NationStates Jolt Archive

Dear UN-delegates,

Please support my UN-proposal called 'Save oral History', so all UN-members can vote on it!

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Save Oral History
A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.

Category: The Furtherment of Democracy
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: Ancient Races

Description: Oral History is part of every nation's past. This proposal (and resolution if supported) wishes to actively preserve this important link to the past, by collecting Oral History and writing it down for future generations. A special UN-bureau for Oral History has to be created.

(example) The Aboriginals of Australia have 'Dreamings', paintings which represent specific rituals of their culture. One dreaming is about the spears of war. Without explaining this dreaming, one would only see an abstract painting with horizontal stripes. When one knows the background-story, one sees the spears of the tribe being prepared for war!

By writing down the meaning of 'Dreamings', the tales of the bards etc. important links to the past will be preserved for the future. Small minority groups will have access to their cultural roots, thus furthering democracy!

Status: Lacking Support (requires 103 more approvals)

Voting Ends: Tue Sep 14 2004
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2 points:

1) I think this may reference the real world too much and get wiped by the mods
2) Much meaning could be lost by simply writing stuff down. I would suggest that you say they should where possible make audio, or even better audio-visual, recordings, and then have written transcripts of these recordings.

Ariddia agrees that, while it is vital to preserve oral histories, cultures and traditions, this should indeed be done through means which respect that orality. We concur with Myopia's suggestion to make use of audio-visual means, and suggest a re-drafting of this otherwise excellent proposal.


the PDSRA
Uhuhland's resident Commies
Founder of the World Cup

Oh also, in your re-drafting, take a look at Sophista's sticky, which explains the use of a more official format: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=342360