How can we make democracy real?

The institutionalisation of radical democracy, where everyone gets a say, is thus essential to creating lasting change. Only real democracy has the potential to simultaneously challenge the injustices of our day and assemble the building blocks of a liberated society.

— The Symbiosis Research Collective

We might begin answering this question of what is democracy, really, by asking some prior questions: Why do we desire democracy? What are the qualities that make democracy the ideal form of governance? What values are embedded in our vision of democracy? How would a commitment to democracy inform our daily behavior?

For many of us, the opportunity even to discuss such questions feels both uncomfortable and liberating — a feeling that we might describe as “democratic.” We are not going to get the answers by looking these up in the Constitution, or by any other process except for discussion among ourselves. So here are some themes or “democratic elements” to weave into the conversation:

• Self-rule/autonomy: how can participation be more than a right to be heard? How can it be an actual way to influence decisions related to one’s life and common affairs?
• Membership and community: who can claim standing to participate in self-rule and at what points in the process? What behavior would get people get kicked out?
• Voice, individual liberty and creativity: how can individuals be free and supported to express their unique selves while working with others to make new possibilities?
• Collective well-being: how are individual interests balanced and checked by what’s good for the community?
• Strength in diversity: how can traditional power hierarchies be flattened in order to assure better, more humanistic decisions and inclusive participation?
• Deliberation, discourse and discussion: how do we facilitate productive and respectful conversations?
• Agreement/decisions: by what process are decisions made and recorded? When and how can they be revisited?
• Education and wisdom: how can new members learn from those who have come before them and become sophisticated participants?
• Dissent: what happens when there is not universal agreement? What rights do individuals have? What are the limitations on those rights?
• Justice: what are the standards for behavior towards others? How can wrongs be made right and how will the rules be enforced?

Each of these should be considered when we get, or take, the opportunity to constitute a democracy. The answers should be reflected in a documentation of norms and expectations — what some might call rules, by-laws, first principles, community agreements, constitutions or social contracts.

If everyone speaks at once or says the same or irrelevant things over and over, it might still be considered a democracy, but it will not be a pleasant or effective one. A well-thought and talked-through structure can prevent the “tyranny of structurelessness,” the re-emergence of hierarchical patterns, and the commandeering of meetings and organizations by those unable to put aside their “me” for a chance at a “we.”

Democracy is notoriously unstable. When chaos descends, the strong voice wins power because we are all fed up and have fallen apart rather than have come together. Or we just do not show up.

In our organizations, we often reproduce hierarchy and domination, rubber stamping, corruption and co-optation. We often hoard information when we should be transparent, or are defensive instead of reflective, and tolerate abuse because it seems too difficult to deal with. In our efforts to get it right, we sometimes cement processes that discourage and exhaust participants without recognizing the need for change, growth, rest and fun.

We need to recognize that we are humans with behavioral tendencies, with cultural norms and socialized attitudes, and with different wounds and healing. These influences can be examined and considered as both strengths and potential challenges as we attempt to build trust and make positive change toward a liberatory society. Generous practices aimed at reconciling differences and unmasking subtle domination can be developed through explicit accountability commitments from members of the democratic community. Without justice, we cannot expect to move forward.

Sustainable democratic fora depend on organization, time management and rules. How rules are enforced without the familiar coercive modes is also important to work out. Liberatory aspirations are often easier to agree to — like equal time for men and women to speak — than to realize.

We need to accept that building democracy is a process, and that evaluation, feedback, monitoring and reflection should be baked in. These processes are essential. So, too, is explicit attention to political education or paideia — the process of education and the evolution of participants in order to deepen democratic intelligence and commitment. Orientation sessions, study groups and talks where the goal is simply to learn and reflect should also be integrated into our new democratic practices.

We should also recognize that there are preconditions for democracy. There are physical, social and economic conditions that enable everyone’s participation. Physical conditions include making spaces accessible for those with disabilities and providing childcare, lunch and language interpretation.

Social conditions include reducing behaviors that discourage participation by the historically mariginalized including women, gender non-conforming people and people without academic credentials. This can be done by developing protocols and conscious processes to eliminate racism, sexism, elitism, and so on, such as affinity caucusing, strong facilitation, participation quotas and constructive “calling-in” to encourage reflection, accountability and transformation.

We can also encourage leadership in our horizontal organizations by people who have been historically marginalized by explicitly requesting those voices and by providing opportunities to practice skills such as facilitation and presenting.

Asking, “what do we need to do so that everyone, regardless of financial resources, status, work schedules and family responsibilities can participate?” helps address the intense exclusion of the non-rich from participation in democratic processes, including ours. For example, long meetings present a barrier to participation for those who are already exhausted.

Answering those economic condition questions helps us realize that work is not equally shared, and that those who make the coffee and clean up need to be able to participate as equals in our democratic processes and that they also need to be able to rest.

Dealing with the Shell of the Old “Democracy”

We become a power only through organization. Against capitalist modernity’s attempts to infiltrate the deepest cells of individual and social life to distort its fabric, we must organize against the system with democratic-communal values. Democracy in this sense is the free life-form of society. Since sociality is related to freedom, freedom can only be lived in spheres of democracy. Radical democracy grows society’s freedom spheres. It prevents us from being suppressed and annihilated by statist systems that occupy, alienate, colonize and destroy us. Moreover, it helps us become people who can speak, discuss, decide and act on their own behalf. Radical democracy brings out human willpower. It enables people to be themselves. Such people can meaningfully contribute to their societies. To the extent to which such a person participates in society with their own different attributes, they will create diversity and increase the freedom of that society and of themselves.

— KOMUN

The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.

— Audre Lorde

Many people — right, left, and in between — believe that the way to transform our society is through more people voting and working to elect good candidates. They are hopeful that good people who are elected will be able to enact new policies that reflect more than the interests of the rich and powerful. There certainly is a tradition of candidates promising to do so, but the record does not reflect success. Rather, we tend to get disappointed at their compromises.

Many people thought that in the US, the combination of a purportedly progressive Black man as president and the Democratic Party in Congress would lead to a reversal in the escalating impacts of neoliberalism — austerity, inequality and domination of all important decisions by market considerations. But not only did they not stop it, they ramped it up. The banks won and the people lost.

Many continue to count on the elected and hopeful candidates who are anti-establshment to figure out how to win and to transform things from the inside. However, even if it were possible for several progressives to win office, we, the people, would still want to have our own say in how we solve the problems of how we live on the planet. To quote the title of Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini’s book: “They can’t represent us.”

We should realize that, even though these people are mostly well-meaning, as well as nice, attractive and clever, they simply cannot solve the complex problems that we all face. We need more ideas, more resources, more power and more people to directly participate in democratic processes dedicated to righting the wrongs of the past and creating the conditions for the survival of the human and other species.

While progressive and populist candidates raise expectations, we can work toward a different and better system of governance where more of us have a voice. Now is the time to unleash our imaginations and dig into efforts to democratize our lives from the bottom up. It is time to propose, discuss and decide on our own rules. That process is dual power organizing: building democratic structures that de-legitimize the disingenuous elite democratic institutions and rituals by demonstrating what real democracy looks like. These alternative democratic assemblies and working groups can build and repurpose power by making decisions and finding resources to address our critical needs such as housing, food, education, access to land, security and culture.

However, barring the state’s collapse under its own contradictions, our democratic structures will stay in the shadows of the legitimized state institutions. The institutions of the state cannot be ignored, but must instead be confronted and pressured to be responsive where possible. Thus, we will find ourselves engaged in the great controversy about the amount of effort to put into “demands” made on governments versus figuring out how to do it ourselves.

We face the strategic question of knowing when to run, when to hide and when to fight. This tension will continue to exist and must be studied.

Under what circumstances will our demands be recognized and make governments responsive? When are they destined to be futile, exhausting and co-opted? When are we likely to face repression and punishment, violently meted out, in response to challenging governments? When can we successfully sustain our alternatives and when do we need to try to gain some of the resources monopolized by the state? Can we simultaneously make demands at hearings and in elected officials’ hallways while keeping enough energy for our own democratic assemblies? There may be special circumstances where we give support to the policy initiatives of progressive politicians while holding them accountable to their promises.

Perhaps we can consider the idea of “stands” versus demands. A stand is both a position and a place. We take a stand to say what we want and what we believe, but it is also a place where we can get lemonade and chat about the weather, baseball, kids and politics. It is a public, yet safe place of conviviality, of needs getting met, of the exchange of information, expression of opinions, generation of ideas and making of plans.

Stands do not have a beginning, middle and end — as long as the lemonade does not run out. We have lemons, let’s make lemonade. And what is the lemonade of our movements for democracy but our commitment to liberation and our ethic of care.