🍂 Fall Newsletter
DemocracyNext launched in September, and since then we have been busy!
History Made: Brussels Launches the First Permanent Citizens’ Assembly
What a historic achievement! On November 16, the city of Brussels in Belgium launched a groundbreaking permanent Brussels Citizens’ Assembly on Climate. As part of what we call the “deliberative wave,” hundreds of assemblies around the world have sprung up around the globe over the past decade. What is new here is that the assembly is not temporary, but structurally integrated into Brussels’ governance on a permanent basis.
Our Founder and CEO, Claudia Chwalisz, was involved in the design and creation of this assembly, a process that was convened by our advisory board member David Van Reybrouck through his Belgian organisation for democratic innovation, the G1000. Here’s Claudia’s full statement:
"The historic establishment of the Brussels Permanent Citizens' Assembly on climate demonstrates that sortition and deliberation are not merely supplementary or optional features of a functioning democracy. To the contrary, citizens' assemblies can and should operate as permanent governing bodies with the same broad powers of existing electoral systems. Brussels is a city of over 1.2 million people, 180 nationalities, and 100 spoken languages. If this can be done in Brussels, it can be done anywhere—particularly on an issue like climate which affects everyone. At DemocracyNext, we look forward to following the assembly's progress and call on cities the world over to learn from and follow Brussels' example."
🛠 How does it work? The permanent assembly is made up of an ongoing series of citizen panels—100 randomly selected citizens per panel—who will make recommendations on climate policies.
An additional agenda-setting commission, of 25 citizens who participated in each previous panel, will decide what topic will be put before the subsequent panel.
Citizens have the opportunity to follow up on what is done with their recommendations, through a panel that will monitor how the recommendations are implemented.
Elected officials in Brussels will be required to report on how they’ve responded twice a year.
If it can be done in Brussels, it can be done anywhere. We want to spread the word far and wide about this important step forward to real democracy. Please retweet and share with your networks:
What a historic achievement! A permanent Citizens’ Assembly on climate has been established in Brussels, a major city of more than 1.2 million people.
Bottom line: If this can be done in Brussels, it can be done anywhere. https://t.co/ImnUEuH5fa— DemocracyNext (@DemNext_) November 17, 2022
Defending Democracy in Europe
We recently issued one of our first calls to action: Along with the Federation for Innovation in Democracy - Europe (FIDE) and G1000, we are calling on the European Commission to ensure the use of Citizens’ Assemblies is included in a package of reforms designed to guard against foreign interference.
Citizens’ Assemblies are key to giving Europeans a meaningful voice in their own affairs. Without them, the EU will remain vulnerable to outside actors trying to manipulate or deceive those who feel locked out and ignored.
As Claudia said in our statement, “This is not a time for piecemeal reforms that risk failing to deliver the change we need to counter the tide of autocracy. We have the chance to begin to shift toward a deeper, more resilient paradigm of democracy in Europe. Let’s not miss it.”
The statement is being shared with European Commission officials, reporters and social media:
The @EU_Commission’s “Defense of Democracy” initiative needs more... democracy! With @FIDEurope and @G1000org, read our statement calling for the commission to include Citizens’ Assemblies as part of its reforms: https://t.co/CqciuZjwhM
— DemocracyNext (@DemNext_) November 4, 2022
Join Claudia Chwalisz on Baratunde Thurston’s Podcast
Later this month, Claudia will speak with former Daily Show producer Baratunde Thurston on his “How to Citizen” podcast, and you can participate! The live taping occurs on November 28 at 1 p.m. EST via Zoom. Sign up so that you can join the conversation here.
SO excited to join @baratunde on his amazing #HowToCitizenpodcast 🙌
If you have questions you’d like us to talk about join the live taping on 28 Nov @ 1pm ET / 7pm CET https://t.co/npvkbVPdFx@DemNext_ #delibwavehttps://t.co/O1UxMyzcCn— Claudia Chwalisz (@ClaudiaChwalisz) November 16, 2022
Welcoming New Members of Our Team
We have too many projects and collaborations in the works to mention them all, so for now, we’ll conclude this newsletter by welcoming our newest team members!
Ansel Herz is joining us from the United States as Communications Director. Ansel was previously a Digital Director for Senator Bernie Sanders, Deputy Communications Director for Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and before that, a journalist. He can be reached at ansel@demnext.org or followed on Twitter at @ansel—please feel free to connect with him!
James MacDonald Nelson is joining us from Berlin as Project Lead - Urban Design and Planning. James is a designer with degrees in landscape architecture, urbanism, and global development studies. He will coordinate the area of work on urban design and planning in particular, but will also be involved in other projects. James can be reached at james@demnext.org.
Could you be the next person to join us in the work of building a more just and collaborative future? Stay tuned, because we are growing.
Extra reading for the road: We were excited to see the Boston Review, on the eve of the midterm elections in the United States, publish an excellent longform article arguing against elections and for democracy by lottery, by the writer Nicholas Coccoma. Worth a look! 👀
Also: Join us on 23 November for a virtual event organised by NatCen and the King’s Policy Institute: Deliberation for all! The opportunities and risks of building deliberative systems.