Democracy

An OurKingdom conversation [History: Jeremy Gilbert > Rosemary Bechler > this post > Rosemary Bechler (part one; part two) > Jeremy Gilbert]

This is a talk given by Liam Taylor of the Camp for Climate Action at the session on "Radical democracy and imagination" hosted by Real Change at the Compass conference on Saturday. The views expressed here are his own.  

I must admit that I feel like something of an anomaly at this conference. Before coming here today I looked on the Compass website at the impressive list of speakers that are here: people from think tanks, from policy institutes, from NGOs, journalists, elected politicians. In other words, people who might be considered ‘experts', people who do politics for their day job.
 
And I want to begin by immediately renouncing any claims to such expertise on my part. I probably know less about some of these issues than anybody else in this room. I don't spend my days reading policy papers for a living; instead, I spend my days teaching secondary schoolchildren in east London. But I think the fact that I am here, and that my presence here feels slightly anomalous, tells us something interesting about politics, and in particular the way that our politics has become increasingly professionalized. That, I think, is a problem - and it goes to the heart of our thinking about radical democracy in this discussion here today. 
 
Climate Camp, I want to suggest, is the antithesis of professionalized politics. We are not an NGO, with a full-time staff; we are not a political party, with appointed leaders. We are a group of ordinary people, from all walks of life, who have come together because of our shared concern about climate change, and our desire to do something about it. Each year, we set up a week-long camp next to one of the root causes of climate change, from power stations to airports, culminating in some form of direct action. In the past we've camped outside Drax coal-fired power station; outside Heathrow airport; and, last year, outside the coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent. Most recently, on 1 April, thousands of people converged on Bishospgate in the City of London for a day-long camp outside the European Climate Exchange, the world's largest carbon trading centre. It's not just about protest: it's about building our little vision of the future, in the here and now, a vision which we develop through workshops and education, through sustainable living, and through the day-to-day practices of direct democracy.

Back on 9 May 2009, the MPs' expenses scandal still had a comedy touch to it. We were just learning about millionairess Barbara Follett's £25,000 claim for security services, considering Phil Woolas's denial that he had claimed for women's clothing and sanitary products, and wondering quite what Vera Baird was thinking when she tried to claim for a Christmas tree. The stories about the moat dredging, the allowances for a home which was neither in London nor in the MP's constituency, and payments for mortgages already paid off in full were all still to come. Resignations from government post, suspensions from party whips were expected, and already called for, but there would first be a full 5 days of denial, rebuttal, bluff, apology and repayment. But events have moved fast. The old cliché, ‘a week is a long time in politics' has never rung truer.

While further, possibly more damaging, revelations can be expected, debate is rightly turning to consider the wider issue of what has become of representative democracy in the United Kingdom. Voters are justifiably angry, but long-term observers of British parliamentary democracy can scarcely be surprised by the revelations. It is symptomatic of a deeper malaise, we will have all chorused over the past week, hoping, praying, that another opportunity to push for crucial reforms is not lost in the gossip, the outrage and the eventual tediousness of the same story dominating the news agenda for weeks on end.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): This is my full - and brief - entry in the Prospect roundup of people's"most under-rated" events  of the year  (from politics to books). It was touched up (and hardly for length reasons) or rather down and this weakened the point about democratic republicanism.

Underrated: One huge policy process and one book. 

Our old Empire state is being transformed into a database state through a process officially known as the Transformational Government programme which has never been debated in parliament or by a select committee. It trades on a modernisation of subjecthood that transforms traditional deference into electronic tagging.

How can this be stopped? David Marquand's history of Britain's democracy since 1918 is a wonderfully written account of how we got to this situation and points to the only way out: democratic republicanism. If you have heard little of either it goes to show how underrated they are.

 

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Last night saw the last in the Comment is free/Soundings series of debates on Who Owns the Progressive Future? Guy Aitchison sums up over at CIF:

Debates like this rarely provide definitive answers. At best they can throw up new possibilities and explore alternatives. One lesson I took from them is that if there is any hope for the future it is not to be found in parliament but in the countervailing forces to what has been called the "neoliberal state" – a theme explored by conservative theologian Philip Blond in the first debate and echoed by Jeremy Gilbert in the second, this time from a radical perspective. 

Clare Coatman (London, oD): I went along to Clare Short's Political Studies Association/Hansard Society lecture (full text here) on 'making politics fit for purpose'. I have never warmed to Clare Short, but found myself laughing along with the rest of the audience several times and the lecture was well thought out if perhaps a little 'school-marmish' in places.

Her main aim was to spell out in a definitive way two things: first, that there really is Presidential governance, and second that this creates ineffective decision making. I found particularly disturbing her claim that, "there was never a full discussion of any policy issue with all options considered and a consensus reached in my six years as a member of the Cabinet".

Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): Last Sunday night (19th October) I was watching the end of Simon Schama's documentary The American Future on the BBC waiting for Steven Fry’s excellent programme about America. It had a US General giving a speech to World War Two veterans. The General called upon all Americans to engage in the debate at this critical time and vote in the election in November whether they voted Democrat or Republican.

As the final credits rolled I was struck that it was a speech that was unlikely to be made in the UK. I speak as someone who spent much of my childhood growing up on RAF bases and who feels a strong affection the UK military. Our military has been, and on the whole remains, strictly outside formal party politics, for which I am thankful.

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Over at Comment is Free, OurKingdom founder Anthony Barnett reflects on the lessons of the 42 day debacle:

There is an authoritarian cancer in the British system that has metastasised. From the Treasury-inspired "transformational government", to local council CCTV, to the interception modernisation programme that proposes to "live tap" all electronic communication, to ID cards – you name it, it seems, and they will be onto it – an official will is at work to police, control, arrest and expel. It regards restraints, from the Human Rights Act to parliamentary scrutiny as "old thinking". And it is turbo-charged by the huge funding opportunities that "new thinking" permits.

However, I also think that even if we do not have a healthy body politic, we do have a healthy public attitude which can purge the cancer and cure the patient. 

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): There are just a few more days left to get your views heard in the MoJ-led discussion on a National Framework for Greater Citizen Engagement (pdf) as part of the Governance of Britain agenda. The discussion paper focuses on how to create clearer structures for Government's "engagement activities" and how to get more people involved in the policy-making process. The report is available here and you can email them at frameworkATjustice.gsi.gov.uk. You can also get involved on the Governance website where, last time I checked, Gareth Young was debating some poor MoJ moderator on the national question.

Tom Griffin (London, OK): One of Britain's leading political thinkers offered a fresh new analysis of the history of British democracy yesterday, one which may explain the country's current fin de siècle political mood, and offer a way beyond it.

In a speech to the IPPR, David Marquand delivered a precis of the argument of his new book, Britain after 1918: The Strange Career of British Democracy, which interprets the history of the past 90 years as the product of four main strands of political tradition, each of them distinctive, but all of them deeply interwoven with each other.

Keith Sutherland (Exeter, Imprint Academic): Imprint Academic’s new book series on political lotteries and citizen juries is launched this week. The series is our response to the growing sense that the institutions of liberal party democracy are damaged beyond repair.

The 1997 election was a watershed as it was quite obvious that Labour was prepared to say anything in order to win power. From then on political parties would no longer ‘represent’ anything other than the whims of a few thousand swing voters in key marginals, leaving everybody else, in effect, disenfranchised.

Guy Aitchison (London, OK): The government will be rewarding fresh ideas for getting people involved in democracy under a £150,000 scheme aimed at all charities, community groups and NGOs. Launched today, the Innovation Fund will award grants to projects aimed at "developing new ways to help people participate in public discussions and influence government policy."

For any OK readers who think they have an idea that qualifies (and I've certainly read a few in the comments) this has to be worth a shot. Previous winners include Speakers' Corner Trust, which established a speakers' corner in Nottingham, and the South Kesteven District Council, which developed a process for online citizens' juries.

Another successful project was FixMyStreet website which allows people to tell their local authority and others in their area about broken civic infrastructure. Users post photos of the problem on the website and tag a map to provide its location. The website then forwards the report to the appropriate authority.

To get involved go to www.buildingdemocracy.co.uk. And do let us know how you get on. Applications close 26 September 2008.

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): Jack Straw has today published the Government's white paper on reform of the House of Lords.

The proposals call for a chamber which is 80-100 per cent elected, with members serving a single non-renewable 12-15 year term and a third of the chamber retiring at each election

One key point that emerged from Anthony Barnett's discussion with David Marquand below is that the choice of electoral system is likely to be crucial, not just to the future of the second chamber, but to the case for reform of the Commons.The White Paper leaves that issue very much open:

As the Government announces plans for a reformed House of Lords, David Marquand and Anthony Barnett discuss whether a new chamber should be chosen by lottery.

David Marquand (Oxford): At first sight, the idea of ‘sortition’ for the reformed House of Lords (or Senators or whatever) is attractive. But when you reflect on it it becomes distinctly unattractive.Here’s why:

First (a minor – but still significant – tactical objection), It clearly won’t happen; and it’s a mistake for constitutional reformers to give the impression that whatever the Government proposes they will be against.

Second (and much more serious): The main point of having an elected Second Chamber is to give it democratic legitimacy, so as to make it a stronger check on abuses of power by the elective dictator who controls the Lower House. Whatever may have been true in ancient Athens – not really a democracy, remember, since slaves, women and foreigners couldn’t participate – in today’s world democratic election is the only source of democratic legitimacy. An upper house chosen, in effect, by chance would be less legitimate than the Commons, not more. It would be a permanent focus group, as far removed from true democracy as the Government’s proposed Citizen’s Summit.

Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): Is there a 'mental Berlin Wall' that separates unease about democratic issues such as 'executive dominance of Parliament, the unreformed House of Lords, the obsolete parliamentary election system, 42 days and the data-base state' from concern over the existence of 'local government that is neither "local" nor "government."'?

That at any rate is the view of Stuart Weir, Director of Democratic Audit, who led the discussion at Wednesday's CAOS (Combining All Our Strengths) seminar for civil society organisations.  Stuart described  domination by Whitehall managerialism, a complexity of structures and the financial and constitutional weakness of local government to ask, "Is democratic accountability at local level possible?  Is there space for genuine participation, and if so, is it confined to a very low level at which government is willing to tolerate ordinary people getting involved?' 

As it happens, the seminar coincided with a white paper on community engagement that illustrates how uneasy Whitehall is about any ideas that might break the managerial mould.

The Edge of Heaven, directed by Fatih Akin, is a carefully crafted, tender account of six interwoven lives. Ali is a effervescent Turkish expatriate living in Germany with his bookish son Nejat. The film begins with Ali inviting Yeter, a Turkish prostitute, to become his live-in girlfriend - much to Nejat's dismay. Yet Nejat quickly gains respect for the grim but kind hearted Yeter and after her sudden death, he returns to Turkey to search for her daughter Ayten. Ayten meanwhile, is a defiant political activist desperately refuge in Germany after an encounter with the Turkish police. Penniless and homeless, she is taken in by a German student named Lotte and her disapproving mother. When Ayten's asylum plea is rejected, Lotte follows Ayten to Istanbul to help secure her release from prison.

Stuart Weir (Cambridge, Democratic Audit): Just how old fashioned the principles of representative democracy have become for government ministers is beautifully encapsulated in a brief report on the politics of the third runway at Heathrow by Nicholas Watt in the Guardian (Tuesday 17 June). Watt says that David Cameron was signalling that a Conservative government is likely to block the third runway at Heathrow in a subtly evasive environmental speech and castigated Gordon Brown for his pig-headed pursuit of this project.

The response of government ministers shocked me. For them his apparent opposition "shows he has yet to move from being an opposition politician to a prime minister -in-waiting. They say as prime minister he would face the pressures they face: from the City to improve Heathrow and from the airlines to ensure that Heathrow acts as a European hub." I suppose that we should appreciate such openness about whom they feel accountable to, and I know it anyway.

Gareth Young (Lewes, CEP): At the end of his Telegraph article Philip Johnston sums up the English Question rather well: "It is about identity and governance." Which makes it all the more surprising that he bills the Democracy Task Force's recommendations as "an answer to the English Question."

Philip Hosking (Cornwall, The Cornish Democrat): With the closure of Goonhilly Earth Station, are the Cornish ever going to look to the stars again?

As a recognized level 1 European region with devolved government that could be something we decide for ourselves. Introducing one possible option - NEREUS - a network of European Regions working hand in hand on the development and use of space technologies in Europe. The European Regions are heavily involved at both ends of the space chain, from infrastructures to applications.

Jon Bright (London, OK): It's been interesting to watch the writing coming out of the House of Lords blog, which is managing to quickly dispel my initial cynicism about the project (as someone naturally inclined to be cynical about people described as "Lords"). Despite the launch of the (admittedly very flash looking) Politics Home, I think it's this very simple Wordpress blog that has been the most interesting recent addition to the British "blogosphere." They're producing a good frequency of posts about a range of topics, from a number of different people, in a personal, open style - even responding seriously to their commenters. And the subject matter - both what Lords think, and what it is like to be one, couldn't be more perfectly suited to the blog format.