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Participation and activism as a spectrum What does Iceland tell us?. Highlights. Latest CSI findings – New trends in civic engagement What does Iceland tell us ? Diversity of participation Online Informal Activism Typology of the role of ICTs in social participation
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Participation and activism as a spectrumWhatdoes Iceland tell us?
Highlights • Latest CSI findings – New trends in civic engagement • WhatdoesIcelandtellus? • Diversity of participation • Online Informal Activism • Typology of the role of ICTs in social participation • Civil Society means much more than… • Participation and activism as a spectrum
Latest CSI findings • There is continuing public trust in civil society as an idea but low levels of involvement in formal civil society activities compared to higher levels of non-formal participation. • CSOs achieve greater impact in the social sphere than in influencing policy, and there is a gap between high levels of activity and medium levels of impact Civil Society Index summary report: 2008-2011 - Bridging the gaps: Citizens, organisations and dissociation
New trends in civic engagement Some types of informal activism seem to enjoy larger public support than the traditional CSOs. The new faces of civil society (activist groups, such as students and environmentalists) and the faces of the transition (such as pensioners) represent a significant percentage of the whole... There is powerful evidence found within the CSI that people want to associate, want to improve social conditions and want to participate in civic life. Yet it could also be said that they want to do so on their own terms. Civil Society Index summary report: 2008-2011 - Bridging the gaps: Citizens, organisations and dissociation
Iceland gets bankrupt Iceland, (population: 320 thousand, no army) was one of the richest countries in the world. In 2003 all the country’s banks were privatized, and in an effort to attract foreign investors, they offered on-line banking whose minimal costs allowed them to offer relatively high rates of return. The accounts, called IceSave, attracted many English and Dutch small investors.
Iceland gets bankrupt In 2003 Iceland’s debt was equal to 200 times its GNP, but in 2007, it was 900 percent. The 2008 world financial crisis was the coup de grace. The three main Icelandic banks, Landbanki, Kapthing and Glitnir, went bankrupted and were nationalized, while the Kroner lost 85% of its value with respect to the Euro. At the end of the year Iceland declared bankruptcy.
International negotiations Geir Haarde, the Prime Minister of a Social Democratic coalition government, negotiated a loan, against drastic measures. The IMF and the European Union wanted to take over its debt, claiming this was the only way for the country to pay back Holland and Great Britain, who had promised to reimburse their citizens.
Citizen Uprising Protests and riots continued, eventually forcing the government to resign. Elections were brought forward to April 2009, resulting in a left-wing coalition which condemned the neoliberal economic system, but immediately gave in to its demands that Iceland pays off its debt. This would have required each Icelandic citizen to pay 100 Euros a month (or about $140) for fifteen years, at 5.5% interest, to pay off a debt incurred by private parties vis a vis other private parties.
Northern Cuba or Haiti? The Head of State, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, refused to ratify the law that would have made Iceland’s citizens responsible for its bankers’ debts, and accepted calls for a referendum. The international community only increased the pressure on Iceland. As Grimsson said: “We were told that if we refused the international community’s conditions, we would become the Cuba of the North. But if we had accepted, we would have become the Haiti of the North.”
March 2010 Referendum In the March 2010 referendum, 93% voted against repayment of the debt. The IMF immediately froze its loan. But the revolution would not be intimidated. With the support of a furious citizenry, the government launched civil and penal investigations into those responsible for the financial crisis. Interpol put out an international arrest warrant for the ex-president of Kapthing, Sigurdur Einarsson, as the other bankers implicated in the crash fled the country.
Towards a new constitution And Icelanders didn't stop there: they decided to draft a new constitution that would free the country from the exaggerated power of international finance and virtual money. To write the new constitution, the people of Iceland elected 25 citizens from among 522 adults (including lawyers, political science professors, journalists, and many other professions) not belonging to any political party but recommended by at least thirty citizens.
Towards a new constitution The constituent’s meetings were streamed on-line, and citizens could send their comments and suggestions, witnessing the document as it takes shape. The Constitutional Council was highly active on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. On Friday July 29th, 2011, the Iceland parliament officially received the new constitution. Set to be reviewed, and then put before vote for ratification by October 1st, the internet-assisted document marks a possible paradigm shift in governing.
Towards recovery Today, that country is recovering from its financial collapse in ways just the opposite of those generally considered unavoidable, as confirmed by the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde to Fareed Zakaria. The people of Greece have been told that the privatization of their public sector is the only solution. And those of Italy, Spain and Portugal are facing the same threat.
Social Capital While the CSI reports low levels of citizen engagement in CSOs, both socially and politically oriented CSOs, and low and sometimes declining degrees of volunteering in CSOs, it also tells us that people in almost all countries surveyed are engaging in social activity and are actively and voluntarily involving themselves, particularly at the local and community level. People may not see themselves as part of civil society, but through their activities they can be understood to be generating and strengthening social capital.
Diversity of participation On the whole, the CSI reports tell us that the diversity of participation, when viewed with a broader focus on all forms of participation, including informal, appears to be sound, with marginalised sections of communities, such as people from ethnic minorities, people with low incomes and women taking part in a range of different informal community and participatory activities. This also suggests there may be avenues that have not been fully explored, by focussing on less organised and more informal forms of participation, to bring marginalised groups more into the civic mainstream.
Informal online activism We have seen informal online activism, often located in cities and involving young educated people, play a large role in recent social movements and upheavals, not least by enabling rapid organisation of protest and unmediated international outreach. Both of these forms of association have one thing in common: They bypass organisations as they are traditionally understood. And they entail people making things happen on their own, without the impetus or support of CSOs. .
Typology of the role of ICT in social participation • As a tool for mass mobilisation for offline activism • As a vehicle for new forms of online activism • As the creator and driver of online civic space • As a platform for knowledge-sharing and collective learning • As a source of new models of governance (as in the Iceland example)
Civil society means so much more… The CSI findings should challenge us to reinvent our definitions and visions of civil society and to invest our efforts in building broader coalitions between established organisations and more informal and looser forms of association. One thing that is clear from the CSI is that civil society means so much more than the now traditional typology of NGOs and CSOs.
Key questions • How can we better make connections between different forms of participation and activism? How can we do so without compromising on the independence and special value of different strands of civil society? • How can initially modest and apolitical forms of civic action, rooted in notions of community or group service, be supported? • How can an already active person’s capacity and latent potential to engage more politically and more strategically be strengthened? • How can we adopt a more expansive understanding of civil society in practice?
Participation and activism as a spectrum One response to this would be to promote the notion of participation and activism as a spectrum, and of civil society as a multi-stranded arena, while positioning CSOs as playing a continuing central role, as the organised, accountable face of civil society, but with greater emphasis on reaching out to latent activists and offering them easier pathways for participation.
Resources • “Volunteerism and Social Activism: Pathways to participation in human development” UNV/IAVE/CIVICUS, 2008 • Civil Society Index summary report: 2008-2011 - Bridging the gaps: Citizens, organisations and dissociation (August 2011) • Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not, Deena Stryker, August 2011, sacsis.org • Upcoming publication to further explore and define how informal voluntary action can lead to citizen participation in governance and to provide a resource to CSOs to explore this potential engagement opportunity (UNV/IAVE/CIVICUS)
