Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Drawing lines in warming times

In the year 168 BC, a Roman Senator named Popillius Laenas was sent as an envoy to confront and stop the Macedonian ruler Antiochus IV from his conquest of Egypt. History tells the story of Laenas standing alone, blocking Antiochus' road to Alexandria and delivering a message for the Macedonian to withdraw his armies and retreat. The story goes that Laenus drew a circle in sand surrounding the king and demanded that he deliver his reply before stepping out, and so it goes that the phrase "drawing a line in the sand" was born.

While we no longer face the threat of Macedonian hordes poised to set upon our gates, the impacts of a changing climate require us to take a stand no less brazen than that of Laenas. We see the ecological, social and human impacts that a changing climate is wreaking around the globe, and we know that this promise of a world in chaos is what we are set to inherit. That is why our generation has drawn its own line in the sand and issued our demands to each and every Member of Parliament in this country.

Moving this country towards a clean, safe and just future will be no small feat. It often feels like the policies of the Canadian government are stuck in the same tarry substance that many politicians seem so fond of, but the reality is that we have no other choice. Our planet, our future, and the thousands of people dealing with displacement, droughts, starvation and extreme weather cannot wait for the political climate to warm up to the real climate.

Full Article
Source: Rabble 

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