Government of the people, or above the people?

This debate about how democratic movements can work within existing political structures began with an example from Tunisia’s Mehdi Mimoun. It’s a grassroots alliance of date farmers in the southern part of his country who decided to band together as an association and fund themselves, against the wishes of the government. A conflict ensued where the government froze the group’s bank accounts and the accounts of members wanting to pay their dues to the organization. 

But the story didn’t end there, Mimoun says, arguing that there’s hope for governments and grassroots movements to work together. Civilians put so much pressure on the government to change its tune that, he says, a meeting is scheduled to take place next week to try to find solutions. 

In Spain, Jose Ignacio Urquizo says that social movements like Podemos came about because “citizens don’t feel that the government represents their interests” and there’s a “crisis of representation”. 

Not unlike what happened in the US with the election of Donald Trump, but Spain “went to the left instead of the right in response to dissatisfaction”.

Are political parties or politicians themselves responsible for that distance between citizens and their governments? Alicia Lissidini of Uruguay mostly lays the blame at the feet of individual politicians who “evade their responsibilities”.

“Politicians have remained at a distance from social movements and have generated that distance, so political parties and politicians in particular are to blame,” she argued.

PLACEHOLDER