URBAN DEMOCRACY
An Internet Journal (founded in March, 2001)
ISSN 1617-8092
Issue
# 1
,
2 ,
3 , 4,"Iraq
war issue", "July
War" issue,
issue #
5 [= New Series, issue 1, Oct. 2010], #
6,
7, 8, 9, 10
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We propose to create a forum of international,
democratic
debate. A forum for the people,
the woman and man "in
the street," for their grass roots organizations, for concerned scientists,
artists, writers,
and those engaged in politics who have
decided to put
the goal of strengthening political participation
of
ordinary citizens on the top of their
agenda.
We know that municipal (and regional) democracy
cannot
but fail if society at large is not fully
democratized,
in the sense of meaningful influence and
a real voice
for the majority that is at present
allowed only to vote
every four or five years while the important
decisions are taken by professional
politicians
susceptible to the pressures of the few,
most often those with a lot of money.
But we also know that society at large
cannot be fully
democratic if local (and regional) affairs
are left
unattended by local people failing to
empower
themselves to decide the very things that
affect them
in an essential way at their very doorsteps.
Local reform, aiming at an increased say
of the many
in everything vital for their communities,is
the prerequisite for democracy in our societies.
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