In the last discussion meeting held on the 23rd of February, we started with the questions on what type of format for our discussion group is preferred by the members. The majority wanted it to have an agenda and some structure but not very formal, preferring an exchange of opinions, with a possibility to learn something new whilst at the same time being led by a strong moderator. In general, that is similar to how we normally were having discussions.
By the way, do you know that in all our areas starting with Oliva and Val de Pop and finishing with Calpe and U3A Marina Baixa (covers Altea and 8 villages to the south of Calpe) U3A Javea is the only one which has a Discussion group?
Coming to the main subject -discussion about democracy, despite a few comments before the meeting that it is a very dry and uninspiring topic we had an active, interesting and ‘juicy’ enough discourse.
We started with the short classical definition of democracy which is about the rule of the people, including their participation in decision-making and the accountability of leaders. The series of questions followed:
Can we participate in the most important decisions? Can we call leaders of any country to accountability for not fulfilling programs, promises and bad decisions? What powers do we have if direct citizen participation in decision-making like referendums are not held anymore? Today the only possibility to tell to the ones in power what we think about their governance is elections every 4 years.
An exception is Switzerland where referendums are included in the constitution and are held 4 or more times a year in different levels of governance. But it is a small country with a culture of direct democracy. The reality is that such a model would not be efficient in governing big countries.
In the past deliberation of important questions at citizens’ assemblies had some success in different countries (Ireland) but the latest deliberation conclusions, especially about democracy, are recommendations for governments which they can take into account or not.
We talked about other issues related to the present status of democracies in different countries and discussed voting systems representing (or not) people’s interests.
A strong opinion was that people should be given all information before they vote for anything.
It was interesting to note that both the USA and France have a dedicated Senator/MP to represent all their subjects who are living in other countries, whereas a lot of countries (like the UK) do not.
A few members of the group expressed regret that they were not able to attend this meeting therefore we plan to continue this discussion later in this year of elections. If it sounds interesting to you, you are welcome to join us.
