Pia Mancini: How to upgrade democracy for the Internet era

翻译人员: Aili Liang 校对人员: Tony Yet

I have the feeling that we can all agree

我想我们都会同意

that we're moving towards a new

我们的国家和社会面貌

model of the state and society.

正在发生改变

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

但是 它应当是怎样 将会变成怎样

or what it should be.

我们却毫无头绪

It seems like we need to have

看来我们需要

a conversation about democracy

对我们这个时代的民主制度

in our day and age.

进行一场讨论

Let's think about it this way:

不妨这样考虑

We are 21st-century citizens, doing our

我们是 21 世纪的公民 尽最大的努力

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

与基于 15 世纪的信息技术设计

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

设计于 19 世纪的机构体系打交道

Let's have a look at some of the

让我们看一看

characteristics of this system.

这个体系的特点

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

首先 它所基于的信息技术

that's over 500 years old.

已经过时 500 年了

And the best possible system

基于此

that could be designed for it

能设计出的最好的系统

is one where the few make daily decisions

也只能是少数人 以多数人的名义

in the name of the many.

进行日常决策

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

而多数人 只能每隔几年投一次票

In the second place, the costs of

其次

participating in this system are

参与这个体系的成本

incredibly high.

非常高

You either have to have a fair bit of money

要么 你非常有钱 非常有影响力

and influence, or you have to devote your entire

要么 你终生投身政治

life to politics.

You have to become a party member

你必须加入政党

and slowly start working up the ranks

然后慢慢的往上爬

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

也许某天 你终于有资格

坐在桌前 参与决策

where a decision is being made.

And last but not least,

还有啊

the language of the system —

这套体系的术语

it's incredibly cryptic.

异常的晦涩难懂

It's done for lawyers, by lawyers,

它是律师写给律师看的

and no one else can understand.

普通人很难读懂

So, it's a system where we can

在这样的体系下

我们倒是能选择代表

choose our authorities,

我们却无法得知

but we are completely left out on how those authorities

他们会如何决策

reach their decisions.

So, in a day where a new information technology

现在我们的信息技术高度发展

allows us to participate globally in any conversation,

我们可以与世界上任何角落对话

信息的壁垒前所未有的低

our barriers of information are completely lowered

我们比任何时候

and we can, more than ever before,

都能更好的表达需求与担忧

express our desires and our concerns.

Our political system remains the same

而我们的政治系统一成不变

for the past 200 years

已经有200年了

还指望我们能安安静静的

and expects us to be contented with being simply passive recipients

看着政客们表演

of a monologue.

So, it's really not surprising that

毫不奇怪

这样的系统

this kind of system is only able to produce

只能产生两种结果

two kinds of results:

silence or noise.

沉默 或是喧嚣

沉默 就是公民懒于参与

Silence, in terms of citizens not engaging,

simply not wanting to participate.

对政治没有兴趣

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

我非常不喜欢这种陈词滥调

说我们天生漠然

and it's this idea that we citizens are naturally

apathetic. That we shun commitment.

说我们拒绝承担公民责任

怎么能这么说呢？

But, can you really blame us

for not jumping at the opportunity of going

就因为我们没有

在上班时间 走到城市中

to the middle of the city in the middle

of a working day to attend, physically,

亲身参加政治活动吗

a public hearing that has no impact

就因为我们没有参与毫无影响力的听证会

whatsoever?

Conflict is bound to happen between a system

当这个体系无法代表大众

或是没有对话空间的时候

that no longer represents, nor has any dialogue capacity,

冲突就会发生

and citizens that are increasingly used

大众就会站出来

自己代表自己

to representing themselves.

这就产生了喧嚣

And, then we find noise:

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

智利 阿根廷 巴西 墨西哥 意大利 法国 西班牙 美国

they're all democracies.

都是民主国家

Their citizens have access to

它们的公民有选票

the ballot boxes. But they still feel the need,

但这些民众仍然觉得

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

他们需要走上街头 表达诉求

To me, it seems like the 18th-century

在我看来 这就像是

那个十八世纪的口号

slogan that was the basis for the formation

促成了现代民主的那个口号

of our modern democracies, "No taxation

“若无代表 不要缴税”

without representation,"

现在可以套用成：“若不对话 不要代表”

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

我们想要决策权

We want our seat at the table.

And rightly so.

我们有权参与

但若想参与决策对话

But in order to be part of this conversation,

we need to know what we want to do next,

就需要知道下一步做什么

because political action is being able

因为 政治决策就是

从震荡

to move from agitation

to construction.

走向建设

My generation has been incredibly good at

我们这一代人

非常善于使用网络技术

using new networks and technologies

to organize protests,

来组织抗议

protests that were able to successfully

通过抗议

impose agendas,

我们影响政策

roll back extremely pernicious legislation,

终止恶法

甚至推翻独裁政府

and even overthrow authoritarian governments.

And we should be immensely

我们应当为此

proud of this.

深感骄傲

But, we also must admit that we

但我们也承认

haven't been good at using those

我们没能好好利用

same networks and technologies

同样的网络技术

to successfully articulate an alternative to what we're seeing

来根据所见 提出改进方案

and find the consensus and build the alliances that are needed

并找到共识 凝聚力量

促成实践

to make it happen.

And so the risk that we face

所以 风险在于

is that we can create these huge power vacuums

我们能创造巨大的权力真空

但却迅速的被权力占据

that will very quickly get filled up by de facto

powers, like the military or highly

比如军政府

比如有目的有组织的

motivated and already organized groups

that generally lie on the extremes.

极端群体

But our democracy is neither

但我们的民主

just a matter of voting once every

既不是每隔几年

couple of years.

来投一次票

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

也不是把民众拉上街头

So the question I'd like to raise here,

在此 我想提出一个问题

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

我相信 这是我们需要回答的 最为重要的问题

is this one:

那就是

If Internet is the new printing press,

如果互联网是新时代的出版社

那么互联网时代的民主应该是什么样的

then what is democracy for the Internet era?

What institutions do we want to build

我们能为 21 世纪的社会

for the 21st-century society?

建造出怎样的体系

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

我没有答案 我承认

I don't think anyone does.

可能谁都没有

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

但 不应该继续视这个问题了

So, I'd like to share our experience

所以 我打算分享我们的经历

and what we've learned so far

以及我们的体会

and hopefully contribute two cents

希望能对这个问题有所启发

to this conversation.

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

两年前 和一帮阿根廷朋友们一起

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

我们想 怎么能让那些代表

our elected representatives,

我们亲手选出的代表

to represent us?"

代表我们说话呢

Marshall McLuhan once said that politics

Marshall McLuhan 曾说

政治 就是用昨天的工具 解决今天的问题

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

So the question that motivated us was,

这使我们想到

can we try and solve some of today's problems

我们能否用今天的方法 日常的技术

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

来解决今天的问题呢

Our first approach was to design and develop

我们的第一个尝试 是研发了

a piece of software called DemocracyOS.

一个叫做 DemocracyOS (民主操作系统) 的软件系统

DemocracyOS is an open-source web application

DemocracyOS 是一个开放源码的网络应用

that is designed to become a bridge

我们期待它能成为

选民和代表之间的沟通桥梁

between citizens and their elected representatives

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

让我们更方便的参与政治

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

首先 议会上提出的每个议题

project that gets introduced in Congress

都会通知到你

gets immediately translated and explained

并被写成了

in plain language on this platform.

大众能理解的文字

But we all know that social change

但是 我们都知道

并不是我们掌握了信息

is not going to come from just knowing

社会变革就会发生

more information,

but from doing something with it.

还需要有所行动

So better access to information

掌握信息之后

should lead to a conversation

应当促成谈话

about what we're going to do next,

讨论接下来改做什么

and DemocracyOS allows for that.

这就是 DemocracyOS 所提供的功能

Because we believe that democracy is

我们相信 民主

not just a matter of stacking up

并不是喜好的排列

preferences, one on top of each other,

谁比谁好 谁比谁坏

but that our healthy and robust public debate

民主的核心价值

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

应当是健全的公共讨论

So DemocracyOS is about persuading and being persuaded.

所以 DemocracyOS 关乎如何劝说 关乎如何听劝

It's about reaching a consensus

关乎达成共识

as much as finding a proper way

关乎找到更合适的方法

of channeling our disagreement.

来沟通彼此的分歧

And finally, you can vote

最终 你可以投票

how you would like your elected representative to vote.

来告诉代表们 你希望他们怎么投票

And if you do not feel comfortable

如果你不方便

voting on a certain issue,

就某事进行投票

you can always delegate your vote

你可以把你的投票权

to someone else, allowing

委托给别人

for a dynamic and emerging social leadership.

从而产生动态变化的领导者

It suddenly became very easy for us

这样 就可以轻松地比较

to simply compare these results

代表在国会的投票 是否合乎民意

with how our representatives were

voting in Congress.

But, it also became very evident that

很显然

technology was not going to do the trick.

仅靠科技 无法做到

What we needed to do to was to find

还需要找到

actors that were able to

愿意利用这项科技

grab this distributed knowledge

获取分散在民众中的意愿

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

并依此做出更公平决定的人

So we reached out to traditional political parties

于是 我们找到了传统政党

and we offered them DemocracyOS.

我们把 DemocracyOS 给他们

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

“嘿 这有一个系统 你可以用它”

a two-way conversation with your constituencies."

“与选民进行双向沟通”

是的 我们失败了

And yes, we failed.

We failed big time.

大失败

We were sent to play outside like little kids.

像哄小孩一样 我们被请了出去

我们被人说“幼稚”

Amongst other things, we were called naive.

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

我也承认 事后看来 我们确实够幼稚

Because the challenges that we face, they're not

因为我们所要解决的

technological, they're cultural.

并非技术问题 而是文化问题

Political parties were never willing

政党不会愿意

to change the way they make their decisions.

改变他们做决定的套路

So it suddenly became a bit obvious

于是 很显然

that if we wanted to move forward with this idea,

若想推广这个点子

we needed to do it ourselves.

我们只能自己上场

And so we took quite a leap of faith,

我们开始了尝试

and in August last year, we founded

去年的 8 月

our own political party,

我们成立了自己的政党

El Partido de la Red,

网络党(El Partido de la Red)

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

就在布宜诺斯艾利斯

And taking an even bigger leap of faith,

我们继续尝试

we ran for elections in October last year

参加了去年十月的选举

with this idea:

秉承这样的理念

if we want a seat in Congress,

若想获取席位

our candidate, our representatives

我们的候选人

将始终依照 DemocracyOS 上

were always going to vote according to

选民的决定来投票

what citizens decided on DemocracyOS.

Every single project that got introduced

议会上每一个提案

in Congress, we were going vote

according to what citizens decided on an online platform.

我们都将按照

这个网络平台上的意见来投票

It was our way of hacking the political system.

这是我们颠覆现有政治体制的方式

We understood that if we wanted

我们明白

如果想参与对话

to become part of the conversation,

to have a seat at the table,

如果想参与决策

we needed to become valid stakeholders,

首先得获得席位

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

我们只能遵守现行规则

But we were hacking it in the sense that

但我们也在颠覆

we were radically changing the way a political party

我们彻底改变了

政党决策的方式

makes its decisions.

For the first time, we were making our decisions

这是史上首次

决策会影响到谁

together with those who we were

我们就与谁一起做决策

affecting directly by those decisions.

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

对于一个在布宜诺斯艾利斯成立仅两个月的政党

in the city of Buenos Aires.

这个举动很大胆

But it got attention.

但人们注意到了我们

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

我们赢得了 22000 张选票 占总票数的 1.2%

and we came in second for the local options.

在当地排名第二

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

这个票数不够获得议会席位

seat in Congress, it was enough

for us to become part of the conversation,

但 它足够让我们

参与到对话当中

to the extent that next month,

接下来的那个月

Congress, as an institution, is launching

阿根廷史上首次

在 DemocracyOS 上

for the first time in Argentina's history,

a DemocracyOS to discuss,

国会就三个法案

with the citizens, three pieces of legislation:

与民众展开网上对话

two on urban transportation and

其中两个 是关于都市交通的

one on the use of public space.

另外一个 是关于公共空间使用的

Of course, our elected representatives are not

诚然 代表们并不是

saying, "Yes, we're going to vote

完全按照选民的意愿

according to what citizens decide,"

做出决定

but they're willing to try.

但他们愿意尝试

They're willing to open up a new space

愿意打开讨论空间

for citizen engagement and hopefully

让民众参与

they'll be willing to listen as well.

希望他们也愿意倾听民众的声音

Our political system can be transformed,

政治体系可以被改变

and not by subverting it, by destroying it,

并非打翻 亦非摧毁

but by rewiring it with the tools that

而是利用互联网

重新连接政治的参与方

Internet affords us now.

But a real challenge is to find, to design

真正的挑战在于

设计一个系统 连接彼此

to create, to empower those connectors

让沉默的人 喧嚣的人

that are able to innovate, to transform

可以好好表达意愿

noise and silence into signal

and finally bring our democracies

最终促进民主制度

to the 21st century.

走向 21 世纪

I'm not saying it's easy.

这并非唾手可得

But in our experience, we actually stand a chance

我们的经历证明 我们确有机会

of making it work.

让这一理想实现

And in my heart, it's most definitely

我从心底认为

值得放手一试

worth trying.

Thank you.

谢谢

(Applause)

(掌声)