Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

And so begins a new chapter of this curious adventure in cyber-civics. Good luck to us all.

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"In many ways, 2005 has been Europe’s annus horibilis. It began well, when Spanish voters approved the draft European Union constitution, but it turned sour when French and Dutch voters spurned it soon after. Those votes partly reflected displeasure with domestic policies, and partly disappointment with the way governments conduct European affairs." - Charles Wyplosz

"“Bolivia is rich,” a Tacana Indian woman told me last week inside Madidi National Park. Earlier in the day, we’d witnessed a hundred capuchin and squirrel monkeys rush down from the Amazon jungle canopy and were now relaxing beside Lake Chalalan while her cousin, a shaman, blessed coca leaves as the evening’s traditional drumming and dancing began." - William Powers.

Jack Robertson

A reminder that we move to the new site over the next two days. Comments boxes have been progressively closed over today, so that we don't lose any content when we make the transfer. This site will be open to read, but not comment, until the new site opens. www.webdiary.com.au will take you to whichever site is the current one!  David Roffey, GM Webdiary Update 7pm 13/12/05: All comment boxes now closed. See you on the new site!

"Power Without Glory is an odd novel, in that it was actually commissioned by the Communist Party. Hardy was provided financial backing by the Party for four years; he also had a swag of party members act as researchers. The novel in a lot of ways reads like blockbuster fiction, yet doesn’t really have a plot, rather it piles political intrigue upon political intrigue, until you feel quite sick at the canker in the democratic bud. This was pretty much Hardy’s goal: a book aimed at moral improvement, not so much of the reader, but of the current political culture." Chris Saliba

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"Last week I set sail on this journey of a lifetime, an adventure into the sea of Australian humanity. My sights are set on discovering its true colours.  I see our island nation, Australia, my country of birth and that of my family lines running back near two hundred years, now culturally and linguistically diverse. At minimum one in five of the people on our island today were born overseas, and another had at least one parent born overseas. You can see it and you can hear it. Between us we speak nearly 200 different languages. It's a treasure, the wealth of opportunity that comes with diversity and you don't even need to search hard to find how enriched we all could be. You just have to open your eyes, your ears, your mind." Craig Rowley

"After two vehicles had gone Adele and I made the last 100 meter dash through the open floodlit area to the outer security fence. As Adele hung our banner – WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? YOUR BROTHER’S BLOOD CRIES OUT TO ME FROM THE EARTH (Genesis 4:10) - on the fence, I placed Jessica’s beautiful barbed wire crucifix against the fence. Then I cut through the fence. We climbed through and I cut the second fence about ten meters away. Again we climbed through and realised all the power of the greatest empire in history could not stop two untrained, unfunded, unarmed Christian pacifists from entering one of their most important and secure bases - even after we had told them we were coming." Jim Dowling.

Since becoming independent, many Webdiarists have asked: how can we help - you must need money?

Yes we do and you can help. As we develop plans for the site in its new, post-Margo, incarnation, we will tell you how the money is being spent.

Webdiary will accept any advertisement that fits within Webdiary ethics – ie essentially does not offend, abuse, incite, defame or otherwise have legal problems. You can either submit adverts with your own artwork, or we can get ads designed for you within reasonable parameters.

"While I describe what's happening in Tonga as a 'revolution', with faint echoes to European revolutions of the late 1700s and into the 1800s, there's no indication whatsoever of Tonga going down that bloody route. Nor is there any indication of Tonga lurching into a 'fragile' or 'failing' state scenario, such as Fiji in 2000, or, worse, The Solomon Islands that same year. It's nowhere near a 'ruined' or 'plundered state' situation, such as PNG arguably has become..." Dr Mark Hayes.

The Webdiary Community is moving to its new home next week on the 14th. Until then the new site is off-limits, out of bounds: the paint's still wet. We want to welcome everybody when the front gates open on Wednesday but you'll need your own door key. This post is a heads-up on how to get it. The address will be www.webdiary.com.au.

Anyone will be able read articles and comments at Webdiary's new home. But to take advantage of the improved features on the new software, including to post a comment, you will need to register and login. As always, registration is free and you'll only need to do it once.

On the Don't go away yet thread an informal get together has been organised for Brisbane Webdiarists. It will be at the Melbourne Hotel, 2 Browning St, West End, on Sunday 18th, starting from around 2pm.

Meanwhile there was some discussion between a couple of Webdiarists about drinks in Melbourne (the city that is). That's a private affair, as far as I can tell, but it occurred to me others might like to see if there's interest as well.

So this thread is for Webdiarists wherever you are to suggest Christmas drinks in your own towns and cities. Written in pencil to facilitate this is the time, the afternoon of Sunday the 18th. So to start all someone has to do is suggest a venue and see if there's some interest.

On this day 57 years ago the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Just as the Rule of Law, as contrary to arbitrary rule, is the basis for the idea of equity and freedom in a community, in my mind international standards of Law are the basis for the possibility of world peace. Exceptionalism in international Law undermines World Peace. This is why the pursuit of international standards for all humans was such a profound historical development, inspired by the tens of millions of dead in World War II. God did not write this declaration, and it was not written on a mountain. But I do believe it is the highest aspiration of the human spirit yet articulated. And I do believe it is worth us having a read of today, to consider why it was written by our grandfather's political leaders, and why we should not discard it now. Here is a transcript in full. Hamish Alcorn.

Update 10.50pm: with permission Andrew's 5pm Update was added to this post.

After having to endure the government’s use of very sharp guillotines in the Senate to prevent scrutiny of hugely significant legislative changes in the areas of welfare, industrial relations and civil liberties, I sat through the absurdity of government Senator’s filibustering* on non-controversial legislation while they waited to discover whether or not the government can reach agreement on the University student services legislation (usually known as the VSU Bill). Senator Andrew Bartlett.

"What has happened since the beginning of the Development Round at Doha in November 2001 has been a huge disappointment for me. As chief economist of the World Bank, I reviewed the Uruguay Round of 1994 and concluded that both its agenda and outcomes discriminated against developing countries. In March 1999, I went to the headquarters of the World Trade Organization in Geneva to call for a development round to redress these imbalances. For a moment, I thought my call had been heeded." Joseph E Stigliz