Overview
People have control over the decisions that affect their lives. They have the right, ability, and responsibility to participate in building and protecting their communities.
Democracy is a way of putting those who are affected by decisions in charge of making them. By giving people the power to manage their homes, communities, and relationships with the earth, we have a better chance of meeting everyone’s needs—not just the needs of a few powerful people. Achieving a healthy democracy requires us to connect with each other. That means we have to overcome the forms of isolation and disconnection we experience in the household, workplace, or neighborhood, or even on a national or global level. Democratic participation can look like workers organizing to take over a factory that has closed down, landless people living and farming on land where nothing has grown for decades, a neighborhood assembly deciding how their share of the city budget will be allocated, or a community deciding how to protect each other without involving police.
Guiding Questions
How can we increase the amount of control people and communities have?
How can we push back against isolation, deepen our mutual connection to each other, and increase opportunities for participation?