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According to the latest Edelman Global Trust Barometer, an extraordinary 93% of the 32,000 people they surveyed around the world agreed with the statement that “climate change poses a serious and imminent threat to the planet”. Two years earlier, the UNDP surveyed an astounding 1.2 million people across the globe and found 64% agreed that “climate change is a global emergency”.
In this context, it’s worth looking at this chart:
In 30 years of global climate negotiations and agreements, CO2 has stubbornly kept rising, and nature is disappearing. Yes, there is progress, and it’s important to celebrate that. But the clear popular will to effectively tackle the climate crisis is not being reflected in serious action, let alone in emergency-scale and -speed action. This is the case at national, regional and global levels, and it poses a crucial question for us as Greens.
ALL our governing systems, whether we consider them strong, flawed or weak democracies, or even autocracies, are being exposed as failures by the climate crisis. This very much includes my home country of Australia, which is regarded as one of the world’s strongest democracies, yet continues to expand fossil fuel extraction against the will of the people.
Our word democracy comes from the Ancient Greek words demos, the people, and kratos, power. It literally means a system where the people have the power to collectively make decisions about our lives and futures. The climate crisis is just one example among many (see economic inequality, militarism, social justice, biodiversity and more) where this ideal is at odds with reality. And that very much includes places where Greens have been elected into parliaments, and even into governments. In some ways, liberal representative democracies intertwined with capitalist economies are designed to do just enough to satisfy just enough people, while continuing with action that benefits the powerful few.
The Global Greens was founded on a pillar of grassroots participatory democracy. Our politics is based on the understanding that when we make decisions together, seeking consensus, working at the level closest to the action while coordinating between us, we get the best and longest-lasting decisions. I believe that, at our best, the Greens are a model for transformative democracy, as I’ve written here and here, and in my book, Living Democracy.
We Greens need to challenge “accepted wisdom” about democracy and work towards radical transformation of governing systems to truly be able to implement the will of the people.
Last June, I went to Global Greens Congress in Incheon to find others around the Global Greens who want to talk about transforming democracy. We had wonderful, stimulating conversations, ranging across the diverse challenges we face on all continents, living and campaigning in a wide range of political circumstances.
From these conversations, the Global Greens Strengthening Democracy Network was formed, with the aim of collaborating between our parties and members to deepen understanding, respond to threats, and build practices and norms. We are excited to say that, after some months of preparation, our work is getting started. This newsletter will be one aspect of our work – sharing ideas and stimulation, promoting upcoming events, inviting participation and contributors from all four federations who wish to share with those around the world the state of democracy in their countries. We will soon be holding a launch webinar, and look forward to engaging you in the work of our task forces on global democracy and UN reform, anti-corruption, and grassroots democracy.
Get involved by signing up here, and please share into your networks, in your Parties, and talk about this whenever possible.
Only be uniting and working together, across the world, can we bring the change we need, for people and planet.
Tim Hollo
Strengthening Democracy Network Co-Convener
