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#1 Re: Not So Free Chat » Islam In Britain » 2007-06-10 04:12:27

At the moment, the Muslim population of the UK is around 3%, mainly concentrated in specific areas like Birmingham and Bradford - I think it will be a while before they become influential enough to change legislation on women's rights.

Actually, on this issue, Muslim women can be quite stroppy, too - I recently saw a documentary about a group of Muslim women who were challenging the imams of conservative mosques for the right to pray there - some mosques don't even allow women through the door.  They were determined, articulate, and argumentative, and actually got some of the men to change their minds.

#2 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Communism - Just like Star Trek » 2007-01-22 06:50:46

Any particular reason you don't see anarcho-syndicalism working, Yang Liwei Rocket?  It would be interesting to see what your objections are.

#3 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-29 14:19:51

That's a good point, about individuals taking responsibility for their own actions.

#4 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-28 15:40:13

I do take the point about the traffic intersection, though. smile

#5 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-28 15:37:37

I mentioned the fiction because it's easier to pick up a book to find out how a society works than it is to spend time on an anarcho-syndicalist commune in Germany, and because I don't know much about the Anarchist political party beyond the fact that it exists.

My point stands, though.  Here is one community which has been successfully running for over thirty years, and they manage to run a community with associated farm successfully without leaders or violence.  My brother-in-law spent six months a couple of years ago travelling around Europe to visit other, similar communes, so there are quite a few out there, quietly getting on with it.

#6 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-27 13:22:11

"The opposite of order" is one definition of anarchy, but it hasn't got much to do with the Anarchist movement in Europe (there's even an Anarchist Party that puts people up for election - and sometimes they win). 

Ursula le Guin wrote a very fine novel, The Dispossessed, set partly in an anarchist society, and partly in the world they had left behind, which gives more of an idea of what the Neiderkaufungen people are aiming for (and possibly what Kim Stanley Robinson was thinking of when he wrote about the communities Coyote was visiting in his Mars trilogy).

#7 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-26 13:10:47

I ask these questions because I have some experience of what it is like to live in an anarchist community.  My brother-in-law has been living in the oldest and largest anarcho-syndicalist commune in Germany for seven or eight years now.  No-one is in charge, yet they get along just fine with no designated leaders.
There is a constitution, which was agreed by all the members (around 70 adults and 20 to 30 children), and they have a weekly meeting with a rotating chair - each person in the community takes it in turn to chair the meeting.  They are well-organised, and they co-operate.

So it really does work in practice.

#8 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-25 16:17:31

Except that presumably these are seven responsible adults, who all want to go on a mission.
Is it really so difficult for seven people to agree together what they are going to do?

#9 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-11-24 13:28:22

Anarchy does not necessarily mean violence.

Anarchy means that no one is in charge.

A good example of this is the world postal service.  There is no office, or group of people, who control international postal services.  Instead, agreements are made between individual national postal systems - and the mail gets through, without anyone being in charge.

#10 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » What Type Of Government Should Mars Have?? - Mars Government » 2006-08-29 13:31:39

Just going back to "Speak Truth to Power," (I haven't been on these boards for a while) - it's a Quaker saying.  It works for them....

#11 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Communism - Just like Star Trek » 2006-08-29 13:26:34

Martian Republic, and others:  Actually, communism does work, but only on a small scale, say 450 people or less.  This is the way the kibbutzim were run in Israel in the early days (some of them still are), and how the early Baptist communities were run (based, of course, on the descriptions of early Christian communities in Acts).

For a system that would be able to administer an entire planet, we would have to look elsewhere.

Anarcho-syndicalism is one possibility - it may seem a contradiction in terms, but this is organised anarchism.  Again, it may only work on a small scale (my brother-in-law lives in an anarcho-syndicalist community in Germany), but it's never been tried on a large scale.  It may be instructive to read The Dispossessed, by Ursula le Guin; she imagines anarcho-syndicalism as a planet-wide system (well, a moon-wide system, actually), in opposition to capitalism on the main planet.

#12 Re: Pictures of Mars » Favorite "Mars" movies » 2006-02-05 12:34:39

Robert M Blevins - I couldn't agree with you more!  Robinson Crusoe on Mars was a great little film.

#13 Re: Civilization and Culture » Children growing up on Mars - ..problems and possible solutions... » 2006-01-19 07:17:25

Fascinating discussion.
So, assuming the kids make it through infant mortality and hand-me-down clothes and all the other problems mentioned above, there is something that I've been puzzling about for some time.
When these kids come to go to school, and start learning to read, what is it that they will be reading?  It's hard to imagine them responding to Wind in the Willows when they've never seen a river - or a mole or a toad, come to that.
Percy the Parkkeeper might as well be set on an alien planet - in fact, it will be set on an alien planet as far as these kids are concerned.
So, what would kids who live in a dome in the middle of a desert find interesting enough to hold their attention?
And on a tangent, what do ex-pat kids who live in places like Saudi Arabia read now?

#14 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-05 09:33:37

Most burglaries take place during the day, here in the UK, at least, and often it really is "just the neat things" that get taken - or the purse that's been put on the kitchen table for a minute, or the chainsaw that was put in the garden shed and the owner forgot to lock the door.
The traditional idea of the ransacked house with stuff pulled out of drawers and scattered around is just a part of the general burglary statistics.

(Can't you tell I used to work for the Metropolitan Police?)

#15 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-04 09:37:08

Sorry, I should have added that this figure is true in the UK - I don't know about the States.

#16 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-04 09:36:09

But since 90% of all burglaries are crimes of opportunity, making your house harder to get into is a good move.

#17 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-03 14:44:37

I'm not advocating non-action.
I'm advocating no violent action.
It is true that, statistically speaking, a house that has been burgled once is more likely to be burgled again, but that's whether or not there was anyone there to defend it.
In the UK we have Neighbourhood Watch - and in this area its cousin Farm Watch -
which are good non-violent ways of keeping an eye on things.

#18 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-03 12:25:57

It's just stuff, as idiom says.  Nothing I own is worth the risk of getting injured over.
Of course I would be bloody furious if someone did try to make off with my computer, or something, and I would pursue them through the police and the courts, but it's not worth fighting for.  It's just stuff.
Other things are worth fighting for, like my own personal safety if I'm attacked.

#19 Re: Not So Free Chat » Your view on the ethics of History writing » 2006-01-02 09:28:59

The best way of doing it is to have lots of different points of view represented in the books that are published, TV programmes that are made, etc.

Getting away from the US situation, a lot of Turks get very upset when a non-Turk mentions the Armenian massacres of the early 20th C, because they have been taught in school that this is a big lie made up by other countries who don't like Turkey.
There are, of course, no books by Armenians on the subject available in Turkey.

#20 Re: Not So Free Chat » Crime & civic responsibility » 2006-01-02 09:16:08

I find it very odd that you can carry a gun in the States, but the SCA only allows wooden swords.
I'm in a British re-enactment group.  My sword is blunted steel.  But I often forget to lock my door at night because I live in such a safe area. 
I might possibly use my sword to defend myself - against rape, for instance - but I would never use it to defend property.

#21 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » Anarchism - Anything goes » 2006-01-02 09:07:06

My brother in law lives in an anarcho-syndicalist commune in Germany, and has for several years now.  It works very well,  and is the largest and oldest such group in Germany, with around 70 adults and 20 children.
Major decisions are made in weekly meetings, with a rotating chairman.  Each member is able to take as much or as little petty cash as they want for personal needs, up to a certain limit - so if you think a CD collection is essential to your happiness, that's fine.  Children can choose whether they want to live with their parents or with other children in the group.
My brother in law spent some time looking after the cows on the commune farm, and had his own radio show on Radio Free Kassel, and he was able to give these up for a six month sabbatical to visit other communes in Britain, Germany and Italy.
Anarcho-syndicalism works very well.
So do the kibbutzim in Israel, or they did in their hey-day of 1950s to 1970s - I'm not so sure about more recently as I'm out of touch now.

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