Category Archives: petitions

ELECTORAL REFORM: Ask Your MP To Support Proportional Representation @electoralreform #MakeSeatsMatchVotes

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Ask your MP to support Proportional Representation

http://action.electoral-reform.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1754&ea.campaign.id=45033

This Wednesday, your MP will have a chance to support Proportional Representation.

Jonathan Reynolds MP is proposing a Bill to scrap our broken First Past the Post voting system for Westminster elections, and to bring in the system that has been used in Scotland and Wales for many years.

Whilst the kind of Bill being put forward rarely becomes law, we think it’s important voters let their MPs know that they want a fairer voting system – and this Bill is a crucial step in the right direction.

If it were to reach later Parliamentary stages, the ERS would support it being amended to move to the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system used in Northern Ireland and Scottish local elections. But the Bill still represents a vital move to a more proportional voting system for Westminster.

Please urge your MP to back the Bill – email them today.

featured image and text from the Electoral Reform Society

Somaliland Petition: Outcome

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My official petition to make the British government officially recognise Somaliland’s independence has now closed. It didn’t quite get the 100,000 signatures required for an obligatory government response; it got 611.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. That 611 represents more than the combined signatories to all other Somaliland petitions put together.* So, when set against the 100,000 target, 611 is indeed a dismal failure; but when set against the past Somaliland petitions, 611 is an outstanding success — literally the best there has ever been. So I am both proud, and deeply disappointed.

So where from here? But first, why bother?

I do not have Somali family or any real interest in Somalia or Somaliland itself. I have no ulterior or selfish reasons for my campaigning on this. Rather, I am passionate about national liberal democracy: that a world organised according to a brotherhood of sovereign nations thoroughly exercising liberal democracy is the best and only way for a moral and free world to thrive and function. This view is grounded in the notion that all peoples have a right to exercise their freedom and join the brotherhood of soveriegn nations if they so choose. Somaliland to me represents a fairly non-controversial and unequivocal example of this principle. And our continued refusal to recognise Somaliland not only goes against the principles I just outlined, but it thoroughly jeopardises the democracy that Somaliland is building. Thus, the failure to support Somaliland by way of recognising its independence and all which that entails not only is morally wrong from a theoretical standpoint, but it is also an error given practical and pragmatic considerations.

But for more context and explanation, see here for my previous Doggerelizer article on the subject, and see here for the official government petition’s page.

So where from here?

Simple. I continue to campaign for national liberal democracy. Perhaps this time focusing on a different nation which may appeal to more people. And I will keep the fight for the recognition of Somaliland going. I will keep you all informed.

© 2015 Bryan A. J. Parry

 

Somaliland Petition

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OFFICIAL PETITION TO FORCE THE UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT TO OFFICIALLY RECOGNISE SOMALILAND AS AN INDEPENDENT AND SOVEREIGN NATION

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/61018

Petition closes on 17/02/2015 at 12:31.

DECLARATION

We, the people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, assert the right of self-determination for all nations. We believe that any nation has the right to strive for independence and democracy and become a full-fledged member of the brotherhood of nations. And that brings us to the issue at hand.

“Somalia”. What images does this word bring before your mind’s eye? I imagine “pirates” and “poor people” are amongst the first. And this is a great shame, for the Somali people have a rich culture worth so much more than our collective pity or, indeed, fear. And one example is that set by Somaliland. Somaliland, the former British colony which united with the rest of (Italian) Somalia in 1960, but which declared its independence in 1991. After almost twenty-five years of struggle, Somalilanders are busy building a vibrant democracy and free civil society. However, the fragile nature of the region means this project is not secure. And it is jeopardised terribly by the international community which stubbornly refuses to formally recognise Somaliland as an independent nation.

The United Kingdom, as the former colonial power of Somaliland (but note, not of the rest of Somalia), has a particular duty to foster democracy in the region and engender stability for Somaliland.

Therefore, we the British people demand that our Government of this United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland formally recognise Somaliland as an independent nation state.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

  • If you are a British citizen, please sign the petition:

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/61018

  • Please pass this petition on to all British citizens you know.

If we get 100,000 people to sign, the British government will be obliged to dignify this campaign with a response.

  • This isn’t just about Somaliland; it is about all nations which are currently denied the right to exist. I’m talking Kurdistan, Palestine, Catalonia, and all the  many other nations of the world too numerous to list here.

You can help to make a difference by forcing our government to confront its responsibilities to truly help build and effect democracy around the world.

ABOUT THE PETITION STARTER

This petition was started by and is the initiative of Bryan A. J. Parry. He is a political activist (amongst other things) and passionately believes in liberal democracy and “good” nationalism, i.e., all nations being able to choose their own fates for themselves (so long as they do not, in so doing, deny other nations of same right). He believes in a worldwide brotherhood of nation states respecting and helping one another to build a brighter, democratic future for all of them, where the will of the people of each nation is heard, recognised, and put into effect.

For more information, please contact the petition starter, Bryan Parry, by using the contact form on the following page: https://doggerelizer.wordpress.com/contact/

© 2014 Bryan A. J. Parry