DEMOCRACY

Originator unknown.

“The Greeks taught us democracy and now they have taught how to take it back”  said a recent tweet. 

It would have been more accurate to write that the ancient Greeks birthed an ancient form of democracy. For during the course of time the concept of democracy has changed considerably, depending on which country believes it’s self to be  a democratic country.


HISTORICALLY :
The term originates from the Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was found from δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (krátos) "power" or "rule" in the 5th century BC to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens; the term is an antonym to ἀριστοκρατία (aristokratía) "rule of an elite". While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically.[3] The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to an elite class of free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. 
In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.


TODAY.
The citizens choose and replace the government through free and fair elections;
There is active participation of the citizens in politics and civic life;
There is protection of the human rights of all citizens.
There is rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. 
Eligible citizens are able to: 1) vote for the passing/rejecting of laws or run for office during elections, 2) join political parties, sit on boards or committees, and criticise or protest, 3) feel that some of their rights are protected, and 4) receive a fair trial if accused of breaking the country's laws. Politicians represent their constituents in the proposal, development and establishment of the laws by which their society is run.

It remains to be seen whether Tsipras will be able to carry out his election promises!

A message from Lin

© Jane Brideson 

"Winter Solstice Rebirth"

I received this message from a special friend and I have had her permission to share

this with You.

OLD HIPPY MAXIMS

As above.......so below,

Macrocosm.......microcosm,

Turn on... tune in... drop out

Heads...          Freaks..... Go with the flow

We get stoned, on crystals.....megaliths.....mother earth

Give peace a chance

Attitude gratitude......Devotion

.................................................................

Old hippies, were in recovery. the 60,s.... you know

We are now recovered

We have got our 2nd wind

Riding the post 2012....

Wave of light.

In aquarian age, ascension, party mode.

......................................................

Then, we dropped out

Of, world we saw

Greed, poverty, negative emotions, male domination, power over....

Poverty, hatred, war, toxic medications, hatred of mother earth,  and women

SO

We created a new one. Turned on, tuned in , created 

Organic farms, crystal healing, respect for mother earth and all our relations

Art, music fashion,, whole-foods shops, cnd, single mums, healers etc

Our musicians our prophets

Our inner voice, our guide

.................................

Cos we are aquarian age, ascension, forerunners

The crystal children, The rainbow warriors

hippies

Worked hard, to build the dream,

All our brothers , of fur feather and fin, joined in too.

Burnt out

.......................

Now we flow on the lightwave of 2012, ascending

We let the dying die,

Co-create, the new earth, the new body of light,

love, peace beauty truth, abundance,

Balanced in true love,

Soulmates of the inner flame

Ecstatic with joy, our dreams coming true

We turned the tide, earth is safe,

Still lots of light work to do

----------------------------------------------------------

Being shown, our Avalon phoenix,

is ready to take flight; she will be riding on the gentle

solstice dawn light, 

her wings tipped radiant. orange, gold

As she takes flight.

I see her watch the light at mount kailish

Then flowing with the earth grid, catching dawn at each site, through Carnac ; Giza, glaston, as the womblike cairns, gavanis, new-grange,As ancient ancestors built for us,  so in time to remind us

They were the abodes of immortals, the beings of light, built to remind us, which way to go, aligned to let in the winter solstice light, to touch the spiralled stones,

you know, incase we got lost

to recover true humanity, in a world gone blind

She sings the song of creation,

Her gift to us this season, 

to renew our humanity

In the ascension light, 

she will fly on to Mexico

 sit on the stone of the sun,, and sing the new creation, now

 being born

for mother earth, all our relations

....................................................

Lennon, song,                 

                                    Some say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one, 

One day you will join us, and the world will be as one

...................................

So with this wonderful, gentle, new ascension wave 

of winter-solstice light,

I wish you a 

HAPPY SOLSTICE 2014

Happy hippy Lin

Culchies demonstrate in Dublin

This is only part of the demonstrators

This was Novembers Demo the feelings are

even stronger.

They came from all over Ireland: from the North, from Donegal, Down & Louth, from the South as far as Cork & Kerry, from the West, Mayo to Clare, from the East, Wexford & Wicklow and from the Midlands too. People from every county were there for themselves and to represent others unable to travel to Dublin.

They brought their placards, their voices and their determination. They stayed for a day and went away carrying their experiences to pass on to others.

We are proud of them !

Proud to have them as neighbours and to call them our friends.

On reading the newspapers it easy to see that the journalists are lost for words to describe what they witnessed when the ‘culchies’ came to town; unless of course, as I suspect, many of them are suppressed by a secret committee of censors!

Approximately one hundred and fifty thousand people took part in the peaceful,self disciplined demonstration. Out of this number six people were arrested and none of them actually charged. Were they the fifth columnists planted in the crowd? - I don’t know.


There is a new wave of governance flowing through the land. We know it for now as People Power which occurs when the electorate reach within themselves to become enriched with a sense of personal worth and value. Flowing from this comes the empowerment to become Activists who have ability and inner confidence to tell members of the government what they want and do not want.


That is what happened on the streets of Dublin on 10th December 2014 and from this example even larger numbers will be drawn on 31st January 2015 to another demonstration of People Power.

Detroit supports Irish Water Protest

Loyal friends across the pond

Today, a delegation  from The Detroit Water Brigade arrived in Dublin to stand in solidarity with Ireland and people around the globe who are fighting for strong public water systems and water accessibility. The Detroit Water Brigade provides bottled water, water coolers, rainwater catchment barrels, and water filters, to people in need. They will be visiting residents across Ireland who have been fighting against the installation of  water meters

Over the summer the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department shut off water for over 3,000 household each week due to residents being behind on payments. And though half of Detroit’s residents live below the poverty line, the Detroit city council recently approved a significant increase in water charges, making a total increase of 119% over the last 10 years. The water charges in Detroit are nearly double the US national average.

“To take water away from those who cannot afford it by handing it to a private, for-profit company isn’t just irresponsible — it’s genocidal.” Says Detroit Water Brigade’s Political Director. “We know that from firsthand experience here in Detroit and we can’t allow it to happen to Ireland.”

Since protests began the Irish government has completely lost the trust of the people. It is now obvious that the government are not listening to the people who they claim to represent, and the dogs on the street know that the people are fed up. What will it take to convince the government that access to water is a human right and not a revenue stream for bailing out big banks? How many times must we say that we demand water charges abolished before they will abolish them? And how many hundreds of thousands of people marching to the Dáil will it take to convince them that  water charges will not be accepted that people know full well that they already pay for their water.  The world is about to find out.

The peaceful protest against water charges on Wednesday, 10 December will begin at 1pm at Leinster House, Merrion Square. Solidarity protests will also take place outside Belfast City Hall, and in London outside of the Irish Embassy.

Céad míle fáilte to the delegates from Detroit 

The 1997 Act that absolves the Irish people from paying

water charges