About UsEgalityE_5c676e78-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2aEgality is a transnational network of individuals with a core vision: a world where everyone has an equal say in the issues that affect them; a world of freedom and equality (more). We have four focus areas: climate change, migration, poverty and war (more). We believe that society's inability to effectively tackle problems in these areas is related to one fundamental problem: a lack of real democracy. Instead of a democracy that exists only within national borders, real democracy involves people who are affected by the issues, no matter where they live. For local issues that means your community. For global issues, that means everyone, everywhere having an equal say.You. Us. Society. Our collective mindset that makes unnecessary assumptions about how the world ought to run.A world where people have an equal say in the politics that affect them; a world of freedom and equality._5c67760c-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a_5c6776ca-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2aOverlapping Cultural CommunitiesWe believe nations are overlapping cultural communities, not political ones.EqualityWe believe people are all equal, regardless of where they're born. Discrimination on the colour of your passport is no different to that by the colour of your skin.Psychological RemakingWe believe the real barriers to remaking our world are in our own heads. They are psychological not logistical.Climate ChangeGive those affected by climate change equal say,_5c677788-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a1Those Affected by Climate ChangePollution doesn't stop at the border so why should accountability? Those least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price. Rising sea levels in Bangladesh are already creating climate refugees. Lower rainfall in Ghana is causing extreme poverty through reduced crop yields. It is high-polluting countries that are causing these problems yet there is no way to make them accountable. Pleading with rich country politicians to do more is not enough. It is demeaning and accepts a priori their right to decide for everyone else. As long as we keep pandering to this system we are reinforcing it. The UN COP process is a farce. Everyone knows it's the big polluters who decide. International media blamed China and the US alternately for the failure, but either way - 75% of the planet's people don't live in those countries. Until those affected by climate change have equal say to the big polluters, we will not have a chance of stopping climate change._5c6777f6-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2aMigrationInclude migrants in the decision-making process._5c677864-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a2MigrantsDon't judge me by the colour of my passport. Every year millions of people migrate around the world for reasons ranging from persecution to tourism. But it's what papers you've got not who you are that decides where you can go. People from rich countries have more freedom of movement than citizens of poor countries. This is discrimination, in the same family as racism and apartheid. Migration controls affect sending populations as well as receiving populations, migrants should be included in this decision-making process. _5c6778dc-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2aPovertyEmpower people through political equality._5c67794a-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a3The hand that giveth and the hand that taketh away. However you look at it, there is no way to see our present situation as just. A child dies every six seconds because of hunger, even though we have enough food for everyone (Source: WFP). In the last century, the biggest steps taken against extreme poverty within countries was through political change. Giving equal political voice to rich and poor opened the door to redistribution in the form of healthcare, education and housing. Expecting the massive global inequality to be redressed through aid is a sticky plaster approach that doesn't deal with the cause. It shouldn't be for rich countries to decide how much aid to give, who to give it to, and what conditions to attach to it. We don't do that on a national level, so why do it on a global one? The only equitable, just and sustainable way of addressing poverty is involving everyone affected equally. If we really want to combat poverty we need to ditch the donor-recipient model. People want empowerment through political equality. Only then will we be able to come up with just and sustainable solutions. _5c6779c2-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2aWarInclude in the determination of the legality of war everyone affected._5c677a3a-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a4If the people got to decide what would happen to war? In today's world, it's the world's biggest arms traders - China, France, Russia, UK and US - who decide when war is "legal". As the five permanent members of the UN Security Council they have a veto over any resolutions. Relying on the UN as the world's arbitrator of peace in this context is plain mad. Even the Iraq war, widely seen as lacking a UN resolution and legal backing, was defended by the UK Attorney General on the basis that a previous UN resolution was still valid. Who do these five countries' politicians represent? How did they come be seen as the world's representatives? If we want to have a fair basis for deciding on the legality of war it has to include everyone affected. We cannot accept a system that judges only poor countries. Partial justice is not real justice._5c677ab2-5bd7-11df-9b59-c9467a64ea2a2010-05-09http://egalitynow.org/aboutOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net