Fr, Apr 13, 2007Save Your Constitutional Rights!
"We the undersigned petition the Mayor to uphold the constitutional right granted to the Area Forum to place items on his Agenda"
Yet again, we are campaigning on the streets of Lewisham. This time we are using this visual implement to express in an effective way the situation that we face whilst dealing with the Bullock-led administration of Lewisham Council.
Thomas Paine, the political theorist behind the US constitution, set out the case for checks and balances on power - even and especially power given by an electoral mandate. The idea is that you need to give a lot of power to get things done but that you need a complex system of balances to stop that power being abused.
We have seen increasingly since their introduction that there are precious few checks and balances on the power of English elected mayors, at least between elections. This is why a few concerned citizens have to resort to judicial review to challenge a blatant abuse of the mayor's power.
So when we do find a less drastic mechanism - albeit an obscure and underutilised one - it is a matter of national importance if it is ignored or denied.
That is what has happened with the decision of the Area Forum to bring a matter of public concern for consideration by the Mayor and his advisors (link).
If the Mayor is allowed to utterly disregard the will of the people as expressed by the Area Forum by dismissing the issue raised without serious consideration then he will be flouting the British constitution and seriously undermining local democracy.
The argument that seems to coming out of the Town Hall is "so what, if there is a Constitution and it might prove difficult for us at one time or another? We run this game, we make the rules and if we don't like them, we ignore them".
A major test of democracy is being failed.
This is why with today we'll be campaigning around a toilet seat, to avoid that our rights are flushed away.
Sign our petition.
This morning we launch our petition outside the Town Hall, you may bump into us during this weekend as we collect signatures around the Town Centre.
Please contact us if you want to help collecting signatures around this issue.
The petition ends on Wednesday 18th April when we'll try to deliver our toilet seat to the Mayor of Lewisham.