Two Kinds of Palace Was Re: [ox-en] Re: Business opportuities based on Free Software
- From: cyfarwydd <adam diamat.org.uk>
- Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 16:06:06 +0100
Sun, 28 May 2006 20:19:58 [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED] Christoph Reuss wrote:
Indeed, this illustrates some of the problems arising from monarchistic
leadership. Alright so Linus joked about being a "benevolent dictator",
but sometimes dictatorships become rather non-funny, especially if the
citizens are made to believe it's a democracy... (any similarities with
Diebold machines and Patriot Act tricks would be merely accidental ;-} )
...and what if Wales is run over by a bus tomorrow?
With respect to neglect and reasonableness, maybe the validity of a
civilians actions should be first set against the hypothetical
'bald-headed man at the back of the Clapham Omnibus' [1] --
With respect to sovereignty, I think the concept of Estoppel should be
considered too [2] -- cf. case law : Dillwyn v Llwellyn (1862) et al.
With respect to complicity of actions, i hold the DPP for Northern
Ireland v Maxwell [1978] 1 WLR 1350 as my rule of thumb.
"Software is like sex...it's better when it's free" -- Linus Torvalds
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_man_on_the_Clapham_omnibus
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoppel
[3] http://law.anu.edu.au/criminet/tcmplicty.html
Two Kinds of Palace
-------------------
In the climate of boozy, loquacious defiance that prevailed at the
Palais-Royal, it was not surprising that the Paris revolution began
there. But it was born less of a festive revolt than desperation. By
July, bread prices were reaching levels that were symptomatic not just
of dearth but of famine. Conditions throughout urban France were rapidly
approaching the level of a food war.
Spectacles : The Battle for Paris, July 12-13, 1789
---------------------------------------------------
Listen
Listen to Paris
And to Lyon
Rouen and Bordeux,
Calais and Marseille
From one end of the country
to the other
the same,
universal cry is heard ...
Everyone wants to be free.
Camille Desmoulins
On Monday the thirteenth he [1] was faced with a more serious threat
than the kind of spontaneous havoc of the day before. At eleven the
previous evening there had been a meeting of some of the electors at the
Hotel de Ville. They decided to summon emergency sessions at each of the
sixty district headquarters at dawn the following day.
The only way this could be announced was the ringing of the recognised
signal for times of peril - the tocsin - and reinforcing the message
with cannon shots and the beating of drums. So it was with this
thunderous cacophony - the clanging of church bells and the firing of
guns - that citizens were summoned to their patriotic duty.
At the Hotel de Ville the paramount concern was to take control of the
situation that threatened to disintegrate into anarchy. The means, as in
countless other cities in France, was to form a militia restricted to
the electoral elements of the population; those, in other words, with
something to lose.
Units of eight hundred in each district were mobilized, making up in
total a citizens' army of forty-eight thousand. Even when allowances had
been made for its inevitable inexperience and the need to be guided and
trained by the gardes francaise, it was an imposing force - substantial
enough to perform its twin duties of facing down any further attempt at
military repression and containing and, if necessary, punishing unlawful
violence.
Crucial to the transfer of authority represented in this act was the
provision of identifiable insignia. Since uniforms could hardly be
provided at short notice, cockades were to be worn on hats. Green was
ruled out when it was discovered to be the color not only of hope but
the livery of the Comte d'Artois.
As an alternative that signified more emphatically the passage of
legitimacy, the colors of Paris, red and blue, became the colors of the
citizen-soldiers. The official nature of this choice, however, did not
preclude more romantic interpretations. In his capacity as poet-Patriot,
Desmoulins described the colors of the uniform as red, representing the
blood to be shed for freedom, and blue, representing the celestial
constitution that would be its eventual blessing.
--
the Bastille Falls : Simon Schama - ( ISBN 0-141-02240-X )
Pocket Penguin Number 21
http://happybirthdaypenguin.com/
[1] the Baron de Besenval
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