The PES manifesto consultation has ended but our dialogue on 'Yourspace' goes on! We will continue to debate the hot issues that will shape the 2009 European elections - migration, climate change, rising food and energy prices, jobs, equality, the EU treaty - as well as getting ready for the elections and keeping you informed about the preparation of the PES manifesto.
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Published Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 16:33
by
Editor
(32 views and 0 comments)
Democratic
governance relies on active participation, both in terms of those
who stand for political office and those who elect them.
The socialist members of the Committee of the Regions, the
political assembly that provides local and regional authorities
with a voice at the heart of the European Union, are organising a
conference on "Mobilising for Democracy, elections turnout and
voting behaviour".
If you are interested in attending the event in order to have an
overview of the different electoral systems and voting patterns
across the EU, as well as explore particularities of specific
electorates such as expatriates and ethnic minorities, younger
and older voters, or women, you just... » read more ...
Tags: campaign, democracy, European Elections, PES
Published Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 16:45
by
Editor
(78 views and 3 comments)
Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi talks about collecting and storing children’s
footprints and making ‘illegal immigration’ a crime, but the
Italian Partito Democratico has come up with a radically different
proposal for tackling this controversial issue.
Yesterday, PD Leader Walter Veltroni wrote to the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies proposing to extend the right to vote in administrative and local elections to all those who have been legally residents in Italy for some time, whether or not they are Italian or EU citizens.
And the PD has gone further. Two million Italians have already
signed an initiative “Salva l’Italia” – ‘Save Italy’ : calling for action
to tackle the economic crisis including protecting salaries and
pensions, and the defence of democratic rules against misguided
laws passed by Berlusconi (such as one third stronger punishments
for crimes committed by illegal immigrates). The PD hopes to get
5 million signatures by... » read
more ...
Published Monday, September 1, 2008 at 16:00
by
carl0s 
(106 views and 1 comments)
Political parties primarily use the internet to win votes. A secondary purpose is to galvanise and mobilise supporters. In a previous posting, I argue that many conventional approaches to internet campaigning ignore these simple conversion metrics and try to apply glossy promotional techniques which alienate, bore and patronise the general public - especially a public experiencing tough economic times.
We have to acknowledge that a large part of the electorate are not interested in reading about politics on the internet. Pornography and shopping are the real generators of internet traffic and revenue, and this is not likely to change, despite online video continuing to gain in popularity. Blogs have mushroomed in numbers, but despite the vibrancy of some, a US study recently revealed that only 56% of American internet users actually read political blogs. Of these, only 17% were under 21 years old - and all of these users tended to stick with the same one or two blogs on a regular basis.
It appears that blogs are often literally preaching to the converted, but this is not always the case. In the UK the most popular blogs have tended to be written by conservatives from a center-right perspective. It's certainly true that the readership of these is not necessarily right-wing - showing how wider popularity can be gained amongst the public through quality writing and coverage of interesting topics.
The... » read more ...Published Friday, August 29, 2008 at 10:46
by
Editor
(252 views and 5 comments)
PES activists
in Hungary are showing their support for Barack Obama by
preparing apricot jam for the Democrat candidate to the US
Presidency.
In fact, "Barack" means apricot in Hungarian so activists meeting in the Hungarian city Tallya decided to produce and sell this jam labelled "Barack for Obama". The funds collected were given to local organizations that fight child poverty.
As Matyas Gati, one of the organizers, put it “This is a fun way of making a serious point. Barack Obama is very popular in Hungary because he is so charismatic and because he offers a real alternative to the Republicans who have made such a mess of things in America and abroad. We also wanted to show that we PES activists share the same democratic values and aspirations as Mr Obama. He embodies the principles and values we want to promote as PES activists. We support his ideas for change and the attitude of his politics.” Check the video with a shorter version of the interview.
And don't miss PES activists video... » read more ...
Tags: campaign, US elections
Published Friday, August 29, 2008 at 00:43
by
rikkeindenmark
(156 views and 2 comments)
On the back cover of
DSU'eren, the magazine of the Danish Social Democratic Youth (DSU), you can
spot this recruitment poster for PES activists Denmark: 'We want
you!" Do you recognize the person who has taken the place of Mr.
Lincoln? Yes, you're right, it's Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the PES
President.
Thanks to DSU for their creativity and enthusiasm!
If I caught the attention of any Danes with this post I'll take
the opportunity and spread some other good news: PES activists
Denmark will be present at the upcoming Congress of the Danish party. Meet Danish PES
activists at the PES stand in Aalborg Congress Centre on the 6th
and 7th of September 2008!
Published Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 19:21
by
kim
(259 views and 3 comments)
The 'Female
orgasm...I care!' campaign is the latest campaign on youth and
sexuality brought to you by animo, young Belgian socialists. They
have a long tradition on campaigning on the theme of sexuality,
from safe sex actions to 'cut VAT on condoms' revendications. With
the 'Female orgasm...I care!' campaign they raise attention on
sexual pleasure among young people and provokes a positive
discussion on sex. This campaign focuses on the female sexuality
and the female orgasm in particular. Because it's still very
necessary today.Tags: summer campaign
Published Thursday, August 28, 2008 at 10:47
by
Editor
(210 views and 2 comments)
Frédéric Engelmann (right) with the PES Parliamentary Group
Martin Schulz (left) at the PES Congress in 2006
At the Vienna Forum, several PES Activists expressed their interest in twinnings projects between party federations and branches. We asked Frédéric Engelmann, a PES Activist from Paris, to tell us about the twinning between the PES Activists Groups of the XIIth arrondissement of Paris and of Berlin Mitte.
Frédéric, how did the idea of a twinning come about and how did this whole project start?
To start with, our Paris PS federation had already signed a similar agreement 5 or 6 years ago with the Berlin SPD. Both parties support the fact that the branches of our federations should twin with one another. So far, the branches of XIth and XVIIIth arrondissements (or... » read more ...
Published Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 17:48
by
Ceciliag
(151 views and 0 comments)
Le 7 juillet, à
Cannes, Brice Hortefeux, ministre français « de l’immigration, de
l’intégration, de l’identité nationale et du développement
solidaire » (sic!) a officiellement proposé au Conseil européen
des ministres des affaires intérieures et de la justice un projet
de « Pacte européen sur l’immigration et l’asile». « Son objectif
est clair : organiser l’immigration légale et désorganiser
l’immigration illégale », nous dit son ministère.
Loin de n’être qu’un objectif en soit du gouvernement français, le contrôle de l’immigration (passée, présente et future…) est en fait devenu un outil bien pratique pour s’attaquer à la culture, au mariage mixte, à la famille.
Cet été, après le groupe de musique Konono n° 1, ce fut au tour du groupe Kasai All Stars d’annuler sa tournée en raison des difficultés d’octroi de visas. Alors que la politique du « cas par cas »... » read more ...
Tags: Human Rights, migration
Published Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 17:26
by
Editor
(152 views and 1 comments)
ECOSY camp-goers
come up with new ideas for the European elections!
The PES held a workshop at the ECOSY camp on “PES
Manifesto 2009 and ECOSY Change for Europe” to discuss
with young camp-goers what their ideas would be for how to win
the next European elections. Participants split up into four
groups and led a debate on their own recommendations:
The first team analyzed how we could make the differences clearer
between the Left and our opponents. They recommended that the PES
use clear, popular messages to communicate the differences,
focusing on the general theme of the Left believing in stepping
in when the market fails and standing up for people. The
following are five issues on which the Left could make these
distinctions clear:
1. Right defends economic interests of the elite, while the left
defends the common interest
2. The left defends human security and public services, good
health care and education for all
3. The Left defends minimum social standards, like the minimum
wage
4. The Left is in favour of diversity, as our support for an
anti-discrimination directive shows, while the right neither is
against immigration and gender equality
5. The Left distinguishes itself... » read more ...
Tags: youth
Published Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 14:53
by
arktika
(198 views and 1 comments)
Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, is backing independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - Georgia's two rebel provinces. The vote came after a brief war between Russia and Georgia following Georgia's assault on the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali Aug. 7. Both countries won de-facto independence in the 1990s after wars with the government in Tbilisi. The road which started from Kosovo UDI seems to continue long because it is estimated that there is about five thousend ethnic groups on globe.
After Georgia's separatists my bet is that in Europe Transnistria could be the next breakaway province. Let's look this maybe next new state closer:
Pridnestrovie - also known by the unofficial name, Transnistria - is a new and emerging country in South Eastern Europe, sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine. Although widely seen as part of Moldova, historically, Pridnestrovie and Moldova were always separate. Throughout 2500 years of history, the Dniester River forming the current border has been a traditional border between Slav lands (Scythia, 450 B.C.) to the East and Romanian lands (Dacia) to the West.
The population is some 550.000. The inhabitants of Pridnestrovie are for the most part Slavic. This is in stark contrast to Moldova, on the other side of the Dniester River,... » read more ...
Published Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 14:40
by
carl0s
(178 views and 7 comments)
Politicians are now expected to use the internet as a matter of
course. This process has been led by the United States, where in
most elections, there is usually a "President of the Internet
Moment." This could refer to a politician who gains fleeting
popularity from using the internet in a possibly innovative
fashion, or enlisting a keen following of bloggers and posters to
evangelise online.
Professional usage of the internet and its capabilities does not
guarantee political success. Arguably, the more slick and managed
the presentation, the less impact is generated. The online world
seems to be attuned to phenomena rather than propaganda. In
Europe, internet traffic sits outside the world of mainstream
political culture, it's hard to find examples where
conventionally formulated political communication strategies have
been successfully translated onto the web.
To read more, click here
Tags: activists, blogging, campign, EU, European elections, internet, voting
Published Monday, August 25, 2008 at 16:14
by
julian_schaerbeek
(197 views and 1 comments)
Now Berlusconi’s coalition partners – the Lega Nord – has proposed a law requiring local referendums before planning permission for mosques can be given, and an outright ban on minarets!
» read more ...Tags: migration
Published Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 14:53
by
arktika
(346 views and 3 comments)
During last
twenty years war for humanitarian reasons has came quite popular
in political vocabulary e.g. in Balkans and now with Georgia
case. The ideal to use power in the service of ethics is good.
The problem is the low level of ethics when US is using her power
in world. I remember their actions in Chile to establish
dictatorship, their support to killing squads in middle and south
America. In 1983, U.S. troops invaded Grenada because it – a tiny
island with 110,000 inhabitants - represented a military threat
to the USA. In Balkans US made alliances first with Serb leaders
(who later came ICTY wanteds) and after with KLA (which before
was described as terror organization), al Quida (1st
ally then one element in “axis of terror”) etc.
US started to bomb Serbia – without UNSC approval and based purpose-oriented reports from field - supporting separatist movements. Later US repeated the same in Afghanistan and Iraq (again based false reports). Before 9-11, the US was supportive of the Chechen rebels, suddenly after 9-11 radical Islam, was the new enemy. This is regardless of whatever Chechen terrorists were doing to Russia on their own.
In Europe the Kosovo question highlights the core problem... » read more ...
Tags: Balkans, Kosovo, Serbia, US Foreign Policy
Published Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 13:43
by
panayotis
(255 views and 1 comments)
Since 2004 that Mr. George Papandreou has been elected as the leader of the Greek Socialists Party he has been asking for participative democracy as the bottom line of any democracy! As a president of the International Socialists movement but also as the most proper prime minister according to public opinion in 2002 , we all hopped that the socialist party will win in the elections of 2007...Thu the biggest obstacle for such an evidence seems to come from inside !!!!!!! The party members , wealthy and well connected with those who take all the jobs from E.E financial support for economy development, not only they refuge to obey in their leader's politic but they keep people out of the party's forum because they are afraid to loose their posts!!!!!!!!!!!!Mr Papandreou, seems to be prisoner of it's own people in a well closed politic area that some, thing of their own despite the damage that they have already done ,... » read more ...
Tags: Europe, Papandreou, pasok, politics, socialists
Published Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 12:19
by
arktika
(266 views and 1 comments)
Georgia launched a major military offensive against South Ossetia on Friday in a bid to regain control of its breakaway province. The attack started few hours after declared ceasefire, just before opening Day of Olympics. The death toll can already be as high as 1400 including some Russian peacekeepers.Kosovo’s unilateral proclamation of independence from Serbia last February played a key role in these developments. There may be endless disputes over whether this has created a legal precedent or not, but realpolitik takes its course regardless. The claim of Great (western) Powers that Kosovo is an absolutely unique case showed be a joke almost immediately when UDI based to their orchestration opened the Pandora box.
Moscow and quite a few other capitals considered the move a serious step toward the degradation of international law and the triumph of arbitrary approaches to the resolution of global problems. Nonetheless, Russia has chosen a course of compromise. Russia’s leaders could not ignore what happened in the Balkans, but they chose not respond by recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, even though they believe that after Kosovo was proclaimed independent they had every right to do so.
Pandora box starts to open
Tags: crisis management
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