Campaign for Direct Democracy in Britain 2014
Iniref I&Rgb is also known as "The Campaign for Direct Democracy". Founded over ten years ago, we campaign for the introduction of direct democracy at all levels of government.
A First Thought
We want to emphasise: Many different single-issue campaigns, charitable and protest groups, trade unions and (all) citizens could use "tools" of direct democracy to further their "own" cause, so we describe our project as:
THE Campaign for Activists, Campaigners and Citizens
WE invite all those who strive creatively for social, political and ecological change, to
BECOME PART OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN BRITAIN
(and elsewhere too, if you wish)
Persuade your group or organisation to publicly endorse the Iniref proposals!
Brief Background
2014 is an opportune period for those who long to update and refresh our uncompleted democracy because:
# Direct democracy will be in the news: Calls for a referendum about Britain and the European Union will persist; Scots will provide much publicity and bagpiping about their September ballot for or against national independence;
# People hold politicians in contempt, have been sickened by official and commercial corruption and are fed up of being badly represented and poorly governed;
# This is a pre-general-election year (UK) so public and media will be attentive to good reform proposals.
The democratic "tools" which we propose would help us to improve the way we govern ourselves by enabling richer input of policy, more effective feed-back from electorate to politicians plus the ability of the people to veto bad or unwanted government proposals.
These democratic tools include:
# citizens' proposition of law or policy ("The Initiative": must be debated in Parliament);
# referendum about any matter of government if demanded by a large number of voters;
# the optional veto-referendum, to block unwanted government law or action.
Plans and Strategies
Stepping up the Campaign
Direct democracy could be introduced by one or more Acts of Parliament. So, a major Campaign-focus is a NEW DEMOCRACY (DIRECT) BILL which contains the democratic procedures outlined above. Politicians must be put under pressure, MPs who will work for our cause in Parliament must be elected. We are keen to contact like-minded people, to discuss plans and refine strategies ... need to recruit active supporters across the countries!
Education and Study
We plan to fund and establish a programme of education and study about direct democracy, to provide reports, journalism and documentation of citizen-led democracy and governance. If you want to know more or could help to promote this programme please get in touch.
Constitution of state and a claim of right to effective democracy
We have begun to prepare a case to be brought into the law courts. The philosophy of democracy indicates that in modern states there must be a citizens' right to take part effectively in own government. This has been denied in many states where ruling élites declare that only indirect ("representative") democracy can be legitimate. Contradiction of this view may be found in international treaties, ratified by many states including the UK, in which the right of citizens to take part in government, with the ability to decide on public issues as well as to elect politicians, is laid down. That is, WE THE PEOPLE ALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIRECT DEMOCRACY AS WELL AS TO INDIRECT "REPRESENTATIVE" DEMOCRACY! Please let us know if you would like to co-operate on this "case for good democracy", to debate our proposition, to share your expertise or to support the case financially.
Contact: info@iniref.org