Forewords of the Citizen Parcitipation Study – a European/Hungarian

perspective

CPU 2012, 10th July Civil College, Kunbábony

Learning for Local Democracy – a Study of Local Citizen Participation in Europe

Ed. Joerg Forbrig, 2011

published by the Central and Eastern European Citizens Network, in partnership with the Combined European Bureau for Social Development

http://www.callde.eu/citizen-participation-study/

I. What have we chiefly learnt from the Introduction? The history of civil society development in Europe

1. „At the outset of modern-day democracy in Europe, it was primarily considered a set of national institutions, including voting rights and elections, political parties and parliaments that transformed the conflicting interests of social groups into regulated competition for government office. In this institutional process, citizens had only an occasional say through the vote they cast; all else lay in the hands of elected officials, professional politicians an bureaucrats.” (p 8)

History cont.

2. „A second development (post-war period) that has come to shape democracy in Europe was the emergence of extensive and Europe-wide layers of civil society. … The last decades added to the traditional forms of civic life organisations that explicitly engage with politics … watchdog … advocacy groups, ….. lobbyists or unions that represent more narrowly defined goals vis-à-vis political players. What is common to many of these newer organisations of civil society is that they are an important complement to classical political institutions.” (p 9)

History cont.

3. „An enormous expansion of what is considered political. Today .. it is hard to find a question that cannot be considered political …. policy issues are subject to far more and much more continuous and public debate than ever before, facilitated by both media and civil society, serving the interest of a citizenry that is better educated and more concerned with politics, more diverse in its opinions and less reluctant to express these in public.” (p 10)

History cont.

4. „Finally, the last decades have seen a far-reaching differentiation and de-centralisation of political processes and state institutions. Additional arenas for political debate and decisionmaking have been introduced, and new layers of public administration have been added, within countries, Europe-wide and internationally…

All these differentiated structures … provide citizens and civil society with additional entry points for participation.” (p 10)

II. Global/Hungarian uprising

There is no doubt that the European perspective ahead civil society is inherent in the recent global and European civil movements. They are neither simply movements of dissatisfaction which could calm down at the price of certain concessions, nor purely oppositional manifestations – but some of them fundamentally question the ruling cultural-political basis on which the so called Western-culture operates.

They are questioning the further feasibility of development based on growth, since growth exploits humans and the human environment, and fails to provide a sustainable basis for the operation of our economic, financial and welfare structures.

They tend to support local structures that are both socially and economically sustainable.

Their ideas about a democracy at work are highly different from the recent practice: instead of a centralized, representational democracy they believe in local participative, or deliberative democracy.

Social context in CEE/Hungary

We have all the reason to say that, due to a number of external and internal reasons, the democratic transition has proved to be much more difficult than people were expecting around the time of the great turn

Today we already have a clear sense of how fragile our democracy is and how exposed it is to populism, manipulation, nationalism and political extremism.

Social context in Hungary

Following the change of regime, civil society has gone through considerable development, yet with the exception of some influential NGOs in the area of legal defense and civil interest protection, most civil organizations have assumed a pure service delivery role. This process was inspired by the state and development agencies, and made NGOs leave behind the “real” civil functions they had fulfilled around the changes.

Social context in Hungary cont.

The “real” civil functions they had fulfilled around the changes: critical reflection, demonstrating alternatives, building new institutions in local communities and society in general, influencing and taking part in decision-making and control processes. In other words: counterbalancing power through independent and free actions organized from below.

It seems that today we are witnessing a revival of these functions in Hungary, and civil society appears to have engaged in a battle against the overweight (2/3 majority) political power.

Social context in Hungary cont

”Democracy has been hacked”

said one of the persons we interviewed for the Hungarian part of a research study commissioned by the Mott Foundation which aims to look at the interconnections of civic movements and events in Bosnia, Hungary, Romania and Russia.

Social context in Hungary cont.

In April 2010, a ‘national conservative’ government won a two-thirds majority in Hungary, after a populist election campaign that was reminiscent of the promises made by state socialism.

As a result of its large majority, the new government has extensively changed legislation and eliminated many of the checks and balances established in Hungary’s transition to democracy.

Social context in Hungary cont.

Those committed to democracy are deeply concerned about the current government’s efforts to centralise decision-making and strengthen the power of the state, and its concomitant moves to weaken free media and human, political and social rights.

The contemporary discourse is characterised by recourse to nationalism, populism and Hungary’s past.

While resistance to this government’s approach is very likely to grow, it is also likely to be very difficult for ordinary people to differentiate between reality and manipulation as a result of the lack of long-term democratic tradition and people’s desire for security and safety. This clearly shows how fragile Hungary’s new democracy remains, and the extent to which there is a danger of regression.

All of these have not gone unnoticed by

the civic sector.

Civil events, movements in Hungary 2011-12

Some promising initiatives are encouraging that aim: A, Fostering/strengthening civil society and the

cooperation among civil society organizations -’Milla’ movement: One Million People for the Free Media. The movement’s root is a Facebook-page and it has already organized 3 mass-demonstrations with 30-100,000 people in Budapest expressing several basic democratic demands, and a new civil medium is under preparation.

Milla

Real Democracy Now – Occupy Hungary

B, Organizing and integrate people/movements whether they are in the right/left, for participative democracy/future, finding community-like, local solutions mainly – organizing successful actions, good media-appearance - “Real Democracy Now – Occupy Hungary” - several street actions, demonstrations, public discussions, flash-mobs etc. following the methodology of the Spanish origin “Peoples Assemblies”.

015 Budapest

Solidarity Movement

C, Unifying oppositional movements and opposition parties on a ‘basic minimum’: changing the power to the left – organizing Opposition’s Round Table, actions, forums and meetings - Solidarity Movement – a trade union originated movement - the name reminds people to the Polish Solidarnoscs Movement.

The City Belongs to Everyone Movement

D, Stopping inhumane actions against the poor/homelessness and changing wrong political decisions - The City Belongs to Everyone Movement – street actions, demonstrations for the right of inhabitants and against new regulations and law on homelessness, community organizing, public discussions, campaigns with some positive results, mainly at district-level in Budapest like making local representatives to change the penalty codes they have brought.

Lodge is basic human right!

HaHa – Network from Students in Higher Education Institutions

E, Making students active and let decision-makers know: here we are – HaHa – Network from Students in Higher Education Institutions – street and occupy university actions, sit-down strikes, demonstrations against the new law on higher education, networking and organizing a new student interest protection structure, joint learning (summer university) etc.

Occupy University

Who owns the university?

Research findings in Hungary - opinions

Almost everyone can find progressive elements in the movements;

Most of them think that civil movements and actions are still rather weak in terms of making real change, but they certainly do their work in calling the Hungarian, European and global public opinion to the non-desirable political changes in Hungary, as well as the unsustainable development model;

Opinions, cont.

Some of them consider it dangerous that movements breed dissatisfaction without providing programmes, elaborated alternatives, and do not list those steps that should be taken by citizens and their organisations to make real change. The communication of “I am fed up” is not enough anymore;

Non-protesters, that is, the ordinary citizen – and they are the majority! – do not find any meaning in civil protests: “It has no results. Whatever people do this government does whatever it wants to do. People cannot make any change” they say. In the background of this opinion there is fear from the power and incapacity for action. Both of them have their causes in people’s historical experiences, but we must also notice that during the 23 years of democracy, unfortunately there were not any or hardly any investments in tackling the shortcomings of democratic socialization.

Research – initial analysis

Democracy became desirable but only among intellectuals and not workers or people in the countryside, who are fighting for their own living and do not want to loose their obtained rights.

Civil society is certainly getting back its real civil function (criticism, reflection instead of providing services), partly because of the special Hungarian and international context, and partly because of the fact that it was not supported financially during the last 2 years. However, this shift does not penetrate the whole society and is focused mainly in Budapest

Initial analysis, cont.

Civil actions/movements have a longer past, but changed gear during the last year – they became more visible

Many activists are looking for the movement/action that is best for him/her, they are often wandering from one action/movement to another or – if they have enough time and energy – participate in all those that are close to their goals and ways of self-expression. We call this phenomenon ‘amoeba’.

Initial analysis, cont.

There is a huge push on some of the civil actions (Milla, Solidarity) to change into political parties, saying that this is the only chance to become influential as the part of the power. Others think that parties have gambled away people’s trust forever and authentic social action are civil actions/movements – so it would be the worst option to change into party. In their opinion actions and movements should be strengthened, and cooperation among movements should be organised, instead of establishing parties.

Initial analysis, cont.

There is a huge lack of theoretical and practical knowledge about democracy, self-governing, movements, actions, community organizing, civil society and democracy – there are no training courses, consultancy schemes, professional support available, although there is some strong ability/capacity available in the country for this.

This kind of knowledge is not taught in Hungary neither in the formal education, nor in informal or adult education (except in some adult training civil organizations).

Initial analysis, cont.

It is a huge spontaneous learning process when activists are learning what is good for what, what characterizes a movement, what a party, what are their functions, what kind of tools are used or would be desirable to use, etc. This is a very desirable but at the same time very difficult process and people can get tired and disillusioned faster than it could be justified. In case of empowered people the learning process would be accelerated and the positive results would be more available.

Initial analysis, cont.

Many suspicions are targeted against the power that is not calculable and visible, and real dialogue is completely missing.

There is a big lack of money for the actions and development of a given movement (travel, phone, training, organisation, etc.)

III. Open questions

Can supra-national civil society play such a complicated task – to lead ourselves mainly at local levels and coordinate the self-governing job at a transnational/international level when conditions differ from country to country? This job requires sophisticated and comprehensive knowledge and experience about active citizenship, good national/international communication skills, and an enormous amount of time, energy, voluntary and paid work (who is going to pay?) – just to mention the main important criteria.

Open questions, cont.

And what about the biggest challenge: would this unified civil society be able to make economic-financial-political structures that are self-restraining. How can civil society become independent from the ruling financial and political elite, and would it be able to find its own financial resources and meet those conditions that are necessary for changing the paradigm?

Would civil society be able to lead/organize/educate people what to do, when to do them, and how to do them?

Open questions, cont.

We think that we should imagine these changes as a long-term process during which (any kind of) power would be gradually undertaken by the civil society and the proportion of civil society in “making real change” would be growing constantly.

„As far as I can see in mid 2012, it is not the Occupy movement that will spark world revolution and I do not think any movement would do. I also do not think it would be sparked in the way the old revolutions were. I think instead that in the future we can say that between 2011-2015 there was a process that we can call WORLD REVOLUTION.” (student, man, 26, responsible for creative artistic action for the Hungarian “Real Democracy Now – Occupy” movement)

Thank you for your kind attention!

Ilona Vercseg

Community development research fellow

CEBSD – CEE CN

HACD – CCF

vercseg@kkapcsolat.hu

HONOUR TO BRAVES!