Are you worried about the future of the planet? Are you infuriated that multinationals don’t pay enough taxes where they operate? That climate change is only getting worse? We are as well! That’s why we are working to unite people beyond borders to build a global democracy capable of dealing with such global challenges!
From January to July 2023, we will run consultations online and offline across the globe to crowdsource what a democratic system of global governance should look like. The aim is to involve as many people as possible in identifying issues with democracy and the current system, prioritizing the topics to be included in any global governance system, and proposing solutions to be voted upon.
Format of the consultations:
- The consultations will be conducted online. You can register to take part in the consultations to come up with the ideal global democracy!
- They will be complemented by in-person events across the world - run by volunteers and in partnership with other organizations - to discuss the topics of the consultations, and then input the results online. Events are a great way of getting more people interested in the need for a world government, spreading the word and getting a variety of inputs. ⤵️
Guide on how to organize a local meeting on global governance
A. Format:
Decide on the format of the event you intend to organize. Options include:
- A conference with a speaker on a topic linked to global governance, followed by a discussion on how a democratic system of global governance could best address the topic discussed.
- An informal meetup/gathering to brainstorm, that can either be on a specific issue linked to global governance or general
Regardless, all events can include the following steps:
B. The admin pre-event:
- Whether you are an individual or an organization, send an email at [email protected] with the date, location, and details of the event you intend to organize! Please do so as early as possible.
- We will reach out to you, create the event on our website and jointly advertise it on social media with you. We will provide you with the list of people who RSVP’ed and email them prior to the event
- We will provide you with ongoing support
Other: for small financial support needed for the organization of an event (such as renting of a room, printing material or other) please send us a request via email beforehand at [email protected]
C. The event itself:
Regardless of the type of event, it can be divided the following phases:
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Frontal presentation: of context, content, and process
- If this is a conference, this would constitute the panel. Otherwise, it is a presentation of the event.
- We will send you a template PowerPoint presentation to make it easier for you to start the event (no pressure, only use it if it helps)
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Issues identification: participants identify and submit key issues linked to either the current world governance or the specific theme of the event. Those can be specific or a wider feeling (“eg: there are not enough checks and balances” or “the executive is corrupt”).
- Based on the space, this might take different forms such as people writing on post-its their ideas and putting them on a wall. In-person participants are free to do this part of the exercise alone or in groups if time allows for this. Based on the amount of time we have overall and the size of the group, they might explain in front of the group why they put down said issue.
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Prioritization of issues: many issues will have been outlined, and participants now prioritize the ones they want to tackle or think are the most important.
- based on the space, this might take different forms such as participants being given stickers to place on the post-its they think are most important, or via more technological solutions.
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Creation of Citizens’ Proposals: after issues are selected, citizens make proposals and discuss how to best address them. Those are high-level proposals, not detailed yet, such as: “the fourth branch of government involving citizens is needed”, “the executive should be disbanded and instead our leaders should be chosen by sortition” “citizens assemblies should decide what misinformation is”.
- participants can be broken up into smaller groups to discuss solutions to the issues identified. They can make joint proposals or competing ones if they disagree.
- Decisions on Citizens’ Proposals: following the end of the proposals creation moment, participants vote on citizens' proposals, or competing proposals.
Don’t forget to take notes and pictures! Here you can find a dummy presentation that we suggest using for each event.
D. Post-event
The follow-up phase is crucial to ensure that the participants remain engaged in the project and that the proposed solutions are further refined and developed. It involves:
- Transcription of the outcome of the event onto our consultation software. This is in order for the wider community to be able to interact with your great ideas and to ensure that your issues, solutions & ideas are taken into account (we will send you instructions and it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes).
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Follow up with participants: send a follow-up email to participants to push them to participate in the consultations and inform them of the next steps. This can take many forms, including:
- A deep-dive into adopted proposals on the consultation software
- The date of the next event organized to continue to discuss: 1) the same topic, 2) a new one.
Feel free to reach out to info@atlasmovement for any question you may have.