Patria remembers Nelson Mandela

"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite"

- Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

Patria joins much of the macronational world in expressing its deepest condolences on the passing of Nelson "Madiba" Mandela at age 95. Patria honors Mandela as a great soul and freedom fighter who left his anger and bitterness at the prison door upon his release and whose achievements transcend his native South Africa. Of course, Patria's right wing and Diet Coke Party (Patria's Tea Party) contingent were quick to condemn Mandela as a terrorist and unrepentant communist, who - unlike Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. - was not sent to prison for non-violent acts of civil disobedience.

Patria Post will issue a Nelson Mandela commemorative stamp in early 2014. Mandela will become only the third macronational leader to be portrayed on a Patrienish stamp, after Pierre E. Trudeau and Ronald Reagan.

Diplomatic shout-out to Leylandiistan

 

As one of the oldest micronations (established in 1818), Patria's Ministry of External Affairs welcomes diplomatic contacts and peaceful, friendly relations with all micronations, particularly those that are committed to peace, non-violence and religious/spiritual freedom. While Patria has ratified formal bilateral treaties of recognition with a few micronations such as the Holy Empire of Réunion, most of Patria's diplomatic recognition is carried out on an informal or de-facto basis. Today, Patria accords such de facto recognition to the Democratic Republic of Leylandiistan (flag pictured above), a new micronation established in 2012, apparently macro-nationally based in Ireland.

Amma on a stamp, for real in Finland.

Over the years Patria Post has issued a number of stamps depicting Amma, such as for her recent 60th birthday as well as for her 50th in 2003, but Finland has done it for real! During Amma's European tour stop in Helsinki, Jani Toivola, honourable Member of Finnish Parliament, officially released a stamp commemorating Amma’s 60th birthday. The stamp includes the message Syleillen Maailmaa ("Embracing the World" in Finnish) and a beautiful photo of Amma. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Jani Toivola expressed his happiness on being able to see Amma once again and expressed his deep appreciation for Amma’s work that creates opportunities and platforms for people, especially the youth, to feel empowered. This stamp is apparently a macro-national philatelic first. Not even India has issued an Amma stamp. Macro-nations (i.e. "real" countries) tend to avoid issuing stamps portraying living persons, unless it is the head of state, reigning monarch or a member of the royal family. The only living person who may be pictured on Canada Post stamps is the Queen.

Transcendent Luminosity: Parvati's UK tour

Honorary citizen of Patria Parvati Devi is launching a tour of the United Kingdom, which she has dubbed "Transcendent Luminosity". Why this name? As Parvati explains:

My upcoming tour through England mid October to end of November, 2013, is called “Transcendent Luminosity” because at the heart of all my work, I know this to be our true nature. The tour is designed to inspire and support each one of us being the best we can be.

Parvati will also be teaching a workshop based on her new self-help book Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie, inspired by her near-death experience in India in the 1990s.

To state the obvious, this tour is scheduled around Amma's visit to London, Oct. 21-23 during her European tour.

Parvati's tour schedule and online ticket sales. (Note early bird specials - save up to £50 on package deals)

Amritavarsham 60: rallying the Amrita Party devotees

Although the lakhs (quant Indglish term for 100,000's) of devotees attending Amritavarsham 60, Amma's 60th birthday celebrations at her home base in Amritapuri, Kerala could not have been aware of it, the event was none other than a humungous rally to launch the Amrita Party's 2014 re-election campaign. As in the USA, being an incumbent (in Amma's case, the Amrita Party's house leader and the Honourable Member from the Precinct of Arboria since 2002), is an incredible advantage when it comes to ginning up popular support and filling the campaign war chest with crores (another quaint Indglish term for tens of millions) of rupees.

DISCLAIMER: the Amrita Party exists only in the Inner Realm of Patria and has no connection whatsoever to the MA Center, Amrita University, Amma Canada, MA Math, or any other Amma-related organization in the macro-national or so-called "real" world. Amma does not hold and does not seek political office anywhere in the macro-world.

Campaign 2014: 50th Congress election primer

For newbies to Patria or first-time visitors to this blog, the following is a brief summary of what you need to know about Patria's upcoming federal election.

Election Day: April 19, 2014 (Third Saturday in April; Patriot’s Day long weekend)

Inauguration Day: June 30, 2014

What’s at stake: 333 seats in Patria’s 50^th Congress (L Con. Pat.), elections for Precinct legislatures and local city, county or demi-precinct councils in some of Patria’s 13 Precincts and the Federal District of Castoropolis (FDC). There is also an upper house in Patria, like the US and Canadian Senate or UK House of Lords, but its members are selected by the Precinct legislatures, not by direct popular vote.

How members of Congress are elected: European or Israeli-style proportional representation. Lists of candidates are prepared by each party and seats are awarded in proportion to the percentage of votes received in each precinct. An idea whose time has come in Canada but will likely never happen.

Congressional apportionment per precinct:

Caesarea – 61 seats

FDC – 38

Nova Columbia – 36

Lazuria – 27

Centralia – 25

Aeolia – 24

Arboria – 21

Antioch – 19

Ambrosia – 17

Canardiere – 16

Mauretania – 15

Pottsylvania – 13

Haldimania – 12

Fredonia – 9

Term of office: Four year term ending June 30, 2018.

Method of vote counting: paper ballots counted by hand. No hanging chads. This ain’t Florida 2000!

Follow on Twitter @Patria1818 and @Patriavotes2014. (the latter account created solely for the purpose of electioneering and political ads from all parties) Hashtag: #PatriaVotes2014

For some basic background information on Patria’s many and varied political parties, please visit the links below. Note that some of this information will require updating since the 2010 election.

Amrita Party “Embracing Patria”, Amma as House leader in Congress. Generally liberal-progressive. 

SRM (Spiritual Regeneration/Swadeshi RamrajyaMovement) “Bring the jobs home” Small-c conservative Hindu nationalist, economic protectionist.

Chakra Party “no gurus, just right” yoga/new age liberal.

National Union “where a man belongs”, macho, populist law and order.

Jungle Party “Have a take, don’t suck”, inspired by Jim Rome.

Parties from the macro-world Parties that actually exist in "real" or macro-nations, e.g. Green Party, Libertarian Party, Social Democrats.

Minor parties: fringe groups and nutbars (Chastity Party, Family Values Party, Lilith Party, Freedom Party, etc.) that get in thanks to no votes being wasted under proportional representation. There are several parties that hold only a single seat in Congress.

It is likely that at least one new party will come into existence during the 2014 campaign, either in the “fringe/nutbar” category above or coming out of nowhere to win more than one or two seats.

Congress returns from summer recess as Campaign 2014 begins

The Fourth Session of the 49th Congress (4·XLIX 2013-14) meets on Monday, Sept. 16. As Patria's Congress returns from its summer recess, the usual economic issues are on the order paper (the economy has improved, at least for Patria's one-percenters) and celebrations of Amma's 60th birthday are set for the last weekend of the month. Macro-world issues such as Syria and immigration reform will also be discussed. But of course, the 800 lb. gorilla or the elephant in the room is Campaign 2014. The election of the 50th Congress will take place on April 19, 2014 (third Saturday in April, during Patriot's Day long weekend). Inauguration Day for the 50th Congress-elect is of course the traditional date of June 30, 2014.

With the election still seven months away, the Amrita-Chakra-Social Democratic "Positive Possibilities" coalition once again faces the challenge of the rightist, economic protectionist Hindu nationalist SRM and Patria's version of the Tea Party, unofficially dubbed the "Diet Coke Party". The manly-values, tungsten-tough, cigarette-smoking, pit bull-owning National Unionists wait in their mancave, pushing their usual macho law and order agenda and separating the real men from the pussycats. The Jungle Party of Jim Rome's Clones, along with the Greens, Libertarians and a whole bunch of nutbar fringe or single-seat parties could swing the balance of power.

As in 2010, you will be able to follow the campaign trail at this blog site as well as on Twitter, where a special account has been set up @Patriavotes2014 for all parties to tweet. If you have not already followed this account, please do so, as well as this blogger's personal Twitter feed @Patria1818. Don't forget to use Patria's Campaign 2014 hashtag: #patriavotes2014.