Where do we go from here????
Silver, 04 Nov 2005 23:25:55
It is time to move on and look at the campaign in a more pragmatic way. Talking is fine it shows the depth of feeling on the issues involved, highlights our strengths and weaknesses. Talking also heightens the bond within our community.
However, I feel it is a mistake to think there is plenty of time. I have already detected a degree of lethargy in as much of the talk is devoted to how we are going to react after the bill is law. Believe me it is better for the opposition now to know what they are going to encounter if this bill is presented to parliament. I don’t honestly think the authorities have the stomach to continue with the bill if it is going to meet hostile resistance.
However, if we wait and talk ourselves silly and the government start to spend money and become committed to the consultation document they will follow it thought. It is better to strike now and make our position known.
But how? We have no spokesperson, no legitimate organisation other than a loose group. We don’t have a vehicle to collect funding, and if we do have funding who holds it? If we are going to collect funds the campaign needs to be democratic. Okay a political party might be slightly over-the-top, but we do need some formalisation and I believe it should be broad enough to take on board similar issues and open enough to encourage vanilla participation.
Can we have a debate on how are going to move forward? There is no time to be lost.
Silver.
Paul Tavener, 04 Nov 2005 23:42:46
The very best way of making an impact in the next 27 days is to respond to the consultation and get as many other people to do the same. If a realy big response is recieved then it will have an effect.
After that yes lets have the debate on how we are going to move forward. Start the debate now even but don't be distracted from the most important consideration of the consultation response.
Author wrote:
> It is time to move on and look at the campaign in a more pragmatic way. Talking is fine it shows the depth of feeling on the issues involved, highlights our strengths and weaknesses. Talking also heightens the bond within our community.
> However, I feel it is a mistake to think there is plenty of time. I have already detected a degree of lethargy in as much of the talk is devoted to how we are going to react after the bill is law. Believe me it is better for the opposition now to know what they are going to encounter if this bill is presented to parliament. I don’t honestly think the authorities have the stomach to continue with the bill if it is going to meet hostile resistance.
> However, if we wait and talk ourselves silly and the government start to spend money and become committed to the consultation document they will follow it thought. It is better to strike now and make our position known.
> But how? We have no spokesperson, no legitimate organisation other than a loose group. We don’t have a vehicle to collect funding, and if we do have funding who holds it? If we are going to collect funds the campaign needs to be democratic. Okay a political party might be slightly over-the-top, but we do need some formalisation and I believe it should be broad enough to take on board similar issues and open enough to encourage vanilla participation.
> Can we have a debate on how are going to move forward? There is no time to be lost.
> Silver.
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Graham Marsden, 05 Nov 2005 00:11:44
flagoftheunion@hotmail.com wrote:
> But how? We have no spokesperson, no legitimate organisation other
> than a loose group. We don\x{2019}t have a vehicle to collect funding, and
> if we do have funding who holds it? If we are going to collect funds
> the campaign needs to be democratic.
>
> Can we have a debate on how are going to move forward? There is no
> time to be lost.
Silver: I agree there's no time to be lost, but I think you are somewhat
behind the times with what is going on!
People are putting in responses to the consultations and writing to MPs,
those of us who have the capacity have spread the words via other
groups, mailing lists and so on.
We do have a vehicle for collecting funding and money has already been
donated and used to fund fliers etc.
Yes, we don't have a spokesperson or an "legitimate organisation" (but
that doesn't mean it's "illegitimate"!) however I'm not sure we need
those at present.
There have been discussions about what we are going to next, eg plans
for advertising and other actions.
By all means let's not lose momentum, but by the same token, people need
to keep up to speed so we don't end up going over old ground.
Cheers,
Graham.