===============================================================
IR+R NEWS - news about democratic reform, citizens' initiative,
referendum, recall of elected officials. A service of
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
===============================================================
THREE ITEMS
REFORM OF LOCAL DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN ENGLAND AND WALES
DIRECT DEMOCRACY NEWS FROM USA STATES
EVENTS IN GREECE 2009
----------------------------------------
REFORM OF LOCAL DIRECT DEMOCRACY IN ENGLAND AND WALES
Reform of Parish
Poll and other Direct Democracy Regulations
International comparison of participative, citizen-led democracy shows
the UK and its countries near the foot of the league table -- see our new on-line diagram. The
only level of governance in which the electorate may intervene in
general matters of public policy is "The Parish". Paradoxically
the
"regulations" (Local Government Act 1972) make it far TOO EASY to
initiate a "Parish Poll" so that the action may attract very little
attention and ballot turnout is often low. Also, the "decision" taken
by the electorate in ballot is NOT binding on the council, so that many
people see the whole procedure as a waste of time and effort.
Some suggestions about how to reform the regulation of
citizen-initiated referendum and parish poll may be found at the INIREF
web page
Reform of Parish
Poll and other Direct Democracy Regulations and your COMMENTS are
invited.
----------------------------------------
DIRECT DEMOCRACY NEWS FROM USA STATES
Thanks to: BallotPedia Review Volume 1, Issue 5: 9/1/2009
----------------------------------------
EVENTS IN GREECE 2009
N.G.O Forum for Citizens’
Democracy
Dear DD colleagues,
We are waiting your ideas and proposals for making the agenda
of our
2nd Direct Democratic Euro-Vision ( DD E-V) Conference in
Athens
(Saturday Oct. 3rd and Sunday Oct.4th), that will be combined
also
with parts of the Conference “ Democracy in
Motion”, organized by
our German DD colleagues of “Omnibus der Direkten
Demokratie” (
www.omnibus.org
) and Goethe Institut of Athens.
You are
also invited in our Local Direct Democracy Project
in Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, where we organize on
Monday , October
5th, 2009 at 19:00 our 2nd Local Citizens’
Assembly and
Observatory, deciding for the local Referenda that will
take place
here next December and implementing
the four bases of our
local Direct Democracy project :
A. unions of people living in concrete
Neighborhoods-Building
Squares, as local Planning cells of
our town,
B. Thematic Neighborhoods -local NGOs- of Citizens
with common
Interests, recognized officially and supported
by the Municipality,
C. Citizens’ Observatory with Citizens’ Juries monitoring
the
Mayor’s, local enterprises’s and
Submayors’s works and organizing
local Referenda,
D.Local Ombudsman, coordinating all the above
issues in favor of
Direct Democratic principles.
Please inform your friends and
interested Citizens for
implementing Direct Democracy on similar
principles all over
Europe in order to participate and inform us
as soon as possible
of your own interest. Contact George L. Kokkas geoko@otenet.gr
N.G.O Forum for Citizens’ Democracy Tel.: +30 21036483
----------------------------------------
IR+R NEWS
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/i-and-r.gb
sign up for reform