The Isocracy Network

Presentation to the Isocracy Network on Friday April 19, 2014 at Trades Hall. PDF slides of the presentation are also available.

What I'm going to try and do tonight is do more than simply discuss how terrible the human rights situation is in North Korea. I will speak about that, but what I think will be far more useful will be to explain how things got to where they are, and what I believe the possibilities for progress are. To do this we first must go back in time, and while giving some general background I will touch on a few things that tend to get overlooked in mainstream accounts that I think are very important for understanding North Korea. Now, to tell the history of North Korea is to tell the history of Kim Il-sung, as perhaps more than any other state in history, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK was, and continues to be, shaped by the character of its founder and leader for almost 50 years.

North Korea has been described by former Australian justice Michael Kirby, in a report to the United Nations Human Rights Councils, as committing crimes against humanity. The report accused the regime of mass killings and torture and said responsible officials should face the International Criminal Court.

The incontrovertible dictates of the Gregorian Calendar state that another year is presently coming to a close, and another, laden with potential, is soon to dawn.

As earnest believers in human freedom, this is one holiday that I believe we can rally behind. A new year, a new chapter in the so far interminable story of our universe that we author for our more intimate human micro-universe.

So, 2014, another chance for human freedom!

by Chet Gaines. Image from Wonkette of people praying to the Golden Bull on Wall Street for economic improvement.

Modern economic theory is presented as a science. Elaborate mathematics and diagrams are employed to derive principles that are assumed to be universal among economic actors, even though the specialized math used is a “dated version” (Keen 6) and such diagrams “often contain outright fallacies” (Keen 14). After a closer examination of the dominant economic theory and its critics, one might come to the conclusion that it is actually a belief system quite similar to a religion, not an actual scientific study. The following definition of religion is given by Clifford Geertz:

“(1) a system of symbols which acts to (2) establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by (3) formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and (4) clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that (5) the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.” (Bowie 20)

by Nairi Porter

"Buy land, they're not making it anymore", Mark Twain famously urged his audience. These words have been the motto of the markets for agricultural land for a long time, and they describe the mindset of the active land buyers across the developing world.

During the last decade, agricultural land (mostly across Africa and South-East Asia) roughly equivalent to the territory of Germany (33 million hectares, according to the most conservative estimates) has been purchased by foreign governments and companies. They develop enormous estates for food-growing and biofuel processing, the bulk of that production either returning directly to the original market or being exported on the international markets.

In the 19th century, amid the turmoil of industrial capitalism's early development, French thinker Pierre-Joseph Proudhon exclaimed that 'Property is theft!' His political work is, in general, highly instructive. In particular, for those of us researching the connection between the criminalization of conduct and the existence of crime, Proudhon's remark is a fitting analogy: Criminalization is criminal!

For there to be a criminal, there must first be a crime, and for a crime to exist, there must first be an authority, namely the State, which purports to act on behalf of the public. Now, whether this means in the public interest or for the public is a different, though crucial point. Each crime recognized by the State calls upon a range of rationales for the so-called public interest. For instance, in criminalizing a drug, say marijuana, the State will muster forth an argument that draws upon moral and social concerns, as well as political and economic factors, some apparent, others perhaps hidden from first glance.

Greg Denham was a serving police officer in Victoria and Queensland, including 5 years as a project officer with the Victoria Police Drug and Alcohol Policy Coordination Unit from 1997-2002.

Greg left policing in 2002 and over the past decade has been involved locally and internationally in drug policy issues including seven years living and working in South East Asia and China as a technical advisor on policing, HIV prevention and harm reduction at the Burnet and Nossal Institutes.

Greg is currently the Executive Officer for the Yarra Drug and Health Forum in Melbourne, where there are significant issues related to public injecting, and has called for the establishment of a supervised injecting facility.

He formed the Australian branch of LEAP - Law Enforcement Against Prohibition - in 2010 which unites thousands of police and criminal justice officials worldwide who want to end the war on drugs and advocate for drug law reform.

The Isocracy Network will be holding its 2013 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 21st September, 2013, at the United Voice union offices, 117-131 Capel St North Melbourne. Nominations are are sought for the positions of President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and general committee positions. Please send these to public@isocracy.org by midnight of Friday 20th of September.

A committee report will be distributed prior to the meeting. Minutes of the last AGM follow some relevant articles on drug law reform.

The Eight Pointed Star Movement takes its inspiration from the Eureka rebels. The Eureka rebels used the eight pointed star on their flag - the Eureka Flag.

• Human beings are born with inalienable rights and liberties no Government can legislate away or corporation take away. Ultimate political authority rests in the hands of the people, not the State, the Government of the day or the Corporate sector.
• Citizens should have the ability to initiate legislation through citizen initiated referendums and have the power to recall their political representatives in between elections.
• All human beings have the same rights irrespective of race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age or role in society.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders never ceded sovereignty. The 1992 Mabo High Court decision that recognised they had legal rights to land and sea has been drowned by bucket loads of Parliamentary extinguishment. A treaty is the only way to ensure reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians becomes a reality.