Birgitta Jónsdóttir - Participatory Democracy @ re:publica, The Station, Berlin, 6 May 2013

re:publica 13: 6-8 May

From 6-8 May, re:publica takes place again at Station. reSource 005: The Medium of Treason (see above) has been organised in partnership with re:publica as preliminary event of this year's edition. It will be thematically followed by another event within the re:publica programme that has also been organised in the framework of the cooperation.

Participatory Democracy
with Birgitta Jónsdóttir
6 May 13:30 - 14:00, at Station (U Gleisdreieck, Luckenwalder Straße 4-6  10963 Berlin)

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Icelandic politician and chairwoman of the newly formed Pirate Party (Piratar), gives an overview of the constitutional initiative and update us on current policy developments as well as the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI). She will talk about the lessons learned of the crowdsourced constitution and will explain how open and participatory policy could and should look like.

Beschreibung: Iceland could have been innovative: With the first truly crowdsourced constitution.Nearly a thousand randomly selected Icelanders initiatively expressed wishes and contributed ideas. In November 2010, a citizen panel of 25 people was selected from 523 candidates. Although the Supreme Court entered caveat at the request of the "old conservative elites' opposition", it bypassed the parliament, because the court declared the 25 persons a Constitutional Council. Within only four months the men and women – accompanied by the citizens via Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and other sites – enrolled a jointly draft.

However, a majority in Parliament has now decided that before the end of parliamentary election on 27th April there won't be a vote on the constitutional text. In the current Parliament the supporters of the text are slightly predominant, but according to the polls, conservative parties could dominate after the election – and they would reject the new constitution.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Icelandic politician and chairwoman of the newly formed Pirate Party (Piratar), gives an overview of the constitutional initiative and update us on current policy developments as well as the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI). She will talk about the lessons learned of the crowdsourced constitution and will explain how open and participatory policy could and should look like.
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