Well said Elliot. Time to bring internationalism and world governance back into the political mainstream.

Such a position, of course, is nothing new for the Greens and their European Free Alliance allies (I’m an member of Mebyon Kernow) who have been promoting federalism and subsidiarity for quite some time now. Sadly when others from the left have been falling back into centralised and sometimes aggressive state-nationalism.

March 26 London
Protests against conservative party cuts broken and disbanded by police and troops. when asked why troops were on the streets of London a government spokesman said, “We asked a local territorial army unit to be available to assist police in keeping the peace during the savings marches. During this time of UK armed forces actions in Afghanistan and Libya the government feels we should be prepared to act immediately in a military capacity following a terrorist attack on home soil. This is purely a safety measure designed to protect Uk citizens”.
“I would like to take this opportunity to assure the public this homeland troop deployment is in no way designed to quell or dissipate national feelings of anger following the announced country-wide savings programs”.
An inside source has revealed MI5 monitored a possible Libyan terrorist bomb threat targeted at London during the time of the savings protests.
meanwhile in other news:
Disabled man forced into conspiracy theory program initiated by Tory business interests.

Incidentally, I don’t know if it’s just me, but all of the apostrophes have become question marks and that makes it hellishly difficult to read!

Phillip – I think there’ve been suggestions for a ‘Green-EFA’ Alliance at a UK level, with the Greens in England and Wales allying with Plaid, Mebyon and others as the French Greens did and as we’ve done at a Europe-wide level.

An attempt in Wales, which resulted in a Plaid-Green MP, fell apart after bitter recriminations, but I still think it’s something we should be considering. And of course it would be much easier with a preference pact under AV.

@Elliot,

Yes Europe Ecologie has been a very interesting phenomena to follow in the various French elections – the regionals in particular. I’m an advocate of a UK Ecology as you may gather from this blog of mine on OurKingdom: http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/philip-hosking/to-reform-uk-state-we-need-democratic-green-alliance-response-to-gerry-has

Bollocks. You do a great disservice to those who have bravely laid down their lives in cause of freedom over the last few months by comparing an ideological clash in a free democracy with a fight for the very freedoms that mean that voters in this country can vote this administration out in four years time. Most people on the left and the right will support the overthrow of dictators through popular uprising, but doesn’t mean they support our (in comparison) squabbles.

Hmm….

“The collapse of the world economy”

So if we’re to talk of internationalism, shouldn’t we note that the global economy did not collapse? That, in fact, the global economy kept right on growing?

What happened in Tunisia has set off a chain-reaction that is spreading all over the world: not just the Arab world, but all over the planet.

Really? Syria, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tadjikistan, Burma etc etc. ? Oh, excuse me – I forgot Africa.

Perhaps Mr Folan lives in a different world to me.

@5 http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/most-popular/egyptians-send-support-to-wisconsin.html

What on earth is a youth councillor? Does the existence of such a thing cost me money?

Cylux – Precisely my point! We stand in solidarity with them, and they stand in solidarity with us.

astateofdenmark – Have no fear, it’s a voluntary office, we don’t get paid!

Yeah nice one. Internationalism. That is what I was trying to say on the open thread. The Arabic people are showing us the way. We got to link up like they did across borders. I think it is inevitable and might happen quite quickly.

“That’s injustice, and it’s the worst kind. It’s the same sort of injustice that the people of Tunisia and Egypt are fighting against.”

This is utter drivel. Comparing arguments in a free democracy about levels of public spending with risking your life to actually have the same freedom of speech is just ludicrous. I didn’t notice vans of gunmen mowing down the last UK uncut demo.

It may have escaped your notice but many on the right reject the imposed state and lack of personal liberty exactly as those in the middle east do. It may also have been missed by you that Mubarak and his party were welcome members of the international labour movement until just AFTER the protests started. To claim the cry for freedom we are hearing for the left does a grave injustice to the many on the right who have supported democratic change in ALL countries even when it has been unpopular.

“To claim the cry for freedom we are hearing for the left does a grave injustice to the many on the right who have supported democratic change in ALL countries even when it has been unpopular.”

Even when Pinochet was running the government in Chile? C’mon.

@bob. Agree. Many on both the left and the right have supported dictators. But nut all on the left or the right have.

Got to drop the left right thing. It’s tired. Which idiot in a suit? If its not obvious by now they are all tired all totally devoid of any inspiration to bring anything but more of the same I am not sure why not. Your kids are tired of it. Most important thing is citizens linking up demanding change. This can, and I believe will cross borders. Sure you can point out where this isn’t happening, or isn’t succeeding easily. I’d rather think about and discuss how to participate. Progressive blogs need to become progressive ie move forward and leaving past behind. Fast Forward the future.

“But across the pond in America, in Wisconsin and Ohio, there have been struggles by hundreds of thousands of people against attacks on workers’ rights – attacks just as raw and savage as the attacks on civil rights by the dictatorships of the Middle East.”

Let’s see. So far hundreds of people have been killed in the Middle East, perhaps thousands. Meanwhile in America they closest they have come is death threats issued by Leftists against various figures on the Right. Death toll so far, nil.

There is something similar going on – in Egypt the voters’ will was thwarted. In Wisconsin similar entrenched elites siphoning off the public purse have also demanded that the voters’ will be ignored.

“But that would be pulling the wool over their own eyes – and over ours.”

Oh really? Do explain.

“Because the struggles everywhere are against exactly the same thing: the injustice that a rich elite rules a country while the poor are ground beneath their heel.”

The poor in America are not poor. The people of Egypt would love to be that poor. They also have the vote. The people of Syria do not.

“So the fightback against their savage cuts that will hopefully kick-start on March 26 is in the same spirit as those struggles in America, Egypt and Libya.”

Way to use other people’s struggle for your own ends.

“As humans, we have an instinctive idea of what justice is. It’s making people pay for something they did wrong, something that harmed others.”

Which those rich people in America did not. Those Unionised workers, on the other hand, did. They looted the public treasury for their own ends. Where is the justice there?

“Justice should dictate that those who caused the crisis should pay for it.”

By that logic the people who benefited from decades of normal loans which gave them homes and businesses ought to pay those banks for all the excess good they got out of those things.

“That’s injustice, and it’s the worst kind. It’s the same sort of injustice that the people of Tunisia and Egypt are fighting against.”

No it isn’t. And it is patently obvious it isn’t.

“And the only word to describe a common thread – a common injustice which people from all nations and cultures are fighting against – is Internationalism.”

The other word is Watermelon.

@16 sod off

bankers are only doing what they were allowed to do by Governments, who sat on a wall playing Humpty Dumpty with our banking industry you have Bush who escaped from a Asylum, you had Brown so stupid even with two eyes this Pratt could not see anything wrong with pensions, housing , or banking so long as he stayed in power.

Come back in twenty years time and tell me about Egypt, Libya Iraq and Afghanistan, lets see where they are then.

But SMFS makes a good point. IIUC, the protests so far have been about being unable to put food on one’s table and being unable to kick out the people ruining running one’s country – not ‘the banking crisis’. Whatever else, we don’t have such problems to such an extent in the UK or USA.

You are just missing the point cos you like arguing. The point is about people joining together demanding change. Its inevitable, but suit yourself.

Watch the news. The UK news is “One walking dead man in a suit had a minor disagreement about some crap with another walking dead man in a suit in a big building in Westminster”

Arab news is SOMETHING IS HAPPENING!!!!

get with the program innit