This records the presentation of my petition to Parliament: the Petition of Morgan Davie and 86 others requesting that the House of Representatives urge the Government to sign and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance as quickly as possible. (I blogged about this petition previously.)
You might wonder, how could I possibly squeeze in the time to organise a petition while preparing for a wedding, studying, working, and blogging far far too much?
The answer, of course, is I didn’t. I heartily endorse the message of this petition, and I was pleased to put my name to it, receive correspondence, and otherwise be the front-person, but it is not even remotely mine. This petition is entirely the hard work of doughty freedoms-fighter Idiot/Savant of No Right Turn.
It will be some time before the select committee reports back on the petition, but whenever that should happen, you’ll hear about it here as well as at NRT.
[edit: hello, NRT readers. Yes, I am the beard of idiot/savant. Or, perhaps, the Groucho Marx nose-moustache-and-glasses.]
6 thoughts on “My Petition”
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Arse.
I meant to do something about that petition. And then it fell off my radar. I could make some excuses (buying an apartment, my trip to Las Vegas), but I think I’ll just apologise for my lack of political activist-ness. Sorry, next petition that is important I’ll try and do better.
Don’t stress about it – I didn’t get anyone to sign it either, life was way too hectic ’round then with the going overseas and all. But I/S did well to gather that many names, and the point was to get the select committee to consider it and report back, so that is achieved.
Wow, I thought the 10 signatures I extorted from around the workplace would be a drop in the barrel, but that’s, like, more than 10%! Good effort, me!
Dan = legend!
I’m getting some really disturbing imagery out of that one!
I signed it, but didn’t get anyone else to… initially thought it was slackness and then started to realise that I am cowardishly apolitical at work, which is almost the only place I know people in Palmy… must do better!
Don’t stress too much about it Karen – many of us, by either choice, employment agreements or code of conducts are forced to be apolitical at work.
That includes me too. I have be very careful about what I say and do at work. It frustrates the hell out of me, including if someone starts spouting right wing bollocks, but I hold my tounge.
I didn’t get to sign the petition either but, as Morgue’s said, it wasn’t a “mass petition” where the nation rises up to say something. It was a more usual petition where some interested people had something they wanted to say to their parliamentarians, and chose a formal way of doing it.
A petition can even be from one person – I was part of three person petition back in the nineties.
But it’s just another way us, the people, can get involved in representative politics. It doesn’t have to big, flashy, expensive, public or party-political. It can be phoning, emailing or writing to an MP, making a submission on legislation at a select committee, organising a petition. There’s a lot of ways our voices can be heard, and it’s not just busy-bodies, insiders or lobby groups that can use them.