*[Enwl-eng] Democracy is more than elections

[ENWL]

This is part of a series of 6-weekly emails written by WeMove Europe’s 
Director sharing stories and insight into what the heck we're trying to do 
and where each of us fits in. There is no call to action and no donation 
ask. Just a story.


Hi,

The image of Donald Trump on a golf course refusing to concede election 
defeat got me thinking. It served as a blunt reminder of just how much power 
certain leaders hold on to. Admittedly the US is not the only place where 
abuse of power has gotten out of control in recent times. When I think of 
Europe in the last weeks, a far less publicised image comes to mind.

It is that of David Sassoli, the President of the European Parliament. We 
were so shocked by his decision last month to bring forward a key vote on 
the future of agricultural subsidies by one day. It sounds like no big 
deal - who cares, right? But it was about how €60 billion of agricultural 
subsidies would be spent each year. The date change confused the whole vote, 
leading to allegations that the powerful agribusiness lobby played a role. 
[1] The result was a vote that totally undermined the EU’s commitment to 
climate action and has led to calls from Fridays for Future to 
#withdrawthecap. [2] If such last-minute tricks can be allowed, where is 
people power? What say do we have over Europe’s most expensive cash 
distribution system, within which the most money goes to those with the most 
hectares of land?

Another image is of our partner Emma from the Debt Observatory in 
Globalisation in Spain. She is shaking her head and explaining to me that up 
to now, there is no way to find out how literally billions of euros of 
post-COVID EU recovery funds will be spent in Spain. This is not a Spanish 
story. Right now, activists and movements in Spain and all over Europe are 
fighting to influence how that money is spent to make sure the transition 
after COVID is truly green and truly just.

So where is people power in Europe right now? My view is this: we still need 
a heck of a lot more of it. People turning up to vote every 4-5 years is not 
enough for democracy to work. In his short and brilliant book called 
'Against Elections' David Van Reybrouck points out that we need other ways 
to get involved in what happens between elections.

This is precisely why WeMove Europe exists - to ensure people in Europe know 
what is happening, and to ensure we can find ways together to drive Europe 
towards a positive future. We do this via all kinds of actions, starting 
with the petition, which signals what people care about and followed up with 
demonstrations (when we can), twitter storms, poster actions, direct emails, 
direct calls to or meetings with decision makers.

But we still need way more ways to be drivers of change beyond what 
organisations like WeMove Europe can do. Right now, there is one I’m really 
curious about: Citizens' Assemblies have been a bit of a nerdy topic so far 
but they are starting to kick ass where it matters and may be about to hit 
the mainstream.

Where I come from, in Ireland, Citizens' Assemblies have been held on some 
of the most controversial topics of our time: gay marriage, abortion and 
climate change. The one on abortion hit me pretty hard because it's the 
issue that has polarised my country for as long as I can remember. In 2016, 
the Irish parliament set up a Citizens' Assembly on abortion before the 
referendum on the same issue. They randomly-selected 99 people, through 
using criteria to make the group more demographically representative. Those 
people spent five weekends listening to presentations from both sides of the 
debate and then ... drumroll... they got to talk about it. Imagine. They 
listened, shared, disagreed, changed their opinion or stuck to them. They 
deliberated. 64% of the participants ultimately voted for no restrictions in 
early pregnancy. [3] It led to the Prime Minister publicly changing his view 
on abortion. Some felt the Citizens' Assembly was out of touch. But the 
subsequent referendum saw 66% voting in favour of removing the restrictions. 
This experience and the others on gay marriage and climate have been massive 
for Ireland, for our democracy and our identity.

Meanwhile in France, a recent Citizens' Assembly on climate change led to 
149 creative and exceptional recommendations, 146 of which Macron has 
pledged to fight for. One of those is about making ‘ecocide’, or the 
destruction of nature, a punishable crime - which is about time. Another is 
about putting climate goals in the Constitution. [4] Imagine how this could 
lock in positive change and thumb its nose at electoral cycles and changing 
political priorities?

We are interested in this because right now activists all over Europe are 
excited about the potential of Citizens' Assemblies. A climate assembly is 
one of Extinction Rebellion’s three main demands - they understand the need 
to improve democracy in order to combat climate change. Citizens' Assemblies 
are already planned in Spain, Denmark, Germany and Scotland (though 
lockdowns have slowed things down). Cities across Poland are doing the same 
thing. And the German-speaking Community in Belgium has gone further than 
anyone else to make them an official part of the state decision making 
system.

So, what if we brought this to the European level? What could that mean for 
discussions of climate change, where that particularly large challenge knows 
no borders? What could it bring to debate over CAP subsidies, that has been 
raging for decades almost entirely without citizen voices? Or maybe, just 
maybe, on the future of the European Union? The US election saw millions of 
Europeans glued to their screens for updates. Could a Citizens' Assembly 
help make things a bit more real and draw Europeans closer to Europe?

One thing is for sure: at a time of fake news, conspiracy and rising 
polarisation, it would be pretty handy to have a place to bring people 
together to hear each other out, to discuss and deliberate. The conversation 
can’t just happen on Twitter.

What we want to know is this: are you as excited about the potential of 
Citizens' Assemblies as we are? Should we be campaigning for a Citizens' 
Assembly on climate on the European level?

With hope,
Laura Sullivan, Executive Director of WeMove Europe



References:
[1] 
https://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/news/press-release-european-parliament-kill-nature-CAP-22Oct2020
[2] https://twitter.com/Fridays4future/status/1320258903695781888?s=03
[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39687584
[4] 
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/jury-duty-global-warming-citizen-groups-help-solve-puzzle-climate-action



WeMove Europe is an independent and values-based organisation that seeks to 
build people power to transform Europe in the name of our community, future 
generations and the planet.

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From: Laura Sullivan - WeMove Europe
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2020 5:14 PM
Subject: Democracy is more than elections


 
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