Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
E-communitarian democracy (based fundamentally on direct democracy, but incorporating participatory and representative forms as well) both needs and will constantly build a rich network of provisional or long-lasting social organizations.
Kadalie’s book is one more testament that a collective awakening is taking place to jettison the state and redefine global history from the bottom up.
For all this, direct democracy by itself can hardly promise social and ecological restoration. Democracy is not a matter of implementing formulaic procedures and structures; it is a matter of fostering bonds of mutual support and the sharing of communal power.
If we are to scale this challenge, we need the legitimacy conferred by a responsive democracy. More democracy, not less. Enter the citizens assembly.
We can build community and force elites to listen to our demands at the same time. Radical municipalism is a project to take direct democratic control over the places where we live.
The lack of internet access is especially problematic because it is a key driver of inequality, which is a principal threat to not just democracy, but all human rights; hence, the barriers listed above only serve to exacerbate inequality. As the authors of a paper that examined sustainability and participation in the digital commons (Franquesa & Navarro, 2017) emphasized: “it is well established that there is an access gap between citizens who can afford a digital device and an internet connection and those who cannot.
Nowadays, the social imagination is effectively being modelled in the framework of economism.
“Participatory budgeting is a great process for bringing more voices to the table and providing a more equitable space for those voices to be heard,”…
Take a straw poll of nearly any Western country and you’ll soon notice that a lot of people are unhappy.
It was beyond the imagination of most workers and scholars in industrialized countries that workers would or could occupy their companies and run them on their own.
Ever since I wrote a book about Occupy Wall Street, I’ve often found myself on the receiving end of people asking, “What happened to Occupy, anyway?”
Whatever happened to the 15-M Movement? Where did Occupy go?
Clark and Teachout see three alarming trends occurring in industrial society. Both public resources and governance decisions are moving towards increasing centralization and privatization.
