Democracy is dead long live democracy!
Civic Lab, a public think tank in the heart of Barcelona
There is a growing concern in our society about the paralyzed state of modern democracy. It seems that politicians are existentially driven by five year goals, without engaging directly with the core of the problem. Accountability and representativeness, the core values of democracy, seem to be progressively forgotten by the political class, which instead has been reproducing a pattern of stagnant administrations. Voters grow frustrated and apathetic, leading to abstention and blank votes. We have lost faith in democracy.
Nonetheless there might be a remedy to be found within our current democratic structure, a pool of untapped potential which we need to direct our efforts to. Indeed, the great breakthrough of the past decade has been the invention of internet and software technology. From taxis to food delivery many parts of our lives have been “uberised”. However one primal component of our society has been resisting change: the political sphere. In response to this void, the civic tech(nologies) movement has lately been gaining momentum. Civic techs across the world are progressively leaning towards the paradigm shift we so desperately need. Their purpose is straightforward: they seek to bridge the citizens to their representants, employing the advancement of software to connect citizens and transform social and democratic institutions. They provide global platforms for civilians to engage in their communities, to share information and resources along with their time, so as to have an impact on an upper scale
Off the grid, another civic empowerment initiative has caught our attention. March 31 marked the genesis of Nuit Debout, an endeavor akin to the 15-M movement in Spain. French people thus gathered in the streets to protest against a labor reform known as “El Khomri Law”, designed to sweep through France’s labor code, notably making it easier for firms to lay off workers, as well as putting an end to the country’s 35 hours workweek. These peaceful demonstrations adopted the form of general assemblies, as individuals took turns to speak their minds. By early may the movement had spread to 300 cities worldwide, as participants took part in similar general assemblies addressing issues ranging from the environment, to economic matters and feminism. This attempt to refocus democracy on its citizens albeit leaning in the right direction, holds geographical limits. Indeed, it prevents access to people living in cities which do not figure on the map of Nuit Debout locations.
Thereby, in light of Civic tech and Nuit Debout, we seek to bind the two ideas in creating Barcelona’s own Civic Lab. We want to hop on the civic tech train and create an online and offline platform that bridges institutions of varied forms and inhabitants of the city. The goal is to stimulate the public arena and create a horizontal meeting space where people from all backgrounds come together to share knowledge. We will strive to host events based on interaction, engagement in thought provoking conversations, and the exchange of ideas to spur action. We want to foster an e-inclusive environment designed for citizens’ entrepreneurs and hackers to participate in a data driven democracy. Concretely, the idea is to federate the civic technologies initiatives through lectures, debates, pitches, incubators, and hackathons to build comprehensive solutions, and facilitate change towards a reformed and open governance that serves a wider part of the country’s population and organizations. Civic Lab is meant to be a transparent, online and offline, agora open to all.
| Written by Alexis Sarfati |
