Face-to-face Democracy
Systemic
Face-to-face Democracy
By Wade Lee Hudson
A fully democratic society relies on empowerment — self-empowerment and collective empowerment — and respect — self-respect, respect for others, respect for everyone’s essential equal value, respect for individual rights and liberty, and respect for everyone’s right to make ends meet and fully participate in society without being subjected to discrimination or oppression based on race, class, gender, or some other arbitrary characteristic.
Practicing how to be democratic — how to relate to others as equals with compassion — nurtures a more democratic society — a society with self-confident, assertive, respectful, empowered members. A democratic society, in turn, nurtures grassroots movements that promote ever more respect and empowerment — an upward, virtuous circle.
At the same time, however, self-centeredness and hyper-competition promote a lack of self-confidence and passivity among the general population, and, among activists, fragmentation and asymmetrical polarization — a downward, vicious circle that sucks ever more people into its vortex and may eventually hit bottom, unless we, the people, mobilize massive, grassroots movements to transform our nation into a compassionate community.
Book clubs, church groups, and activist committees often cultivate democratic equality. These groups are democracy laboratories that cultivate respect and empowerment.
Face-to-face, horizontal, self-regulating, self-perpetuating, peer-to-peer open-ended “democracy circles” explicitly committed to advancing “face-to-face democracy” could build on these examples. Organizations could incorporate such circles into their current work. Existing groups could supplement their activities with such open-ended dialog. And new circles could emerge independently, perhaps with two individuals inviting one or two others to form a circle, which would increase its numbers organically.
Many methods could be used to structure this face-to-face democracy. Systemopedia associates are engaged in brainstorming and evaluating some such options. Following is one possibility.
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Imagine: Democracy circles meeting in various countries endorse a brief set of core principles affirming democratic equality. Weekly or monthly, ten or so individuals who endorse these principles meet to discuss: How can we improve the world? Though this initial focus is relatively broad, dialogs often organically focus more narrowly for fifteen minutes or longer.
These groups use these guidelines:
Participants speak only if they’re holding the “talking stick,” which may be any object or a microphone.
Speakers talk for no more than two minutes.
When speakers finish, they recognize the next speaker by handing them the talking stick.
Individuals with mobility difficulties select the next speaker and ask someone to give the stick to that person.
Speakers respond to the previous speaker, and then shift the topic if they wish.
Speakers are encouraged to:
1) be respectful and avoid personal attacks or name-calling;
2) avoid going back and forth repeatedly with the same person, and;
3) call on people who haven’t spoken or spoken less, and perhaps ask: Does anyone who has not spoken wish to speak?
The facilitator convenes the dialog, explains the guidelines if need be, selects the first speaker randomly, uses a timer if necessary to restrain the speakers, leads the selection of the facilitator for the next session (this role rotates) and its time and/or location (if necessary), and adjourns the dialog.
Before convening, members socialize informally, which encourages the cultivation of joy. Some circles have a formal check-in with members reporting on how they’re feeling and/or recent events in their lives. Some groups ask members to report on their recent efforts, if any, with regards to: 1) self-improvement; 2) building community, and; 3) political action.
Using the talking stick contributes to a more thoughtful, orderly conversation. When the stick is being handed off, the silence enables people to better absorb what’s been said. The stick discourages interruptions, minimizes two people monopolizing the time by rapidly going back and forth, and enables the circle to be self-regulating without an established authority figure.
The relatively open focus — how can we improve the world? — avoids a time-consuming or top-down process of deciding on a more narrow focus and allows for:
spontaneity, which results in unanticipated insights;
the introduction of input based on last-minute current events;
consideration of issues related to self-development.
An international network of face-to-face democracy circles with members in many countries has led to a strong sense of community. Many members are active in a political organization. In some cases, all members of a particular circle belong to the same organization.
Regardless, meeting to discuss whatever’s on members’ minds concerning how to improve the world encourages and supports political activism and the growth of grassroots movements. These gatherings also counter disinformation with face-to-face communication from trusted friends.
Compared to more structured meetings with a narrow focus (as with book clubs, church groups, and activist committees), these loosely structured meetings allow for more open-ended dialog and mutual support. And rather than being relatively isolated from other similar groups, they’re linked together in an international community that encourages cooperation between nations to deal with global crises.
The horizontal structure nurtures mutual respect and strengthens the opportunity for everyone to participate on an equal basis. Peer support counters fear, hate, and egoistic power trips that undermine grassroots unity. In these and other ways, peer learning helps build people power and promote democratic equality. Setting a regular meeting time and/or location enables the group to be self-perpetuating.
Once introduced and publicized, this easy-to-adopt mechanism spread widely. Its peer-to-peer mechanism enables participants to speak from the heart, listen, learn, and brainstorm. These democratic dialogs help overcome isolation, enrich lives with meaning, strengthen the foundations of democracy, and encourage the growth of compassionate, grassroots movements.
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Our society encourages everyone to climb social ladders, look down on those below, and dominate or submit. We learn that some one person must always be in charge. The dominant culture promotes arrogance, judgmental assumptions of superiority, feelings of inferiority, the need to prove one’s worth, and destructive polarization.
Upwardly mobile professionals specialize — as a way to get ahead and establish some economic security or gain some ego-gratifying status. They gain expertise in a narrow field, fragment reality, compartmentalize life, and split reality into dualities.
Face-to-face democracy can help us unlearn this conditioning and better see the connections between different realities and opinions. We can practice being respectful and learn to listen more closely, speak more clearly, empower ourselves, and support others to empower themselves.
In these ways, democracy circles can boost the growth of movements that support each other while continuing to work on their own priorities — dedicated to face-to-face democracy principles. Following is a draft proposal for principles that such a network might adopt.
Face-to-face Democracy
Core Principles
We support the growth of popular movements that:
serve humanity, the environment, and life itself
respect the essential equality of all human beings
encourage everyone to identify as a member of the human family
affirm individuals’ multiple identities
oppose efforts to dominate others due to one of their identities
rely on love and trust rather than hate and fear
channel anger productively
attract people with face-to-face community and caring friendships
honor their nation’s accomplishments, criticize its failures, and help build more perfect unions
fully represent and give voice to their people
helps transform their nation into a compassionate community that:
supports the rule of law, individual rights, and the freedom to engage in activities that do not deny freedom to others
encourages people to relate to others as individuals of equal worth
promotes partnerships that empower people
nurtures democracy throughout society
meets basic human needs
assures good living-wage job opportunities
protects free speech
makes it easy to vote
enables everyone to participate in society fully and productively
encourages supportive relationships with other countries, backs their right to self-determination, promotes human rights, and advocates peaceful resolution of conflicts with mediation and negotiation
pressures their government to implement compassionate policies supported by strong majorities of their people
engages in nonviolent civil disobedience and consumer boycotts when needed
encourages members of the movement to:
improve their emotional reactions
engage in honest self-examination
support each other with their personal and spiritual growth
avoid oppressive or disrespectful behavior
supports members who want to form small teams that share meals, strengthen connections, provide mutual support, and plan other activities
cooperates with movements in other countries that also serve humanity, the environment, and life itself.
This democracy movement advances the steady, step-by-step, evolutionary, holistic, structural, systemic transformation of our society into a global community of compassionate communities.