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WORLDWIDE DIRECT DEMOCRACY (WDD) Vol. 6 (No. 1) March 2004 Parliamentarism
and Democracy The vast majority of people probably believe that
parliamentary systems are the chief form of democracy and the only one that can
work in practice. The presidential systems (the USA, France and some others) are
not very different because in them, like in parliamentarism, the candidates are
put forward and supported by political parties. Obviously, the party-based illusion of democracy has
historical roots. Blatantly anti-democratic feudal or semi-feudal systems
existed in Europe as late as the beginning of the twentieth century. In
feudalism, power was concentrated in the hands of a few people who got their
privileges by birth. The vast majority of citizens had no say. Understandingly,
the disadvantaged could not but believe that democracy meant only general
suffrage and secret ballot. On the then existing level of socio-economic
development, nothing more could be demanded. Society consisted of a few
homogenous groups (workers, entrepreneurs, farmers ...) trying to acquire as
much as possible of the wealth produced in their society. Almost all attention
was focused on domestic problems within the framework of a rather simple
structure. In all societies, political development lags behind socio-economic development. Political elites cling to the ideology justifying their power, while socio-economic changes make this ideology increasingly obsolete. The gap keeps increasing until social tension reaches a stage when the existing Political Formula looses all credibility and breaks down. This is what we witness in current Western societies at present. Party-political power monopoly is doomed. The DD movement contributes to digging its grave, but the most important part of the work is done by party bosses themselves. (to be continued) SPAIN:
Another Democracy is Possible! "At the beginning, the system allowing ordinary citizens to directly participate in the budgeting process met with much scepticism. Today, it is being imitated in other towns, both in Spain and abroad. Hundreds of Spanish communities have sent observers to "Porto Alegre de la Mancha" in order to learn from its model, put in place at the end of 2002. ... On 29 November 2003, Albacete held its second Forum of participatory budget during which, 468 citizen collectives elected their delegates to make proposals concerning the appropriation of means provided by the municipal budget. Several delegations coming from Latin America participated in the Forum, in addition to communes and associations from six Spanish regions. Requests for information have been received from Bulgarian, Italian, French, and German collectives. In 2004, Sevilla might become the first big European city to adopt a participatory budget. Among the towns that have already adopted the model are Cordoba, Puente Genil and Cabezas de San Juan in Andalusia, and Sabadell and Rubí in Catalonia. In France, Saint-Denis had put the procedure in place as early as 2001. In Albacete, the experience is considered "more than satisfactory" by the Mayor, Mr. Manuel Pérez Castel. He says, "This new mode of policy-making is only one way to exceed representative democracy by using mechanisms of participatory democracy supplied by the Constitution of 1978. It is, however, very difficult to make use of these mechanisms in practice. This requires a broad-minded social climate allowing people to subordinate the specific interests of each collective to the common interest of the citizenry." The participatory model of Albacete has exceeded that of Porto Alegre. "That Brasilian town is at a low stage of development, which requires focus on the satisfaction of elementary needs such as food and health. Albacete, by contrast, is an economic and social motor of a region fully integrated in Europe, i.e. belonging to the developed part of the world. .... The level of participation has nothing to do with the level of development. While in Brazil, the advocates of citizen participation represent exclusively the interests of the most marginalized social collectives, in Albacete, participation involves everybody: the Chamber of Commerce, organisations of employers, tenants, consumers, environmentalists, big families, the young the retired, the Trade Unions, the disabled, the immigrants ... Everybody participates. This is our force and the guarantee of our success." 12 December 2003: Information from Mr.Leopoldo Salgui about the Situation of Direct Democracy in Spain: http://www.demopunk.net/en/direct/ddsp2002_en.html This group of several hundred persons call their initiative Another Democracy is possible. Where strategy is concerned, they use the word Trojan Initiative. Even if, on 14th February, Mr.Salgui wrote of a temporary set-back, the situation in Spain seems very promising. In the fall of 2001, another Spanish group - Motivados - counting among them several journalists - participated in the Second NDDIE Conference in Prag.
INTERNATIONAL 27.12.03, an information from Mr.Syd Baumel (received through Mr.J.Bunzl) concerning "an upstart Holland-based website that allows people to symbolically vote in the US presidential election - www.theworldvotes.org - and that also plans to do global opinion polls with their "voters". ... The basic idea behind the site is that nowadays there are many issues that go behind national borders and national elections, but the international community is unable to fully engage in their discussion. The environment, the war on terror, and international trade and development are only the most obvious examples. In November 2004 Americans will vote for a new president, and their voting will not just influence US domestic affairs but the lives of millions everywhere. So why not have the rest of the world participate in the elections as well? We want to apply new technologies to provide citizens around the world with a voice in matters that affect us all. The people who have registered themselves on the website will be invited to cast their vote in the run-up to Election Day. This way, they have the opportunity to let U.S. presidential candidates know what they expect of the head of the world´s most powerful state. In the future, theworldvotes may also be used as an opinion tool for other global issues. ..." The initiators of the above approach are perfectly right. But there is yet another way: The US National Initiative for Democracy is open - to my knowledge - to supporters from any country. In case of success, this project would enable American citizens to vote in referendums even on the national level. This is bound to have beneficial impact on American international, defense, and environmental policy. Therefore: Friends, let's all download http://ni4d.us and vote at www.Vote.org ! By supporting this initiative, we support ourselves and our posterity! (JP) 26.1.04, a letter from Mr.Syd Baumel sent to the Simpol channel: ".... according to the first global survey conducted by theworldvotes, a large majority of the participating U.S. citizens says that citizens worldwide should have some influence in the US Presidential Elections. 12% of the voters say that the world community should have a direct say in the election. Yet, a 64-percent majority of the voters would prefer to influence the public opinion in the US more indirectly, by stimulating the debate on international issues. Only 18 percent think that democracy only works at the national level. Remarkably, a large majority of the participating U.S. citizens also says that citizens worldwide should have some - indirect - influence in the Presidential election (69%). The large majority (90%) does not appreciate the approach of the Bush Administration in international affairs. According to these voters, international affairs should be conducted within the framework of international law as established within the United Nations. 77 percent say the United Nations should be the paramount institution for providing international security." Excellent reading for all true democrats! 30.12.03: Quotation from a letter sent to us by Triaka: "I submit that, in fact, the most fundamental of "Individual Rights" are still politically submerged and unrecognized in America and around the world for the reason that Old Paradigm materialistic philosophy and political "controllers" prevail over counter-balancing eternal moral values found in the natural cosmic laws of the universe http://www.globalvisions.org/cl/swn The essence of all existing political systems is, simply, that collective groups calling themselves "The Government" claim an "authoritarian liberty of initiatory physical force" to rule everybody WITHOUT each individual´s (1) Unforced and Explicit Direct CONSENT, and (2) Unforced and Explicit Direct SUPPORT. While laws of the cosmos call for "moral means to moral ends", current political practices everywhere - including representative forms - disallow such fundamental Individual Rights and, consequently, are disharmonious with cosmic reality, unbalanced, unfair and outdated." .... 13.1.04: "U.S. Presidential elections are an insane practice where the "most popular" candidate gets elected to head a huge enterprise - the government - with no required knowledge of its vast workings, and with almost unlimited powers of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Martial Law and much more. Meantime, 2,500 American cities have a better system where the city councils hire "city managers" - people schooled in governement administration - to run the city while the council makes laws and sets policy." 13.2.04: A letter sent to us by Mr. John Suhr: "Here´s more that you'll probably want to know about Internet political practices in California - a leader in DD: http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.html?id=362 The chairman of the commission has been quoted as saying, "Because of its ability to mobilize people, the internet should be treated as a possible remedy to an ailing democracy...." Further: "Widespread cynicism and substantially decreasing voter participation echo the overall disengagement in political and public life by our nation's citizenry." Clearly, Internet democracy (EDD) is the cure." 15.1.04: An announcement sent to the CICDD channel by Mr.Steve Magruder: "Today I announce a new version of Democracy 2.0´s autonomous discussion board covering e-democracy and direct democracy efforts.... and much more. By the way, here´s a direct link to the zone: http://discuss.democracy2.org 17.1.04: Mr.Steve Mathe sent an article to the CICDD channel under the heading: "No people are more enslaved than those who believe that they are Free!" Forwarded from PLANETNEWS broadcast New Years Day. http://rense.com/general47/slave.htm 2004 - Year Of The Slave Rense.com 26.1.04: A letter sent by Ms Belinda Spinosi to the CICDD channel: "Hello ... this is the first time addressing you. I am a good government advocate and drive some niche issues that keep tapping into DD as the future. Have been watching your work from afar and I admire where you are going ... thank you ... you are our future. Passing a couple pieces of info on ... they could be of interest to some of the members.
An interesting article was published in The January/February 2004 issue of Washington Monthly: Creative Class War - how the GOP's anti-elitism could ruin America's economy. By Richard Florida Information supplied by Mr.M.Dane Waters: 27.10.03: Nebraska Single Subject Law Tested http://iri.c.tepl.com/maabA6RaalCyxa66gLvb Mr.George Sagi's futuristic novel The Dream is arousing international attention. Especially the black-out caused by terrorists is a sinister vision that, regrettably, might become reality at a moment when people least expect it. The lecture of The Dream gives everybody something to think about. If ordered directly from the author ( sage2509@ozline.net , the price is 10 Canadian dollars plus shipping cost. 6.2.04: Inforrmation from Mr.Miroslav Kolar: A
promising development towards DD is taking place in British Columbia. Many
citizens are sending proposals aiming at improvements of the representative
system. Example: "General elections should be replaced by a series of
by-elections at one or two month intervals. This would keep the governmens
responsive to public opinion. A few members should be chosen at large to achieve
proportionality." See: Documents: ´Vote for an Electronic Democracy´ and ´How
would Electronic Democracy and the Voting Card work for you?´: Voters should
have an electronic voting card which would permit them to indicate their support
for government policies. (2 pages) 19.1.04: Information from Mr.Steve Mathe: The
Home page of the Citizens Rights League: 16.2.04: Information from Mr.Franz Isemann: "The text "Dismantling or Entrenchment of Hierarchic Structures and of Hierarchic Behavior" by Franz Isemann is an abridged version in English language of the German reader: Entscheidungen finden von unten und kreative Gruppenprozesse, written by www.projectwerkstatt.de/von-unten It contains a rich collection of hints and suggestions for those who wish to diminish hierarchical structures and to disrupt dominant behavior in daily political life. It is meant as a VADE MECUM for those who plan, organize and carry through political gatherings of all kinds, such as workshops, seminars, plenums, congresses etc. It is also helpful for participants of such meetings. Some items from the list of contents: formal and informal dominance, elites, rhetorics, voting, building of consent, plenum, moderation, conflict solving, special forms of structure and of organisation. The aim is, to have more attention paid to possibilities and strategies for implementation of direct democratic practices in our daily political work. 19.2.04: Information from Mr.Vladimir Rott:
Franz´ files are available at: Mr.Bernard Clayson, one of the most
prominent DD personalities globally. His model of an alternative political
system was published earlier in this Newsletter. Recently, Mr. Clayson also
proposed to set up a think-tank (Phoenix) the potential of which has not
yet begun to be exploited but which promises well for the future. 6.11.03: Information from Mr.Vladimir Rott: DIRECT DEMOCRACY: DESIGNING A LIVING
CONSTITUTION Summary: A crucial aspect of constitutional design is the provision of rules on how a constitution is to be amended. If procedures for constitutional amendment are very restrictive, changes will take place outside the constitution. These changes are likely to be against the citizens' interests and their ability to influence the political process. We argue that the development of the constitution must be based on the rule of law. We propose direct democratic rights that allow citizens to participate in the amendment process. The direct democratic process of institutional change is theoretically and empirically analyzed. A number of counter arguments and issues for gradual introduction are discussed. Download: http://www.iew.unizh.ch/wp/iewwp167.pdf Articles: Ein überwältigender Abstimmungssieg! by
Tony Johansson, Sweden Beside the articles, you will find, as usual, valuable Buchbesprechungen and Kurzinfos. THE NETHERLANDS 27.2.04: Information from Ms Filia den Hollander: "Yesterday, February 26th, 2004, the Amsterdam city quarter Central Amsterdam accepted the ´initiative system´ proposal by Amsterdam Initiatief. This means that The Netherlands will soon experience I&R on all three levels: the national level through a referendum on the EU Constitution, and the city level and the city quarter level through the ´initiative system´." 26.2.04: A letter sent to the Democracy-Europe channel by Mr.Blaz Babic: "I´m glad to inform you that a small group of activists has started (and registered) a unique NGO for Slovenia - Society for Direct Democracy of Slovenia. We have been active for a few months before that, throuh a web-portal called The Media Sieve (mainly in Slovenian). http://www.medijsko-sito.net/ If you would like to start co-operation in fields of DD - web democracy, information exchange, education and awareness of voters, legislation procedures ... etc., please don´t hesitate to contact us." Citizens of certain Siberian regions use DD procedures - mobilization of public opinion on the grassroots level - to oppose devastation of their nature by oil companies. (Information supplied in English translation by Mr.Miroslav Kolar) Appendices to the Record of Proceedings of the Public Hearings on the Environmental Impact Assessment of the Proposed Construction of an Oil Pipeline from Angarsk (Russia) to Dacin (China) held in the Republic of Buryatia (29 July 2002, town of Kyren) Rynchin Dulmaev Zunduev, chairman of the Buddhist community of the Sanaginsk Datsan (Monastery) of the Zakamenskiy District (his speech was in the Buryat language). Excerpt: "The residents of our district collected about 5000
signatures against the construction of the pipeline on the territory of the
Zakamenskii District. Meetings were held in the villages of Dalakhai, Utata,
Sanat and Tsagan-Morin, in which a decision against the construction of the
pipeline was made. The signatures collected were mailed to the address of the
President of the Russian Federation (RF), V.V.Putin, and the RF prime-minister
M.M.Kasyanov. On the basis of the law of the Republic of Buryatia "On local
referenda in the Republic of Buryatia", we have founded an initiative group
on holding a referendum in the Zakamenskiy District on the apportionment of land
for the construction of the oil pipeline "Russia-China" by the YUKOS
Company." 6.1.04: A letter sent by Dr.Doug Everingham to the Simpol discussion channel: "Local representatives have moved for a fair,
sustainable world order. In the past 50 years several public opinion polls have
shown people approve the idea of a democratic world federal government. This
could be spelt out as approving that In Australia´s oldest State, New South Wales, in the 1940s, a local (shire) government constituency in the Gosford/Wyong area voted overwhelmingly in favor of such world government after some weeks of discussion in a local newspaper. This paper sponsored the vote in conjunction with the shire government elections. I imagine it would be easy to find a local government willing to sponsor such a voluntary vote alongside a local government election, especially in Australia and other countries where adult voting is compulsory. It might be interesting to ask each voter's opinion at the same time on another question, for example 1. Do you think all adults should be liable to a small
penalty at the discretion of a court if they fail to 2. Should democratic elections 3. Should the international federation provide for 25.2.04: Mr.Ronald Pabst sent round ERC NEWSLETTER #16 http://www.european-referendum.org Items: 1. Back again! Display in Berlin 2. Berlin Event: Photos 3.Berlin Event: Media coverage 26.12.03: Mr.Alan D.Smith sent me this information: "We just wanted you to know that we have created the core code for direct digital democracy of the future in our votable Forum System at MajorityVoice.com. It enables anyone with computer access to create a votable public forum dedicated to finding the most popular solution to a common public issue, locally, regionally or globally among any demographically definable group. The system needs include: a few small code repairs in php and mySQL, some whistles and bells for user comfort and a way to dispel the people´s general fear from using a system of direct democracy." 5.1.2004: The World Parliament Experiment http://www.tgde.org 8.12.03: Dr.Doug Everingham sent this Extract to the Simpol discussion channel: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF PLANET EARTH, December 6-7th 2003, compiled by Nyck Jeanes ---------------------------------------- What Could We Do to Take Back Our Democracy?" Using Citizen Deliberative Councils to Make Democracy More
Potent and Awake Approaches to a wiser democracy, check out http://www.democracyinnovations.org 18.2.04: This information was sent to the CICDD discussion channel: Report - California Commission on Internet Political
Practices 2004-02-10-net-politics_x.htm OR http://snipur1.com/4jhb ----------------------------------------------------------------- DoWire.org - Democracies Online Newswire http://www.dowire.org DOWIRE is your primary source for what´s important and happening with democracy, goverment, politics and the Internet around the world. DOWIRE is a free, high quality moderated e-mail announcement list with no more than seven messages a week. To subscribe for convenient e-mail delivery or read recent posts on the web, visit: http://www.dowire.org Or send the command "SUB DO-WIRE" in the message body to listserv@lists.umn.edu>. Be sure to reply "ok" to the confirmation e-mail request you receive.Launched in January 1998, DO-WIRE now connects over 2500 experts, practitioners, journalists, and citizens from over 75 countries around the world. If you are interested in democracy online, which includes politics online, new media, e-governance, online advocacy, citizen interaction and related topics, then join us. Each week, well known e-democracy expert and speaker Steven Clift http://publicus.net forwards, with occasional analysis, up to seven carefully selected messages. ......" 26.2.04: Mr.John Suhr sent round a letter received from Mr.Steven Clift: "The other week I provided summary and concluding remarks at the eDemocracy Seminar http://snipurl.com/4q2k organized by the eGovernment Unit, Directorate General Information Society, European Commission. The Framework & program the Directorate administers provides the world´s largest source of e-government/e-democracy research funding http://snipurl.com/4q25 (as far as I know anyway). As an American, it was a honor to participate and learn more about a number of the interesting e-participation/e-voting projects around Europe and beyond like http://wwwdemocraciaviva.org from Argentina. You can download a number of the presentations <http://snipurl.com/4q1z> from the event. .... " 6.10.03: We received a letter from Mr.John Bunzl: "Friends, John Madeley´s new book, A People´s World - Alternatives to Economic Globalization has just been published. Apart from contributions from many leading thinkers, I´m happy to say that my own, on behalf of Simpol, are quite prominently included. For more info, go to http://zedbooks.co.uk/?d" Another book indirectly supporting the Simpol idea is False Dawn, by John Gray, Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics. (JP) Recently it has been announced that the number of Simpol adopters worldwide has exceeded the figure of 1.000. Congratulations to our Simpol friends and especially to the founder and President, Mr.John Bunzl! The Founding Declaration for Simpol-UK and the Founding Declaration for ISPO, the global umbrella organisation, can be found at http://www.simpol.org/dossiers/dossier-UK/html-UK/aims_scope-UK.html Another book to recommend is Monetary Reform - Making It Happen! by James Robertson and John Bunzl, meeting with very positive reviews. Recently, you can observe a deepening insight of the fact that I&R is not the only form of DD. Equally important (if not more important) are various models of structured citizen deliberation based on random selection of participants. As pointed out in previous issues of this Newsletter, in Europe, the most important model are the Planning Cells introduced as early as the 1970s by Prof.Peter C.Dienel. This model, however, is not the only one. Let me quote the article Using Citizen Deliberative Councils to Make Democracy More Potent and Awake published by Tom Atlee in the Co-Intelligence channel (November 2003): "Citizen Deliberative Councils (CDCs) are temporary, face-to-face councils of a dozen or more citizens whose diversity reflects the diversity of their community, state or country. Usually council members are selected at random, often with additional criteria to ensure gender, racial, socioeconomic and other diversity. These diverse ordinary citizens convene for two to ten days to consider some public concern - to learn about it (often by hearing and cross-examining diverse experts), to reflect on it together (usually with the help of a professional facilitator or moderator), and to craft a collective statement which they then announce to the public and/or relevant officials and agencies, often through a press conference. After that they disband. In current democratic visions featuring CDCs, they have no permanent or official power except the power of legitimacy and widely-publicized common sense solutions to compelling public problems. Hundreds of CDCs have been held worldwide. It is now well demonstrated that with this method ordinary citizens have a remarkable capacity to grapple with complex problems and come up with useful recommendations that serve the common good, thus realizing the elusive dream of democracy. Yet most citizen deliberative councils have been convened as isolated events or sophisticated focus groups by organizations or agencies seeking input from the public. Only in Denmark are they official institutions convened by Parliament as a periodic function of government, giving them a position of significant influence. This paper outlines how citizen deliberative councils could be much more broadly used to further the common good. It is hoped that this will help catalyze a movement to establish them at all levels of our barely democratic systems. Forms of Citizen Deliberative Council Citizen Juries - the basic and most widely practiced CDC, outlined above, with 12-24 participants. Pioneered in the US. http://www.jefferson-center.org/citizen_jury.htm Consensus Conferences - Like citizen juries except (a) panelists participate more in selecting experts to testify before them, (b) testimony is taken in a public forum and (c) a panel´s final product is a consensus statement. Pioneered in Denmark. Planning Cells - numerous simultaneous 25-person citizen
juries (cells), all addressing the same subject. Participants spend much of
their time in 5-person subgroups. The cells´ diverse final statements get
integrated into one "Citizens´ Report". Pioneered in Germany. There is also a new form of CDC which, unlike the models above, does not start off with issues and experts: The Wisdom Council is an experimental council using a proven form of open-ended, creative group process to explore whatever citizens feel is important. It is currently being piloted in several U.S. communities. http://www.co-intelligence.org/P-wisdomcouncil.html Finally, back in 1991 there was a one-time nationwide experiment in Canada that offers a provocative glimpse of what might be possible with a national Wisdom Council, "The People´s Verdict". MACLEAN´S magazine, Canada´s leading newsweekly, scientifically selected a dozen seriously different ordinary Canadians and then used world class facilitation to help them to come to an agreement on the future of Canada. Maclean´s then gave extensive coverage to both the process and the results. http://www.co-intelligence.org/S-Canadaadvrsariesdream.html (The above list should be completed by the Scientific Deliberative Polling model described by Prof.Ted Becker and Ph.D.Christa Daryll-Slaton in their book The Future of Teledemocracy. This model was also presented using a video tape during the Second International Conference on Direct Democracy held in Athens and Delphi in 2000. JP) Some Valuable Roles for Citizen Deliberative Councils Among the many functions CDCs could play are the following: Issue-centered evaluation would involve a CDC evaluating candidates´ position on key issues (perhaps compared to positions favored by prior CDCs on those issues, such as by the Annual Issue Dialogues mentioned above, or by the CDCs evaluating key pieces of legislation described below). ... Qualification-centered CDCs would ask experts and the candidates themselves what criteria should be used to evaluate candidates for a particular position. Once the CDC chose its criteria, it would have the candidates discuss their own and each others´ qualifications in terms of those criteria. ... Reviewing Government budgets
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