Pia Mancini: How to upgrade democracy for the Internet era

Prevoditelj: Stjepan Mateljan Recezent: Ivan Stamenković

I have the feeling that we can all agree

Imam osjećaj da se svi možemo složiti

that we're moving towards a new

da se krećemo prema novom

model of the state and society.

modelu države i društva.

But, we're absolutely clueless as to what this is

Ali nemamo pojma što to jest

or what it should be.

ili što to treba biti.

It seems like we need to have

Čini se kao da moramo

a conversation about democracy

razgovarati o demokraciji

in our day and age.

u našem vremenu i dobu.

Let's think about it this way:

Razmislimo o tome ovako:

We are 21st-century citizens, doing our

Mi smo građani 21. stoljeća, dajući sve

very, very best to interact with 19th century-designed institutions

najbolje od sebe da budemo u interakciji sa institucijama 19. stoljeća

that are based on an information technology of the 15th century.

koje su bazirane na informacijskoj tehnologiji 15. stoljeća.

Let's have a look at some of the

Pogledajmo neke od

characteristics of this system.

karakteristika ovog sustava.

First of all, it's designed for an information technology

Prvo, dizajniran je za informacijsku tehnologiju

that's over 500 years old.

koja je starija od 500 godina.

And the best possible system

I najbolji mogući sustav

that could be designed for it

koji je mogao biti stvoren za nju

is one where the few make daily decisions

je onaj gdje mali broj ljudi donosi svakodnevne odluke

in the name of the many.

u ime mnogih.

And the many get to vote once every couple of years.

I mnogi glasaju svakih nekoliko godina.

In the second place, the costs of

Na drugom mjestu, trošak

participating in this system are

sudjelovanja u ovim sustavima je

incredibly high.

nevjerojatno visok.

You either have to have a fair bit of money

Ili morate imati popriličnu svotu novca

and influence, or you have to devote your entire

i utjecaja, ili morate posvetiti čitav svoj

life to politics.

život politici.

You have to become a party member

Morate postati član stranke

and slowly start working up the ranks

i polako se uspinjati u redovima

until maybe, one day, you'll get to sit at a table

dok možda, jednog dana, ne sjedite za stolom

where a decision is being made.

gdje se donose odluke.

And last but not least,

I posljednje, iako ne manje važno,

the language of the system —

jezik sustava --

it's incredibly cryptic.

nevjerojatno je kriptičan.

It's done for lawyers, by lawyers,

Napravljen je za odvjetnike, od odvjetnika,

and no one else can understand.

i nitko drugi ga ne razumije.

So, it's a system where we can

Dakle, to je sustav gdje možemo

choose our authorities,

birati našu vlast,

but we are completely left out on how those authorities

ali smo izostavljeni iz toga kako ta vlast

reach their decisions.

donosi svoje odluke.

So, in a day where a new information technology

Pa, u vremenu kada nova informacijska tehnologija

allows us to participate globally in any conversation,

omogućava globalno sudjelovanje u bilo kojem razgovoru,

our barriers of information are completely lowered

naše barijere za informacije su posve spuštene

and we can, more than ever before,

i možemo, više no ikad prije

express our desires and our concerns.

izraziti naše želje i brige.

Our political system remains the same

Naš politički sustav ostao je isti

for the past 200 years

posljednjih 200 godina

and expects us to be contented with being simply passive recipients

i očekuje od nas da budemo zadovoljni kao pasivni primatelji

of a monologue.

monologa.

So, it's really not surprising that

Tako da nije iznenađujuće

this kind of system is only able to produce

da takav sustav može proizvesti samo

two kinds of results:

dvije vrste rezultata:

silence or noise.

tišinu ili buku.

Silence, in terms of citizens not engaging,

Tišinu, u smislu da se građani ne uključuju,

simply not wanting to participate.

jednostavno ne žele sudjelovati.

There's this commonplace [idea] that I truly, truly dislike,

Postoji ta uvriježena [ideja] koja mi se nikako, nikako ne sviđa,

and it's this idea that we citizens are naturally

i to je ideja da smo mi građani

apathetic. That we shun commitment.

prirodno apatični. Da odbacujemo obvezu.

But, can you really blame us

Ali, možete li nas kriviti

for not jumping at the opportunity of going

što ne skačemo na priliku da idemo

to the middle of the city in the middle

u središte grada usred

of a working day to attend, physically,

radnog dana da bi bili fizički prisutni

a public hearing that has no impact

na javnom saslušanju bez ikakvog utjecaja

whatsoever?

na išta?

Conflict is bound to happen between a system

Sukobi se moraju dogoditi između sustava

that no longer represents, nor has any dialogue capacity,

koji više ne zastupa, niti ima ikakav kapacitet za dijalog,

and citizens that are increasingly used

i građana koji su sve više naviknuti

to representing themselves.

da sami zastupaju sebe.

And, then we find noise:

I onda nađemo buku:

Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico Italy, France, Spain, the United States,

Čile, Argentina, Brazil, Meksiko, Italija, Francuska, Španjolska i Amerika,

they're all democracies.

sve su to demokracije.

Their citizens have access to

Njihovi građani imaju pristup

the ballot boxes. But they still feel the need,

glasačkim kutijama. Ali oni i dalje osjećaju potrebu,

they need to take to the streets in order to be heard.

oni trebaju izaći na ulice da bi ih se čulo.

To me, it seems like the 18th-century

Meni, to izgleda kao 18.stoljetni

slogan that was the basis for the formation

slogan koji je bio temelj nastajanja

of our modern democracies, "No taxation

naših modernih demokracija: "Nema oporezivanja

without representation,"

bez zastupanja,"

can now be updated to "No representation without a conversation."

se sada može dograditi sa "nema zastupanja bez razgovora"

We want our seat at the table.

Želimo svoje mjesto za stolom.

And rightly so.

I sa pravom.

But in order to be part of this conversation,

Ali da bi bili dio ovog razgovora,

we need to know what we want to do next,

moramo znati što želimo slijedeće,

because political action is being able

jer politička akcija je biti sposoban

to move from agitation

preći iz agitacije

to construction.

u izgradnju.

My generation has been incredibly good at

Moja je generacija bila nevjerojatno dobra u

using new networks and technologies

korištenju novih mreža i tehnologija

to organize protests,

da organizira prosvjede,

protests that were able to successfully

prosvjede koji su bili sposobni uspješno

impose agendas,

nametnuti agende,

roll back extremely pernicious legislation,

poništiti izuzetno opasno zakonodavstvo,

and even overthrow authoritarian governments.

pa čak i zbaciti autoritarne vlade.

And we should be immensely

I trebali bismo biti neizmjerno

proud of this.

ponosni na to.

But, we also must admit that we

Ali, također moramo i priznati da

haven't been good at using those

nismo bili dobri u korištenju tih

same networks and technologies

istih mreža i tehnologija

to successfully articulate an alternative to what we're seeing

da uspješno uobličimo alternativu onome što vidimo

and find the consensus and build the alliances that are needed

i nađemo konsenzus i uspostavimo savezništva potrebna

to make it happen.

da se ona ostvari.

And so the risk that we face

I tako rizici s kojim smo suočeni

is that we can create these huge power vacuums

su da možemo napraviti te velike praznine moći

that will very quickly get filled up by de facto

koje će vrlo brzo biti ispunjene de facto

powers, like the military or highly

silama, poput vojske ili vrlo

motivated and already organized groups

motiviranih i već organiziranih grupa

that generally lie on the extremes.

koje općenito leže u ekstremima.

But our democracy is neither

Ali naša demokracija nije niti

just a matter of voting once every

samo stvar glasanja jednom svakih

couple of years.

nekoliko godina.

But it's not either the ability to bring millions onto the streets.

Ali nije niti sposobnost izvođenja milijuna na ulice.

So the question I'd like to raise here,

Tako da pitanje koje bih voljela postaviti ovdje,

and I do believe it's the most important question we need to answer,

a vjerujem da je to najvažnije pitanje na koje moramo odgovoriti,

is this one:

je ovo:

If Internet is the new printing press,

Ako je Internet novi tiskarski stroj,

then what is democracy for the Internet era?

onda što je demokracija za eru Interneta?

What institutions do we want to build

Koje to ustanove želimo sagraditi

for the 21st-century society?

za društvo 21. stoljeća?

I don't have the answer, just in case.

Nemam odgovor, za svaki slučaj.

I don't think anyone does.

Ne mislim da itko ima.

But I truly believe we can't afford to ignore this question anymore.

Ali uistinu vjerujem da si više ne možemo priuštiti ignorirati to pitanje.

So, I'd like to share our experience

Pa bih voljela podijeliti naše iskustvo

and what we've learned so far

i što smo do sad naučili

and hopefully contribute two cents

i nadam se dodati svoja dva centa

to this conversation.

ovom razgovoru.

Two years ago, with a group of friends from Argentina,

Prije dvije godine, sa grupom prijatelja iz Argentine,

we started thinking, "how can we get our representatives,

počeli smo razmišljati: "Kako možemo potaknuti naše zastupnike,

our elected representatives,

naše izabrane zastupnike

to represent us?"

da nas zastupaju?"

Marshall McLuhan once said that politics

Marshall McLuhan je jednom rekao da politika

is solving today's problems with yesterday's tools.

rješava današnje probleme s jučerašnjim alatima.

So the question that motivated us was,

Tako da je pitanje koje nas je motiviralo bilo:

can we try and solve some of today's problems

možemo li pokušati i riješiti neke od današnjih problema

with the tools that we use every single day of our lives?

s alatima koje u životu koristimo svakodnevno?

Our first approach was to design and develop

Naš je prvi pristup bio osmisliti i razviti

a piece of software called DemocracyOS.

komad softwarea nazvanog DemocracyOS.

DemocracyOS is an open-source web application

DemocracyOS je web aplikacija otvorenog koda

that is designed to become a bridge

koja je osmišljena da postane most

between citizens and their elected representatives

između građana i njihovih izabranih zastupnika

to make it easier for us to participate from our everyday lives.

da nam olakša sudjelovanje iz naših svakodnevnih života.

So first of all, you can get informed so every new

Pa prije svega, da se možete informirati tako da svaki novi

project that gets introduced in Congress

projekt koji se predstavlja u Kongresu

gets immediately translated and explained

odmah biva preveden i objašnjen

in plain language on this platform.

u običnom jeziku na ovoj platformi.

But we all know that social change

Ali svi znamo da društvena promjena

is not going to come from just knowing

neće doći samo od saznavanja

more information,

više informacija,

but from doing something with it.

već od djelovanja s njima u skladu.

So better access to information

Dakle bolji pristup informacijama

should lead to a conversation

bi trebao voditi ka razgovoru

about what we're going to do next,

o tome što ćemo raditi dalje,

and DemocracyOS allows for that.

a DemocracyOS omogućuje baš to.

Because we believe that democracy is

Jer vjerujemo da demokracija nije

not just a matter of stacking up

samo stvar slaganja

preferences, one on top of each other,

preferenci, jednih preko drugih,

but that our healthy and robust public debate

već kako bi naša zdrava i snažna javna rasprava

should be, once again, one of its fundamental values.

trebala biti, ponovno, jedna od njenih temeljnih vrijednosti.

So DemocracyOS is about persuading and being persuaded.

Tako da je DemocracyOS o uvjeravanju i o bivanju uvjerenim.

It's about reaching a consensus

Riječ je o postizanju konsenzusa

as much as finding a proper way

jednako koliko i o nalaženju pravog načina

of channeling our disagreement.

da se izbistre naša neslaganja.

And finally, you can vote

I konačno, možete glasati

how you would like your elected representative to vote.

kako biste voljeli da vaš izabrani zastupnik glasa.

And if you do not feel comfortable

A ako se ne osjećate ugodno

voting on a certain issue,

spram glasanja o određenoj temi,

you can always delegate your vote

uvijek možete delegirati svoj glas

to someone else, allowing

nekome drugome, omogučujući

for a dynamic and emerging social leadership.

dinamično i iz društva nastajuće vodstvo.

It suddenly became very easy for us

Odjednom je postalo jako lagano

to simply compare these results

jednostavno usporediti te rezultate

with how our representatives were

sa onime kako su naši zastupnici

voting in Congress.

glasali u Kongresu.

But, it also became very evident that

Ali, također je postalo vrlo očito kako

technology was not going to do the trick.

tehnologija neće biti dovoljna da se to postigne..

What we needed to do to was to find

Ono što smo trebali napraviti je naći

actors that were able to

čimbenike koji će biti sposobni

grab this distributed knowledge

zgrabiti to znanje raspodijeljeno

in society and use it to make better and more fair decisions.

u društvu i upotrijebiti ga da donose bolje i poštenije odluke.

So we reached out to traditional political parties

Pa smo posegnuli ka tradicionalnim političkim strankama

and we offered them DemocracyOS.

i ponudili im DemocracyOS.

We said, "Look, here you have a platform that you can use to build

Rekli smo:"Gledajte, ovdje imate platformu koju možete koristiti za

a two-way conversation with your constituencies."

dvostrani razgovor sa svojim biračima."

And yes, we failed.

I da, podbacili smo.

We failed big time.

Strašno smo podbacili.

We were sent to play outside like little kids.

Poslani smo da se igramo vani kao mala djeca.

Amongst other things, we were called naive.

Među ostalim, nazvani smo naivnima.

And I must be honest: I think, in hindsight, we were.

I moram biti iskrena: mislim, gledajući unazad, bili smo.

Because the challenges that we face, they're not

Jer izazovi s kojima se sučeljavamo nisu

technological, they're cultural.

tehnološki, već kulturni.

Political parties were never willing

Političke stranke nisu nikad bile voljne

to change the way they make their decisions.

promijeniti način na koji donose odluke.

So it suddenly became a bit obvious

Pa je odjednom postalo nekako očito

that if we wanted to move forward with this idea,

da ako želimo ići naprijed s tom idejom,

we needed to do it ourselves.

moramo ići osobno.

And so we took quite a leap of faith,

I tako smo se odlučili vjerovati u to,

and in August last year, we founded

i u kolovozu prošle godine, osnovali

our own political party,

našu vlastitu političku stranku,

El Partido de la Red,

El Partido de la Red,

or the Net Party, in the city of Buenos Aires.

ili Net stranku, u gradu Buenos Airesu.

And taking an even bigger leap of faith,

I vjerujući još više, unatoč svim dokazima za suprotno,

we ran for elections in October last year

natjecali smo se na izborima u listopadu prošle godine

with this idea:

s ovom idejom:

if we want a seat in Congress,

ako dobijemo mjesto u Kongresu,

our candidate, our representatives

naš kandidat, naši zastupnici

were always going to vote according to

će uvijek glasati u skladu s onim

what citizens decided on DemocracyOS.

što građani odluče preko DemocracyOS.

Every single project that got introduced

Svaki projekt koji se predstavi

in Congress, we were going vote

u Kongresu, glasali bismo

according to what citizens decided on an online platform.

u skladu s odlukom građana na online platformi.

It was our way of hacking the political system.

To je bio naš način hakiranja politčkog sustava..

We understood that if we wanted

Shvatili smo da ako želimo

to become part of the conversation,

postati dio razgovora,

to have a seat at the table,

imati mjesto za stolom,

we needed to become valid stakeholders,

moramo postati valjani dioničari,

and the only way of doing it is to play by the system rules.

a jedini način da to postignemo je igrati po pravilima sustava.

But we were hacking it in the sense that

Ali koristili smo mogućnosti u tom smislu

we were radically changing the way a political party

što smo korijenski promijenili način na koji politička stranka

makes its decisions.

donosi odluke.

For the first time, we were making our decisions

Po prvi put, donosili bismo odluke

together with those who we were

zajedno sa onima na koje bismo

affecting directly by those decisions.

izravno utjecali izvršavanjem tih odluka.

It was a very, very bold move for a two-month-old party

To je bio vrlo, vrlo hrabar potez za dva mjeseca staru stranku

in the city of Buenos Aires.

u gradu Buenos Airesu.

But it got attention.

Ali dobila je pozornost.

We got 22,000 votes, that's 1.2 percent of the votes,

Dobili smo 22.000 glasova, to je 1,2 posto glasova,

and we came in second for the local options.

i bili smo drugi u lokalnim opcijama.

So, even if that wasn't enough to win a

Pa, iako to nije bilo dovoljno da osvoji

seat in Congress, it was enough

mjesto u Kongresu, bilo je dovoljno

for us to become part of the conversation,

da postanemo dio razgovora,

to the extent that next month,

u opsegu da slijedeći mjesec,

Congress, as an institution, is launching

Kongres kao ustanova, šalje

for the first time in Argentina's history,

po prvi put u povijesti Argentine,

a DemocracyOS to discuss,

DemocracyOS na raspravu,

with the citizens, three pieces of legislation:

s građanima, tri zakona:

two on urban transportation and

dva o urbanom prijevozu te

one on the use of public space.

jedan o korištenju javnog prostora.

Of course, our elected representatives are not

Naravno, naši izabrani zastupnici ne

saying, "Yes, we're going to vote

govore: "Da, glasat ćemo

according to what citizens decide,"

u skladu s odlukom građana,"

but they're willing to try.

ali su voljni probati.

They're willing to open up a new space

Voljni su otvoriti novi prostor

for citizen engagement and hopefully

za uključenje građana i nadajmo se

they'll be willing to listen as well.

da će biti voljni i slušati.

Our political system can be transformed,

Naš politički sustav može biti trasnformiran,

and not by subverting it, by destroying it,

i to ne obaranjem, ne uništavanjem,

but by rewiring it with the tools that

već preinakom uz pomoć alata

Internet affords us now.

koje nam Internet sada omogućuje.

But a real challenge is to find, to design

Ali pravi je izazov naći, osmisliti

to create, to empower those connectors

stvoriti, opunomoćiti te spojke

that are able to innovate, to transform

koje su u stanju uvesti novine, promijeniti

noise and silence into signal

buku i tišinu u signal

and finally bring our democracies

i konačno dovesti naše demokracije

to the 21st century.

u 21. stoljeće.

I'm not saying it's easy.

Ne kažem da je lagano.

But in our experience, we actually stand a chance

Ali po našem iskustvu, zbilja imamo priliku

of making it work.

učiniti da radi.

And in my heart, it's most definitely

A u mom srcu, posve sigurno osjećam

worth trying.

da vrijedi probati.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)