La Voz de Galicia – September 13, 2019 →
In a few days, on September 15, the International Day of Democracy will be celebrated. According to the United Nations page, the objectives of these International Day celebrations are twofold: «that governments take measures, and that citizens become increasingly aware of issues and demand action from their representatives».
But what happens when the idea of democracy is not clear? What happens when a society loses confidence in the system that defines it? Without a doubt, it is difficult to listen and to talk to each other to reach an agreement. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights «that the will of the people is the foundation of the authority of public power», but what happens when public power is incapable of reaching an agreement to form a government representing all?
I don’t know what lessons we will learn in the future about this stage in Spanish politics or local or global politics. I don’t know how possible it is to change the way we have of «demanding that our representatives act». But history goes on along with those little great problems that bludgeon contemporary society, and it is us, the citizens, who end up suffering the consequences of a lack of consensus from those we choose through the democratic process.
Are they the representation of our contemporary society? Politicians who don’t speak with one another, who don’t listen, who don’t engage in dialogue, who insult each other, and who don’t move forward? I want to believe this isn’t so. Perhaps the same thing happens with the political class and with power as with the distribution of wealth—there is a 1% that accumulates the same wealth as the remaining 99%. Then, if society is that 99% that wishes a more just and better life, I hope we don’t lose hope in Us when we see ourselves reflected in them.
