International
Paul Jacob, president of Citizens in Charge Foundation, speaks on Nelson Mandela (just prior to Mandela’s death), and his example in pursuing peaceful political change. Jacob also addresses Winnie Mandela’s calls for violence and compares that with the peaceful opportunities for change in America; citizen initiative, referendum and recall.
Watch the video: here
Supporters of the London, England-based Chelsea Football Club are upset; incensed even. So bothered, in fact, they’ve turned to the petition process with an online effort at change.org that asks the Club to “Ensure that [manager] Rafael Benitez is not considered beyond his interim title.”
In November of 2012, the Chelsea executives appointed Rafael Benitez, a Spaniard coach who had once managed Liverpool Football Club and Inter Milan as the interim manager of Chelsea after the sacking of fan-favorite Roberto DiMatteo.
A referendum this week on a plan to limit school lunches in schools in South Korea’s capital city has led to the resignation of the city’s mayor and provided a preview for broader political battles in national elections next year. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon had pledged to step down if voters rejected his proposal to provide free meals to only poor school children in the capital, instead of all students.
Today we created our new Citizens in Charge Facebook page. The Citizens in Charge Foundation group is scheduled to be archived by Facebook for reasons only Mark Zuckerberg knows. So, before it disappears please head over to our new page an “like” it. It will be the same as our old page, with regular news updates, pictures, and event information.
“LIKE” us HERE.
Counting has started in the national referendum on whether to change the electoral system to the Alternative Vote process. As the count began, initial figures showed turnout across the UK ranged from 35.4% to 50.7%. Senior Lib Dems have already conceded they are unlikely to win the vote, which was a key plank of their coalition demands. A defeat will be another blow after a devastating round of local election results which were the party’s worst since the 80s.
Forty million people will get the chance to support an historic change to the British voting system today. “Super Thursday” will see the UK’s first nationwide referendum for 36 years, as well as the customary elections to English local authorities, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland’s Assembly and councils.
It seems the excitement in the UK never ends. Last week? Royal wedding. This week? Their first national referendum vote in nearly 4 decades. 
The big referendum will determine what style of elections they use to elect members of parliament. From The Independent:
Forty million people will get the chance to support an historic change to the British voting system today.
For those of you who are Irish and those of you who are not, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.
I haven’t been able to find anything about St Patrick’s day that’s related to initiative & referendum yet, but if you know of anything feel free to pass it along.
Eirinn go Brach!
If you weren’t able to make it to the 2010 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy and U.S. Conference on I&R last summer in San Francisco but still want to hear all the great speakers and debate, now is your chance.
The 8 part DVD series is available for purchase here.
Coalition deputy groups and Public Administration Minister Irma Pavlinic Krebs reached on Monday an agreement on planned changes to referendum legislation. Changes would strip deputies of the right to file for a ballot, there would be a quorum needed for the validity of the referendum and human rights issues could not be put up for vote.
Final results showed just over 56 per cent of votes had been cast against the initiative which sought to ban army-issue guns from the home. A majority of cantons voted against the initiative. Support came from several, mainly urban regions including Geneva, Basel and Zurich. Opposition was strongest in rural areas in eastern and central Switzerland as well as in the southern Italian-speaking canton of Ticino.
Swiss politicians are already preparing for the next round of votes on February 13. On the nationwide ballot just one item will be put to a vote””the so-called initiative against armed violence. It calls for soldiers to store their service weapons at an armoury rather than keeping them at home.
The first petition submitted to the EU Commission under the new European Citizen’s Initiative process has been rejected by officials on procedural grounds. Signed by 1.03 million voters, the petition would have banned genetically modified - also known as GM -foods until they have been scientifically tested for safety and sustainability.
As we look to more success in 2011, here’s a look at some of what we’ve accomplished over the last two years. Of course we couldn’t have done it without your help.
Here’s a look at some of what we’ve accomplished over the last two years.