Democracy

The for-profit social media giant Facebook harvests vast amounts of data from each of its 2 billion users across the globe. This data trove gives Facebook unparalleled commercial power and, as is becoming increasingly clear, the ability to influence significant events, including national elections. Revelations about Facebook’s role in the… »

By Richard Falk, As demagogic leaders with popular approval or at least acquiescence dominate the political process of several important ‘democratic’ states questions need to be asked about the core or indispensable content of democracy. Other states seek the imprimatur of ‘democracy’ but limit drastically the choices open to the citizenry… »

As communicators and citizens of diverse countries of the world, committed to the struggle for the right to communicate and to the current democratic communication standards, we are witnessing a situation of institutional overthrow that has just taken another step forward in Brazil, in the Brazilian courts’ rejection on 5… »

Carles Puigdemont, former president of the Generalitat [Goverment] of Catalonia, has appeared this afternoon to the press in Berlin for the first time since his release. The overnight and apparently improvised press conference took place in Berlin-Kreuzberg, in a cultural space full of journalists and supporters.   Puigdemont gave a… »

Teaching children how to dissent in response to a violent situation that they feel threatens their well-being is aligned with the purposes of democratic schooling. Indeed, a flourishing democracy depends on such an informed and active citizenry who will speak out when they find laws to be unjust.   by … »

Diary of a poor mortal in Catalonia. Saturday, December 23, 2017. Once again we have returned to vote. How good democracy feels! Now all that is missing is that there are no politicians imprisoned or charged for being in favour of the right to decide, that the president elected by… »

By Vicente Rubio-Pueyo, A few months ago, I had the honor of being commissioned by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung-NYC Office for writing a study on Municipalism in Spain for their publication series. It was released yesterday and it can be downloaded here in English and Spanish: http://www.rosalux-nyc.org/municipalism-in-spain/ This study… »

Franco’s youth wing, Ciudadanos (Citizens), prevailed in the Catalan elections called after the Spanish government dissolved the autonomous government after its unilateral declaration of independence. With a very high turnout of almost 82% of the electorate, Citizens obtained 25.48% of the votes, equivalent to 37 seats. Since to form a… »

“Don’t expect this bloc to be stuck in parliament.  We will have both feet and all our soul on the streets”.  With these words by Deputy Pamela Jiles, the first press gathering with the Humanist Party bloc took place in Santiago.  Besides the distinguished journalist were also gathered two other… »

By George Monbiot for The Guardian Public projects such as the NHS, BBC and social security define us as a nation. Without that cohesion, authoritarianism could flourish.  So what is this country we are asked to love? This might once have been an easy question to answer. National identity… »