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[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ] We already probably too late for this idea. With more foresight, it could have been proposed to the Stop the War Coalition Conference in early January. The idea is that we should campaign for a referendum on Britain's participation in war on Iraq. At the heart of the case for a referendum is that we cannot trust any configuration of MPs in Parliament to represent the will of the people. The decision should therefore be taken out of Parliament's hands and put in the hands of the people. To those who might argue that there is no guarantee that referendum would go our way, there are two answers. First, it would take a mighty battle to force the government to surrender sovereignty on this question to the people. But just campaigning along those lines helps to undermine the authority of Parliament and of any decision they might take on war. Second, I'm convinced that a referendum following a giant public debate of the issues would result in a rejection of war. The best time to have launnched this campaign would have been at the Feb 15th demo. Imagine if one million people each got twenty signatures on a petition for a referendum.... This is the best way to accompany the pro-war majority in discovering the limits to British democracy. It could help the parallel idea (accepted in principle by the national STWC Steering Committee) for a "Peoples' Parliament" to avoid the danger of becoming a ghetto for anti-establishment forces, an obstacle to advancing the battle to win and mobilise the majority against the government. best wishes John Smith member of Sheffield Stop the War Coalition --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.456 / Virus Database: 256 - Release Date: 18/02/2003 _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk