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March 2, 2021
Expand your democratic life
As the merest glimmer of an end to Covid comes into view, an anthology of essays, short stories and poems, is published which seeks to explore the opportunities for a better post-Covid future. Oliver ‘Dr Democracy’ Escobar, has contributed his own thoughts in a short piece which could be summarised by this apparent paradox – we all love the idea of democracy but despair at the way it is being practised. The answer, he argues, is to expand our democratic lives. Read the piece or hear him speak at next week’s Rural Parliament.
Futures in common: Democratic life beyond the crisis
This chapter argues that democratic life must be expanded in order to tackle the challenges
of the century ahead. Let me start by unpacking this proposition. By ‘democratic life’ I mean
the range of practices and assets that are the foundation for active citizenship: education,
resources, wellbeing, inclusion, participation, deliberation, influence. In a nutshell: the kind
of things that a person needs to be part of life in democracy. Read on – click here