EUmanifesto

The European Parliament elections will take place across European member states between May 22 and 25 next year.

Ahead of this, an organisation called European Alternatives is looking for European citizens’ input into creating alternatives to the way the EU is currently organised.

Alessandro Valera writes:

“Three years ago the European Alternatives started a series of citizen/public consultations based on the world café methodology to ask people what they really thought about certain topics, such as immigration, work, Roma people, LGBT, legal and financial reform.”

“The world café uses the same principle as the Constitutional Convention in Ireland whereby citizens gather at a table with an expert and a moderator. They are explained the topic of the day (for instance ‘work’ and each table discusses an aspect of it, such as ‘contracts’, ‘harassment at work’ and they, in turn, come up with proposals.

“These proposals were then handed to EU experts (academics, policy developers) who rephrased them to compile them in a document (the Manifesto) which was presented to the European Parliament this week.

“Beforehand they also organised Mani(fests)in 10 big European squares, where they asked passers-by what they thought of the proposals. It’s a citizen document from A to Z because the proposals, once rephrased by experts, were voted on again by citizens. The proposals presented in the current document are the ones which were the most popular.”

“It’s a work in progress as they would like this manifesto to be updated every two years so that more and more citizens become involved.”

Read the Citizens’ Manifesto here

The Citizen Manifesto, a citizen answer to the EU crisis (Maxence Salendre, Le Journal International)

Pic: A word cloud of the words that appear the most in the manifesto

Forbes

Forbes writes:

“Forbes determined the Best Countries for Business by grading 145 nations on 11 different factors: property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance. The data came from published reports from Freedom House, Heritage Foundation, Property Rights Alliance, Transparency International, World Bank and World Economic Forum.”

Alternatively

 

FIGHT!

Ireland heads Forbes list of the best countries for business (Forbes)

Pic: Forbes

Padraig_PIC_FD

 

 

 

Finglas (St. Canices & St. Margaret’s), Dublin Parish Priest Padraig Ó Cochláin.

 

LeCool-NiallMcCormack-BankNoteBy Niall McCormack.

Who sez:

It’s a fictional bank note issued by Banque De LeCool for 1 Million ‘Yule Yo-Yos’ so Sean and Sinead Citizen can give themselves a ‘top-up’ for Christmas and enjoy it in style. I assume you’re happy to back this new Christmas currency, you can always go to the EU/IMF if it all goes pear-shaped.

You can print out a stash of cash here.

This week’s le cool dublin issue:

Niall McCormack

daintree Daithif writes:

The Camden Street, Dublin stationers is closing…

 

Daintree

Update:

“I am writing with some bad news. After 18 years of supplying Ireland with the most beautiful papers, wedding stationery and other paper delights, Daintree will be closing on 31 January 2014.
I would like to thank all our customers for supporting us over the years. It has been a lot of fun and as well as fantastic customers, I have had the pleasure of working with many, many, brilliant, creative and loyal fellow workers. We will have a closing down sale starting today online and in store. I invite you to drop in, say goodbye and get a great deal.
For anyone who might be interested in taking over the business, it is for sale.
In a scaled down version (we currently employ 14 between full time and part time), Daintree is, in my opinion, a viable business. . If you are in a position where you could offer work to any of the brilliant people who are losing their jobs, you can email me as well.
For your information, we are simply ceasing to trade, all our suppliers will be paid and staff will receive redundancy and you’ll still be able to access The Cake Café.
Best wishes,
Paul Barnes, Daintree Paper

Previously: Driven To Tiers

Screen Shot 2013-12-05 at 01.09.11

A protest was held last night at the opening of the ‘Made in Israel’ Film Festival at Cineworld, Parnell Street, Dublin.

The Israeli Embassy had billed the opening as a “Hanukkah Reception”. Hanukkah is the Jewish festival of lights, and the festival takes place at a time when the lights are off in Gaza, where people have been living without electricity for up to 20 hours per day for more than a month as a result of the Israeli siege and the closure of tunnels by Egypt.

Meanwhile, in Gaza..

For the last month, all of Gaza’s 1.7 million residents have been living without power for most of the time and in the shadow of a public health catastrophe, after their sole power plant was forced to shut down, causing the failure of several sewerage and water plants. The power plant, which until recently supplied 30 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s electricity, ran out of diesel fuel on 1 November. The resulting shutdown has exacerbated an ongoing water and sanitation crisis and has left Gaza residents without power.

Gaza power crisis has compounded blockade’s assault on human dignity (Amnesty International)

Via Paula Geraghty

Broadsheet.ie