open Democracy News Analysis - page - Comments

brianp on "contact us"

brianp — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:37:13 +0100

Hi,
wonder if you can forward a query for me to Fred Pearce? Not sure how to get hold of him. Id be grateful if you could let me know if it has been forwarded.
Thanks,
Brian.

Hello Fred,
Im looking for where/how to get hold of black pepsees for use on an organic market garden farm in Ireland as per your "when the rivers run dry" book. Can I import them?
Regards,
Brian.

opendemocracy on "contact us"

opendemocracy — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:28:40 +0100

Thanks for the exhaustive testing Christina!

Which RSS feed are you looking at - this one?

http://www.opendemocracy.net/xml/rss/home/index.xml

Tony

cxtinac on "contact us"

cxtinac — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:11:02 +0100

I agree. I have had problems for several months with the RSS feed. Here's what I found in a quick check:

* Blackberry/Opera Mini (my preferred platform): Not recognized as an RSS feed - connection error

* Opera full (on Ubuntu) dumps a large amount of unformatted text to the browser window

* Firefox tries to create a 'Live Bookmark'

* IE6 - connection error

* IE7 - very "pretty" web page with floating content... umm is that part of RSS??

So I would guess then (dear anonymous webmaster) it is developed and tested against IE7 only.

The purpose of a format like RSS is to provide a robust cross-platforrm standard. Pleeease stick to it!!!

I imagine there must be many readers (including me) who visit / read less often because of these difficulties...

Christina.

andresheldon on "contact us"

andresheldon — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:04:05 +0100

Andre Sheldon

107 Withington Road

Newton, MA 02460

USA

July 20, 2008

Dear Nobel Peace Women:

Let’s make history. Women have an amazing opportunity at their fingertips, if they choose to exercise it. Gandhi and King led movements of nonviolence. What if women led a global movement of nonviolence? It would empower women everywhere. It would bring attention to all women issues. All that is needed is a catalyst.

There is a problem in Iran. Baha’i women and men have been arrested without charges. Let’s turn this into an opportunity. The Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, in a book entitled “Women”, states about women, “…when they form a conscious and overwhelming mass of public opinion against war there can be no war.”

Let’s mobilize women to STOP and PREVENT WAR

It is time for women to create change, not wait for it. And the whole world should know about it! All the women need is a CATALYST. The women in Iran, or Europe, or the U.S., cannot do it by themselves. They need the whole world.

The Nobel Peace Women can provide the catalyst. The key is empowering the women and mobilizing. If the women in Iran see the women of the world mobilizing to stop war, and vice versa, via nonviolence and in a conciliatory manner, there will be change.

It has been my honor and privilege to develop a “Global Strategy of Nonviolence, For the Children” (GS of NV). It is based upon people power with nonviolence as its strength. It is led by women but not exclusive to women. It states that the time has come for nonviolence to be the doctrine of all societies and countries. It is my theory that through this strategy, women’s issues will be addressed. A GS of NV is to be implemented by an initiative called a “Call to Women, a World-wide Unity Campaign.”

A GS of NV is a comprehensive plan, designed as a “guideline,” to mobilize the women of the world, to STOP WAR, based on nonviolence, for the purpose of creating a new political paradigm based on humanitarian efforts, starting with, and prioritizing programs for the children. The plans include administration, funding, marketing, implementation and follow-up. The overall strategy is a three phase, three year plan.

Many elements are in place and many women leaders know of the basics of the plan – Dr. Helen Caldicott (Australia), Sister Joan Chittister (US), Margarita Papandreou (Greece), Anita Vargas (Bolivia- South America), Ela Gandhi (South Africa), etc. All that is needed is someone, some group, or something to tie it all together.

Let’s show what women can do! Men are not excluded. Women peace and humanitarian networks are everywhere. All the networks around the world are ready for a catalyst.

The plans are available for review. Research to support the theories and plans is available for review. Please contact me at calltowomen@rcn.com .

Peace and Love,

Andre Sheldon

Member of NOW, WILPF, Newton Dialogues, Supporter of CODEPINK and Men’s Resource Center

“If a person with black hair sees a person with red hair, he or she sees someone different, but, it a person with black hair sees a child with red hair, he or she sees a child.”

By Adil Najam – Boston University professor in International Relations

Andre Sheldon

Not logged in on "contact us"

Not logged in — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:34:54 +0100

I wanted to let you know about a new venture at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. It is called the Middle East Strategic Information (MESI) project and the director is Yehuda Avner, former ambassador and advisor to five Israeli prime-minister's. I am the editor of the project. www.mesi.org.uk

The Middle East Strategic Information (MESI) project provides a unique in-depth analysis of the Middle East and its strategic issues as they relate to the UK and the outside world. The MESI informs beyond the headlines and provides news and evaluations that provide important relevant data to the understanding of the Middle East. This project is aimed at the UK public in particular as you will see from the site.

What makes us unique is as part of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs; the MESI has access to senior politicians, diplomats, high-ranking security officials, academics, legal experts and strategists from Israel and around the Middle East. These provide MESI with an important infrastructure to disseminate a professional and credible analysis of events from the region.

Do you know how best to disseminate a project like this so it receives as wide an audience in the UK as possible? I would be very grateful for any suggestions that you could provide.

www.mesi.org.uk

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Ashley Perry

Mr. Ashley Perry

Editor and Coordinator

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

perry@jcpa.org

opendemocracy on "contact us"

opendemocracy — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 13:04:24 +0100

Sorry Donald.

If the fix does not work, you can now sign up to the email in the top left side-bar.

By the way -- I have found that moving to Google hosting did wonders for my spam, even without a change of address. The power of all those email accounts alerting Google to a spam message is very powerful!

Tony

Not logged in on "contact us"

Not logged in — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:02:34 +0100

I have missed your regular e-mails since changing my email address - I have also had difficulty finding you again till now.
My old address was: donaldharris@uwclub.net
The new one is: dlsh@uwclub.net
I did send out the new one to everybody except the spammers - please reinstate me as your subscriber, to be sent to regularly.

Donald Harris

PS the purpose of the change was to escape the spammers - so far fairly successful.

opendemocracy on "Avina Latin American Journalism Awards"

opendemocracy — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:40:56 +0100

Hi Jorge,

As it says in the "what should I do next" section:

"Look at the Avina guidelines for the awards.

Look at the form that we will together need to complete for your proposal.

Send us at openDemocracy a 300 word email summarising your article and attaching your curriculum vitae. We will get in touch with you to tell you whether we would like to endorse your project for an Avina award and whether we have editorial suggestions for modification.

We will together proceed to complete the Avina application form.

jsanpedro on "Avina Latin American Journalism Awards"

jsanpedro — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:53:20 +0100

Hi!

¿How to apolly? Don't see any option to enter the contest...

Best regards, Jorge

renata.avila.pinto on "Avina Latin American Journalism Awards"

renata.avila.pinto — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:26:07 +0100

Great!

For sure I will spread the word among journalists in Guatemala and the amazing Global Voices Latin America team!

Good news!

Renata Avila

Paula Allen on "The de Borda Experiment - Results"

Paula Allen — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:11:00 +0100

Unfortunately I was unable to vote as none of the options really reflected my views on the issues. As a creature of conscience when faced with a situation of "the lesser evil" I am forced to abstain completely. The option "none of the above" not being available.
I suspect a large number of the non voters also fall into this category.

This omission seems to be the largest failing in Western so called democracies. The lack of facility for the electorate to express dissatisfaction with all the options/candidates. Maybe I'm cynical, but. I think the lack of this option is because the systems feel that to allow the public to express anger openly by returning "none of the above" in a large number of elections may just rock the boat too much for the liking of the vested interests who pay off the parties for corporate influence.

Overall it has been an interesting experiment, and with a few concerns addressed (as others have raised earlier about the possible abuse of the system by pressure groups) I look forward to participating in any further trials.. Work and time permitting of course..

PPA

{Ed. With a full slate of nine options, there is no 'lesser evil'. Now admittedly, a "none of the above" option is used in some electoral systems, while the best form was used in Norway, for people could then add in the name of someone new. "Adding in something new" was also used in Guam which currently holds the world record for plurality: they had a 6/7-option ballot in 1982, with 6 options and 1 blank, ready to be filled in by any who thought of something better.
One of the lessons from Weimar Germany led to the introduction of what is now called "the constructive vote of no confidence". It's no good saying just 'no' to everything, as Mr. Paisley did for so many years! It is much better if the procedures ask the critic to put forward an alternative.
And this is what we did here. The consensors collated all the ideas, or we tried to, so as it were by definition, and especially if you played your part during the debate, one of the nine options was bound to be less evil than the others. Peter Emerson}

Mary Taylor on "The de Borda Experiment - Results"

Mary Taylor — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:34:00 +0100

This experiment highlighted the need for extensive, in-depth debate before decisions are made. Debate over something as fundamental as funding the electoral process should begin with debate about the principles we want the electoral process to reflect. This phase is likely to be lengthy, difficult, and unpopular, but it is essential if our genuine views - rooted in our philosophical and ethical assumptions - are to be expressed. Rigorous debate is a forging process for our own individual views, preparatory to decision-making.

Without such debate, I do not think the result can be held to represent in any meaningful way the participants’ views on electoral funding. It might be used as a demonstration model for a voting system, though it would be clearer if function were separated from content. To show a voting system at work, it is not necessary to vote about voting systems. The procedure could be shown just as well by a trivial problem, such as the design for an insurance broker’s window display.

{Ed. True. Consensus voting has been used in such easy cases. But, as noted in the comment above, it can also be used on complicated and/or controversial subjects. Suffice to say that one very distinctive feature of consensus voting is that the procedure allows the participants to participate, not only in casting their preferences, but also in choosing the options upon which they will cast their preferences. Which is why we chose a relatively complex topic. Peter Emerson.}

Stuart Boothman on "The de Borda Experiment - Results"

Stuart Boothman — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:07:00 +0100

Thanks for that - are you suggesting that MPs work through such a "preferendum", or the population?
Once the questions are worked out, possibly via focus groups or a working group of MPs, it could be done well, couldn't it?

{Ed. Absolutely. Basically, consensus voting could - and should - be used, wherever and whenever the subject under debate is contentious. For if it is contentious, and if we do enjoy a plural democracy, then doubtless there will be more than two options 'on the table'.

So consensus voting could be used either when the House is meeting in plenary, or when a committee of the House is in debate, or whatever. The options could be determined in plenary, in which case you would have a rule to suggest that any one party could only put forward one option; or the list could be drafted in committee or even, as you suggest, via focus groups... as long as the list of options were, as I say, a draft: the final decision-makers must have the final say as to the options.

You could even have a consensus vote in the country as a whole. Take, for example, the Jenkins Commission on the UK's Westminster electoral system. If he had been instructed to draw up a short list of electoral systems (as happened with the Royal Commission in New Zealand), the entire electorate could have been presented with, let us say, a five option ballot (which again is what happened down under) and then we could all have cast our preferences (whereas, in New Zealand, the voters only had one preference - they used a funny version of the two-round system).

There are exceptions to consensus voting, of course. Not least when ratifying treaties, as with the EU Constitution. Though even here, to take the French example, they should have voted "EU comme ci (d'Estaing) or EU comme ca (Maastricht)"; by asking "d'Estaing, oui-ou-non?" the vote was an absolute nonsense, with people voting 'non!' if they didn't like the EU comme ci, or if they didn't like it at all, or if they didn't like Chirac, Macdonalds, Turkish accession, or je ne sais quoi!

The whole thing was handled very badly, for it was all very top-down. Whereas, if Giscard d'Estaing had been asked, via public hearings and so on, to draw up a list of options... OK, it gets a bit complicated, but where there's a will, and at least we (Europeans) could have had a short list of five, say, constitutions, as opposed to being told, comme ci, take it or leave it.

OK, I think that will do for one comment! Peter Emerson.}

Oliver Tringham on "The de Borda Experiment - Results"

Oliver Tringham — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:29:40 +0100

I did not find the process overly complex.
I did find myself looking for a sort of menu of choices from all the different possibilities - rather than the grouped alternatives of aggregated choices (A - M).
It is helpful having someone to make sense of the different alternatives.

Oliver Tringham on "The de Borda Experiment - Results"

Oliver Tringham — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 11:23:33 +0100

I enjoyed the process.
I particularly like the Dull/Bright vs. Small/Big aspect - although I find it difficult to find the explanation: one refers to the importance of the point; the other to how much you agree. Which is which?
(And with the points above, the S/B aspect was not functioning)
It surely would not be impossible to make this clear?