NEW FORMS OF PARTICIPATION PARTICIPANT OUTCOMES : STUDY SESSION – PARTICIPATION AND DEMOCRACY : A LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL STUDENT RIGHTS
Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Alternative voting systems ................................................................................................................... 4 Advantages of AV ............................................................................................................................ 4 Disadvantages of AV ........................................................................................................................ 4 Petitions .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Write your own petition: .................................................................................................................. 7 Proper research: ............................................................................................................................. 7 “Occupy� movement ........................................................................................................................... 9 What?........................................................................................................................................... 9 Where? ......................................................................................................................................... 9 Why? ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Different occupy movements: ............................................................................................................ 9 Weaknesses?................................................................................................................................ 11 Going Viral Online ............................................................................................................................ 12 How?.......................................................................................................................................... 12 Different ways to do it: .................................................................................................................. 12 Blogging ........................................................................................................................................ 14 What is Blogging? ......................................................................................................................... 14 How to blog? ............................................................................................................................... 15 Artistic Expressions .......................................................................................................................... 17 Flash mob ....................................................................................................................................... 19 Protest........................................................................................................................................... 20
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Introduction From the 7th to 14th of April 2013 OBESSU organised a Study Session entitled ”Participation and democracy – a legal framework for school student rights” for its member and observer organisations. During the event the participants explored the different aspects of both democracy and participation, they defined the concepts, and they looked back at their own organisations and school systems in order to see the elements they could still improve and make more democratic and participatory. After several days of discussing mostly democracy, what it is, why it is necessary and how it is implemented, the focus of the event changed to look more into actual participation. Participation is a broad concept and it is perceived very differently among people of different ages. Today activism can be practised everywhere, in schools, on the streets, online...wherever there are people. Young people today participate in society differently than their grandparents did, and new ways of participation develop as the society changes. The aim of the second last day of the event was about researching exactly this. The participants were divided into smaller groups, each group getting one topic to dive into. Each groups work was then presented in an exhibition. Half of the work was thus to learn about the subtopic and find out more about cases where it has been practised and the second half about turning the knowledge into a presentation using as much creativity as possible. But what are these different new ways of participation? By who and in what situations are they used? How can we use them ourselves? This document is written by the participants at the OBESSU Study Session and aims at answering these questions for you by wrapping up the work of the groups.
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Alternative voting systems Alternative vote (AV) is an electoral system used to elect a single winner from a field of more than two candidates. It is a form of preferential voting (or ranked choice voting) in which voters rank the candidates in order of preference rather than simply selecting a single candidate. It has the effect of avoiding split votes and the need for electors to vote "strategically" for candidates who are not their first choice1. Check out this video which explains the Alternative Voting system2! Advantages of AV One advantage of transferring ballots is that it enables the votes of several candidates to accumulate, so that diverse but related interests can be combined to win representation. AV also enables supporters of candidates who have little hope of being elected to influence, via their second and later preferences, the election of a major candidate. For this reason, it is sometimes argued that AV is the best system for promoting centrist politics, as it can compel candidates to seek not only the votes of their own supporters but also the ‘second preferences’ of others. To attract these preferences, candidates must make broadlybased appeals rather than focusing on narrower issues. The experience of AV in Australia tends to support these arguments: the major parties, for example, typically try to strike bargains with minor parties for the second preferences of their supporters prior to an election—a process known as ‘preference swapping’. Furthermore, because of the majority support requirement, AV increases the consent given to elected members, and thus can enhance their perceived legitimacy. The experience of AV in Papua New Guinea and in Australia suggests that it can provide significant incentives for accommodator and cooperative politics. In recent years, AV, or its variant the Supplementary Vote, has also been adopted for presidential and mayoral elections in Bosnia, London, and San Francisco. Disadvantages of AV Nevertheless, AV also has a number of disadvantages. First, it requires a reasonable degree of literacy and numeracy to be used effectively, and because it operates in single member districts it can often produce results that are disproportional when compared to Proportional Representation systems—or even in some cases compared with First Past The Post. Also, the potential of AV for promoting centrist outcomes is very dependent on underlying social and demographic conditions: while it successfully promoted interethnic accommodation in Papua New Guinea during the 1960s and 1970s, it has been criticized in another Pacific country, Fiji, since it was implemented there in 1997. Moreover, as its use in the Australian Senate from 1919 to 1946 noted, AV does not work well when applied to larger, multi-member districts3. 1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Y3jE3B8HsE 3 Source: http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/esd/esd01/esd01d/esd01d01 2
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Would the alternative vote have changed history? Members of Parliament (MPs) are to vote on whether to hold a referendum on scrapping Britain's first past the vote electoral system in favour of the Alternative Vote (AV). If AV had been used in previous general elections would it have changed the result? This graphic illustrates how the results of the last six general elections might have looked had the 'alternative vote' system been in place. The overall outcome of the contests would not have changed, but the Liberal Democrats would have gained the most seats and the scale of the Conservative defeat in 1997 would have been much greater, the research suggests.
The Lib Dems were formed in 1988 after contesting the 1983 and 1987 elections as the SDP-Alliance. 4
Note: This projection assumes that voters still select the same first choice candidate as they did in the firstpast-the-post system. 4
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8506306.stm
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Reykjavik voting process:
1. Someone has an idea, 2. S/He adds it to the website, where other people can like and comment, 3. S/He starts to promote it, 4. When the idea has enough votes‌ 5. ‌the city council decides on whether they will use it or not. 6. The city council informs the constituency if the idea is passed or not.
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Petitions A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some official and signed by numerous individuals. A petition may be oral rather than written, and in this era may be transmitted via the Internet.
Interesting petitions: “I do 2013” The Women's Petition Against Coffee 1674 Make The Star Wars Gangsta Rap A Popular Radio Single! Save 'The Simpsons'! Write your own petition: Identify your target: The first task of effective petition writing is to properly identify your target (governments, parliaments, politicians, political parties etc). Proper research: A petition should begin with a request, followed by well researched reasons for making the request. Each petition should provide a description of relevant circumstances and links to documentation or facts that support that description. Moreover, a petition should contain information that suggests its request is feasible. Clear and concise communication Don't clutter your petition with information or requests that have no essential connection to the main message. Read over your petition carefully. Make sure that you use a well-structured petition template that: 1. 2. 3.
describes the situation, suggests what is needed, and explains why it is needed.
Be clear and concise with your message. Some useful web sites:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/ http://www.gopetition.com/howtowriteapetition.php http://www.gopetition.com/tag/funny
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“I do 2013�
The Women's Petition Against Coffee 1674
I do 2013 is a petition for same-sex marriage in
When coffee was first introduced into England in the late 1600s, it was largely drunk by men only, and in coffeehouses rather than at home. Doctors welcomed this as a substitute for drinking alcohol in taverns, but married women were not so happy with the new drink. In 1674 a group of London women put out "The Women's Petition Against Coffee." The petition is reproduced below:
Finland, since earlier this year a parliamentary committee rejected a marriage equality bill. 50.000 signatures are required to compel parliament to consider legalising same-sex marriage and therefore the petition was launched on 19.03.2013 and it will run until 18.09.2013. In just one day the petition gathered more than 50 000 signatures, as members of the public rushed to support the campaign. Now the campaign wants to gather 250 000 signatures in 6 months. The accumulation of the required support means that lawmakers must now consider a bill which was previously blocked at the committee stage.
Representing to Publick Consideration the Grand Inconveniencies accruing to their Sex from the Excessive Use of that drying, Enfeebling Liquor. Presented to the Right Honorable the Keepers of the Liberty of Venus. By a Well-willer London, Printed 1674.
Make The Star Wars Gangsta Rap A Popular Radio Single! Petition Background (Preamble): The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is a very funny online song/music video hosted at atomfilms.com that the public would definitely enjoy it. Already it has millions of fans it attracted from the internet humour community. They would like to see more of this song, however. Like said before, the public would definitely enjoy this song and its hilarious music video. Also, they would like to see a CD release so they can have this song and other funny songs the creators of this song may have in their heads at their homes. They would like to see the release of The Star Wars Gangsta Rap as a single for popular radio.
Save The Simpsons! The Simpsons have been running for over 20 years. It has made Fox one of the most viewed networks. This TV series saved the Fox Network. And now, Fox is deciding to end the Simpsons apparently, due to many reasons: Budget cuts, and they say that THE SIMPSONS ARE LOSING POPULARITY! WHAT?!!? What an outrage!! We, Simpson fans can't allow this! If you love the Simpsons, sign this and leave a good comment! There have been rumours going around that the 25th season will be the last season! 8 Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions Rue de la Sablonniere 20, 1000 Brussels, Belgium www.obessu.org | +3226472390 | obessu@obessu.org
“Occupy� movement What? The Occupy movement is an international protest movement against social and economic inequality, its primary goal being to make the economic and political relations in all societies less vertically hierarchical and more flatly distributed. Local groups often have different foci, but among the movements prime concerns is the claim that large corporations and the global financial system control the world in a way that disproportionately benefits a minority, undermines democracy and is unstable. Where? It is not about the occupied areas, it is more about the fact that you occupy an area which belongs to the government (the institution you are demonstrating against). Why? By doing that the activists show that the government cares more about the safety of the government than the peoples safety.
Different occupy movements:
Occupy Wall Street United States, 2011
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Occupy Homes United States, 2011
Occupy Nigeria Nigeria, 2012
Occupy the Ports United States, 2011
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Occupy St. James Park Canada, 2011
Ocupa el Congreso Spain, 2012
Weaknesses?
It may not seem very professional because it is just an area you are occupying in quite a non-structural way and it may also not be very clear what the Occupy movement stands for.
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Going Viral Online
Going viral online is a very good way to create a campaign that lots of people take part of. It is easy and fast. Always use your virtual opportunities! Human Rights Campaign ”Red Equals Sign” Campaign started 25.March 2013 and Human Right Campaign (HRC) initiated it. The campaign asked people to change their profile pictures, in order to raise awareness and fight for same Sex couples to have right to get married, in conjunction to the USA Supreme Court hearing. The campaign went viral immediately, and a lot of people learned about the issue by seeing so many profile pictures with the red equals sign.
How? Just use social media, such as twitter, facebook and other. After the campaign has calmed down, give an overview, so people would know how it went. Really make sure, everybody will know why they really share the picture or upload it as their profile or cover picture. Don’t leave out anything! Different ways to do it: One does not necessarily have to change profile picture, one can use twibbons and picbadges, etc. too On twitter: create a hashtag for your campaign which is easy to identify Tag people – both on Facebook and Twitter, tag people to raise awareness as well as your target. You can ask your supporters to tag the target as well. Use pictures that people can share/retweet/etc.
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OBESSU Study Session Online campaign “Fight your right! Speak up for school students� Campaign started on 12. April 2013 Promoting OBESSUs Declaration on of school student rights campaign wanted to encourage students to fight for their rights and speak up.
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Blogging What is Blogging? If they have a look at the dictionary they found something like that: “Blogging is the act of posting content on a blog (a Web log or online journal) or posting comments on someone else's blog.” But blogging does not only have one definition, blogging is the mixture of different points of view, it is so much more…
IT’S WRITING ON A BLOG: The fact that the writing takes place on a blog makes it different than other forms of writing.
IT’S WRITING AUTHENTICALLY: Regardless of any other purpose the writing may have: to inform, to teach, to entertain, to provoke, whatever— authentic writing is held by many as an ideal associated with blogging.
IT’S A DIALOGUE, NOT A MONOLOGUE: When you write a blog post, people can leave comments and even reply to each other in the comments, as though it were a miniature forum just for that post (which it is).
IT’S WRITING FOR OTHERS, NOT YOURSELF: A blog written to satisfy others will nearly always satisfy oneself. Blogging may appear to be writing about oneself, but only if doing that is beneficial to others. In other words, there’s a lesson to learn from a blogger’s personal story.
IT’S BEYOND WRITING: Blogging is not just writing. It can include images, audio, video, slideshows, ebooks, and all other manner of what we call “embedded media.” Blogging does not even have to include words: a blog post can have only pictures, for example.
IT’S EVERYTHING: Blogging is now what television used to be. It’s what newspapers used to be. It’s what magazines used to be. It’s what books used to be. Nowadays, you can be connected with all the people of the world being in your own house making a global exchange of information.
IT’S NOTHING: At the end of the day, blogging is still just a tool, a method, a means. It’s a channel, a conduit, a facilitator. Without people, it’s nothing. 14 Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions Rue de la Sablonniere 20, 1000 Brussels, Belgium www.obessu.org | +3226472390 | obessu@obessu.org
How to blog? In order to create a successful blog you…
Have to be passionately curious about the topic you're covering.
Have to find a way to approach the topic that would be interesting enough to make blogging feel less like work and more like fun.
It all starts with questions. First off, any uninteresting topic can be made interesting by asking questions.
Use available resources for natural research. Do what comes naturally when you have a question: pursue the answers. If you don't have any questions off the top of your head, pursue other questions the same way you would pursue answers.
By pursuing things that are naturally interesting to us and finding answers for them, we're uncovering what a lot of people out there want to know as well.
The Adopt a Negotiator Project Tracking International Efforts to deal with Climate Change Climate change is the defining issue of our generation. How we confront it is literally shaping the world we grow up in. It’s shaping our challenges and our opportunities, from the cost of food to whether there’s any food to put on the table; from how we get energy to power our phones to how we get energy to power our classrooms and lift our communities. It touches almost every aspect of our lives. Our leaders have worked on climate change for decades, negotiating amongst themselves and on our behalf how to deal or not deal with our changing world. So why do we leave the most important decisions in the world to a few hundred people? Why doesn’t everyone know about it? Why aren’t we all having our say? And what can we do about it? These are the questions we asked ourselves. And we came up with an answer: Adopt a Negotiator. We thought it was time to let our leaders know we are here and we are watching them and we are going to take our future into our own hands. Our mission is to change the way citizens from around the world engage in shaping climate change solutions at a global level. As young people who will live with the decisions being hashed out in meetings between our country’s leaders in places like UN, the fact these negotiations were go on with little scrutiny or public participation doesn’t seem right. For years negotiations about our future have been happening in a bubble.
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One of the reasons engagement in global negotiations is so hard is because they are complex, dry, and full of language that no one outside the system can understand. That’s where we come in. By going to UN climate talks and other key negotiations and by trying to translate this process into real life situations, we hope to make it open and understandable to many more. By showing up, participating wherever solutions are being discussed and decided, we hope to bring the voices of the many that can’t attend to the people who have our fate in their hands. As a group of independent young people writing from our own perspectives, we give you a raw take on who is doing what in this effort. We tell it like it is, with all the emotion that comes with failure or with progress. We bring a human element to a too soulless process. We hope that by following our work and getting involved, you too can start to understand the decisions taken in your name and make your voice heard on the defining issue of ours, and perhaps all generations to come.
Check out the interview made to two bloggers! This is an interview about blogging, why blogging is important and how blogging effects to society. 5
Interviewees: Aileen Donegan, from Dublin, Ireland Twitter: @aileendonegan Blog: aileendonegan.com Ron Salaj, from Kosovo Twitter: @ronsalaj The interviews were conducted by Participants of the OBESSU Study Session "Participation and Democracy: A legal framework on School Student Rights" at the European Youth Centre, Budapest. Aileen Donegan and Ron Salaj were taking part in the Training course for online activists 2013 in the framework of the no hate speech movement. The No Hate Speech Movement is a campaign against the expressions of hate speech online in all its forms, including those that most affect young people. 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU3xU2oWG3k
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Artistic Expressions There are many way in which to participate using artistic expression. These include street art, theatre performances, art, music, sculpture, etc. Through artistic expressions, one can make ones message heard, and both raise awareness as well as spur public debate.
Musicians Against Xenophobia Musicians from Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe put xenophobia on the cultural agenda in a musical initiative to get people talking about discrimination. South Africa, especially Johannesburg, is home to thousands of foreign Africans. Some are refugees, fleeing persecution and seeking asylum; others are looking for work and a better life. Many find that life is not what they expected. They face discrimination from government services, harassment by police and degrading treatment from people, whether in the taxis, schools, shops or streets. Initiated by Community Media For Development (CMFD) and supported by MMINO (funding project), the musicians worked with migrants and young people to create four songs that get to the heart of the matter. Though the music focuses on the Mozambican experience, to better understand xenophobia CMFD interviewed 100 migrants from all over the continent about their experiences in South Africa. The overwhelming majority told about how they personally suffered from discrimination, including from police and health services. 6
The musicians are putting together words to give voice to these experiences, calling on all people to respect one another. “Many people do not know these things are happening,” says Mozambican saxophone player Machotte, “Through this music, maybe we can make people know and think about this, and people will change.” For many migrants, it is a chance to finally have their voices heard.
6
http://www.cmfd.org/what-we-do/music/musicians-against-xenophobia http://www.cmfd.org/production/music
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Banksy Graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. Banksy's works have dealt with an array of political and social themes, including anti-War, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, anti-imperialism, antiauthoritarianism, anarchism, nihilism, and existentialism. Additionally, the components of the human condition that his works commonly critique are greed, poverty, hypocrisy, boredom, despair, absurdity, and alienation.
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Flash mob A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, and then quickly disperse. The purpose of a flash mob varies, though it is often used to raise awareness, and shine a spotlight on a certain issue.
Flashmob to mark two years since Iran’s disputed election On June 12, 2011, to mark two years since Iran's disputed election, United4Iran and Move4Iran coordinated a flash mob in a Paris metro station to draw attention to the ongoing human rights abuses Iran's citizens continue to face. The flashmob's intent was to highlight sustained international support for the Iranian people and to encourage individuals worldwide, who are lucky enough to be afforded basic freedoms, to recommit support for Iran's civil rights movement.
The Sound of Music flash mob More than 200 dancers were performing their version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp on 23 rd March 2009, 08:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of "The Sound of Music".
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Protest A protest is an expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations. Protesters may organise a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to directly enact desired changes themselves. Where protests are part of a systematic and peaceful campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as cases of civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.
15-M MOVEMENT(CITIZENS ASSEMBLY) The 2011–present Spanish protests, also referred to as the 15-M Movement are a series of protests started on 15 May 2011 demanding a change in Spanish politics. The protesters share a strong rejection for unemployment, welfare cuts, Spanish politicians, the current two-party system in Spain between the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the People's Party. Also to the current political system, capitalism, banks and bankers, political corruption and firmly support what they call basic rights: home, work, culture, health and education. According to the Spanish public broadcasting company, between 6.5 and 8 million Spaniards have participated in these protests
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