Citizens Assemblies, Time For The People To Take Control Of The Climate Crisis? Extinction Rebels

Citizens' Assemblies: Time for the people to take control of the climate crisis? Extinction Rebellion is demanding politicians step aside and let the people decide on climate action. Could citizens' assemblies be a democratic tool fit for the scale of the crisis? DW, Oct. 7, 2019.

Over the next two weeks, protestors will be taking to the streets in 52 countries to demand urgent, radical action on the climate crisis. Extinction Rebellion emerged in the United Kingdom last year, blocking London's major traffic routes, stripping off in the House of Commons and deliberately seeking arrest in defense of the future of the planet. At the center of their message are warnings of "mass extinction" and an "unprecedented global emergency," and three seemingly simple demands. They want a "climate emergency" declared, something the British government did earlier this year. Then there's carbon neutrality by 2025 instead of the commonly touted 2050.

Their third demand is for the public to drive climate policy through a citizens' assembly. Because parliamentary democracy — under pressure from lobbyists and fearful of big trade-offs — has proven unfit for such challenges, says Linda Doyle of Extinction Rebellion.

<Read more: Extinction Rebellion: The activists risking prison to save the planet>

"It's inherently not able to solve them because it's just based on short-term election cycles and that encourages short-term policymaking," she told DW. "We believe that the British public should have the power to sit down and learn and deliberate with their peers and decide how we're going to respond to this crisis."



- Some argue citizens assemblies can help bridge the gap between people and parliament.

Model of the moment: Canadian province British Columbia pioneered the concept in 2004, when it entrusted 161 of its citizens with proposing a new electoral system. Since then, it's been used on a local level in Poland, and in South Australia to decide on the fate of nuclear waste. Madrid and German-speaking Belgium are making citizens' assemblies a permanent feature of their democratic systems, and in France they've become part of the national debate in response to the gilet jaunes protests.

Most famously, it was a citizens' assembly that broke decades of political deadlock in Ireland to usher in legal abortions and same-sex marriage. Extinction Rebellion is convinced that, properly informed and given time to deliberate, randomly selected citizens "will understand the sense of urgency that everybody in Extinction Rebellion feels," Doyle says. "Then it will be just a matter of trying to figure out the best way to deal with this situation." "That's a big "just."

<Read more: German Extinction Rebellion activists chain themselves to chancellery>

As complex and emotional as the debate over abortion was in Ireland, the issue could be boiled down to a yes/no question. Policy-wise at least, decarbonizing the economy is a challenge on another scale. But Extinction Rebellion has bigger ambitions than the "surface-level" proposals made by the Irish assembly, says Doyle. The activists want an assembly that dives deep into climate science and questions of environmental and social justice, before focusing in on areas such as transport, agriculture and housing. And they want any decision reached with a two-thirds majority to be binding on governments...
https://www.dw.com/en/citizens-assemblies-time-for-the-people-to-take-control-of-the-climate-crisis/a-50654649

- Extinction Rebellion Protests Go Global, DW, 10/07/19.
https://www.dw.com/en/extinction-rebellion-protests-go-global/g-50730295

Extinction Rebellion Kicks Off Two Weeks of Action
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/10/07/get-streets-and-bring-everybody-extinction-rebellion-kicks-two-weeks-global-action

- Extinction Rebellion Blocks Berlin Traffic In Worldwide Day of Protests, DW, 10/07/19.
https://www.dw.com/en/extinction-rebellion-blocks-berlin-traffic-in-worldwide-day-of-protests/a-50718803

- Extinction Rebellion's two-weeks of protests launched around the world on Monday, Oct. 7, 2019.