by Lea Puechel
It seems easy to point to the venue where my political voice can be heard, right? Easy answer: City Hall. However, after taking a little tour of municipal politics and so-called civic engagement, the answer isn’t so simple afterall.
Imagine a world where development proposals are displayed publicly as attractive, colourful pieces of art. Picture a Notice of Development similar to a company’s advertisement, not the black and white, essay-length, law-coded bits of paper you receive when asked to take part in community discussions. Continue on and envision yourself sitting in city hall using the Internet. Yes, public Internet - free Wi-Fi! Imagine you could actually attend a council meeting and work on your mobile device at the same time. Imagine that politicians ask you to voice your thoughts through multimedia tools, and imagine, that they will consider your thoughts through, for example, opinion polls online.
Sounds too apocalyptic? Dave Meslin doesn’t think so. In fact, he advocates for better civic engagement wherever he can. Most recently he opened an exhibit called ‘The Fourth Wall – Transforming City Hall’. Through this forum he looked at steps other cities have already taken to transform and ultimately increase civic engagement - tools Toronto is still missing.
Indeed, theory behind citizen’s participation in politics is vast and can often seem complicated. But it’s also integral to the health of democracy. Theorists believe that the reason Northern Italy is more democratic and effective than the southern part of the country is due to the elevated level of civic engagement. According to them, even a soccer club or other form of cooperative governance increases the chance of political engagement. Some go as far as to say citizens are becoming apathetic as in a democracy you can choose to stay inactive. Non-action, however, is a sort of involvement as well. If one does not act, one is still responsible and I for one am offended at this accusation of being apathetic.
Let’s have a look at a not so abstract example: the occupy movements. These activists have the apprehension that politics takes time and devotion and they are willing to commit to it. Their protest echoes a sense of distance between those with power and those affected by powerful decision makers. As a matter of fact, they might even voice some of the frustrations that the wider public also feels. Yet, their choice of action also proves that there is a lack of comprehension of civic engagement that will really move politics. There is a wall between the citizen and the ‘how to’ – how to affect political action, how to make others aware, how to go from city hall to the federal and international areans. City Hall needs to make entry into politics easier, and could do so by implementing economical and efficient little changes as shown in the utopian exercises described earlier.
There is the debate that citizens have become critics and judges. Maybe they are merely the applauding viewers in a democracy stadium. They just do not know how to become a player on the field. However, a good viewer knows that raising a voice in the stadium has an effect on the playing teams. Since I’m not sure that raising my voice in politics will affect politicians’ actions, I now know that I must learn how to become a player or even a coach in the game.
If you like to learn more visit:
http://www.toronto.ca/civic-engagement/index.htm
http://www.toronto.ca/city_hall_tour/
http://www.toronto.ca/involved/index.htm
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