By John Gormley: Modern western societies are enormously
complicated affairs composed of byzantine organisations and influences,
often difficult to understand and navigate – despite which most of us
get how the system works.
We vote for our local politicians, they have
certain powers, they do things that influence our lives. We vote for
national politicians, they have wider powers with further reaching
effects.
Changes to these powers and the results of
legislation created under this authority are closely scrutinised by
voters and political pundits, journalists and special interest groups –
not much is missed, as a rule.
And yet we are often blind to the very real
power wielded by those in faraway offices and boardrooms, often acting
on a transnational basis, which will unquestionably reach down and touch
every one of us in our day-to-day lives through that same political
system we so confidently feel we understand.
The very existence of the Istanbul Convention
is unknown to many, even to high level journalists in national
newspapers, politicians and pundits alike. It has been quietly put
together, quietly pressed, and quietly ratified
by enough countries to make it binding across those European states who
have signed it, from the first of August 2014, with the last three
being Spain, Andorra and Denmark. It will be going before the European
Parliament soon, and if ratified there will become binding across the
EU.
What is the Istanbul Convention?
In short, it’s an agreement that governments
will undertake to act within its guidelines, said guidelines being
essentially a feminist blueprint to inflict every manner of injustice on
half the population purely because they have male genitalia.
