Jonathan Neale AnneBonnyPirate

Sırbistan'da öğrenciler doğrudan demokrasi yöntemini seçim siyasetine taşıdılar. Liderlere dayalı, yukarıdan aşağıya bir örgütlenme yerine, herkesin söz alabildiği öğrenci genel kurulları (plenum) oluşturdular. Kararlar tartışılarak, mümkün olduğunca uzlaşmayla alındı. Bu yöntemi üniversitelerin dışına da taşıdılar. Mahallelerde, kentlerde ve köylerde yurttaş meclisleri (zborovi) kuruldu. İnsanlar kendi sorunlarını tartışmak, çözüm önermek ve birlikte karar almak için toplandı. 250 kişilik milletvekili aday listesini de şöyle oluşturdular: 1- Önce 250 adaylık kontenjanı, öğrenci sayılarına göre altı üniversite kenti arasında paylaştırdılar. Belgrad'ın listeye hâkim olmaması için diğer kentlerin de üst sıralarda temsil edilmesini sağladılar. Ardından her kentin kontenjanını fakülteler arasında dağıttılar. 2- Ülke genelinde 80'den fazla fakültede öğrenci genel kurulları toplandı. Öğrenciler kendileri aday olmadı ama her biri aday önerebildi ve neden o kişiyi önerdiğini açıkladı. İsimler tartışıldı, önce uzlaşma arandı, gerektiğinde oylama yapıldı. 3- Mevcut siyasi kadrolara kapıyı kapattılar. İktidar partilerinin mevcut ve eski üyelerini, iktidar adına görev yapmış siyasetçileri ve bürokratları, muhalefet partilerinin üst düzey yöneticilerini aday göstermediler. Böylece hem iktidardan hem de yerleşik muhalefetten bağımsız bir liste oluşturdular. 4- Fakülteler birbirlerinin adaylarını da denetledi. Önerilen bütün isimler ortak bir listede toplandı ve tüm fakültelerin incelemesine açıldı. İtirazlar öğrenci kurullarında tartışıldı. Adayın elenmesi için kurulların yarısından fazlasının veto etmesi gerekiyordu. Tek bir fakültenin itirazı yeterli değildi. 5- Elenen veya çekilen adayların yerine yedekler getirildi. Böylece profesörlerin, doktorların, bilim insanlarının, işçilerin, sanatçıların ve aktivistlerin yer aldığı 250 kişilik liste ortaya çıktı.

Memo: The American people want “substantial change.” A new AP-NORC poll reports that most voters want major change in Washington ahead of this year’s midterms. The poll reports that a combined 80% of registered voter respondents said they want either “complete and total upheaval” or “substantial change” in the way the country is run — including 97% of Democrats, 90% of independents and 58% of Republicans. If the Democratic Party thinks that they can just tinker around the edges once they take control of Congress, guess again. The American people have had enough. No more failed establishment status quo policies. The American people want change, REAL change and an agenda that works for the working families of our country. That means, among other things, passing: - Medicare for All - An annual 5% wealth tax on billionaires - The elimination of a corrupt campaign finance system - Raising the minimum wage to at least $20 an hour - Expanding Social Security by scrapping the cap - Free tuition at public colleges and medical and nursing schools - Universal childcare - Building 7 million affordable homes & apartments - A moratorium on AI data centers - An end to never-ending wars and U.S. support for the extremist Israeli government The American people have had enough. They want a government that delivers for working families, not just the 1%. The Democrats must deliver.

Last thing I'll point out for now about the successful outcome of Lucy Letby's grievance complaint, against Drs Stephen Brearey and Ravi Jayaram, for bullying and harassing her, which the jury never got to hear about. The trial judge didn't just object to jurors being told that Letby won her grievance. He objected to the defence making any mention at all of the fact that, months after Drs Brearey and Jayaram succeeded in forcing Letby out of her job, the hospital gave her the all-clear to come back to work. The judge's reasoning (see screenshots) was clear: if the defence told jurors that Letby was due to return to work in March 2017, then jurors could end up deducing that Letby had won her grievance. And worse, they could end up sussing out what actually happened behind the scenes: the hospital gave Letby her job back after determining that the accusations against her were baseless. Any chance of any hint of any inference on the part of any juror along these lines had to be foreclosed. And so when all was said and done, the jury only got to hear the first half of the story. They heard that Letby filed a grievance. They heard that she did so after doctors succeeded in forcing her out of her job, to keep her away from the babies. They heard the prosecutor describe Letby's "frustration at the fact that she was not being allowed back onto the neonatal unit." They heard she was raring to come back. But, rightly or wrongly, the jury never got to hear the rest: that Letby won her grievance; that a months-long investigation found the doctors had bullied and harassed her; that the lead investigator had this to say about them: "I was disgusted by their behaviour. It is likely that they lied." The jury never got to hear about how the hospital set a plan in motion to get Letby back on her feet – to get her working on the unit again by March 2017. They never got to hear about the senior nurse who told the grievance investigators, "we would be delighted to have her back." They never got to hear about how Drs Brearey and Jayaram were forced to apologise for their behaviour. And they never got to hear how, halfway through March 2017, with Letby counting down the days until her return, Dr Jayaram demanded a meeting with the head of HR. And that in that meeting, he dropped a bombshell. On 15 March 2017, Dr Jayaram told Sue Hodkinson, the hospital's head of HR, that he had once caught Lucy Letby trying to murder a baby. A huge revelation, and yet the first anyone remembers hearing about it. Even though, according to Dr Jayaram, the incident had happened all the way back in February 2016. In other words: Dr Jayaram says he caught Lucy Letby trying to murder a baby, and he sat on the information for over a year. No matter. His account was disturbing, and it prompted the hospital to call the police. With that, the plan to give Letby her job back collapsed. She never stepped foot on the neonatal unit again.