In the hopeful years that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989, the universal triumph of liberal capitalism and democracy seemed
assured; free markets and human rights would spread around the world and
lift billions from poverty and oppression. In many ways, this dream has
come true: we live in a vast, homogenous global market, which is more
literate, interconnected and prosperous than at any other time in
history.
And
yet we find ourselves in an age of anger, with authoritarian leaders
manipulating the cynicism and discontent of furious majorities. What
used to be called “Muslim rage”, and identified with mobs of
brown-skinned men with bushy beards, is suddenly manifest globally,
among saffron-robed Buddhist ethnic-cleansers in Myanmar,
as well as blond white nationalists in Germany. Violent hate crimes
have blighted even the oldest of parliamentary democracies, with the murder of the MP Jo Cox
by a British neo-Nazi during the venomous campaign for Brexit.
Suddenly, as the liberal thinker Michael Ignatieff recently wrote:
“Enlightenment humanism and rationalism” can no longer adequately
“explain the world we’re living in.”
The largely Anglo-American intellectual assumptions forged by the cold
war and its jubilant aftermath are an unreliable guide to today’s chaos –
and so we must turn to the ideas of an earlier era of volatility. It is
a moment for thinkers such as Sigmund Freud, who warned in 1915 that
the “primitive, savage and evil impulses of mankind have not vanished in
any individual”, but are simply waiting for the opportunity to show
themselves again. Certainly, the current conflagration has brought to
the surface what Friedrich Nietzsche called “ressentiment” – “a whole
tremulous realm of subterranean revenge, inexhaustible and insatiable in
outbursts.”
Yet a mechanistic and materialist way of conceiving human actions has
become entrenched, in part because economics has become the predominant
means of understanding the world. A view that took shape in the 19th
century – that there is “no other nexus between man and man than naked
self-interest” – has become orthodoxy once again in an intellectual
climate that views the market as the ideal form of human interaction and
venerates technological progress and the growth of GDP. All of this is
part of the rigid contemporary belief that what counts is only what can
be counted and that what cannot be counted – subjective emotions –
therefore does not.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/dec/08/welcome-age-anger-brexit-trump?CMP=fb_gu
Thursday 8 December 2016
Saturday 3 December 2016
Italy votes for new constitution
If people vote "yes", there will be a change to Italy's
bicameral parliament of two chambers, the Chamber of Deputies and the
senate. They currently have equal powers and are filled with directly
elected lawmakers.
If the reform moves forward, the senate would lose much of its power. Instead of the current 315 senators, there will be 100, and rather than being directly elected, they will be selected by regional assemblies.
The reform would dissolve Italy's 110 provinces, Italy's second-level administrative divisions - considered expensive and redundant - while municipalities, metropolitan cities and regions would remain.
The central government would take back some of the prerogatives of the regions, like managing transport and infrastructure and regulating the supply of key energy resources.
Carlo Fusaro, a prominent constitutionalist, said that, if approved, government institutions will become more efficient, legislative procedures will be streamlined and the regions will be given better representation in parliament.
As a result, the country's governability will improve, and future governments will be able to implement those economic reforms that are essential to restructure the country's battered economy.
"Italy has stopped growing; its productivity is one of the lowest in Europe and the country is highly indebted. We badly need structural and quality reforms within reasonable timeframes," he told Al Jazeera. "Italy is functioning on emergency mode with a weak government forced to act by decrees … Too many veto-players jeopardise policymaking at a time when the country needs both efficient institutions and governability."
The reform would put an end to Italy's unique anomaly of a "doubler senate", a chamber that has the same functions as the Chamber of Deputies, and often vetoes or slows down the approval of key legislation.
Today tens of legislative proposals passed by the lower chamber wait to be approved by the Senate; some take more than two years.
Supporters of the reform say such concerns are baseless.
"I can hardly see how a strong executive can be a problem in a country that had 63 governments in 70 years," said Guido Crainz, a political scientist teaching history at Teramo University, who has published extensively on the subject.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/italy-votes-constitution-political-turmoil-161203103657041.html
If the reform moves forward, the senate would lose much of its power. Instead of the current 315 senators, there will be 100, and rather than being directly elected, they will be selected by regional assemblies.
The reform would dissolve Italy's 110 provinces, Italy's second-level administrative divisions - considered expensive and redundant - while municipalities, metropolitan cities and regions would remain.
The central government would take back some of the prerogatives of the regions, like managing transport and infrastructure and regulating the supply of key energy resources.
Carlo Fusaro, a prominent constitutionalist, said that, if approved, government institutions will become more efficient, legislative procedures will be streamlined and the regions will be given better representation in parliament.
As a result, the country's governability will improve, and future governments will be able to implement those economic reforms that are essential to restructure the country's battered economy.
"Italy has stopped growing; its productivity is one of the lowest in Europe and the country is highly indebted. We badly need structural and quality reforms within reasonable timeframes," he told Al Jazeera. "Italy is functioning on emergency mode with a weak government forced to act by decrees … Too many veto-players jeopardise policymaking at a time when the country needs both efficient institutions and governability."
The reform would put an end to Italy's unique anomaly of a "doubler senate", a chamber that has the same functions as the Chamber of Deputies, and often vetoes or slows down the approval of key legislation.
Today tens of legislative proposals passed by the lower chamber wait to be approved by the Senate; some take more than two years.
Supporters of the reform say such concerns are baseless.
"I can hardly see how a strong executive can be a problem in a country that had 63 governments in 70 years," said Guido Crainz, a political scientist teaching history at Teramo University, who has published extensively on the subject.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/italy-votes-constitution-political-turmoil-161203103657041.html
Ato Unilateral (Protesto) China lodges protest after Trump call with Taiwan president
Protesto => Ato Unilateral - China x EUA
China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, but blamed the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own for the "petty" move.
The 10-minute telephone call with Taiwan's leadership was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China".
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-taiwan-idUSKBN13R2NT
China lodged a diplomatic protest on Saturday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke by phone with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, but blamed the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own for the "petty" move.
The 10-minute telephone call with Taiwan's leadership was the first by a U.S. president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1979, acknowledging Taiwan as part of "one China".
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-taiwan-idUSKBN13R2NT
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