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Transcript excerpt · English
Let's get the obvious out of the way first, shall we?
Yes, I'm British.
(Laughter)
And yes, I'm here talking to Americans about democracy
on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
from Britain.
(Laughter)
I'm very tempted to chuck my talk out of the window
and break into King George from "Hamilton."
"You'll be back."
(Laughter)
But I'm not here to call you back.
I'm here to call all of us forward,
because I've spent the last ten years gathering stories
from around the world of the future of democracy
for my book "Citizens"
and for the podcast I co-host, "How to Save Democracy."
And what I've found are a couple of things.
The first is that there is a bold, bright,
beautiful future of democracy just wanting to take hold.
It's emerging everywhere in institutions that are open and participatory,
and in politicians who are desperate
to put the power of citizens ahead of their own power.
But what I want to focus on today
is not so much that destination, as the journey to get there.
Because what I've seen all over the world
is that it's actually not institutions that are changing for us.
It's not politicians who are leading us there.
It's the people.
It's citizens coming together and building the future,
creating the space for the politics to move into.
Because the line I want to leave you with at the end of all of this,
democracy is not something we have.
It's something we have to build.
Now, my favorite story of this new democracy
comes from Melbourne in Australia,
and it starts at the end of 2020.
In the context of COVID lockdowns
and black summer bush fires raging across Victoria
and clogging the city with smoke,
Melburnians were confined to quarters for weeks on end.
In that context, a few citizens started to gather online.
They were motivated by the understanding
that the existing power structures just weren't capable
of responding to these challenges.
And if they didn't want this to be the pattern of the summers
for the rest of their lives,
they were going to have to lean in and do something about it.
Soon, those few citizens were joined by a few more,
and then tens and eventually hundreds of people were attending these calls.
They invited authors and experts from around the world to inform them,
as they tried to create a vision
for the future of the city that they wanted to hold.
They got to this point where they were saying,
we believe we can create a resilient, regenerative, beautiful city
in a way that can be a template for others to follow.
They birthed an organization called Regen Melbourne
to act as a catalyst for citizen activity,
and they aligned their work around three earthshot goals.
The first was to make the River Birrarung swimmable for its entire course.
The second to localize the city's food system
so that every one of its neighborhoods would be a nourished neighborhood.
And the third was to foster a sense of community
on every one of the city's 300,000 streets,
partly because if these situations were to repeat themselves,
then that's what would be needed,
but more because -- joy.
Five years on,
there's been amazing progress and in fascinating ways.
Citizens are jumping into the Birrarung ever closer to the sea
at river festivals.
The river has status as a living entity.
And rights.
But most interestingly of all, on that goal,
the City Council has come in behind and adopted the goal with the citizens.
And now institutional resources are starting to flow.
They've created the space for the politics to move into.
There's been similar progress on the other goals,
and now there are even conversations
about even more ambitious projects that they could take on.
There's talk of creating a standing citizens assembly
as part of the city's governance structure.
Randomly selected citizens, a representative sample of them,
to debate and discuss the key issues facing the city
as a complement to the existing elected systems.
There are sister organizations springing up all over Australia.
The momentum is building hugely
and it all started with a few citizens coming together online,
not staring into crisis
but building out of it.
Now look, there are so many stories I want to tell you.
I want another hour.
(Laughter)
I want to tell you about Taiwan's crowdsourced COVID response
that was rooted in a set of digital tools
that a citizen movement came together and built.
I want to tell you about Ireland,
where there's a citizens assembly as part of the national governance structure
that has helped them resolve some of the most polarizing issues of our time
in a way that brought the nation together,
and that the first iteration of that assembly
citizens built it.
I want to tell you about things
that are happening all over the world and all over America as well,
in Lexington, Kentucky,
and Fort Collins, Colorado,
and I don't have time.
But what I can tell you
is that there is something big going on.
And I think the best way to understand it
is through the lens of what I call stories of self and society.
And this is a framework I want to offer you
as a way of understanding the moment in time we're living in.
Back in the days of the old country,
we lived in what I call the subject story,
as in subjects of the king.
The right thing to do was keep your head down,
do as you're told, get what you're given,
on the basis
that the God-given few knew best,