Citizens' Assemblies

Extinction Rebellion Guildford

Citizens' Assemblies: What are they, why are suddenly in the news, and how can they resolve political deadlock on today's pressing issues

St Nicolas Parish Church

Citizens' Assemblies are an increasingly popular way to resolve issues which have failed to be resolved through the traditional political establishment. They remove party political bias and the influence of corporate lobbying from decision making, and have been used to resolve incredibly difficult political issues such as abortion and gay marriage in Ireland, and LGBTQ rights and flood measures in Poland. Less than 30 people now hold the same wealth as half the global population. This money is funnelled into our political systems, driving the agenda of the world's richest, whilst we face an unprecedented ecological threat, accelerating racial &amp; social inequality, and unacceptable levels of child poverty. This is not democracy. There is a better way. Citizens' Assemblies use sortition - a method of selecting members of a community - to choose a demographically representative body of local residents to form solutions. The members are paid for their time, so that those who can't miss work can still attend. A series of experts &amp; specialist organisations present solutions to the problems posed, and over a sequence of weekend the assembly deliberates and then votes on the best way forward. This increases the democratic decision making within a community or country (did you know 63% of Johnson's cabinet is privately educated, compared to 9% of the general population?), whilst engaging voters who have become disenfranchised by the lack of representation of their views or demographic in parliament. France has this week (mid January 2020) instructed a citizens assembly to write <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/10/citizens-panels-ready-help-macron-french-climate-policies" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">binding policy</a> on the climate crisis, and Camden (London's leading climate borough) has built a 17-point climate action plan from a citizens's assembly. Our governments are failing us. Of the 196 countries who committed to keep warming to 2 in the Paris Agreement, only 16 are <a href="https://climateactiontracker.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">meeting those pledges</a> - and the UK is not one of them. The fossil fuel lobby funds politicians across the world, and whilst this is allowed to continue there is no meaningful way to tackle the climate emergency. Our local authorities and communities must come together to respond to crippling cuts by central government, and to find new democratic ways of rising to the challenges we face at a local level. Come along to discuss how we can use a citizens's assembly in Guildford to build a truly democratic plan for tackling the climate crisis. All are welcome. The talk is presented by Lucy Stone, a climate change expert with experience &amp; a deep understanding of deliberative democracy approaches including citizens assemblies. She is a fellow of the University of Surrey's world-leading Centre For Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity, of Agulhas, and of the Royal Society of Arts.

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Citizens' Assemblies

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