Video 01 DDF Introduction to the Direct Democracy Forum
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Video 01 DDF Introduction to the Direct Democracy Forum - Video
Democracy is a lovely word. It evokes images of civil rights marchers singing We Shall Overcome in Birmingham, Ala. It is 10,000 keys jingling the message of Its time in Pragues Wenceslas Square 25 years ago. It is the delighted faces of Afghans and Iraqis holding up ink-stained fingers and the brief springtime of hope in Cairo.
Any serious system of democracy, however, has another word attached to it that is crucial to its success but is much less evocative, a word that is at best workmanlike and more likely to be accompanied by a shrug or an ugh than the thrill of human aspiration. That word is representative.
Buzzkill, right? And yet whatever you think of the political class, it is necessary to make democracy function. Even if advances in digital technology could take out these middlemen, elected officials would still be needed to counter the very real problem of tyranny of the majority. More than that, representative democracies, as James Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers, refine and enlarge the public views, by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interest of the nation.
Representatives today are more often seen as bickering and inflexible than wise and discerning. Why the lack of love? Maybe because we know too much about them. A democracy requires public officials to live in the public eye, which was fine in the days before 24/7 media. The always-on spotlight, however, has burned away the privacy needed for representatives to consult one other, to blue-sky ideas, make deals, and compromise for the good of the nation and not just their own political survival or their partys advantage. Add to that the political expedient especially for members of the US House to stay close to constituents, fundraisers, and party purists, and you have a system that is broken.
The Monitor recently asked five experts how to fix the Congress. If there is a common theme in what these five (former Senate majority leaders Tom Daschle and Trent Lott, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Sarah Binder of the Brookings Institution and The George Mason University, and Jason Grumet, author of City of Rivals: Restoring the Glorious Mess of American Democracy) recommend it is that representatives be given space space away from the spotlight, space to do business, space free from relentless campaigning and opposition gotchas, space to make Capitol Hill their workplace and not just a base they tag once a week. (You can read what they say by clicking here.)
No one is calling for a return of the smoke-filled backroom or machine politics. Lets just acknowledge that the humans we elect need the latitude to do their jobs with some degree of privacy, just as you and I need when we are noodling with ideas and weighing what can be done against what we wish could be done. Lets acknowledge that a wise nation honors its human representatives as much as its democratic ideals.
John Yemma is editor-at-large of the Monitor. He can be reached at yemma@csmonitor.com.
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Giving our representatives room
Norman Chan, the head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said a continuation of the pro-democracy protests may dent the citys financial stability, as demonstrations entered a sixth week.
A peaceful end to the protests will be key for foreign investors, Chan told reporters today before joining a delegation to the Chinese capital of Beijing to meet regulators.
Protest leaders are debating their next move after talks with the government yielded no solution to the biggest challenge to Chinas sovereignty of Hong Kong since the city was returned from colonial rule in 1997. While the economy has so far shrugged off the protests, Chan joins other public officials in warning about the impact of a prolonged standoff that has seen roads blockaded in parts of the city.
Hong Kongs Autonomy
If the movement continues for a much longer time, then it may impact social stability and undermine rule of law in Hong Kong, Chan said. It may have a very negative impact on financial stability as well as Hong Kongs position as an international financial center.
Charles Li, the chief executive officer of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd., said Oct. 26 that he wouldnt be surprised if the protests were among factors behind the wait for the regulatory approval of a stock market trading link with Shanghai.
John Tsang, Hong Kong's financial secretary, wrote on his blog that he hopes protesters dont hold a destroy first, then rebuild later attitude to deal with political reform. Close
John Tsang, Hong Kong's financial secretary, wrote on his blog that he hopes protesters... Read More
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John Tsang, Hong Kong's financial secretary, wrote on his blog that he hopes protesters dont hold a destroy first, then rebuild later attitude to deal with political reform.
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Hong Kong Finance Chief Scolds Protesters as They Plan
A pro-democracy protester holds a banner in the part of Hong Kongs financial central district protesters are occupying November 2, 2014. Reuters picHONG KONG, Nov 2 Hong Kong police have been pushed and pulled in all directions during weeks of pro-democracy street protests, obeying orders to clear protest sites, allow protest sites to stay put, push back demonstrators and protect them from attack.
With no end to the standoff in sight, the police, long known as Asias finest, risk being cast as enforcers for an unpopular central government in Beijing or failing in their duty to ensure the city remains one of the safest in the world.
Your friendly bobby on the beat image... has been taken for granted in Hong Kong, said Steve Tsang, head of the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in England.
If the police start actually using force then all those things that have been built up... will go out of the window.
In signs of goodwill, police have been seen washing out protesters eyes with bottled water after using pepper spray. Protesters have used their trademark yellow umbrellas to protect police in sub-tropical downpours.
But the force seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place, with uncertainty creeping into tactics. The use of tear gas only drew more demonstrators on to the streets. Protesters have since been allowed to block some of main thoroughfares, illegally, sparking anger from tradesmen and small businesses whose livelihoods have been hit.
China took back control of the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997 through a one country, two systems formula which allows wide-ranging autonomy and specifies universal suffrage as an eventual goal.
But Beijing said in August it would effectively screen candidates who want to run for city leader, which democracy activists said rendered the notion of democracy meaningless. Student-led activists have since taken to the streets.
When police stepped in to protect protesters from attack by opponents, they were swiftly accused of co-operating with triad criminal gangs, failing to make arrests and helping some of the assailants escape the scene.
People are saying the police are switching back to being licensed triads, said a protester who gave his name as Wong.
Continue reading here:
The end of trust? Protests leave Hong Kong police in the spotlight
Catalan pro-independence demonstrators rally in Barcelona. Photograph: Albert Gea/Reuters
I am Catalan and I have two reasons to want Catalonia to become an independent state as soon as possible. The first is to improve the quality of our democracy, and the second is to preserve and foster cultural diversity.
Having a smaller political unit allows greater democratic accountability. The determinants and consequences of political decisions can be better grasped at a smaller scale because the citizens have first-hand knowledge of the issues at stake: decisions that affect the landscape, conflicts among different social groups, the allocation of resources, alternative sources of energy, the potential for economic development of specific areas.
Having first-hand knowledge of these issues at the grassroots level does not exclude experts from being hired, when needed, to study certain problems and propose solutions, but it allows the people to have a much better critical appraisal of the experts work and their proposals. The quality of this critical appraisal corresponds to the quality of a democracy.
Most citizens in a small country the size of Catalonia (32,000 sq km with 7.5 million inhabitants) not only have an objective knowledge of the issues at stake with regard to particular political decisions, but most important are subjectively involved in them. They care about them because these decisions will one way or another directly impact on their lives or on those of the people they love.
A smaller political unit allows for a more humane political experience. In a smaller country, social activists and people working at the grassroots level have a greater chance of knowing each other personally and being able to pass on to each other relevant information in a direct manner; they also have a greater chance of knowing most of their political representatives personally.
Besides the structural link between size and democracy, I see contingent reasons that make me expect that an independent Catalonia will enjoy a better democracy. The indignados movement in Spain, which started in 2011, has identified many deficiencies in the countrys democracy: corruption is rampant and not being adequately investigated; the financing of the political parties is not transparent; there is no mechanism to depose political representatives who contradict their political programme and rule against the will of the people who voted for them; people are evicted from their homes by the same banks that profited from the rescue money provided by the European Union (the banks are rescued, the people are not); the health system is being privatised against the will of the majority; rich people pay comparatively less tax than those who are poor; renewable energy is not being developed despite there being enough natural resources and a popular will to do so; and city halls are being stripped of their decision-making power.
Independence for Catalonia is no guarantee that these issues will be resolved, but having to write and approve a new constitution would be a unique opportunity to work towards solutions to these problems in a much more comprehensive and radical way than is possible in an already constituted state. Many in Catalonia expect that the process of drafting a new constitution will elicit a political debate from the bottom up that could radically rethink our economic system, so that in the new Catalonia people and their basic needs cannot be treated as commodities. Many also expect a radical rethinking of our political system, so that institutions empower the people instead of stifling them with bureaucracy.
Along with improving the quality of our democracy, my other motivation in wanting independence for Catalonia is the fostering of cultural diversity. I do not consider our language, traditions and history better than anybody elses and I do not consider them in any way pure or able to be distinguished essentially from those of any other group of people. Our language and traditions are the result of complex processes of cultural cross-fertilisation and, as long as they are alive, I expect them to continue happily resisting rigid definition.
In their contingency and fluidity, they contribute to the worlds cultural diversity, and I expect the government of an independent Catalonia to celebrate and foster them in a much more congenial way than the Spanish central government currently does.
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Why I want independence for Catalonia