's description of the church as a
body, we can also say Parliament is like the human body. "A body is only
at its best when the eyes see a value, the feet carry the body to the valued
object, the hand reaches out to bring the value to it, the month and the teeth pulverize for swallowing, the taste buds and
nose add the value taste and 'smelt the throat
swallows it, the stomach digests it, the blood carries it to all parts of the
body including the brain, which has the capacity to take into the whole
positive process for future reference when the body comes into contact with the
value again." The point is the body is at its best when all parts of. the body are working
together toward a common goal, each depending on the other to cooperate
in reaching a desired goal.
In
contrast to the beauty of such harmonious interdependence defined and informed
by the diversity of the body, imagine the existence of anyone of these members
of the body in isolation, that is, on its own; an eye that can see danger but
cannot run away from it nor call for help because it does not have walking and
verbal capacities or a nose that can smell something but does not have the
capacity to respond to it.
The point is that no
single part of the human body can function effectively without the benefits or
the functions of other parts. The body needs diversity, and diversity needs the
body, and so there is this principle of interdependence. Diversity finds its value in unity and
unity finds its value in diversity.
All
of what I have said so far should serve as the philosophical foundation of what
I seek to present this morning in respect of the topic in question: "Harmony in Diversity and Partnership in Parliament.” The question that we need to ask is: what is the condition for the
possibility of harmony in diversity and partnership in parliament?
To
answer this question we must take note that it is important for parties to
realize that despite having different political positions, they ultimately
belong to one nation and that it is this sense of a shared national destiny
that should be the driving force that binds them together in their collective
efforts to serve the nation.
Parliamentarians
must understand that in spite of their different political persuasion and, in
some sense, political agenda,
the constituencies they represent in Parliament transcend parochial
partisanship. Parliament, understood as a nation's legislative assembly, an
institution that is vested with the legislative power of Ghana, is not a partisan
entity defined and informed by sympathy with partisan parochial mentality.
Parliamentarians must understand that they collectively represent the country
as a whole. As individual parliamentarians they represent constituencies, which
are the component parts of the country. The country they represent in Parliament is bigger
than anyone of their parties and that parliamentarians owe it to the country to
make a difference.
For the nation to move forward in its
holistic development there is the need for a shared agenda and Parliament, the
legislative assembly, provides a national not a partisan platform that can best
facilitate the pursuit of the shared national agenda and vision. Parliament
should· provide a national platform of
peaceful and mutual conditions for the nation's elected representatives to
engage in open and frank debates and
discussions on diverse ideas, which are inherent to multi-party democracy in an
environment of trust, confidence and mutual respect of differing political
positions or stance. Parliamentarians must
represent the collective interest of the nation and Parliament must serve as a
national institution that generates ideas and policies that go to enhance the holistic development of the nation as a
whole.
 |
| Rt. Hon. Doe Adjaho |
The Constitution of Ghana and
Partnership in Parliament
The Constitution of the Republic of Ghana, 1992,
which is the Supreme law of Ghana, clearly
prescribes partnership and harmony in the workings of Parliament. Article 103 (1) requires that Parliament "appoints standing Committees and other
committees as may be necessary for the effective discharge of its
functions." It means that the Parliament of Ghana functions through its
standing committees and other committees.
Article 103 (4) of the said Constitution
clearly states: "Every member of Parliament shall be a member of at least
one of the standing Committees." Section 5 of the same article of the
Constitution states: "The composition of the committees shall, as much as
possible, reflect the different shades of opinion in Parliament." After the first reading of a bill in
Parliament the bill is "referred to the appropriate committee ... which
shall examine the bill in detail and make all such inquiries in relation to it
as the Committee considers expedient" (Article 106, 4). A bill having been
deliberated upon by the appropriate Committee is reported
to Parliament (Article 106, 5 It is the report of the Committee together with
the explanatory memorandum to the bill that forms the basis for a full debate
on the bill for its passage, with or without amendments, or its rejection, by
Parliament (Article 106, 6). It means that Parliamentary committees are
intended to be synergetic institutions where multi-party consensuses are built
on legislative issues. Parliament, in my humble view, operates effectively on
the basis of Parliamentary synergy and consensus. Synergy and consensus are the
categories of harmony and partnership in political diversity. These categories,
in my humble view, also inform and define parliamentary legitimacy. A
legitimate parliament must reflect the popular will as expressed in the choices
electors make for their representatives and for the parties in whose name they
stand. A legitimate parliament must also reflect social diversity of the
population in terms of gender, language, ethnicity, religion etc.
The objective for a democratic parliament of
being representative in these different senses is achieved partly through the
composition of parliament, which is the outcome of the election process; partly
through fair and inclusive parliamentary procedures, which provide opportunity
for all members to express their views, to take part in the work of parliament
on equal footing with others to develop their parliamentary careers.
It has been observed that while the
composition of parliament is primarily defined and informed by a
pre-parliamentary process of parliamentary election, parliament is capable of
influencing its own composition indirectly through its legislative power to set
rules under which elections take place. As to the issues of partnership and
inclusiveness in parliamentary business, Parliament has a direct control to
establish rules; procedures and modes of working that would facilitate
inclusiveness and give full opportunity to all its members to play their part
in its work.
The principle of inclusiveness has a number
of different shades to it including the committee system already being
practiced in Parliament. All the different
shades of inclusiveness depend for their effective implementation on the
impartiality of the Speaker who has a key role to play in ensuring
even-handedness between the parties represented.
The Political antecedent of our Parliamentary Democracy
Our current parliamentary democracy has a
political context, which we must keep in mind as we forge ahead in respect of
the maturation of the democratic 'process we
have embarked on.
Amidst great hopes and lofty expectations
Ghana gained political independence from Great Britain in 1957. The driving
force was that the acquisition of "Political Kingdom" was the
condition for the possibility of the acquisition of all things necessary for
the well-being and development of the nation. So
the charismatic political leader, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah
said: "Seek ye first the Political Kingdom and all things shall be added
unto you."
The dream of political and economic kingdom that the
anti-colonial struggle promised, however, could not be fully realized. For a
few years after political independence
a succession of military 'coups d'etat installed a chain of
authoritarian military regimes with unelected leaders, no fixed term of office
or popular mandate to govern. The main political casualties of this long phase
of military regimes interspersed with intermittent democratic governments,
unable to complete their terms of office
because of incessant military interventions, were key democratic institutions
such as parliament, elected local government and political parties. The
turbulent political history of post-colonial Ghana, hardly afforded the
mentioned democratic institutions the opportunity to grow and develop. Thus
even though the long period of political stability enjoyed under the last
dictatorship (1982-1992) enabled the country to create in 1992 a new liberal democratic
constitutional order, the Political Parties that emerged after the restoration of competitive multi-party politics in 1992, lacked the capacity, cordial and harmonious relationship among themselves that would allow for strong partnership in parliamentary democracy.
constitutional order, the Political Parties that emerged after the restoration of competitive multi-party politics in 1992, lacked the capacity, cordial and harmonious relationship among themselves that would allow for strong partnership in parliamentary democracy.
The negative side of the long dictatorial past is the
imposition of serious challenges of bitter polarization, rancor and disharmony
on the new democratic dispensation. These challenges notwithstanding, the
nation has enjoyed a very healthy parliamentary democratic order that has
earned the acclamation of all democracy loving people.
 |
| Minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu |
Our Political Parties
have, in spite of their seeming bitter political differentiations, engaged in a
healthy dialogue since July 2003. This ongoing dialogue facilitated by' the Institute of
Economic Affairs (lEA), a public policy institute based in Accra and in
collaboration with the. Netherland Institute of Multiparty Democracy (NIMD)
based in the Hague, and other multiparty encounters facilitated by the
Electoral Commission (here I am referring to the Inter Party Dialogue, IP AD)
and other local public policy institutes as Institute of Democratic Governance
(IDEG) and Center for Democratic Debate? (CDD) have promoted cordiality,
harmony and partnership in our multiparty democracy.
I join the number of people who have observed that
Ghana's Parliamentary democracy has come of age. Indeed I share the view that
the stage is set for a Parliament, which will survive mainly through consensus
building in committee work rather than entrenched positions defined and
informed by uncompromising Party affiliation. I pray for a situation where
discussions at the committee levels will be free and frank and will be permeated by a
spirit of reasonable compromise and resolutions adopted in plenary unanimity.
2000 march in Chicago, stand with
Gaza
2000 people marched through the streets of Chicago
chanting, “Obama, Obama, you will see - Palestine will be free!”
Organized by a coalition of Palestinian and Palestine
solidarity groups, this was three times as large as the emergency protest held
in Chicago on Nov. 15.
The protest and march was overwhelmingly composed of
young Palestinians - college and high school aged youth. They were both grief
stricken with the deaths of the people in Gaza and, at the same time, the march
was militant in its opposition to the Israeli war on Gaza and continued
occupation of their homeland.
“Free, free, Palestine!”, “End the siege of Gaza,
now!” and other chants rang out for several hours as the crowd swelled and then
took the streets.
Hatem Abudayyeh of the United States Palestinian
Community Network (USPCN) was one of the emcees at the rallies before and after
the march. He condemned both the Israeli siege and the U.S. government backing
of Tel Aviv. “The U.S. administration is in full support of the crimes of
Israel,” said Abudayyeh. “We have a responsibility as citizens and residents of
the U.S. to demand that our government end its aid to Israel and its political,
diplomatic, financial and military support.”
Among the speakers was Joe Iosbaker with the Anti War
Committee. Iosbaker, like Abudayyeh, was one of the 23 anti-war activists
subpoenaed to a grand jury investigating activists’ support for national
liberation movements, including the movement to liberate Palestine. Iosbaker
spoke about the Boeing Company, headquartered in Chicago. “The war planes and
bombs in Israel’s arsenal are made by Boeing and, on top of killing and
wounding so many, their bombs are made of depleted uranium, which will poison
Gaza forever.” He called for protests against Boeing, including one to happen
first thing the next morning.
Nesreen Askar, also with USPCN, noted that the $4
billion of annual U.S. aid to Israel could instead be spent here at home on
education, healthcare and jobs.
FROM THE WORKERS PARTY OF BELGIUM.
The announcement of the elimination of 1,300 jobs at
Arcelor Mittal in Liège is a tragedy for the region. Seven out of twelve
production lines will close down. After the announcement of the closure of the
warm phase of steel production one year ago, Mittal now chooses to reduce also
the cold line production facilities to near to nothing. This concretely
threatens the loss of 10,000 jobs, among direct and indirect jobs, for the
whole of the Liège region.
For the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), it is still
possible to save the steel industry with all its jobs. “It is not just a
possibility, it is a necessity”, explains Damien Robert, municipal councilor
for the PTB at Seraing. “The politicians who pretend to support the steel
workers should now take an innovative decision. Mittal doesn't want to sell? No
problem. The government of the Walloon Region can decree to put the company
under public ownership for reasons of social emergency and of regional and
national economic interest.”
The PTB has a strong presence in the municipality of
Seraing (Liège) where Arcelor Mittal is located. The party obtained five seats
in the municipal council in last October's local elections, largely due to the
vote of the steel workers. Over the years the PTB has also developed an intense
work inside the factory, and has actively shown its solidarity with the
strikers.
The PTB defends the public take-over of the entire company
for the symbolic price of one euro. This is the only guarantee to maintain the
jobs in the steel industry, as a structural industrial enterprise in the
region. Mittal has received more than enough presents thanks to the notional
interests (a unique system in Belgium, allowing companies to diminish taxes on
the basis of virtual interests on virtual loans). Thanks to this most
questionable system, for the years 2010 through 2012, Arcelor Mittal Finance
paid 0 euro in taxes in Belgium! Thus there is no need to pay whatever
compensation for the take-over, according to the PTB.
The PTB warns against the French example, where part of
the socialist government also spoke of the buy-out of Arcelor Mittal in
Florange for one symbolic euro for several months on end, to finally avoid
taking any concrete steps on the pretext of not disposing of the judiciary
means to do so.
PTB spokesman Raoul Hedebouw also criticizes Belgian prime
minister Elio De Rupo: “It is inacceptable to hear Mr. Di Rupo speech at the
World Economic Forum in Davos and praise the Belgian system of notional
interests, that would supposedly promote investments and job creation, only to
see him, a few minutes later, write a Tweet message of solidarity with the
workers of Arcelor Mittal.”
The PTB appeals on the workers and their trade unions to
remain extremely vigilant about the double talk and the promises that go not
beyond mere words and do not lead to the only viable decision to save the jobs
and the region: the public take-over of Arcelor Mittal without compensation.
CAPITALISM
What is the way forward: trying to deal
with separate problems one by one or dealing with their common cause?
The World Socialist Movement, of which
the Socialist Party of Great Britain is a part, is a global movement committed
to a fundamental change in the way we, the vast majority, live. Simply put the
objective is common ownership and democratic control of the world’s resources
and the abolition of the wages system. This requires, first and foremost, a
much deeper and wider understanding by the worldwide community of the
underlying reasons necessitating such a radical change; second, a recognition
of the common threads linking the numerous single issues, thus enabling and
strengthening a holistic approach; and third, a thorough understanding of an
outcome which goes way beyond anything on offer from mainstream politicians
anywhere in the world.
It is widely accepted that the
so-called 'western democracies' fall short of popular participation and that
there are few spaces in which most ordinary folk can become involved and make
any significant difference, even as cries on the street build to a crescendo of
demands unlikely to be met. Globally, protest has never been more apparent than
it has been in recent years, mainly because of the rise of alternative,
independent media and the internet, and it has manifested itself on every
continent. For bread-and-butter reasons, for democratic reasons, for
environmental reasons, for humanitarian reasons, for social reasons: and it is
specifically in support of women, minorities, animal welfare, freedom of
speech, alternative energy, and against war, apartheid, discrimination,
corporations, austerity and neo-colonialism.
Protest is a response or reaction to
being repeatedly and deliberately ignored, bypassed and abused on many levels
but protestors have disparate claims and dissatisfactions which tend to keep or
set groups apart from each other. One person's beef is another's side issue.
Different emphases are dependent on personal situations and viewpoints.
'There's strength in numbers' goes the old adage – but drawing disparate
protest groups together under the same umbrella means first of all convincing
those involved of how their particular 'issues' have the same underlying causes
as those of the others and how they can all be resolved by coming together
under this all-encompassing umbrella. However far removed the cut-and-thrust of
one protest seems from another, traced back to their roots the fundamental they
have in common is that they are fighting a system which determines outcomes by
reference to a single measurement, that of the profit motive. It is this that
results in the denial of sufficient representation, a lack of democracy in
decision-making processes, and the failure of having dissenting voices heard.
Capitalist failure
Why can't we just change things bit by
bit, with different groups working in the areas that particularly affect them?
The blunt answer is that this is precisely what populations have been
struggling to do for centuries. Winning a minor concession here and there only
to have it clawed back before too long or in a roundabout way. Slavery was
supposedly abolished over a century ago but what is today's people trafficking
for sex or forced labour if not slavery? The working class globally has
continuously had to fight for improved pay and conditions; it is enslaved to a
system that exploits it non-stop. Whatever gains have been made they have been
vulnerable to being eroded. Endless strikes, walkouts, work-to-rule, picketing
and protests have gained little long-term for the mass of workers worldwide.
Each group has to face battle alone as sectors are threatened by or forced into
wage freezes, layoffs or permanent unemployment.
The crux of the matter is the system of
exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few; the system of profit which
enslaves the working class. The ongoing battles are always civil organisations
and pressure groups from the working class against corporations, big money and
the governments which uphold the system that supports the capitalists. If it
were possible to change the system piecemeal we would surely have seen the
results by now – and we do see those results; we are now experiencing
living under the changes we have gradually forged over generations – and they
are an abject failure by most measurements. It is a proven wrong approach.
Common threads
What is the connection between the
anti-war movement and campaigns to halt global warming, between those
protesting cuts in healthcare services and others protesting increases in
further education provision, or between the Occupy movement and those calling
for 'green jobs' or a 'fair wage'?
The system does not allow space for
meaningful involvement in major decision-making on a social level. Governments
believe that cursory elections every few years authorise them to make all
decisions on behalf of citizens. Sometimes we hear of 'consultations' when a
particular location may be negatively impacted by a proposed scheme but, in
reality, this usually means a small body or panel of chosen people, themselves
not truly representative of the opposition movement, will be invited to give
their perspective before a final (pre-planned) decision is given.
Those who are instrumental in
affecting decisions are representatives of capital – corporations, big companies,
who wield big money, who buy and sell, export and import, and who can withhold
contracts and favours, can choose to move production and other facilities
abroad and who consequently exert non-democratic, economic pressure on
politicians. The politicians are or become tools of the system and work in
opposition to most of their electorate most of the time.
What the separate issues have in common
is that they are up against the capitalist system's imperative, both
ideological and legal, to seek maximum profit. Any concerted effort by any
protest group is seen as antagonism to that imperative and presents a problem
for the governance of capitalism. Proactive citizens are often problem
citizens.
 |
| Fidel Castro, Crusader against capitalism |
Need for socialism
The capitalist system manipulates
discrete sections of populations into thinking issues can be tackled
separately, that maybe they can have some minor influence here or there. It's
convenient to allow small triumphs and gains to reinforce the feeling that
maybe, just maybe, this particular protest might bear fruit. However, regarding
the huge concerns plaguing world society such concerns are out of the hands of
citizens whether or not a part of the electorate. Inequality and the enormous
discrepancies between the haves and have-nots; global warming, poverty, hunger
and disease; warmongering and the massive accumulation of war material on an
unprecedented scale; ongoing neocolonialism and quasi-empire building for
control of resources and influence – the vote is of no help in such matters.
People have no part to play in decisions of this magnitude. People are excluded
and will continue to be excluded – unless and until the people decide they will
play a part and overtly use the political process to challenge the capitalist
system.
Socialism entails inclusion, active
involvement and equality of possibilities for all. Self-determined individual
world inhabitants living in communities of their choice, contributing to
society as ability and will decide, enjoying free access to the common wealth
as need requires, shall together guide the direction of society without the
encumbrance of the former hierarchical elite. All topics (including any
currently perceived as single issues that continue) will be open for full
discussion and participation before any decisions are taken in a transparent
and democratic fashion.
Unless and until – the crucial factor in bringing about the revolution to socialism,
to a socialist society, is just that. Unless and until the majority sees
clearly that the way ahead lies in totally overturning this system that
suppresses and oppresses us and comes together to work to achieve that end we
can only continue on this treadmill which has repeatedly and endlessly failed
us.
By Janet Surman
|
Have Some Sympathy for Our Glum
French Friends
By Frederic Raphael,
|
 |
| French President Francois Hollande |
Ever since 1975“ the last of the Trente Glorieuses, the 30 glorious post-war years of economic growth the French have believed themselves to be en crise. In fact, the crisis never hit the whole country as it has now. The other day, after a quick look at the books, the new socialist employment secretary Michel Sapin declared that France was totally bankrupt. His first idea of a step in the right direction was to turn out the lights in shops and offices after 1am. A blackout might not save Marianne the symbol of France, modelled on Brigitte Bardot – all that much money, but it would advertise that there was a war on.
Other measures taken by its new rulers to get France out of its hole have served to deepen it. Franis Holland was, to put it nicely, an unlikely president. His majority was the measure of the electors disappointment with Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarko had arrived in a blaze of can-do self-confidence, but his manic pursuit of Carla Bruni was too hectic to be presidential.
Just before last year’s election, Hollande showed Sarko how sentimental matters ought to be prioritised in France by dumping gone Royal, with whom he had lived for 30 years and who was the mother of his four children. He then took up with Valrie Trierweiler. A cartoon this week shows Hollande-of-the-Desert, in flowing robes, being watched by two Arabs. One of them is saying, with approval, la deux femmes: he got two wives. Not if the second one can help it, he does
Hollande overtook Sarkozy in the televised debate in which he wore a well-cut suit, sat up very straight in his seat, and made a series of pronouncements that began: I, as President of the Republic Giving himself the convincing air of a man already in office, he made promises and predictions that went down well at the time, but are now being thrown back in his face. Among them was a proposed law against profitable firms sacking workers in the interest of financial efficiency. This has virtually halted investment. A number of companies plan to relocate to other countries.
Another well-rubbed French proverb says that the misfortunes of some make for the happiness of others. And how! The smiling others at present are the Swiss, the Belgians and, of course, the British. David Cameron made no friends at the Ely Palace by offering a welcome to French fugitives (and their money) as Britain once did the Protestant Huguenots; French aristocrats on the run from the guillotine; and, in 1940, General de Gaulle and his followers. But what did Holland expect? His proclaimed hatred of the rich led him to advertise confiscatory taxes on property and income: 75 per cent for the top earners. Few of them have stayed to take it on the chin.
The evidence is a collapse in the Parisian property market. In the beaux quartiers, there are now large numbers of flats of 400 or more square metres on the market. What sadder sign of empty coffers in La France profonde than the news that the mayor of Dijon, in the wine-growing Or Frances gold coast! has had to sell the contents of the municipal cellars? And the sale raised only 150,000 euros.
The 18th-century French aristocracy could take their teaux or much of their treasure with them. Today press-a-button flight of capital from France matches, and probably greatly exceeds, that from Greece a year or so ago. London now has a larger population of French people than any but the largest five cities in France itself. The London postal district of SW7 is as good as a supplementary Parisian arrondissement. A cartoon in this week Le Monde depicts a man rowing across the Channel seated on his safe. The caption is Filer Ãlanglaise: the equivalent of what the English call taking French leave.
Grard Depardieu made millions during his acting career and, if we believe him, paid a fat chunk of them in taxes to the Fisc. After he became the largest target for Left-wing abuse, by relocating to Belgium, Depardieu responded by repairing to Russia and embracing President Putin, who is used to wrestling with bears.
Once upon a time Left-wing fellow-travellers such as Jean-Paul Sartre, regarded Soviet Russia as heaven on earth. Now Brigitte Bardot once rumoured to have an affinity for the extreme Right – has also fallen for Putin version of democracy and liberty. Enraged by the threatened euthanasia of two elephants with, so to speak, French passports, she has transferred her admiration to the land of bear-baiting and wholesale animal cruelty. As for the rights of man, Bardot and Depardieu, like the Stalinists of yesteryear, are blind to the lack of them in Russia.
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The law of unexpected consequences has put a small smile on the glum face of things. In a attempt to ease unemployment, the French passed a law some time ago limiting the working week to 35 hours. Urbane legend has it that this gave an boost to the hotel business. Their office time curtailed, French men and women were more available for a spot of sept: 5pm to 7pm being the traditional time for extramarital activities.
The satirical TV programme Les Guignols de Info on Canal is a long-running and cruelly accurate satire that recalls the now defunct Spitting Image. Its portrayal of Franis Hollande as a man in a permanent state of to put it politely huddled apprehension, may have as much to do with his decision to go to war in Africa as high-minded raison at. Less than a year after his arrival at the Ely, his popularity level, and that of his prime minister, the previously unknown Jean-Marc Ayrault, was down to 40 per cent. Since sending 3,500 troops to Mali, Holland rating is up to 45 per cent. Which still leaves 55 per cent.
No wonder another poll has found that 87 per cent of the French think what is needed is a vrai chef, a real leader. While the English sate their appetite for the past by watching Downton Abbey and labelling every other TV programme the Great British whatever, the French would like another Napoleon, or de Gaulle, or even another Uncle Fran is Mitterrand to steer the ship of state with the same insolence that made Louis XIV say: The state, that me! No one except the comely blonde Marine Le Pen, who has inherited the leadership of the National Front from her father Jean-Marie, who ran for president against Jacques Chirac, thinks that she has any chance of doing better than her father but some 30 per cent of the French electorate seem willing to flirt with her chiefdom.
President Hollande is hoping to unite his country behind him in his rather small War on Terror. In practice, many of those who supported his candidacy are saying, quite loudly, that to pursue jihadists and Tuaregs (by no means the same thing) into the great nothingness of the Sahara is a game with no time limit. The dispatch of a small British contingent remains unpublicized in Paris. The unremarked irony is that no one else in Europe has raised a finger, or a euro, to back the Malian adventure. Whatever its mix of motives, we have to hope it does make even deeper holes in France empty exchequer.
And meanwhile? The quality of French restaurant cooking declines as its price rises. Not only did Bradley Wiggins win the Tour de France, but another rosbif has taken the title of Master Cheese maker of France. Et voila , the Duke de la Rochefoucauld had a point. But, smirk as we may, we should never forget that America third president, Thomas Jefferson, also had a point: every man has two countries, his own and France.
Source:Ocnus.net 2013
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