Ani Difranco-not a pretty girl

"Not A Pretty Girl"

I am not a pretty girl
that is not what I do
I ain't no damsel in distess
and I don't need to be rescued
so put me down punk
maybe you'd prefer a maiden fair
isn't there a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere

I am not an angry girl
but it seems like I've got everyone fooled
every time I say something they find hard to hear
they chalk it up to my anger
and never to their own fear
and imagine you're a girl
just trying to finally come clean
knowing full well they'd prefer you
were dirty and smiling

and I am sorry
I am not a maiden fair
and I am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere

and generally my generation
wouldn't be caught dead working for the man
and generally I agree with them
trouble is you gotta have youself an alternate plan
and I have earned my disillusionment
I have been working all of my life
and I am a patriot
I have been fighting the good fight
and what if there are no damsels in distress
what if I knew that and I called your bluff?
don't you think every kitten figures out how to get down
whether or not you ever show up

I am not a pretty girl
I don't want to be a pretty girl
no I want to be more than a pretty girl

:)

I love this list, too...

Quote of the day...

“A person who knows only one country basically knows no country well.”

Seymour Martin Lipset

 

A global democracy manifesto

DAVID HAYES , 27 June 2012 @ http://www.opendemocracy.net

"We want to be citizens of the world and not its mere inhabitants." A group of leading intellectuals has composed a document arguing that deeper and more extensive forms of democracy are essential to cope with the demands of globalisation and its associated transformations of governance. The document is being launched in a series of international events that begin at the London School of Economics (LSE) on 27 June 2012. It is published here, followed by a list of the fourteen author-signatories (eight of whom are also openDemocracy authors).

Manifesto for a Global Democracy

Politics lags behind the facts. We live in an era of deep technological and economic change that has not been matched by a similar development of public institutions responsible for its regulation. The economy has been globalised but political institutions and democracy have not kept pace. In spite of their many peculiarities, differences and limitations, the protests that are growing all over the world show an increasing discontent with the decision-making system, the existing forms of political representation and their lack of capacity for defending common goods. They express a demand for more and better democracy.

Global welfare and security are under threat. The national and international order that emerged from the end of World War II and the fall of the Berlin Wall has not been able to manage the great advances in technology and productive systems for the benefit of all humanity. On the contrary, we are witnessing the emergence of regressive and destructive processes resulting from the economic and financial crisis, increased social inequalities, climate change and nuclear proliferation. These phenomena have already affected negatively the lives of billions of human beings, and their continuity and mutual reinforcement menace the peace of the world and threaten the survival of human civilisation.

Global crises require global solutions. Within a social universe determined by globalisation, the democratic capabilities of nation-states and international institutions are increasingly restricted by the development of powerful global processes, organisations and systems whose nature is not democratic. In recent years, the main national and international leaders of the world have been running behind global events. Their repeated failures show that occasional summits, intergovernmental treaties, international cooperation, the multilateral system and all the existing forms of global governance are insufficient. The globalisation of finance, production chains and communication systems, and the planetary power reached by destructive technologies, require the globalisation of the political institutions responsible for their regulation and control, and the global crises require coherent and effective global solutions. That’s why we call for the urgent creation of new global agencies specialised in sustainable, fair and stable development, disarmament and environmental protection, and the rapid implementation of forms of democratic global governance on all the issues that current intergovernmental summits are evidently incapable of solving.

We need to move forward to new, more extensive and deeper forms of democracy. The current model of technological-economic globalisation must give way to a new one which puts these processes at the service of a fairer, more peaceful and more humane world. We need a new paradigm of development which has to be sustainable on a global basis and which benefits the poorest of humanity. In order to avoid the deepening of global crises and to find viable solutions to the challenges posed by globalisation we must move forward to more extensive and deeper forms of democracy. The existing national-state organisations have to be part of a wider and much better coordinated structure, which involves democratic regional institutions on all the continents, the reform of the International Court of Justice, a fairer and more balanced International Criminal Court and a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly as the embryo of a future World Parliament. Yet, this institutional change will not be successful if it only accrues from the actions of a self-appointed elite. On the contrary, it must come from a socio-political process open to all human beings, with the goal of a creating a participative global democracy.

Globalising democracy is the only way to democratise globalisation. Beyond our differences about the contents and appropriate methods to move towards a fairer and more stable world order, we the signatories share a strong commitment to the development of a global democracy. On behalf of Peace, Justice and Human Rights we do not want to be governed at the world level by those who have only been elected to do so at the national one, neither do we wish to be governed by international organisations which do not represent us adequately. That is why we work for the development of supranational political spaces and for regional, international and global institutions that live up to the challenges of the 21st century; institutions that express the different viewpoints and defend the common interests of the 7 billion people who shape humankind today.

We ask every human being to participate in the constitution of a global democracy. We share the appeal to "unite for global change" and for "real democracy" with the world social movements. Both postulates express the growing rejection of being governed by political and economic powers on which we have no influence. Autonomy and self-determination are not only valid at the local and national level. That’s why we champion the principle of the right to participate in the making of fundamental global decisions that directly affect our lives. We want to be citizens of the world and not its mere inhabitants. Therefore we demand not just a local and national democracy, but also a global democracy, and we commit to work for its development and call on all the political, intellectual and civil-society leaders of the world, all the democratic organisations, parties and movements, and all persons of democratic persuasion on the planet to actively participate in its constitution.

[signed]

Daniele Archibugi, Noam Chomsky, Richard Falk, David Held, Fernando Iglesias, Lucio Levi, Giacomo Marramao, George Monbiot, Heikki Patomäki, Mary Kaldor, Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett, Vandana Shiva, Andy Strauss

schroedinger'in gozyaslari... (turkish videos discover quantum romance.. :)

bu ne yaaa? super yaa....

Petition to put Bankers behind bars

Big banks have been rigging the interest rates on our mortgages and student loans! They've finally gone too far. The EU finance regulator is bringing new laws to put bankers behind bars for these crimes but needs popular support to face down the banking lobby and bring global change -- let's get 1 million people to stand with him in the next 3 days.

Big banks have been caught in a massive scam to rig global interest rates, ripping off millions of people on their mortgages, student loans and more! We'd go to jail for this, but Barclays bank has only been fined, and just a fraction of their profits! Outrage is mounting -- this is our chance to finally turn the tide of the banks' reign over our democracies. 

The EU finance regulator, Michel Barnier is standing up to the powerful bank lobby and championing reform that would put bankers behind bars for fraud like this. If the EU goes first, accountability could quickly spread across the globe. But the banks are lobbying hard against it, and we need a massive surge of people power to drive these reforms through. 

If we can get 1 million people to stand with Barnier in the next 3 days, it will give him momentum to face down the banking lobby and push governments to bring reform. Click below to sign, and our growing numbers will be represented by adding mock bankers to a jail right in front of the EU Parliament: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bankers_behind_bars_f/?bYLWecb&v=15952

The full scale of the scandal is still unknown, but what we know is breathtaking: "Several" unnamed major banks were involved, and the rigging of the LIBOR interest rate, the rate on which many of the world's interest rates are based, affected the value of literally hundreds of trillions of dollars in investments. Barclays alone has admitted to committing this fraud "hundreds" of times. 

For too long, our governments have been cowed by powerful banks who threatened to move elsewhere if challenged. For too long, banks have manipulated our market economies, tilting the playing field in their favour, and engaging in reckless risk-taking, secure in the knowledge that they could force governments to hand them our taxpayer money when they got into trouble. 

The system is rigged, and that's a crime. It's time to put the criminals behind bars for it. It starts in Europe -- let's make it happen: 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/bankers_behind_bars_f/?bYLWecb&v=15952

There may never have been a time in modern history when the big banks didn't have excessive and extraordinary power that they regularly abused. But democracy is on the march -- we've seen this march overcome tyrants across the world, and together, we'll help end the reign of the banks as well.

Hasankeyf ve Amazon için Küresel Kampanya Başlıyor

Rio+20 Dünya Zirvesi’nin hayal kırıklığıyla sonuçlanması sivil toplum kuruluşları ve barajlardan etkilenen toplulukları bir araya getirerek küresel bir kampanyanın doğmasına neden oldu.
Doğa ve insan yaşamında geri dönülmez yıkımlara neden olan büyük barajlara karşı birlikte mücadele etme kararı alan baraj karşıtları ve sivil toplum örgütleri bundan sonra "Damocracy" adlı kampanya altında Hasankeyf ve Amazon ormanları için birlikte mücadele edecek. Küresel ölçekte yürütülecek kampanyada Doğa Derneği, Amazon Watch, Rivers International ve çok sayıda Brezilyalı topluluk ile gönüllüler ve dünyanın çeşitli ülkelerinden aktivistler yer alıyor.

Büyük barajların durdurulması için dünya kamuoyunu harekete geçirmeyi hedefleyen "Damocracy" kampanyası, aynı zamanda barajların doğaya, kültüre ve insanlara etkisine dikkat çekmeyi amaçlıyor. Dünyanın akciğerleri Amazon’un önemli bir bölümünü tehdit eden Belo Monte ve medeniyetin beşiği Dicle Vadisi'yle birlikte Hasankeyf’i yok edecek Ilısu Barajı küresel kampanyanın odağını oluşturuyor.

Bir avuç kazanç uğruna şirket ve devletlerin, Rio+20 zirvesinde barajları dünyanın önüne “yenilenebilir enerji’’ adı altında “yeşil ekonomi”nin bir parçası olarak sunma niyetinde olduklarını belirten Doğa Derneği Başkanı Güven Eken, “Doğanın ve insan yaşamının geleceğini tehlikeye atan devlet ve şirketlerin yıkıcı baraj politikalarına karşı dünya halklarıyla birlikte mücadele etme kararı aldık. Bu mücadelenin adı "Damocracy" olacak. Dünyanın akciğerleri Amazon Ormanları ve medeniyetin beşiği Dicle Vadisi için pek çok sivil girişim ortak mücadele edecek” dedi.

http://damocracy.org/