It takes only one person, but only if it's the right person, ...

... being the right person meant that people listened, paid attention to the words and deeds.  Only a very few people are able to command that sort of attention.

Mohamed Bouazizi, by his actions, set alight North Africa and the Middle East, a conflagration that continues, the conditions that led to his anger and subsequent action, he asked his government for justice.  It took just over a month for the President of corrupt Tunisia to flee with his family to Saudi Arabia, ever the ..... democratic deficit, the country will not allow half the population to drive because they are ................ women.

His need for justice flew across borders much like tumbleweed in old western films,it jumped a country into Egypt with similar consequences, Egypt's president didn't escape, he awaits trial with his family.

In Libya the fighting continues as it does in Syria, leaders of both countries without the legitimacy of democratic elections, but in both case, too far away in time from the martyrdom of Mohamed Bouaziz, there is no-one that fits the bill of "the right person" to drive a wedge into the tyranny.

In the Middle East there is a deficit of democracy, in Saudi Arabia there is a democratic deficit, a country that helps Bahrain suppress the voice of democracy, Sport might just galvanise this small kingdom into progress towards granting those  freedoms we take for granted.

At home we have only one "right person" at present, and he has created the conditions for a constitutional crisis, in the green grass of home we have the technocrat who will do exactly what the majority of people want, very little change, at the heels of this man will be the rabid voices of radical nationalism, a distraction only, Carwyn Jones has a good five years ahead, but only if he is able to ignore the tumbleweed that is nationalist politics (MH takes the biscuit with this little gem), less is more just now, radical can wait a year or two.

I feel lucky, when I get .....

... up in the morning, there is no sound of helicopters engaging military establishments or armed checkpoints.  Can you hear the sounds of thousands protesting against government atrocities, and the sniper fire in the distance, reports of dozens killed.  And it doesn't matter whether I belong to either the Shia or Sunni peoples in Bahrain, I know that I will not be abused by a secret police.

The FIA have stamped on the face of humanity by caving into the wants of the Bahrain government by re-scheduling this years race in the face of the suppression of the people of the country.  "This is welcome news for all of Bahrain," said Zayed Rashid Alzayani, he also said ""As a country we have faced a difficult time, but stability has returned ... ", he didn't mention the secret police attrocities.

... back home in the Caerphilly basin where I live, my Saturdays and Sundays will not include the sounds of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1, there are some things more important than two hours of sport ............. not being kidnapped during the night by Bahrain's secret police is one, freedom of association another, and the freedom to protest against injustice is so important to humanity.

Bernie Ecclestone, by re-scheduling the race sends a message to me that secret police kidnapping, preventing free association and preventing protest is OK by him, obviously we have different sets of ethics.

In Wales we have little to protest, soon there will be the official opening of the Assembly in Cardiff, our elected representatives will be there to welcome our Queen, except Leanne Wood the Plaid Cymru member; we have to ignore her behaviour she is allowed bad manners.  We demonstrate the the rest of the world that British democracy accommodates even those who would destroy our world.

Turn a blind eye ...

... seems to be the buzzword at Betsan's blog, the storm in a teacup at the assembly.

In my personal experience, if you turn a blind eye, it becomes impossible thereafter to apply the principle. 

Our police are inclined to turn a blind eye, though only where they are diverted to something deemed more urgent or serious, a resources issue, at the Assembly there is plenty of time, resources in abundance, hot air by the dirigible full.  It could or should use this episode to demonstrate the pursuit of Wales political excellence.

I wonder what might have changed in the world if we hadn't turned an international blind eye, would the Syrian dictator be murdering the people of Syria, would Gaddafi have bombed the people of Libya, would Apartheid have lasted so long in South Africa.

Closer to home, Alex Salmond has raised his corpulent head above the political parapet, this man of the Scots people has decreed today that post independence our nuclear submarines will no longer be welcome, though with his jowly arrogance he suggests that Faslane as a base would be retained in partnership with our British government.

There are 10,000 jobs related to our nuclear submarine base in Scotland, it is time to bite the bullet and transfer the base out of the reach of Salmond, I'm sure the Devonport skill-base would welcome the opportunity to look after our nuclear fleet.  Salmond feeds the fire of independence, it is time that plans are put in place to begin the disengagement as soon as possible, if Whitehall are under the impression that the Scottish question is going away, they are wide of the mark, bring the submarines south as soon as possible, and bring the jobs not the jobbers.

When they look at Britain, the people of ...

North Africa, the Middle East and other less than than democratic countries must feel the jackboot of tyranny like nothing we can imagine.

In the United Kingdom last week we were offered a different way to elect our democratic representatives, the vast majority declined ...... whilst in Syria the scum Assad and company sent armoured troops to suppress a wish for democracy.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland we went to the polls to determine our preferred political shape, the democratic process gave exactly what was asked for, In Wales we preferred Socialism underpinned with Conservative and Liberal Democratic values, Nationalist elements are being slowly rejected democratically ..... whilst in Libya Gaddafi punished the people by dropping cluster bombs on men women and children who wish for freedom.

In England there were local elections to select by secret ballot ...... whilst in Morocco King Mohammed has yet to fulfil his promise of democratic reform and to end government corruption.

In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Persia there are no people, only a subjugated mass of humanity ...... it is time the people of these countries threw off the yoke of serfdom and embraced democracy.

Here in Wales and the United Kingdom, there were no secret police on the streets last week, no aircraft dropping bombs to influence the voters, corruption is dealt with by the law (imperfect possibly), and we have freedom of religious expression ......... and we still complain, aren't we lucky we can complain, complain in the knowledge that there will not be a knock on the door during the night, a knock that is followed by a dissenting brother being dragged into the night never being seen again .......

Why we need Wales politicians, not ...

Welsh politicians.  Simply because Wales is all the peoples that live in Wales, Welsh is perceived as linguistic by the peoples of Wales.

This coming week the Labour Party with exactly half the elected Assembly members have a mandate to govern through the Welsh Assembly Government, it should be the Wales Assembly Government, without entering into a coalition agreement with another party.  Besides there being no mandate from the electorate, good politics will out political spoilers, the message from the electorate is surely get on with it, sort out our priorities of Health and Education before you do anything else, after all,  it's not rocket science.

A humble message to the people of Syria, Libya and Egypt, democracy is worth the struggle, don't stop now (Persia might also like to look towards democracy but sort out your lines of communications), both leaders of Libya and Syria are now international criminals, don't hand them over to The Hague, prosecute them at home, that's how you achieve real justice, called revenge by some.

A not so humble message to the USA, the Yemen need time to remove the tyranny in their country, your drones will not help, get out, get out now and give democracy a chance, sometimes you can be short-sighted, so .....

This week I have been thinking of two ...

... people, my father who died aged 42 years and his sister who died last year, 90 years of age, they were twins, today is their birthday.  I wonder how they would make sense of the world today ...

... where the freedoms they fought for are being squandered by an apathetic electorate and politicians devoid of ideas to improve this country of ours .........

... and where, in the Middle East and North Africa tyrants of Syria and Libya who are murdering the citizens of their respective countries, the only crime these people have committed is to ask for the freedoms we take for granted.  In Syria the public expression that calls for democracy has erupted in 11 cities, the tyrannical response from bully boy Assad has been to callously murder people attending funerals of people previously killed by the security forces.  In Libya the current response is to use cluster bombs against women and children, has Gaddafi enough munitions to kill the whole population I wonder ?

Why would you serve food on ...

...such a sharp stick he asked ....

... of course you could have sharp food on a blunt stick ...

... particularly when we need to protect people in fear for their lives ...

... fleeing from Gaddafi, a man who sends tanks against the people of Lybia.


The leaders of the US, the UK and France have said in a joint letter that there can be no peace in Libya while Muammar Gaddafi stays in power ........... so say all of us .......... or do we ?

Spot the difference ....

.....

 

... the first is older, both murder the people they govern.

A story that places Wales democracy in doubt ...

... where civil servants are employed to prevent real change to the way we are governed ...

... and in Syria the craven dictator, hereditary President Bashar al-Assad, has spoken on the state run TV, he said of the government action  "This is a test for our unity", what he didn't say was "......  that hundreds of people chanting "freedom" had taken to the streets of Latakia," he didn't assure the supporters of his despotic regime that ".... troops had fired warning shots in an attempt to get them to disperse."

The dictators government is reported to be studying the liberalisation of laws on media and political parties as well as anti-corruption measures, the easing of restrictions on civil liberties and political freedom.  The operative word is studying, nothing new then, but from human rights activist Aktham Nuaisse he believes the country stood "at a crossroads".  he is reported as saying "Either the president takes immediate, drastic reform measures, or the country descends into one of several ugly scenarios. If he is willing to lead Syria into a real democratic transformation, he will be met halfway by the Syrian people."

The people of Syria should seize democracy not listen to this son of a dictator, look to other countries in the region, use these examples to topple Bashar, there is everything to play for, in the west we call it freedom.

In Wales our civil servants are trying to prevent the submission of the proposed amendment to the GOWA, it reads ....

We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to petition the UK government to modify the Government of Wales Act 2006 to include the following Legislative Recall and Referendum option.

Where a Bill has been passed by the Welsh Assembly, one-third of the members of the Welsh Assembly may, within five weekdays from the final passing of the Bill, request of the Plenary Chair that the Bill be submitted to a referendum. Such request shall be made in writing and signed by the members making the request.


At the referendum votes shall be cast for or against the Bill. For the Bill to be rejected, a majority of the electors who vote, and not less than thirty per cent of all persons who are entitled to vote, shall have voted against the Bill.


Finance Bills, Salaries and Pensions Bills, Taxation (Direct and Indirect) Bills, UK and European Union government Bills, as well as Bills for the purpose of discharging existing treaty obligations shall not be submitted to decision by referendum.

... it would make law making more inclusive, no-matter what flavour of politics, the government of the day would be obliged to consider everyone, not just reflect on party politics, good for democratic accountability, the death-knell of partisan politics.

Would you support such a bill, currently the "badger cull" bill might be the subject of the Legislative Recall and Referendum option I am proposing, as might the "presumed consent" for the organ transplant bill, but nothing is certain, Assembly politicians after due deliberation could pass the laws with such a majority that the laws could not be subjected to recall.

While I consider the importance of giving politicians tools to strengthen democracy, in Syria its dictator murders citizens .....

Libya is falling apart and Yemen is changing .... is Saudi listening to the winds of change blowing from the dunes ........

The wind of change is blowing ...

... in Syria, the tyranny of the despotic son of the despot has reached new heights of despicable behaviour, he has sent 20,000 troops to Deraa to quell the call for democracy, for greater freedoms, to put it into perspective the dictator of Syria sent 1 soldier for every 3 citizens of Deraa.

With a population of 24 million the "Hereditary Dictator", a craven son of a bitch, will need to super-size his half a million army to a massive 8 million, and then coerce it to murder or imprison every citizen, because that is the only way to suppress democracy ..........

Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain et al ....... take note of the wind of change, people like to speak, I am a human being ...... and I have an opinion


............. once again from Naom Chomsky ...

... "make it a real functioning democracy where the people participate".

... whilst back in the ranch, the Assembly tried to prevent the petition, to be posted soon after the May election, they tried the "not in the remit of the Assembly Government", to bad I have read the GOWA ...

... GOWA 2006 section 62,  

Representations about matters affecting Wales

The Welsh Ministers, the First Minister and the Counsel General may make appropriate representations about any matter affecting Wales.

... democracy is difficult even in Britain ...................

I'm still looking for the love song, ...

... the politics of Wales I wrote about earlier, but there is little friendship or amity in the corridors of Power at the Assembly.

Looking across the world through the reportage of news-hounds and bloggers there is little friendship anywhere, in Libya the president is searching for his opponents, apparently to destroy them completely, because .................. they asked for democracy.

I read that in Syria police opened fire on demonstrators in Deraa, killing one and wounding several others, its president might like to reconsider his position, when people ask for freedoms that are basic rights elsewhere in the world it is probably to late, democratic change will be taken by the people not drip fed by a despotic ruler.

Other nation states are in similar positions, Yemen President Saleh is treading water in a most uncomfortable sea of change, he was even deserted by his ambassador to the United Nations in protest at the violence perpetrated by this second despot, he is responsible for 40 deaths murdered by his snipers last Friday.

What of the other countries of the middle east, Iran where a person may be hanged because he is gay, Bahrain who is using Saudi Arabia troops to subdue the pro-democracy movement, Saudi Arabia is another candidate country where people are held in captivity because of political allegiances.

Then in Morocco King Mohammed has yet to fulfil his promise of democratic reform and to end government corruption, whilst back in Wales .........

............ Carl Sargeant has suspended democracy ............