Talk:Localism (politics)
This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Article
[edit]This article sounds like someone trying to explain their own POV. I believe the topic itself could be expanded, but atm all the article contains is a rather poorly written list of beliefs of localists. I myself have no knowledge on this subject, but maybe others can help shape this article better. Infinity0 talk 22:54, 24 January 2006 (UTC)
- I've never heard of it. It seems to border on Regionalism, but with more Marxist thought in there. I wonder whether it actually is anything mroe than a made-up term. The Minister of War (Peace) 08:20, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
- I haven't heard of it either, and localism is a term used in such a wide variety of situations it's hard to locate it through an online search (this may be a possible source). It desperately needs some references to demonstrate that it isn't just one person's political philosophy, and failing that could be a potential afd. Ziggurat 03:54, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
- I have heard of this ideology before, but I am unsure of a specific name; Localism perhaps. Or it could also be a term coined in order to present the ideology on Wiki in a formal manner. The fact is, there are many factions across the political landscape and it is difficult to describe all of them in a straight forward fashion. Also, it can be difficult to find formal or academic information regarding such ideologies. You might note that this ideology coincides I image with that of the Amish. I know that the Amish are quite strict on the idea of migration and local obligation, for example. I haven’t seen this issue discussed under socialism before - migration rather than immigration that is. I know liberals preach free movement and that communists have a history of limiting free movement, but the ideology presented herewith is not centrally organised like any flavours of communism I am aware of. Indeed, this ideology is the exact opposite of centralisation. Anyway, I have no problem doing some research on this in order to find sources that coincide with this philosophy. I certainly don't think it belong under any other sections on Wiki, but I might be wrong as communism is composed of many frations many of which I am unsure about. I also don't think the link to New New Localism belongs here. This is a satirical piece with respect to the machinations of Tony Blairs's New Labour.Polzsa 04:04, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
- It seems like this article is just one person's view. Or maybe the author isn't American, and I'm seeing this from another country's perspective. To me, localism is the political viewpoint that the primary control of government should be at the local (or a more local level). For example, an American localist may prefer the Articles of Confederation over the Constitution, because the States had, in effect, more power than the federal government, allowing the most powerful unit of government to be the one closest (or closer) to the people. Such a position is hardly left-wing, in my opinion, as this article states. 1 February 2006
- Seems very biased, POV and sloppy - oddly mixed in with a really quite interesting article... I have never heard of Localism before - and wouldn't expect it to mean what the article claims. Googling dosn't bring anything of relevance which can inlighten the subject. My guess is this is someone with too much time on his hands - pondering while people are leaving small town America.
Celcius (Talk) Wiki be With us! 14:20, 9 February 2006 (UTC)
- Seems very biased, POV and sloppy - oddly mixed in with a really quite interesting article... I have never heard of Localism before - and wouldn't expect it to mean what the article claims. Googling dosn't bring anything of relevance which can inlighten the subject. My guess is this is someone with too much time on his hands - pondering while people are leaving small town America.
- I think this is a good seed to build from. I know of this idea-- It's talked about often in the US. I think there could be more balence-- ie. some critical views-- however this is not "just one person's idea" --it's just a rather new idea that is only gaining traction recently. futurebird 03:41, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
- The article has been overhauled since the above comments (see bellow). If you have any referances to discusions and critisms of "Localism" please feel free to add to the article.--JK the unwise 08:15, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
- I think this is a good seed to build from. I know of this idea-- It's talked about often in the US. I think there could be more balence-- ie. some critical views-- however this is not "just one person's idea" --it's just a rather new idea that is only gaining traction recently. futurebird 03:41, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
If you want to definition it. You must read his speech at this website. http://kanchanapisek.or.th/speeches/1997/1204.en.html
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.26.33.108 (talk • contribs) 14:55, 4 February 2007 (UTC).
Articles for Deletion debate
[edit]This article survived an Articles for Deletion debate. The discussion can be found here. -Splashtalk 02:39, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Left Wing?
[edit]in the article on left wing politics there is a list of varietys of left wing politics, the article claims this is a left wing ideology but I'm not to sure, does anyone have any concrete reasons why it is.
I think it's Right Wing, it's very similar to National Socialism which is obviously Right Wing. --RabbidRabbis 04:15, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
Left wing ideologies are concerned with the general well being of an entire society, while right wing ideologies are individualistic. This ideology is clearly left-wing and makes reference to eliminating global poverty. For example, it calls for self sufficiency. It also calls for bartering between different regions as a means of eliminating the corruption associated with cash transactions.
National Socialism is very authoritarian in nature, while this system is more democratic than the type of western democracy that most of us are familiar with, as it gives people real power over their own affairs. The people themselves form the government rather than elected politicians.
Opponents of migration are not always motivated by racism. For example, many people argue that migration of young people from rural America to urban areas has resulted in a liberal drain, and this results in a social split which is distructive to society. --Polzsa 16:15, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
- Not all right-wing ideologies are individualistic; in fact, very few are outside of the US and the Anglosphere. Most right-wing ideologies (conservatisms) are very collectivist, conformist, authoritarian, and for a strong centralist national government. What the U.S. right-wing movements (i.e. conservatism and libertarianism) have in common with right-wingers from other countries is the defense of the strong & powerful (rich: corporations, aristocrats, etc.) against the weak & powerless (poor: workers, consumers, etc.); in addition, U.S. conservatives place an emphasis on religion, tradition, strong national defense, tough punishment for crime. About the only times they put an emphasis on the "local" in economics is when it comes to taxes & regulations on business, or to the "us" vs. "them" attitude when local rubes feel threatened by state or federal plans to build something in "their" neck of the woods. When it comes to culture, however, U.S. right-wingers almost always act to "defend" small-town or "country" values against cosmopolitan "city-slickers".173.16.124.196 (talk) 00:03, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
Localism isn't even nationalist nevermind NS... --Localist 02:08, 7 February 2006 (UTC)
Surely its closer to the right? Localism puts the individual from the community above the a greater collectivist government to make greater decisions and have more autonomy, I guess thats why so many right-wing parties supported brexit.
Different definition
[edit]According to an article in the Socialist Workers Party's Journal, "International Socialism" Localism is defined thus:
"an idea widespread inside large parts of the environmental movement. The thrust of [which] is to seek an answer to the problems created by globalisation in the existence of an internationalised economy as such rather than in capitalism as a specific mode of production. The remedy is sought in calls to minimise international trade and to seek to establish economies based on ‘local’ self-sufficiency only."
Feedback: Transport and climate change—a reply to James Woodcock
According to George Monbiot writing in The Gaurdian:
"localisation", (which he implies is the policy advocated by Localism) is "the proposal that everything which can be produced locally should be produced locally"
The myth of localism
According to Alan Milburn Labour Party MP localism is
"making services more locally accountable, devolving more power to local communities and, in the process, forging a modern relationship between the state, citizens and services"
The need for a new settlement
--JK the unwise 12:13, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Overhaul
[edit]I have given this article a bit of a beating. I have tryed to make it reflect the fact that there is no homoginous political philosophy called "Localism" rather that there are varrious differnt types of "Localism". I have provided some more ref's to give a flavour of the differnt views of Localism and I have ripped out most of the POV oringal reasarch. I have removed the reference to the Telegrath article on African corroption as it is not diffectly about Localism. Hope you pple think that I have improved the article. --JK the unwise 13:48, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
I am about to do some more work on this. I think I can help with history. Certainly there are many "Localists," and the term "Re-localization" gets thrown around as well, although that already has a fairly long disambiguation page. Ethan Mitchell 23:32, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
- Hopefully this can become a good article. In my overhaul I didn't whant to be too harsh so i left in a few unsourced claims. However, re-reading the article some of these appear to me to be quite contencious, notably "Some Localists are also against the idea of offering refugee status" and "Some Localists are against political intervention and peace keeping measures". Feel free to remove these sections if desire so takes you (or alt' find sources for them).--JK the unwise 13:09, 28 February 2006 (UTC)
Merge Localism (activism)
[edit]Localism (activism) is about Localism as a political practice and as such should be merged with this article. Neither article are particulary big. Also it would give help this article show the divergent politics of localism.--JK the unwise 09:34, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Yup, makes sense. I support the merge. -- infinity0 17:44, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
- support the merge, and great work on overhauling the POV aspects of the article JK! Ziggurat 18:51, 2 March 2006 (UTC)
Christian Democracy?
[edit]I see no evidence that "localism" has anything in particular to do with Christian Democracy, why should the template go here?--JK the unwise 17:01, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
Peer review request
[edit]Editors interested in this topic might like to take part in peer review on a new version of Global justice I've been working on. Cheers, --Sam Clark 11:37, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
Dear readers, both thai and not thai,
I am 100% thai people who know that, our beloved king Bhumipol Adulyadej, is doing the right thing for his thai people.
The Sufficient Economy is the philosophy which is proper for our society. All of his Majesty the king's life, he works hard, he works for his thai people to live better and live happier.
Thaksin Shinnawatra and whoever, who hire some bad writer to blame our beloved king. Please know that you are doing wrong.
What you did will be destroy all your life. I wish to see in this near future. No more light that can enlighten your heart to find the way out. Your life is darkened by the bad side of capitalism. You do everything for what you want, you don't know what you can do and what you "Can't"do.
TAXSIN - You are not farang who don't know who to respect. You are thai, but, you are the lotus under the deepest ground of the well!!!
All readers, all writers, I beg you to STOP!!! Don't talk if you don't know about it clearly. I think you don't like for sure if people who don't know you well, but critic your idea in the bad way.
For thai people who blame my beloved his majesty the king's sufficient economy. May karma will bring you to hell as soon as possible. You don't know what you're doing. You're critic the best people who do everything to help thai people, including you!, live better. If you are so stupid that you don't know what is the good thing you should do, please change your nationality!! You are not good enough to be thai!!!
100% Thai who respect His Majesty the king Bhumipol Adulyadej.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.24.150.191 (talk • contribs) 15:09, 4 February 2007 (UTC).
Localism in Thailand
[edit]The whole section on localism in Thailand is so POV that I think it should be deleted. Any objections?Makerowner 17:33, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
I agree that the section is a point of view. I believe that the source is an article in the Economist dated 11 Jan 2007 (http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8521976). The Economist's point on lèse-majesté in Thailand is wide off the mark. The test of lèse-majesté under the Thai Criminal Code is the same as that of libel case against private citizens. The penalty for lèse-majesté is however much harsher, i.e. 3 to 15 years against a maximum of 1 year for libel cases. The viewpoint expressed in the section also does not reflect King Bhumibol's own words. "อันนี้ ก็เคยบอกว่า ความพอเพียงนี้ ไม่ได้ หมายความว่า ทุกครอบครัว จะต้องผลิตอาหารของตัว จะต้องทอผ้าใส่เอง. อย่างนั้น มันเกินไป แต่ว่าในหมู่บ้าน หรือในอำเภอ จะต้องมีความพอเพียง พอสมควร. บางสิ่งบางอย่าง ที่ผลิตได้ มากกว่าความต้องการ ก็ขายได้"
(I said before "sufficiency" did not mean that each and every family must have produced its own food and spinned its own cloth. That would be too much. Nevertheless there must be a reasonable level of sufficiency in a community or a district. Some items that can be produced more than required can be sold.) This comes from the king's birthday speech in 1997. Anybody familiar with Michael Porter's recipe for local competitiveness will likely see some similarity. "Demand conditions at home have much to do with whether firms can and will move from imitative, low-quality products and services to competiting differentiation." (Porter, Michael E. Cluster and Competition:New Agendas for Companies, Governments, and Institutions. In Michael E. Porter (ed.), On Competition, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review Books. 1998) Both the king and Porter are against "race to the bottom" competitiveness strategy. 58.10.167.149 12:44, 25 January 2007 (UTC)Visoot Phongsathorn (visoot@phongsathorn.net)
From an Australian currently living in Thailand, I agree a little. The section could maybe stay, but be rephrased to be far less negative. Like the word "propaganda" has many negative conotations - perhaps "agenda". Also, the reference to the law for speaking against the monarchy is bit far-fetched! It's one of those laws that hasn't been enacted for many years. The principle behind this "self-sufficiency" is not a bad one for Thailands current state - they need to look after their people first. That's part of the whole push - us first (people, local communities), rest of the world after. It's being portrayed here as very one-sided (e.g. localisation is a silly political idea that the Thais are against, but can't speak out - this is far from the truth).
It's a reasonable idea for Thailand or any country. Australia had and has a policy of buy Australian made - isn't this a semi-localisation policy? Just a bit more country-wide but is relatively anti-globalisation (as this article sees it). As an interesting side-note - this also ties in with idea of sustainability. The ideal of having enough to meet the needs of today without compromising future needs meeting. One of the approaches is to have things locally made and provided. - Belinda (in Thailand) 58.64.17.2 08:20, 1 February 2007 (UTC).
I am Thai who cannot speak freely in my own country, cannot talk freely in my office with colleges, cannot express my opinion freely because of the "lèse-majesté", so are a lot of Thais. If this law is lifted, Thailand will be in a chaos for sure. We have been waiting for the right time. Things change. No good old days anymore. The monarchy has reached its highest since June last year. People love the king but feel so upset with the military government backed up by him. What foreigners heard from Thai media is a delusion, a propaganda. The truth is not speaked out, especially words from the grassroot.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.64.54.154 (talk • contribs) 18:51, 3 February 2007 (UTC).
---* The truth is not speak out is the time during TAXSIN and his group are government.*---- All grassroot is cheated by TAXSIN's advertising way!!! Everyone knows that!!! TAXSIN bought the TV's business, he fired every reporters who blame his management. Luckily Khun Sonti Limthongkul is speak out via his website and his cable. Right now, thai people is smarter! We don't want TAXSIN to be back. What he always do is to blame and discredit our beloved his majesty the king. TAXSIN knows that if thai people is uneducated, his business will be growed up. But, our beloved king is trying to educate his thai people, so, the bad TAXSIN can't bare about this.
I am speaking with people all over the world!!! TAXSIN is not a good people. He is lunatic and he's trying to compete with our beloved king, which, he can't win. Thai people who can catch him up, never want him to come back to Thailand. So, please not support him. Let this bad millionnaire face his faith. Don't pay attention to him. Let him know that doing bad things will face the tough life like this. You can help thai people by ignoring him.
Please come to thailand and get to know us. You will know why we really adore and respect our beloved king, and why, we really hate TAXSIN!!!
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.24.150.191 (talk • contribs) 14:09, 4 February 2007 (UTC).
Please read the speech of our king before you have any critics.
http://kanchanapisek.or.th/speeches/1997/1204.en.html
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.26.33.108 (talk • contribs) 15:03, 4 February 2007 (UTC).
Please read the difinition below.
The word sufficiency has another meaning, a wider meaning. It does not only mean self-sufficiency but also means to have enough for the individual to live on. This sufficiency was mentioned to those who were present here, in this hall-when was it? 20 or 24 years ago, in 1974. From 1974 to 1998, it is 24 years, isn’t it? On that day, I said that we should strive to have enough to live on. To have enough to live on, of course, means sufficiency economy. If everyone has enough to live on, everything will be all right. Furthermore, if the whole country can subsist, the better it would be, and Thailand at that time was on the verge of insufficiency. Some individuals had plenty, but some had practically nothing. In the past, there was enough to live on, but today, impoverishment is creeping in. We must, therefore, implement a policy of sufficiency economy so that everyone will have enough to live on. This sufficiency means to have enough to live on. Sufficiency means to lead a reasonably comfortable life, without excess, or overindulgence in luxury, but enough. Some things may seem to be extravagant, but if it brings happiness, it is permissible as long as it is within the means of the individual. This is another interpretation of the sufficiency economy or system. Last year, when I mentioned the word sufficiency, I mentally translated it and actually spelled it out as self-sufficiency; that is why I said sufficiency for the individual. In fact, this sufficiency economy has a wider meaning than just self-sufficiency. Self-sufficiency means that the individual produces the things to fulfill his own needs without having to purchase them from others; the individual can live entirely on his own.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 125.26.33.108 (talk • contribs) 15:15, 4 February, 2007.
Please stop blanking the section Localism in Thailand as it has useful information for many Wikipedia users. This topic should only be discussed on the Localism as Political Philosophy alone, not talking about the former Thai prime minister, Thaksin. Anyone are free to discuss the usefulness of the self-sufficient economy. However the downsides are also discussed here, and it must be retained. I would comment that this is not the place where you, the vandals, should exert your ideology over it and ruin every hard efforts people make. If you want to criticize any political figures, please go to their pages on Wikipedia. This page is for the discussion of the merits and weaknesses of the philosophy, not for criticism of irrelevant persons. Again, do not vandalise nor delete the section, and any irrelevant information should not be put here.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jane12345 (talk • contribs) 16:56, 7 February 2007 (UTC).
Localism in Thialand has been vandalized by many abusers. I found a deleted section that is interesting. This section has been deleted by an abuser. I want to ask all of you that this section should be remained or not. This section is interesting because it states the contradiction between the King and his philosophy. I quote it below for you to comment. This contradiction would strengthen the belief that his philosophy is only political philosophy (not economical philosophy at all) that is proposed for political gain for him.
"Localism in Thailand is the concept that is proposed by the Thai King. Even he advocates for the refusal of excessive consumption of consumer products, but he is one of the richest man in Thailand. He have several palaces spreding around the countries, mansions in others countries, land, stock, private jet, private train, even private train station, etc. Members of the royal family also have their own palaces and are very rich. Royal family life-style sharply contradicts to the philosophy that the King try to educate Thais, which they spend much money to fulfil their wants and live extravagant life."
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thaksin (talk • contribs) 18:53, 17 February 2007 (UTC).
The above section should have been deleted and I think it's not the abuser deleting it. Because those quote is not true or maybe it has only a partial truth. I am a 45-year-old Thai national and I think I have seen enough to comment. Although the King and the Royal families own many things in Thailand but they didn't live extravagant life at all. Most Thais know how the King has been living his life. He has been giving to Thai people since the first day and still. You could prove it by seeing all the King ceremonies happened in Thailand or just searching Thai King. You will sense how much Thai people loving him. I wish there would be no more abusers to set up bad things for our King. He is too good to face that.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.9.1.88 (talk • contribs) 17:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC).
My first impression towards the article of Localism in Thailand is that it is strongly biased. It must be written either out of the writer's total lack of understanding or his intention to discredit the king. Many parts are even not true. We, Thai people, never feel that the sufficiency economy is a god-given philosophy and never just follow it because of that reason. Thai people do not belong to the ancient period. On the contrary I think only those who are really far-sighted and highly spiritual, (and thus can be called 'truly modern') can understand the real advantages of such a philosophy. I strongly recommend that Wikipedia should delete the article or at least do something that make it look unbiased. There have been many people trying to explain this to you but you just ignored their comments. What is the use for this discussion page then? I don't want to see this Free Encyclopedia serving a specific group of people with or without its consciousness. Don't keep discreting yourselves this way.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 124.120.207.59 (talk • contribs) 05:09, 17 March 2007 (UTC).
I don't think that people are right or they are wrong which is based solely on your peception. There is no true or fault theories but creditability and convincing theories. I would not discuss further on the issues relate to writers' intention or writer's political ideologies, since it is not relevant. Every wikipedia users have the right to express their own views even their views contradict to your first perceptions of the theory. I may warn you; DO NOT try to blank nor to vandalise the page just because some contributors have different ideas. Come again if you have convincing arguments.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thaksin (talk • contribs) 07:55, 22 March 2007 (UTC).
I am in total agreement with Thaksin (the previous poster, not the real Thaksin!). Nearly all this article is written in an unprofessional POV style. This needs to be eliminated. To the people here making threats and insults because others have dared to discuss the King of Thailand, please remember that other countries practise freedom of speech and thought. We respect your nation and its laws, please do not try and push your own thought control onto internet articles. Fact, logic and reason will not go away just because you want them to.
Many parts of the article contain strongly-biased POVs rather than facts. For example, the statement explaining that the king's philosophy is to legitimize his and the royal family's extravagant life has no proven evidence of the relationship between such two things and bluntly jump to the conclusion. Whether it is an abusing act on a neutral free encyclopedia for political or personal purpose, I think any intellectual person reading it will be able to figure out. However, what I can say myself is that a judgement without trial deos not deserve to be anywhere in civilized world.
Sufficiency Economy is not Self-Sufficiency Economy
[edit]King Bhumipol's Sufficiency Economy ideology is not a self-sufficiency one. It did not totally reject globalization. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.136.73.107 (talk) 04:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC).
By what basis, do you conclude that the King's philosophy is not Localism? You should have the clear understanding of Localism, especially its aspect as an political philosophy. Thus you will figure out that the King's philosphy is exactly Localism.
—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Thaksin (talk • contribs) 15:24, 7 March 2007 (UTC).
I do not believe that the person writing this has any concept of what a Sufficiency Economy is or the history of it's development. I need to get to a printer so I can hash through all of this ranting. Then I will sit down with the UNDP report, a text on Buddhist Economics and the papers presented at the Buddhist Economics conference in Ubon Ratchathani in January. Maybe I can get it worked out before the end of the week. I have to spend Tuesday touring 2 long standing Sufficiency Economy Communities (but wait....this "theory" is untested...)LindaNowakowski 10:55, 7 April 2007 (UTC)
Localism in Thailand is extremely biased.
[edit]The whole section was edited by Thaksin (talk · contribs), who is obviously a Thaksin supporter. He also has an axe to grind with King Bhumibol. All of his edits praise Thaksin's policy while comdemning the King and his theory in every aspect. I've never seen such biased POV edits before in Wikipedia. It should be critically reviewed, otherwise it will become Thaksin's propaganda page.
Sadly, people who understand self-sufficiency philosophy well enough is Thai people. Worse yet, perhaps no Thai people truly understand the real meaning of the King's idea. People have their own interpretation while the government uses it to promote their own agenda. I've found the UNDP report on sufficiency economy written by Chris Baker here. We should use it as the primary source to correct all those slanderous claims. - DTRY 11:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Please be patient, since it is a philosophy and has not been proved yet we should wait and see what will happen after the philosophy has fully been thrust. For me, I open my mind for new arguments from both sides whether or not it is applicable. I just delete the disputed notice for now, since there have been two section dedicated to the proponents and the opponents already. For those who want to support the philosophy please put it in the correct section, and it applies for the opposite as well.
- It's not a matter of whether the philosophy has been proven or not, but whether we are telling the facts, and being NPOV. I think I'm going to RfD this. 203.155.58.254 05:58, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
I think the localism in Thailand section should at a minimum be removed to its own section. This topic is fairly broad and having such specific information in at such length is distracting. I'd prefer to move the section and reference it in the article. - ryandwayne (Oct 28, 2007) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ryandwayne (talk • contribs) 15:02, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
Localism is not a Self-Sufficiency Economy
[edit]Whatever a self-sufficiency economy is, it is not clearly defined in the text here and yet is being redirected from an article title to that effect. The whole section on Thailand is distracting to the concept of localism and is not clearly written. I think the Thai section and the redirect from Self-Sufficient economies should be removed. I'm not clear what a SS economy is, but I am clear on what what the idea of localism is. Maybe localism is a part of that economic theory, but they are not one and the same. --Ryandwayne 15:21, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Okay, after input from the helpboard I decided to move the section in question to "Thailand Sufficiency Economy" where it can be debated at length if it is NPOV or not. Now, we can focus on cleaning up the localism (politics) page...I have a few sources I'm going to bring soon, just want to figure out how to best approach it. --Ryandwayne 20:15, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
A Green, White and Purple Society
UTOPIA
by Aaron Davies
Material Goods Successful technological progress sees goods needed for a utopian life produced quickly, cheaply and with minimum labour. Cars, TV’s and white goods are assembled from natural resource to finished product in one or several places almost entirely by machines. Homes and apartments become jigsaw pieces with only several parts, mostly built by machines. They are then placed on the land, or built into high-rise on site. Clothing, furniture and food is quickly and efficiently produced by machines from natural resource to finished product. Labour ceases to be relevant in the productive process, with machines watched over by human supervisors creating all we need materially.
The Society’s Jobs With the phasing out of jobs in manufacturing, a huge proportion of the labour force is now diverted into other areas of want and need. Teachers, artists, sportspeople, local politicians, community organizers, poets, philosophers, actors, musicians and counsellors are considered important and are plentiful. Local craftspeople produce items of interest. More people own a small business. Much of the economy is devoted to social life. Much of life is aided by trained professionals and work itself is usually enjoyable, of short duration and many people are highly respected. Education focuses on delivering these professionals, artists and leaders. Almost everyone is in a respected profession and the average person is in a life with many minds delivering their community life, entertaining them, inspiring them and caring for them. Many people live better than that.
Education Completely free for all, from childcare to post-graduate studies. An Early Years Primary School, for ages 5-7, consists of two teachers and ten students with its own playground and building. Primary School Senior has ten children per class in a traditional school environment. Secondary School (ages 11-13) and then the life-shaping High Colleges (ages 14 -17), where students are directly trained for their careers, have the feel of a small, elite American college class of 2010. The High Colleges are Trades, Sport, Humanities, Maths and Science, Politics and Economics, and Farming. There is much enjoyable time at school, such as sport, art, watching films and excursions. There are many free and well-organised after hours activities at the school. Bullying has vanished and each class at each age level is carefully selected to ensure all students get along. University is a more socially structured and caring environment. Nine out of ten students begin university study and the majority of the population is a professional or artist.
Religion Peace between the religions reigns. Most people keep their faith but have a more relaxed, liberal attitude towards their faith. Most schools are secular.
Community Life
People live in suburbs and small states where there is a highly organized, welcoming, often-sophisticated social life provided by the local regional or city-state. Each person has several social and community options each day. There are many social, hobby and sporting clubs to entertain, provide fun and companionship and create friendships. There are chances to lead and achieve within these groups, boosting the overall achievement and therefore pride and self-confidence of the People.
Organised Social Life Festivals, dinners, balls, dances, parties, cultural experiences, community excursions and other social events are options for every person every week.
Social System From childhood, the people are taught by their teachers and their Community Elders to be respectful, tolerant and inclusive. They are also taught how to be able in social situations. The media constantly shapes and improves the People’s social morality and ability. This creates a nation of likeable legends, cherished lovers and good citizens.
Achievement Every person has a talent that in a suburban setting can lead to greatness. The system will ensure the People achieve through their talents so that they have the fun and exhilaration of success; those around them treat them with respect or awe; they walk around in a post-achievement environment; and they have the pride and self-confidence of success. The society will be highly localized and insular so that local poets, painters, story-tellers, actors, sportspeople, community leaders, talented game players and the like prominently achieve through their talents. Some will obviously achieve much more than others and there will still be genius and national success stories but all will have something.
An Electronic Society People will be able to talk to friends and family through their TV’s with one simple click. Students will be able to watch lectures and receive standardized advice from the best teachers and lecturers through their TV in special broadcasts. All acceptable films and TV shows ever made will be accessed from the lounge room in moments for free. People will have access to perfect virtual reality. They will be able to enjoy kicking the winning world cup goal, debating in federal parliament, chatting over drinks with their favourite celebrities, walking through beautiful forests or Times Square on New Years Eve, being in a Beatles’ audience and holding hands with their loved one at a Royal coronation party- from their lounge rooms any time of the day. Online games will enable the People to have one or several alternative lives, where they work, live and play amongst random people from all over the world, encountering them in bars, workplaces, parties, cultural events and a myriad of situations. Some characters run by the game to test and stimulate. You can easily arrange to meet again people you like, and can then swap emails etc. Each person pays an Electronic Entertainment Levy, which is then paid to the corporations which provide these various activities.
Genius Entertainment Most people will have several elite-level sporting teams they passionately follow, providing great entertainment and purpose. Superior education will see many more people become successful musicians, actors and entertainers, leading to considerably cheaper and more frequent great cultural occasions, from rock concerts, to elite theatre to opera in every major city. The cultural life is full and overwhelmingly beautiful. Also, third-world development, educational advances in the First World, natural improvement and national co-operation will see many more classic new TV shows and films to entertain the People. There will be a Titanic or Point Break or Godfather every fortnight to enjoy.
Wages The elite artist and thinker is more prevalent and the local artist and thinker is paid. Corporate, union and political leaders are highly paid. All professionals are well paid. Most hospitality, cleaning, council and the few laboring jobs have only fifteen hours a week for the described lifestyle.
Local sport Each state of around forty to one hundred thousand people will be represented by elite sporting teams. This will boost community unity, fun, purpose and achievement. The teams will be deeply respected and the players will be celebrity heroes, granting them lives of greatness and boosting the life of their family and friends. The clubs will be social focal points for the community. One special team will be the most dominate, usually in the nation’s leading sport (i.e. football).
Politics A democracy with an emphasis on local power. Every state will have a parliament, elected every three years. It will guide, develop, lead and boost its People. Every part of the People’s lives will be known to the Cabinet and these geniuses, the elite of the state, will use their minds to successfully maintain, constantly improve, solve the problems of and professionally craft their state. Local suburbs and towns will have a Social and Cultural Council, appointed by the state. The Federal Parliament will run the major affairs of state and development. It will be elected every three years.
Health Completely free to all People for all need. A major past emphasis on cure sees all illness eradicated or quickly treatable and all injury can be remedied by perfect silicon or bionic body parts. GP’s are in every state, in either Super Clinic or Neighbourhood form. Hospitals see patients usually within an hour.
Indigenous Culture Some cultures continue, reborn into the past. Others have merged a modern life with the best elements of the old. Many developed Peoples enjoy tasting of indigenous cultures, or have discovered something of their own native culture which previous education and systems may have crushed (i.e. Greek relaxed villages, American apple pie families and Welsh poetry and drinking nights).
Environment All forests protected by law. Massive forces ready to deploy to put out bushfires. People spend days hiking and experiencing the beauty and mysticism of the natural world. All native animals protected.
Animal rights Many people vegetarians. Meat still common. All animals involved in human production treated with relative respect and do not endure pain or unfair captivity. Some animals used in research to counter illness and injury.
Small business Post development economy. Many people own and run their own small business, which have very low taxes. Great government support in information and training. Major partnership situation between corporations and independent local small businesses to build and sell their goods and services. Each sector has a secret-society culture with surreal and sophisticated social life.
Corporations Heavily involved in production. Great competition between several providers in each sector. Government runs many contracts with corporations to provide goods and services to the People en mass. Impossible for them to corrupt or harm the people. Significant regulation. Work takes place in very safe environment. Most people in office situation only work long hours if they enjoy their work and are highly paid and live an elite life in major cities, with strong links to regional and city states. More local industrialists and fewer multi-nationals.
Food All food is gourmet or natural. All people have enough money to eat well. Strong café culture for lunch and restaurant culture for dinner, with the People constantly eating out. Many more chefs and restaurant owners. New stores constantly opening. All people trained to cook well at home. Every neighbourhood has greengrocer with fruits, vegetables and gourmet cheese and biscuit snacks etc within walking distance of most homes. Supermarkets stock wonderful food at very cheap prices. All wine exclusive but cheap. Massive collective and permaculture farms to provide food very cheaply to retailers and restaurants. Also, many people make money selling permaculture food from backyard and community gardens to cafes and restaurants that only use local food. Family farms remain but are more specialised.
Army Unnecessary in modern context but retained to maintain world balance. A source of pageantry and great pride to the People. Dress with an elegant state feel and are often seen at sporting and cultural events. Provide security at many public places that are in need. The people to ask for advice or directions when lost in a major city. Trusted and loved.
Elders Deeply respected by all. A person of elegance and wisdom and success. Links all children, youth and young adults to great life advice. Work in community in both official and relaxed way. All feel beautiful, wise and superior.
Clothing People dress with freedom but great elegance, sophistication and taste. Corporate department stores stock a variety of genius designers. Uniforms for school sophisticated. Workers in local unions approve uniforms for their work.
Pleasure A liberal sexual society but young people cherish their love and virginity. Pleasure is incorporated into every day life, in cleaning maids and virtual reality and subtle cultural performances. Great love affairs dominate the culture.
Aged Care All people live in luxury apartment or room, with great food and many organised social activities. Pain and boredom taken away by medication.
Public transport Fast trains link regional cities and metropolitan suburbs from early in morning to very late at night. Trains are clean, very comfortable, have TV’s with headphones at every seat and often sell refreshments. Buses in most suburbs every fifteen minutes, running late into the night. Comfortable, elegant and clean. Bus stops of impressive design.
Energy Completely renewable. Sources, such as wind, solar and tidal, provide electricity almost completely free to people. Sugar cane or electric batteries powers all cars. (There may be a new power source which powers all life, such as Cold Fusion).
Cars New system of locking car into highway ‘train line’ for journeys outside inner suburban trips almost eliminates accidents. All cars luxurious.
Holidays All people spend from weeks to months a year in resorts or natural environment. Many day, weekend, sporting and cultural-trip holidays. Many special theme resorts for groups from family to young adults to Elders and many hobby and conference events. People can work harder each week for better or longer resort holidays.
Racial environment All cities, and regional and city states, multicultural and cosmopolitan. Race irrelevant to all people. Tribes and rural areas especially maintain local cultures and some racial feel.
Home Success, or longer hours in regular jobs or in five-hour second jobs, leads to better housing.
The Villages Many different types of communities. • Luxury, apartment-style, low rise college campus feel suburbs. • Fairytale kingdoms, with winding paths, elegant lampposts, flower beds, beautiful green lawn spaces, colourful soda tents, wandering geese families, contemplating white cloaked Elders and traditional black forest homes. • Urban skyscraper communities for the young professional and empty nesters, where one opens his or her door into futuristic common, hotel / shopping centre-type areas with cafes, lounges, restaurants, bars, clothing stores and mini-cinemas; or the same with an elegant, colonial feel; or the same with a…; or the same with a… • Hippy communities in sprawling mansions where people have their own room to retreat to after the evening is over; or mud-brick village feels where every person, couple or family has their own permaculture garden and there is a communal orchard. • Traditional suburban communities of bourgeois homes and luxury units with a new car in every garage. • Mansion homes for the elite (artistic, corporate, union, sporting, political) hand crafted and behind walls and gardens. Some in urban suburbs and some in the country. • Collective farms, which take on a holiday-resort feel after work and on the weekends. • University and High College Dorms, where each student has their own room and there are communal games, TV, dining, study and cooking areas, with a very protective student / teacher council to watch over life and turn life towards scholarship. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.48.59.60 (talk) 08:15, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
External links modified
[edit]Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on Localism (politics). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
- Corrected formatting/usage for http://woodsonchapel.com/coc.cfm
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080509163609/http://www.cris.com/~mmcoc/coc.html to http://www.cris.com/~mmcoc/coc.html
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071011142005/http://www.scripturessay.com/article.php?cat=&id=6 to http://www.scripturessay.com/article.php?cat=&id=6
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 02:42, 25 May 2017 (UTC)
External links modified
[edit]Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Localism (politics). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060514003214/http://www.edwardgoldsmith.com/page78.html to http://www.edwardgoldsmith.com/page78.html
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080411021531/http://www.kunstler.com/mags_localism.html to http://www.kunstler.com/mags_localism.html
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:11, 4 January 2018 (UTC)
Localism and Populism
[edit]Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I just added in a sub-section named "Localism and Populism" in the Political philosophy section. I want to bring in some information about the correlation of localism and populism (which has not discussed on the page). I hope you enjoy this article and you might able to help me shape it better.
Cheers.—Leungyuhi (talk) 15:36, 26 May 2018 (UTC)
Localism and Communitarianism are pretty much the same ideology
[edit]Both are mainly defined as pro-local/pro-community in the governmental, cultural, and economic senses. I've added communitarianism as a related concept and to the sidebar, though I think it likely that they are the exact same ideologies beyond minor historical differences in case usage. It may be worth considering a merger of some form. Darkmagine (talk) 17:52, 26 January 2022 (UTC)
- Start-Class politics articles
- Mid-importance politics articles
- Start-Class Libertarianism articles
- Low-importance Libertarianism articles
- WikiProject Libertarianism articles
- WikiProject Politics articles
- Start-Class Philosophy articles
- Low-importance Philosophy articles
- Start-Class social and political philosophy articles
- Low-importance social and political philosophy articles
- Social and political philosophy task force articles