Ciudadanía 2.0: Sí Se Puede!

Last week the team at the University of Salamanca in Spain launched their project Ciudadania 2.0. The focus of the project is to engage citizens in Latin America and those outside of the region interested and invested in its future by giving average citizens and those related to the region a virtual voice in Latin America’s policy development and progress. The project aims to open a forum for citizens that mirrors The Summit of Latin American Presidents so that the dialogue between leaders could become more open to citizens and policy development, moving past the elites of the region and giving a voice to average citizens and their concerns. The innovative use of Facebook and Twitter will be used in the project to bring citizen’s concerns into the debate. Anyone wishing to have a voice in the region can participate online or attend in person, so they can have direct contact with decision makers and leaders concerning Latin America. Some key functions of the Ciudadania 2.0 project are listed below:

-Ciudadanía 2.0 was designed at first to bring the Summit of Latin American Presidents closer to the Latin American citizens. The Summit is often seen as an elite-only event and people are left out of the debate process. So the idea was to a) bring the issues at hand during the Summit closer to the citizens and b) bring the citizens’ concerns closer to leaders and decision-makers to have them heard.

-Ciudadanía 2.0 debates were conceived as both on-site events and as online following. This means that when we have events in any city like Debate Workshops, they are “attended” both physically and online through Twitter and Facebook. The way it is done is that at every debate there are two people using Facebook and Twitter and bringing the debate online, and online followers can participate by leaving comments and questions which in turn will be read aloud in the room where the debate is being held to those involved.

-At the Summit this year, the heads of government will get a dossier with the Ciudadanía project summary and accomplishments, as well as the key debates and demands that were brought forward by the citizens.

From a perspective of viewing democratic development as an ongoing organic process, projects like Ciudadania 2.0 open citizens to become involved in the democratic process by allowing them to have the essential voice in determining the future of their own communities. With election coverage dominating the rest of the Americas outside of Latin America, the lack of voter confidence in their leaders often comes with the feeling that their voices are never heard. Many have the impression that change is only accessible for those elites who hold policy discussions that held behind closed doors where few decisions makers dominate the future of a community. Democracy can be severely damaged in any process when apathy dominates the language of elections and policy development, and it is when silence becomes paramount that corruption and a lack of accountability becomes standard, inside Latin America as well as in North America and Europe.

Protests over policy initiatives cannot solely be a result of street protests and the expectation of revolutionary change in a system, but can be productively challenged by accepting that a voice exists and has a valid right to question a nation’s decision makers. For apathy to disappear it must be known by voters that citizens can be heard within a democracy. Ciudadania 2.0 accepts that change can come with a voice, and despite it being a difficult journey to accept, having a system where policy development can include citizens as well as elites is not only an example for Latin America, but for the rest of the Americas and the world as a whole. Please read and contribute to Ciudadania 2.0, follow the links below:

WEBPAGE: www.ciudadania20.org  OR www.ciudadania20.usal.es
WEBPAGE LINK IN ENGLISH: http://ciudadania20.usal.es/sites/default/files/ciudadania20_ingles.pdf
FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ciudadan%C3%ADa-20/227253180622253
YOUTUBE PAGE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHRCLQCeKzU&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL570F194F9F2B3B86
YOUNG RESEARCHERS SEMINAR PAGE: https://sites.google.com/site/seminariociudadania20/
TWITTER SEGIB DIGITAL: http://twitter.com/#!/SEGIBdigital
LATIN AMERICAN GENERAL SECRETARIAT: www.segib.org