At 6:23 PM -0400 27/11/2000, Marc Erickson wrote:
>For those who are interested in learning about another country's political
>culture... :-)
>
>New Democratic Party: http://www.ndp.ca/Default.asp?language=English
Ahem, the only one you really need to know about. There was a joke on a
great Canadian show called "The Royal Canadian Air Farce" where they talked
about the "two red books." See, the Liberal party published its platform (I
think, I never saw one up close) in a pamphlet called "the red book" . . .
well, the commentator was noting the importance between this "red book" and
the *other* red book, which is the NDP's red book _Quotations from Chairman
Mao._ NDP having been a heavily socialist party at one time, and led by
Tommy Douglas who was a real Marxist (no less), I took delight in the
humor. Yay Commies. Har har.
NDP is from Saskatchewan, and used to be tied to the society there. Though
I don't really consider myself a Saskatchewan person anymore, I still feel
some sorrow at how they've turned out in recent years (all but revoking
some of the treaty rights of aboriginals not in the interests of real
economic necessity but rather in an act of political posturing, and growing
more conservative all the time). I feel envy for those who were around in
the days when they were really dedicated to reforms and social programs,
and had some force behind them to actually get it done, at least in their
home province. Now, they're sadly crippled and I don't know what they'll
look like in the next election.
>Yes, we allow communist candidates, as we feel it's important to a democracy
>to allow all people's views to be expressed. :-)
Indeed. In the riding in which I live (which is not the riding in which I
voted, since I am technically a Saskatchewan resident and voter due to
being a student here), there was a candidate for the _Marijuana Party_ and
over in a friend's riding there was a candidate for _Parti de Rien_, which
is a pun on "The Nothing Party" and "Starts from nothing" . . . a party of
homeless people who campaigned with hand-written cardboard signs. Actually,
good on them. There's not enough of them to get a seat anywhere, but
raising themselves as a party might be a small step in the direction of
some kind of grassroots action, maybe collectivity or getting something
together on their own -- reclaiming agency. Who knows? One can hope.
Gord
