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IR+R NEWS - news about democratic reform, citizens' initiative,
referendum, recall of elected officials. A service of 
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
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THREE ITEMS
1) BERLIN CITIZENS TRY DIRECT DEMOCRACY TO SAVE RIVERSIDE
2) REFERENDUMS: WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? HANSARD SOCIETY. MEETING REPORT
3) JUDGES BLOCK REFERENDUM ON EU
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1) BERLIN CITIZENS TRY DIRECT DEMOCRACY TO SAVE RIVERSIDE

Pappsatt of Grass-Routes writes:

A group of activists against privatisation and gentrification gathered the highest amount of signatures so far for a public ballot in (a district/borough of) Berlin for their call to have the Berlin river Spree for everyone. While the local government is selling out the whole river area in the district Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain in favor of a "Media Spree" filled with glass house offices and hypermarkets, the public has the chance to vote against the sell out of their living area.

All political parties, including the greens and the socialists, oppose the initiative's wishes for a publicly accessible riverbank and ignore the call for protection of the very lively scene culture around the riverside.

New forms of public voting allow Berlin citizens to bring up topics for a public ballot, and different initiatives to bring up a public issue saw the light. We have had a public ballot over brilliant issues, such as the rename of a street to give it the name of the '68 student leader Rudi Dutchske (result: pro Dutschke), a ballot over the closing of the famous Berlin airport Tempelhof (result: pro closing).

Day of vote: 13 July 2008

More: http://blog.grass-routes.org/2008/06/berlin-citizens-discover-direct.html
(with nice animation)
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2) REFERENDUMS: WHAT ARE THEY GOOD FOR? HANSARD SOCIETY. MEETING REPORT
Report on a meeting held at the House of Commons, June 2008

Contradicting the Hansard Society's sceptical stance, Clare Short M.P. made two important points, firstly favouring  “the idea of popular initiative, allowing citizens to trigger referendums and secondly “that referendums are an essential tool to be used to help reinvigorate an alienated public dissatisfied with current political arrangements that they often feel are damaging British democracy.”  More http://www.iniref.org/referendum.discuss.htm

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3) JUDGES BLOCK REFERENDUM ON EU

"... could it be that their lordships are secret reformers who wish to illustrate deficits in our democracy, such as an unrepresentative, supine parliament and a lack of the citizens' right to push through a referendum (even if the government refuses to have one)? More http://www.iniref.org/blog.html

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About I&R ~ GB
We advocate the introduction of direct democratic procedures such as
citizens' initiative, issue-ballot, referendum, and recall in the countries of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  With over ten years' experience
we put forward proposals,  provide campaign resources, offer to provide
speakers, organise workshops and conferences. 
Web site: http://www.iniref.org
Contact: info@iniref.org