PASSED: Protection of historical monuments

[Clearthink]

Description: RECOGNIZING that due to war, development and lack of public interest, historical monuments are being damaged, destroyed or entering a state of disrepair.

The Rogue Nation of Clearthink cannot vote for this measure for the following reason.

Public Interest best defines the value of a Historical Monument, therefore a current "lack of public interest" should not be used as justification to require maintenance in perpetuity at the expense of those who have become apathetic.

Thinka Freebrain - duly elected leader of the People of Clearthink

[Cameroi]

there is a slight problem with the clause:

"REQUIRES that Historical Monuments not be attacked, bombed or used as cover, shelter or vantage points by military personnel of attacking or defending countries, unless they are being used as such by the enemy."

in as much as if you have someone attacking and someone defending, by deffinician, are they not mutually "the enimy" of each other?

there are a couple of other little technical problems along those, and other lines as well.

in any conflict, any point capable of providing cover, shelter, or vantage point, will, unless it is fortunately remote from actual places of violent contact, be used as such.

and since we're talking about armed forces here, already doing so, i'm just a wee bit curious as to how this is to be prevented.

i do like the idea of placing off limits the idea of destroying them outright as means of enforcing through intimidation the occupation of territory.

that leaders who order such destruction could be later held accoutable for war crimes. like when the tallibon destoyed those ancient buddhist sites, or for that matter, american forces certain musiums in iraq, and their very priceless and irreplacable artifacts. such as some of the earliest known use of written language.

i would also recomend, in some future aggreement, that infrastructure essential to human life in the surrounding area be simularly protected in armed conflicts, and fully accountable in their aftermath.

as all too often we've seen these deliberately targeted.

blasting anyone back to the stone age isn't exactly a very useful means of supposedly bringing them 'democracy', or much of anything useful to anyone else.

[Baranthar]

I was simply letting this body, many of whom were calling for the action, know that should the item pass we are ready and willing to respond with what they are asking for. Further I did say that I was going to refrain from discussing specifics did I not.

My apologies. Lack of sleep and an abundance of alcohol seem to make me a very sloppy reader.

[Funkaholics]

Hey Brothers and Sisters!

The people of Funkaholics are against armed conflict and war under any circumstances, and hold their historical heritage very deer. For this reason, we applaud the intentions behind this proposal.

But, we think that this proposal was submitted much to soon, while there were still many unaddressed issues with it. We have read carefully through the first pages of notes that were made of the early debates between WA representatives, and noted that a number of key issues were raised quite early by concerned member states, but were more or less ignored by the author of the proposal.

The key issues that we noted were left unaddressed are:

- Historical monuments cannot be used as a place of residence; we have a large number of monasteries in our nation that we consider monuments and are still in use, are we supposed to remove their occupants?
- Monuments seem to be directly tied to States in their current form. It does not recognize that nations come and go over time, and that national borders may move back and forth over long distances in the course of history. The proposal does not address issues that arise from this fact. It will allow a WA member state for instance to destroy historical/archaeological sites that symbolize a culture or religious belief that they do not endorse. We have already seen this happen when barbaric hordes from the east blew up some thousand year old statues with dynamite a few years ago, simply because they represented the wrong belief system. It also fails to address issues that arise when nations cease to have an effective government altogether, or choose to enter/leave the WA on a whim.
- We think that no "monument assessment committee" will be able to fairly assess the value of any proposed monument brought forth by a WA member state, even when representatives of all nations take part in the committee, which we assume would make their decisions by (majority) vote.
- Damages need to be a "famous feature" of the monument, and any non-famous damage *should be repaired*. This simply does not effectively address the issue that was raised by the ambassador of Celtica and Neotopia of monuments, that some monuments are better left in a state of disrepair as it this very state is a key feature of the monument itself.
- The wording of the escape clause related to using the monument as shelter or vantage point is so confusing that it will be completely ineffective during armed conflicts within or between nation states.

We feel that the problems with this proposal are serious enough to vote against it. We also noted that the current vote count is such that the proposal will most likely pass, and that it is likely going to take quite some time to draft a repeal, get it through the WA vote process, and resubmit a fixed version of this proposal.

The Free land of Funkaholics asks each and every nation state to cast a negative vote on this proposal and help to fix these issues. As things stand now, we will be forced to abandon the World Assembly before this proposal becomes effective as we do not wish to evict the residents of our monasteries for no good reason.

Dr. Funkenstein
Supreme Funkapriest
Free Land of the Funkaholics

[Philimbesi]

Presidential Compound
Presidents Office

CJ entered the office "You wanted to see me sir?"

Bartlet looked up "Yes CJ I was looking at the advance copy of my schedule this week."

CJ glanced down knowing what was about to happen "Ah.. yes."

"Is there a possibility that I have a Photo Op with a donkey coming up?" Bartlet asked.

"Ah yes sir it's going to be taken with Bob the official donkey of the USP". She said.

"Bob?"

"Yes"

"The official donkey of the...?" Bartlet said frowning.

"National Parks Service, Yes, sir Bob, he was chosen as the official mascot of the National Parks Service, by a new law that seems destined to pass in the World Assembly asses must be present at all monuments so the NPS selected...

"Ok, well part of my day is going to have a long discussion with the NPS on using tax-payer revenue to hold ass auditions, but CJ" Bartlet said.

"Yes"

"Aren't we worried that a picture of me and a donkey might surface later when I'm running again?" Bartlet asked

"Extremely sir." Cj said.

"International law requires an ass..."

"...to be present at all monuments, not sure why sir but it's a WA thing, Yep." CJ said.

"Well it really doesn't surprise me that the WA requires something having to do with asses but... "

"We can try to put a best face on it.' CJ said.

"The ass? We can spin my standing next to a donkey?" Bartlet said, honestly interested.

"Well, sure, we are dedicating a monument to Bernard Galrin, he was an Olympic runner, so the donkey is there to... to symbolize his great speed. " Cj stammered, obviously making it up as she goes along.

"It's a donkey CJ, not a Thoroughbred!" Bartlet said.

"No not speed, then... he's there to symbolize something that will carry your stuff?"

"CJ"

"Yes?"

"Go away now" Bartlet said.

"Thank you Mr President" She said, backing out of the office.

"Nancy, get Nigel on the phone" Bartlet called.

[Flibbleites]

Presidential Compound
Presidents Office

CJ entered the office "You wanted to see me sir?"

Bartlet looked up "Yes CJ I was looking at the advance copy of my schedule this week."

CJ glanced down knowing what was about to happen "Ah.. yes."

"Is there a possibility that I have a Photo Op with a donkey coming up?" Bartlet asked.

"Ah yes sir it's going to be taken with Bob the official donkey of the USP". She said.

"Bob?"

"Yes"

"The official donkey of the...?" Bartlet said frowning.

"National Parks Service, Yes, sir Bob, he was chosen as the official mascot of the National Parks Service, by a new law that seems destined to pass in the World Assembly asses must be present at all monuments so the NPS selected...

"Ok, well part of my day is going to have a long discussion with the NPS on using tax-payer revenue to hold ass auditions, but CJ" Bartlet said.

"Yes"

"Aren't we worried that a picture of me and a donkey might surface later when I'm running again?" Bartlet asked

"Extremely sir." Cj said.

"International law requires an ass..."

"...to be present at all monuments, not sure why sir but it's a WA thing, Yep." CJ said.

"Well it really doesn't surprise me that the WA requires something having to do with asses but... "

"We can try to put a best face on it.' CJ said.

"The ass? We can spin my standing next to a donkey?" Bartlet said, honestly interested.

"Well, sure, we are dedicating a monument to Bernard Galrin, he was an Olympic runner, so the donkey is there to... to symbolize his great speed. " Cj stammered, obviously making it up as she goes along.

"It's a donkey CJ, not a Thoroughbred!" Bartlet said.

"No not speed, then... he's there to symbolize something that will carry your stuff?"

"CJ"

"Yes?"

"Go away now" Bartlet said.

"Thank you Mr President" She said, backing out of the office.

"Nancy, get Nigel on the phone" Bartlet called.

OOC: Did you have to name the donkey Bob?

[Philimbesi]

OOC: Did you have to name the donkey Bob?

OOC: Sorry, first name that came to my head, Robert better?

[The Magic Spirit]

REQUIRES that Historical Monuments not be attacked, bombed or used as cover, shelter or vantage points by military personnel of attacking or defending countries, unless they are being used as such by the enemy.

Why shouldn't our great nation not use the forts, castles and cannons we have at our disposal just because they're monuments? Our lives are more important than their historical status since they can be repaired, we can't.

REQUIRES that the monument be made government property and that it can not be owned by a private party.

Unneccesary. We have buildings that have been in private hands for years. People who care for a building are often willing to put down funds for repair. And we can use every ace we're offered. As long as the owner is a Spirit citizen, we see nothing wrong with private ownership.

[Grays Harbor]

REQUIRES that Historical Monuments not be attacked, bombed or used as cover, shelter or vantage points by military personnel of attacking or defending countries, unless they are being used as such by the enemy.

Why shouldn't our great nation not use the forts, castles and cannons we have at our disposal just because they're monuments? Our lives are more important than their historical status since they can be repaired, we can't.

REQUIRES that the monument be made government property and that it can not be owned by a private party.

Unneccesary. We have buildings that have been in private hands for years. People who care for a building are often willing to put down funds for repair. And we can use every ace we're offered. As long as the owner is a Spirit citizen, we see nothing wrong with private ownership.

That is the problem with these "one size fits all" proposals, they try to mold the entire WA into clones.

[Scalietti]

Im new to the WA but I think there is something wrong with this proposal. I had a browse back through the past resolutions and found a lot the same as this (ie. protection of currency). Alot of these proposals seem to enforce preservation upon the country, even if that particular country may want to forget their past for whatever reason. The WA should not be dictating everything member countries do and that is what several of these past resolutions have been about.

[The Magic Spirit]

What is even more shocking is people voting in favor of a proposal without properly reading what consequences it could have...

[Philimbesi]

What is even more shocking is people voting in favor of a proposal without properly reading what consequences it could have...

Welcome to the WA, we're having jackets made.

[Cor-Dem]

Someone should draw up a repeal for it then, this violates a Nation's Sovereignty in sooooo many ways.

[Philimbesi]

Someone should draw up a repeal for it then, this violates a Nation's Sovereignty in sooooo many ways.

Already been done, just waiting for it to pass. Though not on the sovereignty argument...

[Funkaholics]

"Dr. Funkenstein, what can I do for you?" - Bootsie, the Minister of Education and Cultural affairs, stepped into Dr. Funkensteins office: a large dance hall with a podium at the end. He stopped right underneath the disco ball at the center of the dance floor, and shook his booty sexily as required by Funkaholic's ministerial protocol.

"Get ready to send an email to this list of company CEO's who have set up office in the Funkaholics, telling them to evict the premises withing two hours and leave everything behind." The Doctor's wide grin exposed at least half a dozen gold teeth. He sat in his gold laminated throne on the middle of the podium, surrounded by a half dozen scantily dressed background singers.

"We've decided to have their factories and office buildings added to the WA list of cultural and historical heritage sites. As you know, these sites represent an enormous historical value for the people of Funkaholics, as without these foreign investor's help for the past 2 centuries, our Nation would not have been as wealthy and culturally advanced as it is now."

Bootsie looked at the list. It was a compilation of the top 50 foreign investors that had offices and factories around the nation. A quick calculation in his head of the value of these premises made his heart leap; It represented at least three decades worth of Funkaholic's total government budget.

"Of course, we're not going to close down these businesses, mind you! We're just, ehm ... nationalizing them, mandated by World Assembly legislation. Isn't that nice?" - The doctor hadn't had so much fun in his career and it was showing.

"Get going Bootsie, and don't let them drag their feet or take anything of value off the premises: we need to keep these historical sites in pristine order; it says so in the proposal!"

Bootsie left the dance hall and headed for his office, while the doctor started giving orders to make preparations for the Funkfest that was going to be held tonight to celebrate the occasion.

[Lenora07]

I thought this was a good issue to vote on, This being my first time to vote an all. I am in awe of all of you I think its pretty cool being on the WA.

[La Habana]

OMG I can't believe this damn proposal actually passed. What a farce, I don't have a clue where we are going to get all the donkeys from that the Resolution requires by law, or where all the people are going to live that got evicted from the historical buildings............

[Philimbesi]

The United States of Philimbesi would like to formally thank the author of this measure for his efforts in giving our unemployment office workers something to do. Due the the tax increase generated by this flawed resolution, we now have over 94 million less employed people in our nation.

Repeal will be posted shortly.