DEMOCRACY isn’t in the best of shape these days. Populists, authoritarians, military dictators and once-democratic-gone-bad leaders litter the global landscape. The world’s erstwhile most-powerful nation is being run by a man obsessed by Twitter. Other leaders also swear and swagger. Policy by sound bytes is the norm worldwide.

But what’s a person supposed to do? Democracy is about politics. And politics is about politicians. And politicians belong to political parties. So democracy is about political parties and who gets elected, gets the most votes, gets to sit in parliament, pass laws, look important.

Well, perhaps no longer. Across the world, people are getting fed up with politicians, their quarrels and infighting, their tendency to put party above nation. Their neglect of citizens’ interest. Their corruption, moral and/or pecuniary. Their dominance, their negligence and their egos.

And while the focus tends to be on those who blindly follow the hate-mongers and bigots, the real global story is about peoples’ power and it is much more heartening. It is about the different ways in which “ordinary” people are taking matters into their own hands to work together for the common public good, on the local level but also on the national stage, and sometimes even on the global one.

Whether it’s cracking down on crime, cleaning up parks and street corners, demanding safe food or fighting for equal opportunities, it’s the story of people, joining forces, putting aside their differences to tackle the common good. While politicians argue endlessly, it’s the ordinary folk that are shaping and reshaping the world.

And now their actions are getting bigger, stronger, more ambitious. And it’s no longer only protests or resistance — although that remains important. Increasingly, people power is doing what politicians are too afraid, too compromised to do.

Take America. As politicians offer their “thoughts and prayers” to the family and friends of the victims of the latest tragic school massacre, it’s American teenagers who are taking determined action to try and change US gun laws.

The March for Our Lives in Washington DC on March 24 is one of several rallies being organised by students across America in support of stronger gun laws, challenging politicians they say have failed to protect them. With Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney and Steven Spielberg donating $500,000 each to the march, expect the movement to gather pace in the weeks and months ahead.

Meanwhile, the #MeToo movement is picking up in many countries, including in the most conservative nations, as women break social taboos which have long held them back from reporting cases of sexual harassment and violence.

In Europe, France’s dynamic president Emmanuel Macron came to power last year on the back of a peoples’ movement, En Marche, which came out of “nowhere” to capture the presidency. Macron is now taking his battle for change to the wider European Union.

The French leader has come up with an impressive package for re-energising the EU. He is young, shrewd, savvy and modern. He has no time for populists. Most pro-EU-wallahs love him. Until now.

Macron has irked his one-time fans by challenging the power of European political parties ahead of elections to the European Parliament to be held in May next year. The French president is asking for an end to the “spitzenkandidat” process which awards the presidency of the European Commission to the political group which wins the most seats in elections to the European Parliament. It’s how Jean-Claude Juncker got to be president of the EU Commission president in 2014.

Proponents of the system say it is democratic. Political parties put forward candidates which campaign across Europe and engage in public debates. Macron and many others say it is a brake on real competition and gives too much power to political groups, thereby stopping the emergence of new and more exciting candidates.

If he has his way, Macron would like to start an EU wide En Marche movement in the European Parliament and put its representative in the European Commission. If this sounds arcane and complicated, it is. But in Brussels, it is the topic of the year and is already disrupting politics and political friendships.

And then there is Brexit. British politics have certainly hit a new low, with politicians spouting the most shameless lies and making rubbish promises. With only one year to go before the great British divorce from the EU, no British politician seems to know just what lies ahead.

But now a new anti-Brexit party has been launched in London to try to stop the process. Although it still lacks big names, the “Renew” movement is inspired by Macron and hopes to put up pro-remain candidates in any new elections and meanwhile to lobby MPs to oppose Britain’s departure from the EU.

Interestingly, these moves very rarely make the headlines and if they do, they are quickly replaced by more virulent and toxic voices, those who see the world as an unending competition. But the reality of today’s world is also about constructive connectivity, of people putting aside their prejudices and grievances to join hands in the hope of making positive change.

As someone said, perhaps it’s America’s children, rather than the adults, who will manage to engineer much-needed changes in the country’s gun laws. They deserve our full support as well as our thoughts and prayers.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2018

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