Manifesto Scrutiny

[adreamersworld]

This thread exists to look at areas where our Manifesto is being implemented as well as areas where it isn't. I think this is important to be transparent and to make sure our Partuy is held to account on its manifesto promises. The copy of the Manifesto here has colours appended to it. Red is areas where we haven't been able to implement it. Green is areas we have successfully implemented. Blue is areas that are currently being worked on. A statement will be made in this thread about those instances.

The Primary Surge Manifesto

1. Democracy in the Commonwealth



Our Democracy in the Commonwealth Goal consists of four policies:

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[/font]an election will take place at the subsequent Charter Convention.[/font][/ul]

A Commonwealth for All

Enshrining Fundamental Rights

[/font] The Action Group will also ensure that the institutions of the Commonwealth respect open dialogue and transparent use of information, as well as ensuring a free and responsible press.



Surge has already guarunteed the establishment of a Commonwealth Womens Group and we will work to ensure that the Womens Group receives the full backing of the Commonwealth Institutions and is treated as a Group with as much or more importance as any other. The Womens Group will be able to take the lead on womens issues in the Commonwealth, including leading the fight against gender-based discrimination and sexual harrassment that is sadly all too frequent on NationStates.



Surge demands a Commonwealth that is free from discrimination against LGBT+ people and that respects the important contributions to NationStates by the LGBT+ community. In order to allow LGBT+ people to lead the charge against discrimination, we will seek to establish a Commonwealth LGBT+ Group, based upon the same principles as the extant womens group.



We will fight against all forms of discrimination based on race, colour, ethnic background or religion and encourage those belonging to minorities groups to take a leadership role in fighting discrimination by forming a Commonwealth Minorities Group.[/ul]

Empowering Members and Regions

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We will establish a Commonwealth Public Media organisation that will bring content from all Regions that participate in the Commonwealth into a commonwealth-wide media outlet, providing a tool for the sharing of culture.



We will establish a Commonwealth Youth Group to ensure that young people are given all the tools they need to participate fully in the Commonwealth and to ensure their voices are heard at the Co-Ordinating Committee. We will also establish a Group for new Members to esnure they can participate in the Commonwealth on an equal basis.[/ul][/ul]

2. Shared Prosperity



The Commonwealth must work towards both a prosperous community as well as prosperous Parter Regions. In order to facilitate this, our shared prosperity Goal consists of the following policies:

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Secure and Sustainable Regions

Fostering and Protecting Cultural Commons

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3. Fighting Terrorism and Exploitation



For too long, small and vulnerable regions have suffered under the yoke of the twin evils of terrorism and imperialism. In order to counter the influence of such groups within the sphere of the Commonwealth, we have adopted the following policies:

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Stemming the Poaching of Talent

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4. Deepening International Solidarity

We believe that the best way to develop a sustainable, peaceful, vibrant and sustainable international community is to work together through the principles of solidarity, co-operation, compromise and consensus. To that end, we have adopted the following policies:

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Transforming the World Order

Building a Transregional Community

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[adreamersworld]

Our Manifesto stated that:

With the relaunch of the Commonwealth, the postion of the Head of the Commonwealth is likely to undergo some changes in the very near future. Surge believes that the HoC should be an open ended positon. However, we strongly advocate for an easy mechanism to replace the HoC. Therefore, we propose that a petition signed by the Square Root of the number of Members in the Commonwealth would trigger a Confidence Vote in the HoC at the next Charter Convention and, should the HoC fail to garner a majority of votes cast in favour of confidence, an election will take place at the subsequent Charter Convention.

Surge has achieved an open-ended HoC term with an easy mechanism to replace the HoC. There is one difference between the manifesto proposal and that which has been achieved. No confidence vote is necessary to remove the HoC, so once a petition is achieved, an election is assured. We think this is more in line with the spirit of our manifesto commitment (an easy mechanism to replace) than if we had achieved it to the letter, as the confidence vote was only added to the manifesto because we didn't think we would be able to achieve it otherwise.

[adreamersworld]

We will establish the Commonwealth Action Group, with the power to investigate suspected instances of violation of Commonwealth Principles and to take remedial action against those that violate them. The Action Group will also ensure that the institutions of the Commonwealth respect open dialogue and transparent use of information, as well as ensuring a free and responsible press.

Surge raised the idea of a commonwealth action group at the Peace and Security Council to investigate violations of commonwealth principles and to take action against such violations. The idea lost out to the more popular view that Administrators should be responsible for this. Surge will need to review this manifesto commitment in the future, particularly in regard to the other parts of this commitment, such as ensuring a free press, to see how we can work towards implementing those now that the Action Group is unlikely to be formed.

[adreamersworld]

Surge has already guarunteed the establishment of a Commonwealth Womens Group and we will work to ensure that the Womens Group receives the full backing of the Commonwealth Institutions and is treated as a Group with as much or more importance as any other. The Womens Group will be able to take the lead on womens issues in the Commonwealth, including leading the fight against gender-based discrimination and sexual harassments that is sadly all too frequent on NationStates.

The Womens Group remains and we have managed to get assurance from the HoC that it will remain as long as he is in Office. The Chair of the Womens Group sits at the Co-Ordinating Committee, being consulted on all Commonwealth Decisions and the HoC has guaranteed that any issue that arises that is likely to effect women in particular will be handed over to the Womens Group for discussion so that the Womens Group can propose appropriate policy or decisions. Furthermore, in his introductory speech at the Conference of Anti-Fascist Regions, the HoC highlighted the problem NationStates has with harassment against female players and that was well received.

[adreamersworld]

We will establish the Commonwealth Members Initiative (CMI), a mechanism through which Members of the Commonwealth can force the Co-Ordinating Council to begin the process of creating a democratically drafted policy document which will have legal status in the Commonwealth.

This has been highlighted as the Priority campaign for Surge and the Surge President will be making a proposal in the Senate to canvass for support by Senators and the regions they represent.

[adreamersworld]

We will establish a Commonwealth Public Media organisation that will bring content from all Regions that participate in the Commonwealth into a commonwealth-wide media outlet, providing a tool for the sharing of culture.

Naruto is taking a lead on this and hopes to have a newspaper, which will form the basis of a Public Media Organisation. The Newspaper will begin as a private organisation to highlight that it is viable and then we will be campaigning for the Co-Ordinating Committee to adopt the Organisation as a Public Media Organisation.