The Dutch national theater produced a piece about citizen’s participation in our democracy. I had been invited to the preparation rounds to share my experiences with government participation in our projects. The theater production developed a powerful reflection about the two worlds, human and the system, that both seem to work so separately from each other.

Democracy is much more than delegating our responsibilities to political parties every four years!

Gaafland production

Poetry, theatrical interaction, songs with sharp lyrics, were all present. Also a reflection about genuine change coming historically from citizens that stood up and claimed those rights from “the system”. The system statement “sorry, that is not how it works” would be overthrown by citizen activism that show that it did work differently. Politics never fought for the benefit or defense of our natural human values, such as equal rights for all, women rights, against the political investments in the fossil fuel industries, attention for our climate, etc. It were human initiatives, people, that claimed them and produced change.

The production was a powerful reflection about the current segregated functioning of society and a cry out for more demanding citizen participation. Where it failed, in our Sustainocratic views, was that it did not challenge directly the society model in which politics still occupies a powerful stand away from our essential values, demanding citizen courage and intervention to defend our natural human essentials. In our view we are in a process of developing a society where our values are leading, not fragmented political interests.