[…] We should reject the
emphasis on process that the Tories and Labour prefer. Rearranging the deckchairs
on the SS Westminster simply won’t do. It’s not how we are governed but why we are
ruled by an undemocratic corporatocracy, where real power lies and how it can be
transferred into the hands of ordinary people that are the real issues.
A roadmap to real democracy
needs to be drawn up by assemblies and meetings throughout the UK, building on the
gains of the Scottish referendum campaign. The political system has lost the right
to rule over us because it has no democratic legitimacy. There is a global crisis
of existing state systems, which the referendum reflected. This can and should be
made to work to our advantage. […]
My fear is that the establishment
will use constitutional change simply to fix the status quo. The fix that the masters
of the universe and many of our politicians want is one that leaves the same people
in charge to do the same things.
There is no need for some
long and deadly, great and good royal commission, but if you want people to really
consider the consequences of changes you need to give them a genuine opportunity
to participate. You can do that with deliberative polls, where people meet and hear
the arguments and express their views. You can do it with people’s juries, where
there are challenging questions and alternatives and a commitment to following through
on the results. People should be able to organise around the issues in their own
communities.
Instead, we are back to
top-down control. […]
Power, real decision-making
power and control over resources, is either left in the hands of the present state
that is capitalist and undemocratic by nature or there is a concerted struggle for
its transfer. That will involve creating entirely new forms of democratic rule that
take us beyond the self-apparent limits of parliamentary representation. […]
'Despite ‘No’ vote, Scottish referendum advances struggle for real democracy', Paul Feldman, A World To Win, 22 September 2014
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