Join the campaign to bring justice to workers
in Liberia.
While much
of the country is kept distracted by the excessive rhetoric of
the current Presidential campaign, groups like the Campaign for
Labor Rights continue to do the day-to-day work that is necessary
to create a society in which we would like to live, and one that
we would like our children to grow up in. We do this work with
minimal resources, all the while battling a well-financed and
resource-laden corporate opponent. It is your continued support
that allows us to keep fighting and organizing. For that I am
very appreciative and I hope that you will continue to support
our efforts at building a better world.
Click
here to donate today!!
One aspect
of that better world which we envision is that it be based on
participatory democracy. This concept originates with the People
of the Six Nations, better known as the Iroquois Confederacy.
It was their model of governance, already in use for 600 years,
which provided much of the foundation for the representative democracy
created by the founders of this country. Unfortunately, representative
democracy is designed specifically to limit the direct participation
of the people. As a result we are in our current state, where
our representatives in government have aligned themselves, and
pledged their allegiance to, a class whose interests differ greatly
from those of the people.
While our
form of democracy is often touted as the “greatest system
on earth” it is clear that large portions of society are
excluded from participating in this system and prevented fromsharing
the benefits enjoyed by a select few. We call this exclusionary
democracy. This is the type of democracy exercised in this country
and it is this kind of democracy that we export to the rest of
the world. In fact, besides exporting this exclusionary democracy,
our government and corporate media actively attack any expression
or appearance of participatory democracy, which serves as a clear
indication of the genuine threat it poses to those in power.
For some though,
even representative democracy allows too much participation by
the people. On the rare occasion when our representatives in Congress
go against corporate attempts to gain even greater profit and
to limit public oversight, a new route must be found so the rich
can achieve their goals. [It is important to remember that the
corporate model is authoritarian and is diametrically opposed
to the democratic model.]
One manifestation
of this new route was recently on display in New Orleans. Well,
actually it wasn’t really on display, since it was done
behind closed doors and minus the people’s participation.
But it did occur, as it has for the past few years, and you may
find its existence disturbing.
On April 21-22,
the leaders of Mexico, the United States and Canada met for the
4th Leader’s Summit of the North American Security and Prosperity
Partnership (SPP). The SPP is the model being pushed by those
who feel threatened by even the limited aspects of representative
democracy. The SPP is an executive-level agreement between the
3 countries of North America and it is not subject to Congressional
or Parliamentary oversight in any of the countries.
The Security
and Prosperity Partnership is a perfect example of the concept
of the unitary executive advanced by the Bush regime over the
past 7 years.
Read more.
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