by Jessica Reed
She may be the queen of the diplomatic gaffes - the political Becassine without a tangible program -but it makes little doubt that her "participative democracy" initiatives on the internet is working well. And if she waits a couple of weeks more in order to listen to those who blogged their opinions and voiced their ideas on her campaign's webpage so as to truly incorporate their input in the socialist party's program, then her project is a truly groundbreaking one.
So far on Desirs d'avenirs ("Desires for a future" - Royal's official site) gathers more than 50,000 contributors have posted more than 100,000 messages expressing their views, demands or specific wishes. Two million have visited the website since february 2006, with a pick of 15000 to 20000 hits a day. The debates (there are 50 of them, organised by content) are summarised and put online in their synthesized, comprehensive version. As I understand it, the main ideas are to be picked up by Segolene Royal's team as general guidelines and inspiration to be later used for her own propositions.
The site is hosting and endorsing 20 thematic blogs, which focus on eclectic issues such as sustainability, gender equality, education and LGBT rights. They are written and edited by organisations or citizens who both support the socialist candidate, or want to give visibility to certain topics during the campaign. Most of them are also - just like this blog - licensed under Creative Commons.
Is this initiative truly democratic - and is the site a good reflection of the french population's desires? Probably not : just like not everyone has the will to visit -let alone post- on the site, a lot of people may be put off by technical limitations, starting with an access to a computer. Likewise, I doubt that many self described right-wingers or centrists would take the time to truly invest themselves on Desirs d'avenirs (1).
But it seems like a good place to start; participative democracy cannot build itself in a day. Remains to see if, just like for the ongoing European Citizens' Consultations, the 'people' will effectively be listenned to.
(1) I also doubt that many socialists would spend time posting their concerns on Nicolas Sarkozy's website, but I 'd be glad to be mistaken.
Elsewhere: Desirs d'avenir can also be found on Second Life (blog entry in english).
Picture via AFP.
