alanjjohnstone
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Quote:Your admission, that you 'have little clue' about these issues, doesn't forbode well for the ability of the proletariat to run the means of production.
To each to their own. Why should i choose to have a say in the running of how to manufacture glass at the other side of the world if it does not have an impact of any sort upon myself or something i care about as a world citizen? It would be different if the glass manufacture was spewing out pollutants and contaminating the environment…then, with many others, i would have an interest in declaring involvement in the decision-making at the glass-works. It would also be different if no-body was making glass, then perhaps i would start learning the process along with many others in my community of acquiring the technical knowledge. Democracy is also about the privilege of being passive in matters that do not concern you…(seems most on this forum in regards to this thread, take the same view.) Just to be pedantic to provoke…do you say in a classless communist society there is still a proletariat and it won't be just all people, collectively and individually…
Yes it is Are you seriously saying that if a group of Islamists seized control of a public park and defiantly said that they would shoot anybody endeavouring to remove them, the media would not call it an act of terror?We should not forget that this is almost a carbon copy of previous situation by the self-styled militia movement where snipers positioned themselves to fight off any police intervention and where shortly after, two participants without provocation went on to kill two policemen in a restaurant.I do concede that defining terrorism for the law is difficult but only in a court of law, not for us.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions_of_terrorismIn the UK the law defines it suchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_Act_2000
Quote:the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious[, racial] or ideological cause.If this is not a terrorist attack, what is?http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/oregon-occupation-militia-willing-to-kill-or-be-killed-occupy-us-wildlife-reserve-a6794366.htmlTheir leader has reportedly informed local press that the men are “willing to kill or be killed” ….Not very different from Muslim Martyrs
Quote:Happy new year Lbird, I think you elevate the level of discussion here even if some users find it a bit repetitive.I also like seeing a good battle of wits too, even when i have little clue of what is being argued…. Ding Dong, Next round …
From last January through November, the dominant news shows, ABC, CBS and NBC devoted 234 minutes of prime-time coverage to Donald Trump and 10 minutes for Bernie Sanders. ABC’s World News Tonight awarded 81 minutes of national showtime to Trump last year — and for Bernie: 20 seconds.Yet polls show that in a Trump/Sanders contest, Sanders overwhelmingly wins, which is not what happens if it is Trump/Clinton – that would be a too close to call result.The reason is that Wall St favours a Clinton president – an already proven servant of Capital and any boost for Sanders would be detrimental to her winning so no plaudits fro Bernie
Oooops …totally forgot the really BIG one…the founding of our companion party the WSPUS, July the 7th 1916 Let's celebrate that with a really good special issue of the Socialist Standard
Today's report, as millions flee Syria, Nepalese women are being trafficked to the war-torn country and forced to work as domestic maids. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/jan/01/nepal-women-trafficked-syria-forced-domestic-labour
Forgot about that bit of coverage, Gnome…No doubt by using dates, the IC could distinguish which had the greater impact …
The BBC source is obviously because of our election campaign in May. Another reason why we should continue contesting seats, since it has a higher response rate than the two major social media sites. Which is something that surprises me. Is there anyway of determing the average stay of vsitors from Google so we can determine if they are either clicking to us in error and quickly departing or actually reading our web-pages?
Cut and pasted for your convenience
Quote:Would Germany be a better place if each citizen received a no-strings-attached government check for $1,100 a month?Would people still get out of bed each day and go to work or do something else productive even with that unconditional basic income of 1,000 euros, less than half the average German monthly wage, but more than twice what those on welfare receive?Those are among the questions being examined in a small real-life experiment called "Mein Grundeinkommen" (My Basic Income) taking place in Germany — where 26 people thus far are being given $1,100 a month to do whatever they want with.The privately operated project, financed by crowdfunding donations, has injected new life into an old debate in Germany about utopian ideals. The idea of a "basic wage" is also touching a nerve in Germany and across Europe amid a rise in poverty and an increase in the number of working poor.The notion of the state giving everyone an "emancipatory basic income," as it also is sometimes called, is cherished not only by leftists in Germany but has also been supported by some on the right side of the political spectrum. Detractors, however, express fears that it would take away the incentive for people to work, while costing the government a fortune.In Finland, a new conservative-led government announced plans this month to hand out a universal basic income of nearly $900 per month starting in 2017. The basic income payments would replace all other benefits, cutting administration and means-testing costs, and will be paid to everyone regardless of whether they have other sources of income. Opinion polls show 70% of Finns favor the idea, which will cost more than $50 billion a year. A referendum on the same question is due in Switzerland in February. There is growing support for a basic income in the Netherlands.The universal basic income has long had many supporters in Germany. The state already pays a sort of "mini basic income" of about $200 per month for all children and young adults up to the age of 25 as long as they are in school or at college, which are also free of charge. But it was never tested in a real-life situation in Germany until Berlin entrepreneur Michael Bohmeyer, 31, decided to launch his "My Basic Income" project in 2014."A basic income paid out to everyone could unleash enormous amounts of creativity," said Bohmeyer, who left his Internet start-up business, and for a while was savoring a relatively carefree life, living off those proceeds, when he came up with the basic payment experiment. "Machines are going to be taking care of just about everything for us over time," added Bohmeyer, who comes from formerly communist eastern Germany. "So to be able to work creatively, people need some security, they need to feel free. And they can get that with a basic income."At this point, 26 people have been chosen at random to get a taste of basic income. Every few weeks, several more people are selected through drawings to receive 1,000 euros per month each for a year. They're free to do whatever they want with the money. The recipients are picked from a pool of more than 66,000 applicants and drawings are held whenever enough donations are collected. So far a total of 31,449 people have made donations."The most popular donation is 33 euros," Bohmeyer says. "That's equal to the daily amount needed to finance a basic income of 1,000 euros per month."At the last lottery on Dec. 8, held in front of a small but spirited audience at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin and streamed on the Internet (1,100 people watched), five winners were selected: a woman who said she wanted to use the income to "spend more time with her children and do volunteer work"; another woman who said she wanted "to be able to live my dreams and give something back"; a third woman who said she wanted "to develop a theater production"; a man who said he would use the money "to hire a new employee to help my ecological vegetable garden business grow"; and a fourth woman who wrote she "wants to wake up happy every day, to travel more and support other artists.""It's really cool that we were able to raise enough donations within less than a month for five more people to get the basic income for a year," Bohmeyer said just before the drawing, which used a lottery wheel. "And that came mostly from small donations."Most people who win haven't quit their jobs, he said. But there is nevertheless often a significant change in their outlook on life, he added."The one thing that everyone tells us is that they're able to sleep much better," Bohmeyer said. "But, ostensibly, not a lot changes: The students keep studying, the workers keep working and the pensioners are still pensioners. But there is a big change that takes place in their minds. People feel liberated and they feel healthier."One winner opted to spend his first month's payment partying with his friends, Bohmeyer said. "He just felt an urge to do that," he said. "He needed to get that out of his system."Bohmeyer said another winner, unable to work because of chronic ailments, wound up with less stress and fear than when he had to miss work."For the last nine months he hasn't had any more episodes," said Bohmeyer. "For a meager 1,000 euros per month, a human being has got his health back. Is that unreal, or what?"One recipient did quit a job he that he said he hated: at a call center. But the young man from the western city of Muenster didn't just lounge around on the couch watching TV all day; instead he used the money to go back to school and is studying to become a kindergarten teacher. He has managed to make ends meet after the year was over with other odd jobs and is grateful for the help he got to change his life, Bohmeyer said.The idea of a basic income has four core elements: it's universal, it's individual, it's unconditional, and it's at a level that is high enough for a decent standard of living.The project has caught the eye of German politicians like Katja Kipping, the co-leader of the hard left party Die Linke. She has long advocated a universal basic income. The Left Party discussed the issue intensively at its last congress in Bielefeld, although many party members were skeptical."It's a good idea that is taking the discussion on basic income forward," Kipping said after a visit to Bohmeyer's offices.She believes that a universal basic income in Germany could succeed because many people now work without remuneration and with too little recognition — caring for family members, housekeeping, volunteer work and coaching at clubs. "There is more work being done without pay than there is at the factories and office buildings and everywhere else."Economists are, not surprisingly, divided on the issue, with some labeling it "nonsense." Political analysts don't expect it to be introduced in Germany any time soon."The idea hasn't even found a consensus in any of the parties," said Carsten Koschmieder, at Berlin's Free University. "There are just too many concerns in all the parties that people wouldn't have any incentive to go to work and too many unanswered questions about who would pay for it all."Another mainstream paper discusses the UBIhttp://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-germany-basic-income-20151227-story.html
They are still writng about it and this article seems to be a bit more honest about what went on behind the scenes. http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/what-really-caused-implosion-occupy-movement-insiders-viewI've left a comment on the thread
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/26/dutch-city-utrecht-basic-income-uk-greens
Quote:It’s an idea whose adherents over the centuries have ranged from socialists to libertarians to far-right mavericks. It was first proposed by Thomas Paine in his 1797 pamphlet, Agrarian Justice, as a system in which at the “age of majority” everyone would receive an equal capital grant, a “basic income” handed over by the state to each and all, no questions asked, to do with what they wanted.Quote:We don't need transcripts of the entire tedious discussion, salient points raised, and decisions made will do.If debate and discussion is tedious then why even bother meeting at all and not just have branches circulate their supporting statements then go straight to the poll and have an end to conference and ADM. After all, with the party poll deciding and most of those members are not present, and having in the past a limited report from delegates if they are lucky, the proceedings of conferences are rather superfluous. Not wishing to cast blame but any minute taker should not be the one to decide what is a salient point…i have witnessed contributions that have been lengthy and incorporating several points and the minutes failed to cover them all or indicate speaker placing his or her order of importance.Anyway, the issue of minutes is rather moot because the solution is available now…recording conference and making it available to members through the web…and in future to have conference live online for non-attending members to watch, if not participate. I have said we would need to adjust standing orders of our meetings to permit this. No one is forced to listen or watch online unlike the attendees !! We can make a beginning with EC meetings who have had EC members using Skype, there is no reason why we shouldn't expand to permit members to watch…and as i said…even join in with the permission of the chair.
