Soapboxing

Sara Parkin finds our western notion of democracy in need of an overhaul.

In its crusade against terrorism, the US waves the banner of liberal democracy. Just as unreflectingly, democracy is also assumed to be the main delivery agent for sustainable development – what many see as the real other side of the terrorism coin. Certainly, as the mother of all collaborative ventures, sustainability will depend on rallying people of all cultures around a just and engaging common purpose.

But is democracy up to the job? So far, western style democracy hasn’t stopped the rich-poor divide widening. Nor, as low turnouts confirm, does it automatically inspire its citizens to participate. The ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ quality standard can’t command respect in other cultures as long as the US and UK elect leaders with less than half the popular vote.

Our systems can even seem ludicrous. Immediately after the Berlin wall came down, some East German colleagues roared with unbelieving laughter at my description of the UK setup. “First past the post! House of Lords! You’re joking!” Moreover, to many Arabs, western style democracy is synonymous with decadence and dysfunctional families, and voting is viewed as adversarial, going against a culture of (admittedly patriarchal) consensus building.

In a tradition based on 1,300 years of experience, Islamic based democracy may struggle to transfer authority from God to the people, but it is proving it can quickly adapt to the notion of all citizens being equal. Yet for all people, the underlying story of life is much the same: how to eat and drink, sleep, make a home, rear children, make satisfying relationships, craft a livelihood, and look back on it all as a fulfilling experience. In the north of Mali, a local friend laughed off my embarrassment as desperately poor people clustered around a TV to watch the US soap Dynasty. “Don’t worry.

We watch for the story. All about families, land, sex and power – just the same as it is here. And what’s more, the frocks our women wear are much nicer!” Could we be missing the potential for this basic narrative of human life to be a hugely powerful uniting force – one that can speak across cultural, historical, and geographical divides?

Perhaps that shared aspiration to have prosperity, safe, supportive and just communities, and a life-supporting environment all at the same time, now and in the future, at home and worldwide means current ideas about democracy – be it western, Islamic, or Confucian – need a radical intellectual (and cultural) overhaul. In the natural world, it is the diversity within a system of complex relationships that gives it strength and resilience at times of knocks and shocks. The same should go for a multicultural human world. If we are serious about stopping mutual incomprehension and ignorance fuelling disrespect, hatred and violence, the west may well have as much to learn from other cultures as to teach.

Sure, no system’s perfect, but there is so much to (re)learn from Asia and Africa about good ways to maintain peace and co-operation. African land and kinship systems, for example, are often hugely complex patterns of relationships and rituals that connect people to their environment and each other, all with the purpose of maintaining the capacity of the collective to play out the basic narrative of human life. Systems we now call social capital in Britain and the USA – and mourn losing.

Each village in northern Mali has a council hut. It is open on all sides, with a symbolically heavy roof leaving just enough head room for council members to sit on the floor. Thus, no-one can rise in anger, and all villagers can listen and participate.

Councillors (all elders, and mostly but not exclusively men) keep their power by being seen to heed and carry out the will of the people. Norman Foster refurbished the Reichstag in Berlin in a similar spirit. He used glass to make the debating chamber visible to people outside the building, and installed a glass roof with a spiral ramp – so the parliamentarians of the reunited Germany can see visitors walking up and looking down on their legislators at work.

Two ways of reminding leaders that they are servants of the people, and that transparency and accountability are the bedrock of a just and trusted democracy. It has been suggested that the UK could tackle ‘voter apathy’ by putting polling booths in supermarkets. On first sight that seems a dingy end for what should be one of the most important aspects of community life – playing a role in determining its future. Democracy not as a cherished responsibility but as a consumer good. But on reflection I think it just could be a first step towards making democratic engagement as central to playing out our human story as eating and drinking.

28 January 2004

Sara Parkin