LA ESQUINA CALIENTE (THE HOT CORNER) - A STUDY OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY IN ACTION AROUND THE WORLD

PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY vs REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

We as citizens of the United States observe politics from afar and the vast majority of us may participate in the political process only to the extent that we go to the polls once a year to vote. We may endeavor to follow the news accounts of our nation's politics as they unfold, and of the consequences those political actions yield, but we have little power to influence our "democratically" elected officials. Perhaps we write an occasional letter to our senator or representative, but we almost inevitably receive a vague and impersonal response explaining why they will vote in our opposition.

Over the decades, our representative democracy has been systematically undermined and has ultimately failed in preserving the well being of the people of this nation. The system that the founding fathers painstakingly devised in order to best serve the interests and the will of the people has been corrupted and the systems of checks and balances on power that they instituted have been stripped away. Most of us accept this reality as being beyond our control and continue to observe, comment, and complain without aspiring to achieving any real change, without any hope of instituting a new system of governance that would instead take directly into account your views, and the views of your neighbors, and would empower you to make real positive change possible in your communities.

This site will attempt to explore in depth the places in the world where people are successfully bringing about that type of change in the face of similar odds, where an alternate form of democracy, which is called participatory or direct democracy, is taking root. Initiative, referendum & recall, community councils, and grassroots organizing are but a few ways in which direct/participatory democracy is achieving great success around the world.

Our system of representative democracy does not admit the voice of the people into congressional halls, the high courts, or the oval office where our rights and our liberties are being sold out from underneath us. Our local leaders and activists in our communities, and even those local elected officials who may have the best of intentions are for the most part powerless to make real positive change happen in our neighborhoods, towns and villages when there is so much corruption from above.

In places like Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, India, and the Phillipines, new experiments in grass roots community based governance are taking place. There is much to be learned from these and other examples of participatory democracy from around the world when we try to examine how this grass-roots based governance could begin to take root here in our own country in order to alter our political system so that it might better serve the American people.

In the hope that one day we can become a nation working together as a united people practicing true democracy as true equals, we open this forum…

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Thursday, December 4, 2008

ECUADOR: Alcaldes Hablan Sobre la Participación Ciudadana

Los alcaldes hablan sobre la participación ciudadana

Alcaldes nacionales y extranjeros discutieron ayer, en Guayaquil, sus experiencias locales.

Fuente:
http://www.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=238768&id_seccion=10

La participación de la ciudadanía en la gestión pública local fue la fórmula que presentaron ayer los panelistas. Lo hicieron durante la sesión de trabajo, en el IX Encuentro Iberoamericano de la Sociedad Civil, en Guayaquil.

Isabel Noboa, presidenta del Encuentro, dio la bienvenida a más de 300 participantes, de los cuales, 150 son extranjeros.

Ahí mencionó la importancia de promover alianzas entre las entidades públicas, las organizaciones de participación ciudadana y los propios empresarios, con miras a combatir la pobreza.

Jaime Nebot, alcalde de Guayaquil, indicó que para lograr una comunidad sana y segura, la administración local debe generar, junto con los empresarios, grandes obras y fomentar el empleo.

Aprovechó para defender las fundaciones municipales y criticó la Ley de Transparencia de Contratación Pública. “Suprimen los dictámenes de la Contraloría General del Estado y permiten contratar a compañías extranjeras sin domiciliarse en el país y entregar anticipos sin garantía”.

También señaló que este año se incrementará un 15% los sueldos del Cabildo y eso incidirá en la distribución del presupuesto para el 2009. El gasto público subirá del 11% al 13%.

Auki Tituaña, alcalde de Cotacachi, explicó su modelo de democracia participativa. Y mencionó la intención de lanzarse a una nueva candidatura, con el auspicio del partido Pachakutik.

Antanas Mockus, ex alcalde Mayor de Bogotá (Colombia), explicó cómo, a través de la cultura ciudadana, disminuyeron la criminalidad y los accidentes de tránsito y aumentó la tributación.

Antonio Sánchez Díaz de Rivera, diputado federal de México, propuso que partiendo de lo local se creen vínculos entre la sociedad y el manejo público.

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