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Suppose an island appears in the Pacific Ocean. An island that has never existed before. Many people of the world decide to settle it, until it has a similar population and settlement pattern to New Zealand. We can guess that the islanders would want their own government. They would want it to be democratic. And…
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Last September, Britain’s embattled centre-left government announced they would introduce a compulsory digital ID. Although polls in the last few years had found public opinion more open to a government ID system, the initial public reaction was far more divided. Opposition surged and a petition against the proposal soon drew millions of signatures in just…
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A few weekends ago, I went on a walking tour of central with Bella Roberts from Antiparty, a group dedicated to envisioning democracy without the party system of today – something I have independently concluded myself. They are particularly interested in sortition, deliberative democracy and giving power to local communities. As they put it: We…
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Frome, a mid-sized town in the English county of Somerset A few of us have predicted that radical assembly-based parties could be The Next Big Thing in politics. But how would one actually work? Assemblies What do we mean by assembly-based? This would partly mean that the party would use the incredible potential of randomly-selected…
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When people come together in small groups to discuss what matters to their community. I’ve been reading lately about the French Revolution and seeing so many parallels to politics today, from the fracturing and paralysis of the elites to the weather problems. Are we on the cusp of a revolution? It is hard to say.…
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An earlier event from Assemble last August, which launched the work to run the House of the People. This month’s event is at a different venue but will look quite similar. Why rely on the government to start national citizens’ assemblies if you can start your own? This is a huge task. But after over…
Assembly Project 