I’m still working out who or what or how to vote for tomorrow. I’ve had three replies so far – please add yours. Two were from completely unknown people – interested how they found it.
Terence Eden wrote:
I think you’ve stumbled on the conclusion – democracy doesn’t need saving; politics does.
People are more engaged than ever in democracy (direct, digital or otherwise) but the political parties have consistently ignored us.
This expresses it well and what I have been trying to describe as webDemocracy. Citizens alert themselves – they do not expect politicians to feed them issues. They are capable of mobilising very rapidly and marshalling arguments and resources.
It has, of course, just as many dangers as the current system – if not more. Single-item parties are easy to create and in Europe can have a voice. Pro- and anti-life. Capital punishment. Repatriation. Etc. We have to believe in an increasing understanding of an increasingly connected publication.
If, for example, you are interested (as I hope readers of this blog are) in changing copyright and patents then there is the Pirate Party. (Thanks to (Open Access News). Many countries have branches of this. See also Pirate Bay which is a a BitTorrent site supporting mass “illegal” downloading. These represent the political and the direct action (civil disobedience) approaches, but they are based on webDemocracy rather than conventional politics.
[I was gently admonished this morning by an acquaintance for using this blog for politics. I do not do this as a matter of course. But where the issues directly affect academia (e.g. copyright, patents and other Opens) then I feel that it is my duty to present the issues.]