Balance of coverage - Freedom of the Press

An independent and free media are cornerstones of a modern and open democracy.

Traditionaly on matters of referendum in the state, both sides of a debate are given equal time and funding on a question put to the people, as constitutional changes are different to politics as usual.
But a Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) conference who are meant to ensure this balance and fairness in state media have been told the rules are a "charter for every awkward squad".

The rules have now been changed. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

The BCI are meant to be an independent statutory organisation responsible for a number of key areas of activity with regard to television and radio services in Ireland.
Part of that is to ensure fair and balanced poltical coverage - for that reason this decision is unacceptable.

The constitution, the contract between the elected and the electorate, and referenda on that contract are the cornerstone of our democracy.
Any changes to the constitution must be debated openly and fairly.

Just because the result is not to a Governments liking does not them the right to suppress debate and dissent.
Part of democracy is that the Government must listen to dissenting voices who do not promote violence or hatred.
Reduction or restriction on airtime by the states broadcaster is supresson of debate.

Dont forget the 1948 European councils declaration of human rights included article 10, that Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority

In Ireland the state through a licence fee partially covers the cost of our public broadcaster RTE.
Perhaps it is a question of 'He who pays the piper calls the tune'

Broadcasters are no longer required to allocate exactly the same amount of time to both the Yes and No campaign when it comes to editorial coverage.
It now appears each political party will be given equal time.

Considering the fact that a great deal of opposition comes from groups such as PANA and the Peoples Alliance who are not in political parties, this will skew coverage.

The only parties that oppose Lisbon are Sinn Fein and a independents.

The Greens have sacrificed their morals and independence in a desperate bid for political survival.
I find this very disheartning, but with Andrew Byrne on the executive, it seems the party has changed.
Despite their traditionally strong stance on non-alliance and workers rights the current Greens elected or appointed to the Dail and Senate put their personal political survival before the grass roots of the party and the good of the Nation.

Our reminants of Civil War politics, a discredited and unpopular Fianna Fail and an uninspiring Fianna Gael - tweedle dum and tweedle dumber, or two cheeks of the same arse - are also backing this re-run of the same referendum with the meaningless garuantees given by Brussels.

Having lost the debate on the treaty the Yes side now are creating a skewed pitch so they can make unfounded, misleading and alarmist claims about a No vote being a vote for withdrawal from the EU or withdrawal from the Eurozone.

But it is an example of media manipulation by the Government which disturbs me.
We have seen examples of this before, and discussed them on this blog.

We have seen how disproportionate coverage of the idiot Justin Barrett was used to smear the No campaign in the second Nice Treaty.
In the first Lisbon Treaty Declan Ganley had unproven allegations over funding thrown in his direction, however, if you throw enough shit at a wall - some will stick, regardless of the truth.
Similar questions about Andrew Brne in CIPA were never really explored.

There is no official public funding for groups in a referendum campaign, although questions remain about Generation Yes,CIPA, Ireland for Europe and the IIEA.
Lack of funding is a severe disadvantage for less affluent groups.

To balance this, airtime on public stations has normally been split evenly between both sides of the argument, which helps groups with low funds which wouldn’t be able to buy a great amount of airtime.

In past referenda this protocal was followed, RTE took great care to give both camps the equal amount of airtime, but it was often perceived by observers that members of the Lisbon No-Camp were treated with less respect by the hosts than the representatives of the Yes-Side.

The Questions and Answers program was a great platform for debate, but this is not scheduled prior to the Lisbon II vote.
This is hardly surprising when Dr. Paul Anthony McDermott, probably the country's most eminent constitutional-law expert, said on Q&A that the 'assurances' gotten by Cowen were worthless

McDermott on assurances when they were 'leaked'- June 15 2009
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0615/qan...63057,null,230
Strangely in the show notes he is not listed being on the panel for the epsiode, hence the RTE google application search does not find it.

Also worth seeing McDermott on a second referendum - November 17 2008
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1117/qanda_av.html?2450381,null,230

The budget of the Referendum Commission is public, and Government spending on the campaign should be monitored by the press.
However, editorial policy in the Irish Times and Independent are pro Lisbon.

The use of taxpayers’ money for the Yes campaign by the government in Lisbon 1 was unfair as the No side didn’t have access to public funds.
We will look more at funding and media manipulation in the near future


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Worries on Association

In writing this blog the only thing that really concerns me is the concept of being regarded as on the margin by associaton.

I dont want to be associated with parties I do not vote for because of my opposition to the Treaty.

I consider an undemocratic attempt to push through a treaty I do not believe and certainly have not been convinced as being good for the EU.

I am an independent voter. I have friends, relatives, neighbors and colleges who I admire and like, who I respect, from right across the European political spectrum.

If the politicians have any respect for their electorates or democracy then this has to stop.

As an independent I have canvassed and normally voted for the Labor Party in Ireland.

In the next local elections I will vote Fianna Gael, possibly continue to vote Labor at National level and in the past I have voted for Fianna Fail.

All the main Irish parties are in favor of the treaty/constitution, is this out of conviction, fear or inadequacy? If it is out of conviction, why did they fail to convince the 93.1% of voters who in 2007 put them in office to accept the treaty/constitution?

Maybe its peer pressure, wanting to impress their bigger political partners on the mainland?

Or is it simply the politicians belief this is too big a decision for the regular voter to make themselves? This is something I don’t know.

The main problem for me right now is no major party represents my views on Europe.
I thought that this is what being in opposition meant, to at least offer an alternative.

The only group I can find with a broad base of support, across the political spectrum are called The Peoples Movement - more about them and other alternatives as I find out more.

We should be able to disagree without being disagreeable, and should not the democratic opinion of the Irish electorate be accepted if we are part of a comunity of nations?

In my opposition to the Lisbon treaty, I worry that I might be associated with Sinn Fein, I am not, but they are the only party in the Dail objecting to the Lisbon Treaty.

But then again, the Turks have a saying that I really like – that a broken clock is right twice a day.

In my opposition to Lisbon, I might be associated with Libertas – a grouping who have no seats in the Irish Parliament, no council seats or any representation in the European Parliament are also being promoted as the main opposition to Lisbon.

To be blunt Libertas scares the crap out of me, a Pan European party with a mandate which is specifically anti European, nothing about Ireland. They are closer to UKIP than they are to the Irish political scene.
Are we going to end up a laughing stock with a party in the EU parliament but no national representation?
I don’t want to support a party with no national mandate.
They don’t even have a .ie website for gods sake, yet the Irish media expect me to take them as the only opposition to the treaty.
That is a failing by the Irish media in my opinion.

They are in rhetoric closer to parties who I would not naturally be inclined to vote for like UKIP or the US Republican party than they are to the Irish political scene.

I admire many aspects of conservative political thought – self reliance and personal responsibility, the importance of a stable family unit, and for true conservatives like Lincoln the importance of civil liberties and a less intrusive government.

The Libertas.eu site trumpets an alliance with a German Party – the AUF, who I cannot find on wikipedia, but whose German website gives me the impression they are quite conservative, for a Christian God, Work, and the environment.

I understand that many aspects of our traditions, morals and laws come from a religious background – but I am politically secular. Personal faith is a separate issue.
But I really believe that mixing religion and politics always seems to be a bad idea.

That has been especially true when the leaders were unelected.

Europeans in particular, with the history of the continent, should understand that.

Again, as always – thanks for reading, or listening.

Even if you don’t agree with me –

I hope you give some thoughts to the points made

And please let others now about these blogs, podcasts and youtubes.

Citizen Simon - out

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The use of fear and guilt to force a Yes Vote

In the great song Bu$hleaguer, a b-side on ‘I am Mine’ Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam asks how do they do it – the same song gives the answer – drilling for fear makes the job simple.

Keeping people uncertain of the future and creating fears for the wellbeing of themselves and their families makes them easier to control and manipulate

There is now the implied threat from all the major political parties in Ireland that rejecting Lisbon will cause economic meltdown to follow.

They failed to win the argument in the last referendum simply because the treaty could not be sold in a normal, positive way.
So now fears and uncertainties are being generated based on fear of the collapse of our economic systems.

The use of scare tactics of what may happen to you if you do not vote the way your told by a discredited group of people is downright nasty.

If they want they want me to vote in favor, then they have to give positive reasons, not simply generate a fear to manipulate us at our most vulnerable level.

If there is one thing we have learned from the last US election, is that the electorate can achieve change they can believe in.

President Obama ran a campaign that made the majority of the electorate feel that their opinion was worth something, it bought the sense of empowerment back to a generally disillusioned population.

We have seen a campaign where the desire for change on what the citizens of the US wanted overcame fear mongering.

Yes, the EU also needs change in the way it works, I support the ideals of the EU but change to Europe should be what is decided by the population of the Union, not by a narrow segment who – using abstract political and failed economic theories – wish to impose. We need more democracy and accountability, not less.

Also, lets not forget the politicians in Ireland who will use this fear mongering are the same people that got us into this economic mess in the first place, bailing out the financial institutions who bypassed regulators, using loopholes and – in some cases if not illegal – methods certainly not in the spirit of regulations in a distasteful way of maximizing perceived profits.

Again showing an astounding lack of understanding and judgment, in January 2009 the Irish Government decided to nationalize Anglo Irish Bank.
Irish taxpayers now own a private bank that was suspended on the stock markets with a loss of 98% on share value.
This was despite the prior knowledge of a financial trick used to mask losses.

The way it worked was like this – bank executives took out loans in order to purchase Anglo Irish shares.
Then, the loans are transferred to another bank prior to the end of year-end audits, thereby causing "Loans to Directors" to be understated.

In 2008, the loan to Messers FitzPatrick and Bradshaw amounted to €87 million; but the transfer loophole resulted in the accounts showing only about €40 million outstanding to directors, instead of €150 million.

The regulator said, "While it does not appear that anything illegal took place in relation to these loans, the Financial Regulator was of the view that the practices surrounding these loans were not appropriate.

Now, the people who carry the can for this are workers in the public sector with a levy, a reduction in their income, on their pensions.

Perversely the pension package of Mr. Fitzpatrick and others were in the private sector, and their pensions will probably remain largely un-affected.

This is simply one example of what happens when appointed, unaccountable people are given to much power, and that we end up paying for it.

Voting for Lisbon wont stop this hapening, it may even make things worse.

But it sent such a shock through the Irish economy.

Rather than an example of Government ineptitude, this fear, this economic crisis, has created uncertainty, and this is a way of forcing the Yes Vote !

We joke about Catholic guilt, but there are some aspects that should be looked at.

Society is a complex thing, affected by many historical communal factors.
One that cannot be ignored is religions affect on the way our society works in the past and in the present.

In a tangential way, guilt is fear – whether to suffer for sins in the next life or just the more tangible idea of Karma – that what goes round, comes round, exists in most of us.
92.2% of Irish people have had some exposure, even nominally, to Christian concepts.

As a nation we also have a sense of fair play, and are generally a grateful and compassionate group of people.

We are told that Europe has been good for us, that we should be grateful, that we should afford other European Citizens the general good fortune that we have had, and not to do so is ungrateful and shameful.

I agree that Europe has been good for Ireland.
I agree that others should be given a fair shot at sharing in a European idea.

But I think it would be more shameful, and unfair and wrong to accept the Lisbon treaty as it is, with little understanding of it, eroding the importance of the nation state and create an unanswerable bureaucracy that would pass laws to allow the exploitation of our fellow European Union Citizens.

Erosion of the rights of the Nation State is dangerous, of the worlds top 100 economies, 51 are now corporations!!!

And we have seen where that leads. in bank scandals right across the EU.

Their primary job is to create wealth for their shareholders – by any means necessary - unlike the concept of nation state which is for the improvement of society.

There have been economic downturns before, they will happen again – and the very transfer of economic planning to external, unaccountable bureaucracy and de-regulation has helped cause the current downturn.

As I have explained in previous podcasts and blogs, our fellow Europeans have been denied the right to, along with us, make the choice to change the way our union works.

Like Chuck D from Public Enemy said back in 1990 – Power to the People - Gotta Give us want We want – Gotta give us what We need

Its our choice.

Again, as always – thanks for reading, thanks for reading or listening.

Even if you don’t agree with me – I hope you give some thoughts to the points made

And please let others now about these blogs, podcasts and youtubes.

Citizen Simon - out

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Historical Irish Lessons in democratic displacment

In the first post I discussed what I would refer to as Democratic Displacement in the European Union.

Ireland is, rather bizarrely, in the position that of our population of 4.5 million - or about 0.8% of the European population – that is those of us over the age of 18, who are registered to vote, are the only people who have been given the right by referendum to decide the future of the European Union.

That is unfair on us and our approximate fellow 491 million citizens.

A treaty, which fundamentally re-arranges the way the EU works should simply not be decided by less than 1% of the population, the decision should be pan-European, by referendum – otherwise it is undemocratic.

It is comparable to asking only Maine along with Hawaii to or god forbid Alaska to elect the President of the United States

As we seem to be the chosen people this time out, I want to do this blog/podcast concentrating on the lessons of democratic displacement from Irelands past.

Of all countries in Europe, perhaps Ireland, with our post colonial heritage should best understand what happens when government becomes removed and remote.
The Irish of all people should look to the past and learn from its failings, to avoid them in the future.

Again, I need to emphasize that this is not anti British, or an anti European rant, it is my personal understanding of the lessons of the past.

For many, many years the vast majority of the Irish population was denied the right to choose self determination.

In our history systems of exclusion and discrimination were gradually phased out, first emancipation, then property ownership and finally gender based barriers were removed.

But for a great deal of our history, power was vested to men of property from one religious group – they were the economic and political powerbrokers of their time, in other words – those who inherited a feudal system, and the predecessors of today’s special interest groups – those who benefited from the system of the time.

Extrapolating from James Camlin Becketts book, A Short history of Ireland – from the census figures in 1851 0.025% of the Irish population had a say in the running of the Island.

Ratification of the Lisbon treaty would not be the first time that Governance of the Ireland of Ireland moved offshore to a largely appointed, un-democratic special interest group.

After the 1801 the Act of Union Ireland was ruled directly from London as part of the United Kingdom.
Executive power lay in the hands of the unelected, appointed Lord Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary for Ireland.

By elections limited to male property owners, Ireland sent 105 members of parliament to the British House of Commons, and representative peers elected twenty-eight of their own number to sit for life in the House of Lords.

The shift of political power, vested in a small proportion of the population, from Dublin to London, withdrew the rulers even further from the ruled.

The result of this was The Great famine, the most severe in the history of European agriculture from 1845-1848.

The warnings that this would happen were apparent and clear. The historian Woodham-Smith calculated between 1801 and 1845 there had been 114 commissions and 61 special committees dealing with Ireland and that – I quote - "without exception their findings prophesied disaster”

This was a contrast to Britain, which was beginning to enjoy the modern prosperity of the Victorian and Industrial ages.

The root cause of the disaster was the failure of the socio-economic system and the reluctance to admit fix the problems of Laissaiz-Faire, which at the time was regarded as the only viable economic system.
Also, the modification of Laissaiz Faire would reduce profits to the small special interest group.

Laissaiz Faire was the prototype of modern market economics.

The other issue that compounded the problem was the distance of governance.
The 45/48 famine was known as the great famine, or An Gort Mhor.
The failure of one commodity, the primary food crop, led to starvation and disease.
However, other commodity crops such as grain were exported in large quantities to service debts due to absent politician.

A hundred years before, in 1740/1741 there was another famine – the Year of the Slaughter. 10% of the Irish population are estimated to have died. Less is known about it.

However – as there was a government on the Island in Dublin at the time, docks were closed and food exports reduced and curtailed in an effort to alleviate the famine.

Even though those in power were from a tiny segment of the community, they lived in a parallel life of privilege, their proximity to the affected, ensured that pragmatic action was taken and a greater disaster than might have been was averted.

The 1740/41 famine, for example, did not result in the mass emigration of the 1848 famine, partially because the governing classes were closer and more answerable to those in the same society than there successors.

Of course I am not saying that the Lisbon treaty will result in another famine – in this time we are more advanced, but hardship will be experienced in a different way.

In the past, Ireland was an agrarian society, when the model collapsed due to reluctance to change from ill-advised economic concepts and political distance then people went hungry.
In the present Ireland is a service nation, leading in IT and electronic manufacturing.

It will not be the lack of potatoes that will cause pain, it will be the shortage of pounds, pence and euros in our system caused by ill-advised economic concepts and political distance that will put people into debt for decades.

So what can we do to avoid this –
Well, it sort of sucks – the only people who will have a say in the future of Europe are the Citizens of the Irish Republic.
The good news is, there are things we can do.

We can continue to reject the Lisbon treaty until a more democratic alternative, giving better representation, accountability, transparency and democracy is presented.

For Irish readers, the main thing is to get out and vote, you can vote for or against the treaty – that is your choice, but I would urge all of you not to vote for something you don’t understand or do not feel comfortable with and certainly not on the advice of Fianna Failure.

Some feel we should rely on the politicians for advice.

Brian Cowen, The Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) - on 12 May 2008, admitted in a radio interview that he had not read the Treaty of Lisbon in its entirety!!
As a Laywer he is one of the few who has the ability to read such legalese, but it is such a huge body of work I dont blame him.
The Irish times found most people simply did not understand what the thing was about.

For other European readers, write to your representative, make it clear that if you are not given a democratic choice for our Europe of the future, they can count on not getting your vote.

Let people know about this blog and other websites that give an alternative view on Europe.

Remember, We alone have the power to ensure that our political system works for us – that our system works for we the people, not a small corporate and political elite.

Its our choice.

Again, as always – thanks for reading, thanks for listening.

Even if you don’t agree with me – I hope you give some thoughts to the points made

And please let others now about these blogs, podcasts and youtubes.

Citizen Simon - out

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Democratic Displacement - the distance of Governance

I’m Simon and this is the first of several podcasts/Blog/Youtubes planned.
Each will deal with a different aspect of my concerns and objections to what I consider the undemocratic imposition of the Lisbon treaty.

As this blog is also the introductory one, it will be slightly longer than they will be in the future.
I want to talk about what may happen as Governance grows remote from the people of the European Union.
Now – two quick questions –
How many states are there now in the US ?
There are 50 and I knew that without looking it up.
How many states are there now in the EU?
Well, I had to google it – there are 27 member states and Ireland is the only one that has had referendum on the latest version of the EU treaty.

It is comparable to asking only Maine along with Hawaii to or god forbid Alaska to elect the President of the United States

Europe is the cradle from where democracy was born. From its beginnings in Athens it has endured and adapted over the centuries.
As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.

In the History of Europe
Whenever we have moved away from Democratic principles,
Whenever we have vested power in small democratically unaccountable groups and
Whenever the result of the democratic process has been manipulated, ignored or over-ridden it has been to our detriment.

And now, In Ireland, despite a clear democratic result we are expected to go back and do it again.

It’s hardly within the democratic tradition of Europe, but that is the problem inherent in the constitution/treaty itself – it is the forced adoption of a distinctly un-democratic system – and when the rejection is not to the liking of the political class’ they have simply move the goalposts.

From the start I want to make it clear that the Lisbon Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty are fundamentally the same document. Minor changes in content and even the reduction of font size have been used to alter and re-brand the package.
But it is in essence the same document democratically rejected by the populations of France, the Netherlands and the Irish Republic. Other citizens like in the UK have not even been given the opportunity to accept or reject the treaty.

The document presented to us is a radical reform of the way our democratic and social systems work. It proposes more unelected leaders and decision makers

And I object to this - As a European and Irish Citizen, I am concerned that the Lisbon treaty is being imposed on myself and my European fellow citizens despite democratic rejection and legitimate concerns about the process.
It is unwieldy, difficult to understand, obtuse and abstract.
I want to be able to at least understand what the treaty entails before accepting it.

In Irelands case, the special interests and politicians who want us to adopt the treaty/constitution are the same politicians who have led us blindly into an economic Alice in Wonderland, with commercial banks being bailed out despite the actions of their directors, with taxes from private citizens who are facing foreclosure and income loss.

I use the term special interest rather loosely, as it is a familiar term.
It is in essence trans-national corporations, bankers, media groups and others who profit from the current system.
It would also cover some Bureaucrats and Politicians, who –however well intentioned – I feel are underqualified, not accountable enough and too far removed from the average citizen to make such radical changes to our system of governance.

This delusion of the perfect system has occurred many times.
From John Grey’s book, Black Mass – we see it is the same with many historical movements. Nazis, Communists, Jacobins, neo-conservatives et al all believed that their system was the only one for the development of society.

They all believed that after a period of adjustment, once their model was imposed that it would work because it was the pinnacle of human social engineering.
Whether that model is based on genetic, racial, religious, social, political or economic supremacy of one group over another does not matter.
What matters is that this thinking is a inherently flawed concept, a delusion, because there is no such thing as the perfect system. One size does not fit all.
Politics, democracy and governance evolve, adapt, change and develop constantly to meet new challenges and circumstances

The Lisbon treaty is designed to radically change many aspects of the concept of European Unity and I believe it moves us away from the liberal, communal, humanist, social and democratic values and traditions that are a part of what makes Europe what it is.

We are heading down the path of greater privatization in areas such as public services such as education, transport and health, fundamental European values
We are developing a system when we allow transnational corporations – 51 of them in the top 100 global economies - to further influence our affairs.

If there is one lesson that must be held to be true for a democratic society in Europe it is the 186 simple words of an American President, Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg – that government must be of the People, by the People, and for the People.

And briefly, lets consider word counts of influential historical texts.

Lincolns Gettysburg address 186 words
The Irish Proclamation of the Republic 473 words
The French Declaration of the rights of mankind 795 words
Britains Magna Carta 3361 words
And The consolidated index of the Lisbon Treaty in English – over 9,000 words

In closing I feel that we the people of the EU, and the people of Ireland, should not be forced to adopt a treaty which the majority do not want.

Its our choice.

Again, as always – thanks for reading, thanks for listening.

Even if you don’t agree with me – I hope you give some thoughts to the points made

And please let others now about these blogs, podcasts and youtubes.

Citizen Simon - out

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