Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
Free Software Foundation Europe press@fsfeurope.org writes:
- FSFE co-launches Open Parliament initiative
I've put more information in a blog entry: http://fsfe.org/en/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/the_open_parl...
I'm not entirely sure what to think of this petition, like in whether to sign or distribute it: On one hand, I'm in favor of free software and think its distribution and adoption in Europe would be a good thing.
On the other hand, I've never much liked the EU as a project, and I always opposed my own country's membership. A recent trip to visit the Parliament in Brussels did little to convince me of its fundamental democratic credentials (although I recognize some people there are doing good work, like apparently the Spanish parlamentarian David Hammerstein).
So, how can I sign or recommend the petition without fundamentally recognizing the Parliament, when actually I don't? This might actually limit the petition's potential appeal in many countries, at least in "Euro-sceptical" quarters (which in Denmark tend to be the left, and some nationalists - the pattern might be different in other countries).
br Carsten
* Carsten Agger (agger@c.dk) [18.04.08 12:19]:
So, how can I sign or recommend the petition without fundamentally recognizing the Parliament, when actually I don't? This might actually limit the petition's potential appeal in many countries, at least in "Euro-sceptical" quarters (which in Denmark tend to be the left, and some nationalists - the pattern might be different in other countries).
By the normative power of the factual: there *is* a parliament, which *decides* on such matters, and such will be equal to any national law within the EU.
With the attitude "I don't like them, so I won't talk to them" you cannot change anything. The Parliament *has* power over you, and if you refuse to use *your* influence on the parliament, then don't come crying if they did something you do not like: you did not tell them.
BTW: a petition is nothing *from* the parliament, it is a demand from the people *to* the parliament to act in a certain way or at least debate over that topic.
br Carsten
I don't like the EU neither, but the problem is not what the parliament decides(we could influence that by voting), the problem is what it is *not* allowed to decide.
Sebastian
On the other hand, I've never much liked the EU as a project, and I always opposed my own country's membership. A recent trip to visit the Parliament in Brussels did little to convince me of its fundamental democratic credentials (although I recognize some people there are doing good work, like apparently the Spanish parlamentarian David Hammerstein).
The fact is the European Union isn't waiting for you to support it in order to exist. The EU is a reality on the ground, and we have to live with it. We can take political action to try to get rid of it, or change it into something we prefer, from the understanding that, if we ignore it, it doesn't go away.
So, how can I sign or recommend the petition without fundamentally recognizing the Parliament, when actually I don't? This might actually limit the petition's potential appeal in many countries, at least in "Euro-sceptical" quarters (which in Denmark tend to be the left, and some nationalists - the pattern might be different in other countries).
Without wanting to go into OT, if someone is sufficiently childish to think that their "recognition" of an actually existing institution such as Europarl matters, or that by withdrawing it they can somehow better take charge of their future, they deserve as much political influence and power as they get, zero.
--David.