#parliamentary board

[rightnewshindi]

वक्फ बोर्ड बिल को लेकर हो रही संसदीय संयुक्त समिति की बैठक में हुआ जोरदार हंगामा, विपक्षी दलों ने छोड़ी बैठक

#News वक्फ बोर्ड बिल को लेकर हो रही संसदीय संयुक्त समिति की बैठक में हुआ जोरदार हंगामा, विपक्षी दलों ने छोड़ी बैठक

Waqf Board Bill Meeting: वक्फ बोर्ड बिल को लेकर संसदीय संयुक्त समिति की गुरुवार को हुई बैठक हंगामे के कारण खत्म हो गई. इस बिल को लेकर मुंबई के बड़े होटल में बैठक चल रही थी. बताया जा रहा है कि इस बैठक के दौरान विपक्षी दलों के सदस्य अपना विरोध जताने के बाद मीटिंग से उठकर बाहर चले गए. इस बैठक के दौरान शिवसेना के सांसद और सदस्य नरेश म्हस्के और टीएमसी के कल्याण बनर्जी के बीच जोरदार बहस हुई. बहस की…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Anticipate Lengthy Debate Over Manpower Situation," Windsor Star. June 21, 1943. Page 9. ---- Mitchell To Give Report This Week --- War Appropriations Bill Will Also Continue at Ottawa ---- OTTAWA, June 21 - Following a week in which the Canadian Government welcomed to the capital Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of a China's generalissimo, Ottawa this week will be host to the Empire Parliamentary Association delegation, headed by Rt. Hon. Viscount Stansgate.

The delegation was in Toronto last week, and after its arrival here will hold a press conference Tuesday. In addition to leading members of the British House of Lords and House of Commons, there are delegates from Australia, New Zealand and Bermuda.

CONTINUE DEBATE Meanwhile, the House of Commons this week will continue discussions of the war appropriations bill. The expenditures of the munitions department are under review, and after Munitions Minister Howe has satisfied the opposition questioners, Labor Minister Mitchell will lead off with a review of his department's activities. This is expected to start the eagerly-awaited debate on the way the government has handled the manpower situation.

Hints from members of opposition groups indicate this will be one of the biggest debates of the session, and after it is over members will be in a better position to forecast when the session will end. The outlook now is for adjournment around August 1. The House committees are making fairly good progress. There is unusual harmony in the radio committee, and it may wind up its hearings this week and begin preparing its report the week following.

MAKING PROGRESS The agriculture committee is also making good progress, and will have completed its inquiries well before the House adjourns. It has already completed its examination of the officials of the Canadian Wheat Board, and this week will continue hearing heads of the various war boards dealing with agricultural products, including the meat board and the dairy board.

It is taken for granted the committees on social security and reconstruction will be unable to complete their studies this session, and, while they have been sitting consistently every week, will have much ground to cover next year. Accordingly they will not delay an adjournment. Other committees are not expected to hold up matters.

The Senate has adjourned until June 29, and it is expected by that time that an address to the British House to amend the British North American Act will have passed the Commons and be before the Upper House. The amendment will make it possible to forego redistribution of the electoral districts in Canada until after the war.

The B. N. A. Act, as it now stands, makes it obligatory to redistribute the constituencies after each decennial census of Canada's population and one was held in 1941. Present indications are that message asking the British Parliament to make this amendment will not be seriously opposed in either the Canadian Commons or Senate.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Artificial intelligence is worse than humans in every way at summarising documents and might actually create additional work for people, a government trial of the technology has found. Amazon conducted the test earlier this year for Australia’s corporate regulator the Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) using submissions made to an inquiry. The outcome of the trial was revealed in an answer to a questions on notice at the Senate select committee on adopting artificial intelligence. The test involved testing generative AI models before selecting one to ingest five submissions from a parliamentary inquiry into audit and consultancy firms. The most promising model, Meta’s open source model Llama2-70B, was prompted to summarise the submissions with a focus on ASIC mentions, recommendations, references to more regulation, and to include the page references and context. Ten ASIC staff, of varying levels of seniority, were also given the same task with similar prompts. Then, a group of reviewers blindly assessed the summaries produced by both humans and AI for coherency, length, ASIC references, regulation references and for identifying recommendations. They were unaware that this exercise involved AI at all. These reviewers overwhelmingly found that the human summaries beat out their AI competitors on every criteria and on every submission, scoring an 81% on an internal rubric compared with the machine’s 47%.  Human summaries ran up the score by significantly outperforming on identifying references to ASIC documents in the long document, a type of task that the report notes is a “notoriously hard task” for this type of AI. But humans still beat the technology across the board. Reviewers told the report’s authors that AI summaries often missed emphasis, nuance and context; included incorrect information or missed relevant information; and sometimes focused on auxiliary points or introduced irrelevant information. Three of the five reviewers said they guessed that they were reviewing AI content. The reviewers’ overall feedback was that they felt AI summaries may be counterproductive and create further work because of the need to fact-check and refer to original submissions which communicated the message better and more concisely. 

3 September 2024

[thenationaltv243]

Delhi Police Seize 9 Posters Addressed to the Prime Minister, Who are being sent out of the Vaccine

[fatehbaz]

British ships carrying plants and seeds from around the world arrived in Botany Bay on January 20 1788. This story is overshadowed by convict ships and Royal Navy vessels, but the cargo on board also had a lasting impact. Colonists, convicts and Indigenous Australians were all affected [...]. Some of these plants [...] were food sources [...]. Others were attempts to expand the British Empire. Could the new territory be exploited as a tropical plantation? In the parliamentary debate over destinations for convict transportation [considering potential locations for sending prisoners], Sir Joseph Banks and James Matra, both members of James Cook’s 1770 expedition [to the South Pacific], spruiked the potential of the new colony as an extension of the empire. Matra claimed the colony was “fitted for production” of “sugar-cane, tea, coffee, silk, cotton, indigo and tobacco”. Banks claimed Botany Bay was an “advantageous” site, with fertile soil [...].

Two plants carried by the First Fleet stand out as examples of botanical imperialism: prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) and sugarcane.

Banks, as head of the Royal Society of London [and as a close adviser to King George, and also as a plant-collecting botanist who turned the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London into the world's leading botanical garden], selected these species as experiments to compete with European trade rivals. His goal was to break a Spanish monopoly in producing fabric dye and to expand British cultivation of sugar outside the West Indies.

Prickly pear cactus was imported because it is the preferred food of the cochineal insect.

Dried cochineal were crushed to make a vibrant, colourfast scarlet dye for textiles. Discovered in the New World by Spanish colonists, cochineal replaced kermes, another insect that had provided red dye since antiquity. Cochineal dye was ten times stronger than kermes or vegetable dyes.

From cardinals’ capes to British officers’ red coats, cochineal was a product for elite consumers signifying power, wealth and prestige.

New Spain, based in Mexico, had a monopoly on cochineal. Banks wanted to break the stranglehold on the scarlet dye by establishing production in New South Wales.

Plants infested with the precious insects were imported from Brazil in 1788. The project soon failed when the cochineal died, but the cacti survived. Colonists used cacti as natural fences and drought-resistant animal fodder.

Without insects to feed on them the plants spread, uncontrolled, to cover more than 60 million acres of eastern Australia by the 1920s. Poison, crushing and fire failed to stop the cactus. [...] Opuntia cacti remain an environmental hazard. [...] The roots of these early imperial projects are deeply embedded in Australian culture and history, with an enduring legacy.

---

All text above by: Garritt C. Van Dyk. "The botanical imperialism of weeds and crops: how alien plant species on the First Fleet changed Australia". The Conversation. 25 January 2024. [Some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me. Italicized text within brackets added by me for clarity and context.

[agentrouka-blog]

I'm curious, do you think Jon or Bran will be king at the end? I find Jonsas tend to be more receptive to the idea of King Bran, even if they don't think its endgame since Jon and Sansa can still be together in Winterfell, unlike the Jonerys side of the fandom who accept Queen Dany as the only possible satisfying endgame. I'm kinda torn between the two, I think grrm could make either work, though Bran would be the more subversive option than the secret prince of an overthrown ancient dynasty. But on the other hand I feel like there won't even be an Iron Throne/7 united kingdoms by the end, so for a King in the North, my #1 pick would always be Jon (alongside his Stark Queen of course).

Oh, I am 100% on board with king Bran! <3

My specific scenario is that he will be an unlikely selection voted in by a Great Council for the new political system in the South of Westeros, which is a parliamentary monarchy of a voluntary union of the Southern regions. There's a permanent Great Council, presided over by a much less powerful figurehead king (hereditary or not) at Harrenhal, which is centrally located in the South and big enough to house that kind of institution, plus symbolically close to the Isle of Faces.

(The Iron Throne and KL being roasted and destroyed, there's need for a whole reassassment of the political future of the continent.)

Bran would be chosen based on his maternal ancestry line (Tully-Whent) connecting him to Harrenhal, through an effective but stealthy election campaign by his aquaintence Samwell Tarly, and probably influenced by Tyrion Lannister in some way. His disability and extreme youth would be considered a plus in this scenario, ensuring the inability to increase royal power beyond the bare minimum through charismatic war mongering for the foreseeable decades. Bran would shine through his intelligence and his ability successfully negotiate political decisions as this proto-democratic institution finds its feet.

I don't think GRRM would ever contemplate putting a Targaryen descendent into a position of ultimate power over Westeros in the end. It would validate the entire dynasty in a way that entirely undercuts the point made by the descent into villainy for literlly everyone actively pursuing that same throne. It would also define Jon's place in the world through the Targaryen line instead of the Stark line, which is.... improbable, given his lack of personal ties to the South and his deep thematic and emotional connection to the culture, landscape, people and politics of the North. The perfect match to Queen in the North Sansa.

[mariacallous]

Czech Radio (Cesky rozhlas) has suspended its ties with its Slovak counterpart STVR for an indefinite period of time over mounting fears of political meddling and interference in the Slovak public service broadcaster’s operations, the Sme daily reported on Monday.

A Czech Radio spokesman described the “forced demise” earlier this year of predecessor RTVS, and the creation, effective since July, of STVR in its stead as the “first step towards the nationalisation of the [Slovak] public broadcaster”, whose independence and impartiality now hang by a thread, the Slovak daily reported.

In July, Czech Radio head Rene Zavoral said he would have to wait to see “if the new [STVR] organisation will defend the principles of an independent, impartial and objective public service media” before deciding on whether or not to continue his organisation’s cooperation with its Slovak counterpart.

Czech Television (Ceska televize) is also closely monitoring developments in Slovakia’s media sphere, according to the investigative outlet Hlidacipes.org.

According to Sme, the Slovak public broadcaster is already facing increased political pressure and interference, with, among other instances of undue meddling, STVR management blocking a live interview with Matej Drlicka, the former head of the Slovak National Theatre recently dismissed by Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, and instead airing a recording of it.

The move by Czech Radio will take off the Slovak airwaves its reporters who, until now, had helped cover foreign news in countries where RTVS did not have any or enough correspondents, including in geopolitical hotspots like Ukraine or the Middle East. All exchanges of news content will also end.

“Slovak Radio covers its foreign news from several sources, so it will continue to fully inform about events from the mentioned areas,” STVR responded, claiming the move doesn’t change anything in its long-term cooperation with its Czech counterparts.

The turmoil in Slovakia’s media sector is part of wider assault by the government of Robert Fico on the country’s institutions and judicial system since it won back power in last year’s parliamentary election. The three-party coalition, which includes the extreme-right Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS), appears determined to undermine the rule of law in the country, which is expected to bring it into conflict with the EU, in much the same way as the Hungarian government of Viktor Orban has found itself.

The Slovak government’s Act on Public Broadcasting, a controversial reform passed in June which gave the government greater oversight and control over the public broadcaster’s board, had already sparked large protests by the opposition, civil society and cultural sector. These have stepped up since the new culture minister, a divisive, hard-right, Russia-friendly former presenter put forward by the SNS, began driving the Fico government’s cultural and media power-grab.

Thousands of people protested on Monday in Bratislava against Simkovicova’s decision to fire, on dubious managerial grounds, Alexandra Kusa, the director of the Slovak National Gallery, as well as Drlicka of the Slovak National Theatre – both respected cultural figures in the country and abroad.

Another demonstration is planned on Tuesday evening against what is widely perceived as Fico’s increasingly authoritarian crackdown on free speech and his Orban-style attempts to put cultural institutions and public media organisations under political control.

Prominent Czech artists also penned an open letter criticising the ongoing “purge” in Slovakia’s cultural sector, vowing to come together to create a network offering jobs and positions in the Czech Republic for Slovak colleagues affected by the changes or forced out.

[kulturegroupie]

Led Zeppelin attend the Gold & Platinum Record Awards at the Savoy Hotel

December 11, 1969

“You seem to be gas rockets rather than Led Zeppelins”, said Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, who presented Led Zeppelin with Gold Record awards for sales of $5 million in the United States. Jimmy Page arrives late for the actual ceremony, due to a car accident on the M4.

John Bonham is interviewed in Melody Maker: “We try to record a lot when we’re not doing gigs so we don't get stale. The awards are really great. Twelve months ago, I didn’t expect we would get one. It’s been complete chaos for us recently as Robert, John and I have all been busy buying houses and getting ready for Christmas. It will be the first Christmas at home for me with my son Jason (age three). Last year I was away and before that he was too young to know. He's music mad and I’ve bought him a great set of miniature drums. It’s an absolutely perfect replica down to the bass drum pedal and hi-hat. Even I can play them. They are Japanese made and I saw them in a shop in Toronto. They weren’t really for sale and were just on display. But I offered them a hundred dollars and bought them.”

More photos: x

[zvaigzdelasas]

Mariusz Kaminski and Maciej Wasik were sentenced to two years' jail last month for abuse of power when they led an anti-corruption office in 2007.[...]

The men, who were elected PiS MPs in October, refused to recognise last month's court decision because President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, pardoned them for the crime in 2015. Mr Duda has also said he does not recognise the court's ruling because he insists his pardon remains valid.

The pair have been stripped of their parliamentary mandates, but both they and President Duda insist they remain legally elected MPs because of the pardon.

On Monday evening, the court issued a warrant to police to detain the men. Despite this, Mr Duda invited both to Warsaw's Presidential Palace on Tuesday morning to attend a ceremony to swear in two of their former colleagues as presidential advisers.

Several hours later, they emerged from the palace to speak briefly to reporters, all the while remaining inside its grounds. Mr Kaminski said they will be "political prisoners" if they are arrested and thanked Mr Duda for his support.

"We are dealing with a very serious state crisis. A grim dictatorship is being created," Mr Kaminski said. They then returned inside the palace as the political theatre unfolded.

Moments later, Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference the situation was "unbelievable". He said the court's ruling must be respected and suggested President Duda was helping the men evade justice.[...]

Following the arrests, several hundred PiS supporters demonstrated outside the palace in support of the men.[...]

Mr Tusk's coalition took office last month pledging to undo PiS's changes to the judiciary, public media, and civil service that the European Commission and many other international bodies say have undermined the rule of law in Poland. One of its first acts was to reform the state TV, radio and news agency that PiS had transformed into a propaganda mouthpiece for its government.

But its methods were similar to PiS's, first using a government minister to sack media boards and install new people ahead of planned legislative reform.[...]

Former PiS prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the BBC Mr Tusk's government talked loudly about democratic standards but fell well short in practice.

"We are witnessing an unprecedented attack on the rule of law. Tusk's government decided it could take over public television and media by force. This has nothing to do with democratic standards. We have not seen such brutal government action since communism. It is all the more outrageous that this is done by people who have such slogans of democracy on their lips," Mr Morawiecki said.

Given PiS's record of controlling state institutions while in office, many Tusk supporters argue such accusations are the height of hypocrisy.

Welcome to Modern Polish Politics, where Liberals accuse other Liberals of being Communists [9 Jan 24]

[ukrfeminism]

3 minute read

Imagine it. You’re at the end of your tether. Perhaps it’s an undiagnosed or untreated mental health problem, or maybe a financial or family disaster has pushed you to the edge. You do the unthinkable and try to end your life. The police are called, you survive. But because we do not have enough mental health beds in this country, you are sent to prison as a “place of safety” or “for your own protection”. 

This is completely legal and happened to six women in three months from May to July 2022. While most of us enjoyed the warmest summer in over 10 years, they were sent to HMP Styal during one of the lowest periods in their lives. This was in addition to seven other women who were sent there solely on mental health grounds.

HMP Bronzefield, another women’s prison, was sent 75 women by the courts between 2021 and 2022, because there were not enough mental health beds in the community. That was more than double the number of women that they received the year before.

The cases above were highlighted by the Independent Monitoring Board’s (IMB) latest report on mental health concerns in women’s prisons, which came out earlier this month. But this awful phenomenon is not a new one. About a year ago, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons reported concerns to the all party-parliamentary group (APPG) on women in the penal system.

At the time, politicians called for a change to laws that give courts the power to remand people in prison “for their own protection” under the 1976 Bail Act (meaning you can be sent to prison if you are considered a danger to yourself, which could include a suicide attempt). 

And now, the the reformed Mental Health Act is set to end the use of prison as a “place of safety” too, which sometimes happens under the 1983 Mental Health Act (this law permits the authorities to put people with severe mental health needs in prison until there is space for them to be admitted to hospital). 

That law change cannot come soon enough. There’s no doubt it will make all the difference for women who are not legally “guilty” of any crimes but find themselves in prison because they are mentally unwell. 

From oversubscribed healthcare and specialist units at HMP Eastwood Park and HMP Bronzefield, to mentally unwell women who are segregated because the necessary support is not available, and prison staff who are struggling because they are not trained mental health professionals, the IMB report makes it clear that prisons are no place for vulnerable women who need mental health support. 

However, the real question is where women with mental health needs will go if they don’t end up in our prisons. Mental health services outside prisons are also oversubscribed. Last year, an 18-year-old woman going through a mental health crisis had to wait eight-and-a-half days in A&E before she got a bed in a psychiatric hospital. Right now, 23 per cent of adults with a mental illness must wait more than three months to start treatment.

To truly break the link between mental health needs and women in prison, we must expand our mental health services on a grand scale. 

More than 80 per cent of women in prison told a Justice Inspectorate Survey they had some form of mental health problem (compared with 59 per cent of men). That means people in prison without mental health problems are the minority.

Pavan Dhaliwal, the chief executive of Revolving Doors, a charity that aims to reduce reoffending said: “All evidence points to a clear solution: the end to short prison sentences and instead well-funded, trauma-informed, and personalised support in the community that addresses the root causes of crime.

“Yet, over four years after the Female Offender Strategy’s promise of fewer women entering the criminal justice system and better management of their needs in the community, the Government continues to fall short.” 

Women in the prison estate are some of the most vulnerable and overlooked women in our society. I have heard first hand from a woman who had such a difficult and unstable life that prison was the first place she had any semblance of security. 

I once interviewed a woman in prison with schizophrenia. When I asked her for examples of kindness she’d received from prison staff, worryingly, her best example was when a nurse had let her miss taking her medicine five times so she could get to her prison job on time.

A woman who served time in prison for murder wrote for iabout witnessing self-harm on a massive scale, and group therapy sessions that left her suicidal. She tried to take her own life during her sentence in 2016.

When asked about her experience of prison and mental health, Natalie* said: “When I was sent to prison, I spent 24 hours in a cell and found myself experiencing an anxiety attack. I rang the alarm bell six times, asking to speak to a healthcare professional, but no one came. It wasn’t until the next morning that a prison officer came to find me in my room. I was on the floor and I hadn’t gotten any sleep because of how distressed I was. Things didn’t get any better during the rest of my sentence. In fact, my mental health just spiralled, and I was in an even worse place than when I came in. 

“When you’re having mental health issues before being charged, prison does nothing to help – it just turns your life upside down.” 

This is the truth. Whether they are innocent or guilty, women in prison with mental health needs desperately need so much better than what is currently on offer. The question is whether our Government will do anything about it. 

Natalie* is an alias 

[clove-pinks]

I am a little bit obsessed with the 1600s men's pants that look like board shorts. Handbook of English Costume in the 17th Century by C. Willett Cunnington and Phillis Cunnington simply calls them "open breeches unconfined at the knee" and adds that "these somewhat resembled modern 'shorts' and were a Dutch fashion from 1585 and an English from 1600 to 1610 and again from 1640 to 1670's."

ſurf's upp!

Of course cavaliers sometimes wore them; they're cool and sexy. The mid-1600s cavalier drawing by Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem has this type of breeches.

But I'm also finding them shown on the Parliamentary soldiers in the English Civil War?

Obviously these illustrations are from modern uniform reference books and might be questionable; but literally Cromwell himself is shown in breeches unconfined at the knee in a 1652 satire print (Rijksmuseum)!

I don't think this particular style of breeches has a necessarily foppish appearance (unless you put ribbons all over them), they can also be plain.

Here's a Puritan of 1649 in the Cunningtons' book, with the source given as "Reproduced in Planché 'Cyclopaedia of Costume.' (1876-9) vol. I, p. 109." He has the board shorts AND bucket-top boots? Anyway I am dying for more period illustrations and portraits showing this style.

[damnesdelamer]

I was reading about the Egyptian Communist Party in the 1920s as research for an adaptation of Lord Of The Rings on which I've been working, as one does, and I encountered the below, which I am shocked I've never read through before. But I think these are good guiding principles for us all, even if we're not attending any Communist Internationals in the 21st Century.

Twenty-One Conditions of the Communist International:

1

All propaganda and agitation must bear a really communist character and correspond to the programme and decisions of the Communist International. All the party's press organs must be run by reliable communists who have proved their devotion to the cause of the proletariat. The dictatorship of the proletariat must not be treated simply as a current formula learnt off by heart. Propaganda for it must be carried out in such a way that its necessity is comprehensible to every simple worker, every woman worker, every soldier and peasant from the facts of their daily lives, which must be observed systematically by our press and used day by day.

The periodical and other press and all the party’s publishing institutions must be subordinated to the party leadership, regardless of whether, at any given moment, the party as a whole is legal or illegal. The publishing houses must not be allowed to abuse their independence and pursue policies that do not entirely correspond to the policies of the party.

In the columns of the press, at public meetings, in the trades unions, in the co-operatives – wherever the members of the Communist International can gain admittance – it is necessary to brand not only the bourgeoisie but also its helpers, the reformists of every shade, systematically and pitilessly.

2

Every organisation that wishes to affiliate to the Communist International must regularly and methodically remove reformists and centrists from every responsible post in the labour movement (party organisations, editorial boards, trades unions, parliamentary factions, co-operatives, local government) and replace them with tested communists, without worrying unduly about the fact that, particularly at first, ordinary workers from the masses will be replacing 'experienced' opportunists.

3

In almost every country in Europe and America the class struggle is entering the phase of civil war. Under such conditions the communists can place no trust in bourgeois legality. They have the obligation of setting up a parallel organisational apparatus which, at the decisive moment, can assist the party to do its duty to the revolution. In every country where a state of siege or emergency laws deprive the communists of the opportunity of carrying on all their work legally, it is absolutely necessary to combine legal and illegal activity.

4

The duty of propagating communist ideas includes the special obligation of forceful and systematic propaganda in the army. Where this agitation is interrupted by emergency laws it must be continued illegally. Refusal to carry out such work would be tantamount to a betrayal of revolutionary duty and would be incompatible with membership of the Communist International.

5

Systematic and methodical agitation is necessary in the countryside. The working class will not be able to win if it does not have the backing of the rural proletariat and at least a part of the poorest peasants, and if it does not secure the neutrality of at least a part of the rest of the rural population through its policies. Communist work in the countryside is taking on enormous importance at the moment. It must be carried out principally with the help of revolutionary communist workers of the town and country who have connections with the countryside. To refuse to carry this work out, or to entrust it to unreliable, semi-reformist hands, is tantamount to renouncing the proletarian revolution.

6

Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International has the obligation to unmask not only open social-patriotism but also the insincerity and hypocrisy of social-pacificism, to show the workers systematically that, without the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, no international court of arbitration, no agreement on the limitation of armaments, no 'democratic' reorganisation of the League of Nations will be able to prevent new imperialist wars.

7

The parties that wish to belong to the Communist International have the obligation of recognising the necessity of a complete break with reformism and 'centrist' politics and of spreading this break among the widest possible circles of their party members. Consistent communist politics are impossible without this.

The Communist International unconditionally and categorically demands the carrying out of this break in the shortest possible time. The Communist International cannot tolerate a situation where notorious opportunists, as represented by Turati, Modigliani, Kautsky, Hilferding, Hillquit, Longuet, MacDonald, etc., have the right to pass as members of the Communist International. This could only lead to the Communist International becoming something very similar to the wreck of the Second International.

8

A particularly marked and clear attitude on the question of the colonies and oppressed nations is necessary on the part of the communist parties of those countries whose bourgeoisies are in possession of colonies and oppress other nations. Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International has the obligation of exposing the dodges of its 'own' imperialists in the colonies, of supporting every liberation movement in the colonies not only in words but in deeds, of demanding that their imperialist compatriots should be thrown out of the colonies, of cultivating in the hearts of the workers in their own country a truly fraternal relationship to the working population in the colonies and to the oppressed nations, and of carrying out systematic propaganda among their own country’s troops against any oppression of colonial peoples.

9

Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International must systematically and persistently develop communist activities within the trades unions, workers’ and works councils, the consumer co-operatives and other mass workers’ organisations. Within these organisations it is necessary to organise communist cells which are to win the trades unions etc. for the cause of communism by incessant and persistent work. In their daily work the cells have the obligation to expose everywhere the treachery of the social patriots and the vacillations of the 'centrists'. The communist cells must be completely subordinated to the party as a whole.

10

Every party belonging to the Communist International has the obligation to wage a stubborn struggle against the Amsterdam 'International' of yellow trade union organisations. It must expound as forcefully as possible among trades unionists the idea of the necessity of the break with the yellow Amsterdam International. It must support the International Association of Red Trades Unions affiliated to the Communist International, at present in the process of formation, with every means at its disposal.

11

Parties that wish to belong to the Communist International have the obligation to subject the personal composition of their parliamentary factions to review, to remove all unreliable elements from them and to subordinate these factions to the party leadership, not only in words but also in deeds, by calling on every individual communist member of parliament to subordinate the whole of his activity to the interests of really revolutionary propaganda and agitation.

12

The parties belonging to the Communist International must be built on the basis of the principle of democratic centralism. In the present epoch of acute civil war the communist party will only be able to fulfil its duty if it is organised in as centralist a manner as possible, if iron discipline reigns within it and if the party centre, sustained by the confidence of the party membership, is endowed with the fullest rights and authority and the most far-reaching powers.

13

The communist parties of those countries in which the communists can carry out their work legally must from time to time undertake purges (re-registration) of the membership of their party organisations in order to cleanse the party systematically of the petty-bourgeois elements within it.

14

Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International has the obligation to give unconditional support to every soviet republic in its struggle against the forces of counter-revolution. The communist parties must carry out clear propaganda to prevent the transport of war material to the enemies of the soviet republics. They must also carry out legal or illegal propaganda, etc., with every means at their disposal among troops sent to stifle workers’ republics.

15

Parties that have still retained their old social democratic programmes have the obligation of changing those programmes as quickly as possible and working out a new communist programme corresponding to the particular conditions in the country and in accordance with the decisions of the Communist International.

As a rule the programme of every party belonging to the Communist International must be ratified by a regular Congress of the Communist International or by the Executive Committee. Should the Executive Committee of the Communist International reject a party’s programme, the party in question has the right of appeal to the Congress of the Communist International.

16

All decisions of the Congresses of the Communist International and decisions of its Executive Committee are binding on all parties belonging to the Communist International. The Communist International, acting under conditions of the most acute civil war, must be built in a far more centralist manner than was the case with the Second International. In the process the Communist International and its Executive Committee must, of course, in the whole of its activity, take into account the differing conditions under which the individual parties have to fight and work, and only take generally binding decisions in cases where such decisions are possible.

17

In this connection all those parties that wish to belong to the Communist International must change their names. Every party that wishes to belong to the Communist International must bear the name Communist Party of this or that country (Section of the Communist International). The question of the name is not formal, but a highly political question of great importance. The Communist International has declared war on the whole bourgeois world and on all yellow social-democratic parties. The difference between the communist parties and the old official 'social-democratic' or 'socialist' parties that have betrayed the banner of the working class must be clear to every simple toiler.

18

All the leading press organs of the parties in every country have the duty of printing all the important official documents of the Executive Committee of the Communist International.

19

All parties that belong to the Communist International or have submitted an application for membership have the duty of calling a special congress as soon as possible, and in no case later than four months after the Second Congress of the Communist International, in order to check all these conditions. In this connection all party centres must see that the decisions of the Second Congress are known to all their local organisations.

20

Those parties that now wish to enter the Communist International but have not yet radically altered their previous tactics must, before they join the Communist International, see to it that no less than two thirds of the central committee and of all their most important central institutions consist of comrades who even before the Second Congress of the Communist International spoke out unambiguously in public in favour of the entry of the party into the Communist International. Exceptions may be permitted with the agreement of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. The Executive Committee of the Communist International also has the right to make exceptions in relation to the representatives of the centrist tendency mentioned in paragraph 7.

21

Those party members who fundamentally reject the conditions and Theses laid down by the Communist International are to be expelled from the party.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

For the rest of May, my bestselling solarpunk utopian novel THE LOST CAUSE (2023) is available as a $2.99, DRM-free ebook!

#20yrsago Red Mars: a very belated appreciation https://memex.craphound.com/2004/05/28/red-mars-a-very-belated-appreciation/

#15yrsago East German spy fired notorious shot that changed West German politics https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/world/europe/27germany.html

#15yrsago Conference Board of Canada admits that its publicly funded, plagiarized, biased copyright “research” is junk https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/conference-board-recalls-controversial-copyright-reports-1.811430

#15yrsago USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people’s access to written material https://memex.craphound.com/2009/05/28/usa-canada-and-the-eu-attempt-to-kill-treaty-to-protect-blind-peoples-access-to-written-material/

#10yrsago Appeals court nukes the copyright troll business-model https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/05/major-victory-over-copyright-trolls-deeper-look

#10yrsago 2084 wants to have a word with 2014 about Net Neutrality https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEI9RtwcvhE

#5yrsago Congressional shaming prompts notorious Pentagon price-gouger to refund $16.1m https://theintercept.com/2019/05/28/ro-khanna-transdigm-refund-pentagon/

#5yrsago Supreme Court of Canada to rule on the enforceability of arbitration clauses https://www.osler.com/en/resources/regulations/2019/supreme-court-to-hear-arguments-about-enforceability-of-arbitration-clauses

#5yrsago Connecticut’s racist NIMBYs have used zoning laws and dirty tricks to make it one of the most unequal, racially segregated states in the union https://www.propublica.org/article/how-some-of-americas-richest-towns-fight-affordable-housing

#5yrsago Analysis of a far-right disinformation campaign aimed at influencing the EU elections https://blog.f-secure.com/live-coverage-of-a-disinformation-operation-against-the-2019-eu-parliamentary-elections/

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazilian Deputies Approve Proposal that Provides for Suspending Parliamentarians for Fighting

The initial version was watered down after opposition from parliamentarians to the text, but it still grants power to the President of the Chamber

The plenary of the Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (12) a resolution proposal that changes the House's Internal Regulations and allows for the precautionary suspension of a parliamentary mandate for up to six months for those who are the target of a representation for breach of decorum. There were 400 votes in favor and 29 against, with one abstention. Immediately after the vote, the President of the House, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), promulgated the measure, which was articulated after recent fights between parliamentarians. Lira gains power in the processing of possible suspensions with the approved measure, as the Board of Directors, which is composed of seven deputies and led by the President of the Chamber, will be able to propose the precautionary suspension of a deputy. The approved text, however, underwent changes and was watered down by the rapporteur, Domingo Neto (PSD-CE), after a negative reaction to its content. Besides the resistance to approving a text that changes the Chamber's Internal Regulations, the proposal deals with the so-called "prerogatives of parliamentarians" —a flag defended in the House.

Continue reading.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Germany's anti-Semitism expert insists that saying Israel is adopting Apartheid policies is "inherently anti-Semitic." But South African Jews who have immigrated to Israel find themselves in agreement: these policies match what we recall. Benjamin Pogrund: I’ve lived through it before: grabbing power, fascism and racism, destroying democracy. Israel is going where South Africa was 75 years ago. It’s like watching the replay of a horror movie. In 1948, as a teenager in Cape Town, I followed the results of the May 26 election on a giant board on a newspaper building. The winner-takes-all electoral system produced distorted results: the Afrikaner Nationalist party, with its smaller partner, won 79 parliamentary seats against 74 for the United Party and its smaller partner. But the Nats, as they were called, in fact won only 37.7 percent of the vote against the opposition’s 49.18 percent. Although the opposition got more than 11 percent more votes, the Nats said they had a majority and could do what they wanted.

In the Israel of 2023, I'm reliving some of these same experiences. Our proportional election system can distort results as well: last November, Likud, with its smaller partners, won 64 seats against 56 for the opposition. In fact, the right-wing bloc won by only 0.6 percent of the vote. The 0.6 percent government says that it represents the will of the majority and can do whatever it wants. It goes on saying this even though a poll from the Israel Democracy Institute shows that less than one-third of Israelis back its law to end the so-called reasonableness standard, which allowed the High Court to overturn government decisions it deemed unreasonable.

[Haaretz]

[Robert Scott Horton]

[ohsalome]

Quote from Lubinets: "I sent an urgent letter to the members of the European Ombudsman Institute to withdraw from this association. This step was a consequence of the fact that two Ukrainian children who were in the territory of the Republic of Austria due to Russian armed aggression, and were taken to the territory of the Russian Federation by a "human rights defender of the European Ombudsman Institute (EOI)" .

According to media reports, this was done by Dr Josef Siegele, Secretary General of the EOI, member of the EOI board and Deputy Ombudsman of Tyrol. The Austrian authorities have launched an official investigation into the actions of Josef Siegele".