Principles of the Alberta Democratic Movement

## Enemy

See also: Conflict
Enemy is a person or group of persons whose thoughts and actions stifle,

 No human could be our enemy since judging a human as an enemy will be a contradiction of our own human nature. If another human could pose a threat to us, then we could pose a threat to ourselves too. The real enemy is not the person but the "thoughts" of the person. The real enemy is their Intentions and beliefs that will stifle or hurt us. The reason to separate the person from their thoughts is that thoughts are temporary and bound to change. With a bit of persuasion, maybe the guy running with a knife can and will put down the knife.

There are two problems that make identifying enemies difficult,

1. Verifying the true intentions and beliefs of people (how do you know the reason behind the government of Iran is pursuing a nuclear bomb?)
2. Lack of time to rationalize responses, since reasoning requires more data, facts or objective truths (like the Government of Iran accidental shooting and killing of 63 Canadians, the plane which the Iranians wrongly determined it for an American cruise missile, and one of the reasons given was "we only had 10 seconds, lack of time"

### Wrong identification

Wrongly identifying the threat leads to irreversible damage to ourselves humanity. For e.g, the Iraq War based on unfounded Weapons of Mass Destruction, which had a body count of more than 100,000 and several hundreds of thousands missing. We thought we humans learned from WW-II where 70 million people died, we thought we learned from the Vietnam War where we saw more than a million people dead, we thought we learned from the Korean War, where 3 million people died.

It is not only war or combat that we need principles to back up our actions. But it is our everyday life that we need to control our emotions before we go on a "hate-spree", it could just be the driver in front of driving slowly at 60 kmph in Deerfoot Trail where the speed is 100 kmph. or it could be the person who does not mow their lawn or shovel their sidewalk.

It is our principle to take the time if it is available and verify the true intentions and beliefs of the belligerent, and at arriving at a consensus before rushing to judge and crucify the belligerent.

### Honest opportunity to reconcile

With a bit of effort and persuasion, humans can change. The first principle is the commitment to change, by allocating time and efforts. The second principle is, arguments or dialogues should be honest and point out only to the errors and or omissions and should not be dishonest, antagonistic, hostile or combative to provoke emotional responses. Tactics and strategy should be honest, should not be deceptive but the advantage should only be in sequencing, timing, homework, fact-checking, training, etc.

## Non-Violence

### Violence is Justified

Though we wish wars never happen, did we not kill millions of German soldiers?. 4.3 German soldiers died in WW2. Assuming that many had been killed by us. How many killings could we justify? None?. Denier or conspiracy theorist or bleeding heart, nobody could argue that (1) humans were not killing each other, (2) Both sides justified the violence.

### Conduct matters

* Commit to peaceful negotiations, honest working.
* Show dissatisfaction, move away, denounce, use non-violent measures, that do not stifle basic needs, but persuade the belligerent to stop their actions which are a threat to us.
* Display force, intimidate. Scare away.
* Declare and layout the rules and terms of conflict

### Preemptive strikes

We will be fully prepared to return a strike, but we will not do any preemptive strikes. We will not initiate strike without being sufficiently breached.

### Covert Operations

Before we proceed to say that we don't do covert operations nor believe it is needed, we want people on both sides to note that the "human mind is impenetrable", there is no guaranteed way "to tell", some times counter-intelligence use the naivety of covert operations to throw illusions which favors their outcomes. The Iraq WMD will be history's landmark failure in intelligence.

Now, this being said, covert operations then become useless. But there still are going to be patriots

We will never authorize any covert mission, If needed, it is the patriot's choice. But let them better not be caught. Because, if caught, we won't save them or attempt to save them.

### Torture

Torture is unacceptable either overtly or covertly. Torture is a punishable offense with no leniency.

## Rationality

Reason should be the only determinant of truth. We will never use other means of determining or judging the truth. For e.g. Sheila Gunn Reid, a contributor for TheRebel.media from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta posts in twitter, a video of Jerry P.Dias a trade unionist being arrested during a protest. She writes *"Canada Goose jacket for Jerry. For the working man".* What is implying are many things. At the very least, she wants the audience to believe that Jerry is a "fraud", "he is not what he says he is".

Personally we do not like Jerry too, for that matter, like Diogenes, we dislike any or all unions, we dislike the union leaders, and in fact, we dislike any leaders, we are open to say that we dislike anybody who is dishonest, corrupt. But is that the highest level of proof we would entertain to prove the dishonesty of a person? A Jacket? Maybe Jerry just stole it from the coat stand of Gerald Butts. Maybe Jerry was so poor that he visited a thrift store and picked it up for $250 from the thrift store.

Yes, it does matter whether Jerry is scum or not. But the point is, are we, Canadians, a developed and highly civilized nation, stoop to such low levels of proof, to judge people based on what we see? like, are we so politically, intellectually and culturally handicapped to look for and demand higher levels of proof? Are we having a political Autism in Alberta?

### Senses Fail

What we perceive through our senses is not always true. Hence senses should never be trusted. There are 49 Types of Cognitive Biases or 49 ways to the death of truth. We should remember the accidental shooting by the Iranian government forces that 176 people of which 63 were listed as Canadians. Try the list of 49 cognitive biases and find the matching bias that killed those people for no fault of theirs.

To this effect, as a permanent token, we will not promote, within our movement, permanent symbolism, imagery or any sorts of visual means to appeal to the emotions of people. Being human, life itself is enough symbol to be recognized.

## One Law

Imagine you are riding a motorcycle to the liquor store, just a few blocks away, you did not wear the helmet, because the damn thing stuck closed in the hook, and you rushed because the liquor store is about to be closed, and you needed that damn beer. You park the bike, in front of the liquor store, hurrying up to leave, beside you is Sukhdeep Singh, the Sikh owner of the liquor store, in his motorcycle, waving to you "Go, man, the liquor store will close in 3 minutes, I am done my shift, bye" waves to you and leaves, and then suddenly you hear the sirens, lights flashing. You know it is for you, and you were not even wondering how come that Sikh guy left?. Forget about the rest of the story. You got a ticket, and you did not get that damn beer.

This is what the NDP did in 2018. They exempted Sikhs from wearing a helmet. And when the UCP came they did nothing about it. Because they need not to. Because they do not have principles or at the very least the principle of "one law", if they did, they could have used their majority to make the law equal for all people. It does not matter why the Sikhs have been exempted, that is not the argument. If a Sikh is a human and if I am a human then we both should be governed by the same law.

### Inequality of law should be fought

The government is nothing but the law, and if permitted they can do anything using a law. The helmet exemption is an example. Any reason could be given to bend laws. The equality of law should be absolute and the only criteria for having any difference in the treatment is the age (children) or mental condition of a person.

## Deliberative Democracy

People first begin as children, then they grow up to become adults. Children grow up in varying circumstances, especially if they are from a different culture, society or geography. This results in adults with varying beliefs and values which is known as diversity. Diversity is good, but diversity is good only when trying to solve problems, where we benefit from the different perspectives of problems, which then can lead us to different solutions. In a world where we do not know the future problems, it is best for us to be prepared with a million different solutions, rather than to face a single weapon. In that diversity is useful to the community.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/09/usa.iraq2
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WMD\_conjecture\_in\_the\_aftermath\_of\_the\_2003\_invasion\_of\_Iraq
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq\_War#Casualty\_estimates
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World\_War\_II\_casualties#Classification\_of\_casualties
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean\_War#Casualties
6. ↑ https://www.newtactics.org/conversation/principles-persuasion-social-psychology-behind-change-0
7. ↑ https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-news-blog/60887299-intellectually-honest-and-intellectually-dishonest-debate-tactics
8. ↑ https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Clear\_Thinking/Informal\_Fallacies/Tricks/tricks.html
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/Alberta\_ADM/status/1219471977640935424
10. ↑ https://www.iflscience.com/brain/eight-illusions-that-will-show-that-you-cant-trust-your-senses-at-all/all/
11. ↑ https://humanhow.com/en/list-of-cognitive-biases-with-examples/