Instead of electing politicians to represent us…what if we just represented ourselves? Peer to peer. Neighbor to neighbor. Baratunde talks with Claudia Chwalisz about citizens’ assemblies—groups randomly-selected by lottery that are shifting political and legislative power into the hands of everyday people. Claudia is one of the world’s leading voices on citizens’ assemblies and founder and CEO of DemocracyNext, an organization working to build new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.



SHOW ACTIONS

Internally Reflect - Imagine life with citizen assemblies

Our reflection prompt is inspired by the DemocracyNext launch event, which you can view on YouTube. Imagine it’s 10 years in the future, and we’ve established new civic rituals. Election Day is out and Sortition Day – the day that people selected by lottery are assigned to various citizen assemblies – is in. What might it feel like to serve in one of these well-facilitated and compensated assemblies with your neighbors? Imagine what it would be like to read media coverage of the deliberations that focus on a community’s attempt at finding common ground, rather than who made the most outlandish statements. What headlines do you see? How do politics feel in this future?

Become Informed - Learn from global citizen assembly experiments

To learn more about citizen assemblies, read the New Yorker essay by Yale political science professor Hélène Landemore. For a deeper dive, read her book, Open Democracy. To see a citizen’s assembly in action, check out the Irish Citizens' Assembly or the permanent citizens' assembly in Paris. Also check out Claudia’s organization, DemocracyNext.

Publicly Participate - Get involved with DemocracyNext and direct democracy powered by everyday people

Subscribe to the DemocracyNext newsletter - they'll be launching a global community of enthusiasts wanting to learn more and help build this next democratic paradigm.

And if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and start practicing democracy this way with others, look to the non-profit org Democracy Without Elections for resources to get started locally. 



SHOW NOTES 

Check out our episode from season 2 with writer and organizer Astra Taylor for more on this idea of citizen assemblies as envisioned by the Greeks.

Find How To Citizen on Instagram or visit howtocitizen.com to join our mailing list and find ways to citizen besides listening to this podcast! 

Please show your support for the show by reviewing and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords and helps others like you find the show!

How To Citizen is hosted by Baratunde Thurston. He’s also host and executive producer of the PBS series, America Outdoors as well as a founding partner and writer at Puck. You can find him all over the internet. 



CREDITS

How To Citizen with Baratunde is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts and Rowhome Productions. Our Executive Producers are Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart. Allie Graham is our Lead Producer and Danya AbdelHameid is our Associate Producer. Alex Lewis is our Managing Producer. John Myers is our Executive Editor and Mix Engineer. Original Music by Andrew Eapen and Blue Dot Sessions. Our Audience Engagement Fellows are Jasmine Lewis and Gabby Rodriguez. Special thanks to Joelle Smith from iHeartRadio and Layla Bina. 

Additional thanks to our live audience voices Robert B., Sara H., Liza W, and Nick C.

Instead of electing politicians to represent us…what if we just represented ourselves? Peer to peer. Neighbor to neighbor. Baratunde talks with <a href="https://twitter.com/claudiachwalisz">Claudia Chwalisz</a> about citizens’ assemblies—groups randomly-selected by lottery that are shifting political and legislative power into the hands of everyday people. Claudia is one of the world’s leading voices on citizens’ assemblies and founder and CEO of <a href="https://demnext.org/">DemocracyNext</a>, an organization working to build new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.
 
SHOW ACTIONS
Internally Reflect - Imagine life with citizen assemblies
Our reflection prompt is inspired by the DemocracyNext launch event, which you can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymBGPk0HuM">view on YouTube</a>. Imagine it’s 10 years in the future, and we’ve established new civic rituals. Election Day is out and Sortition Day – the day that people selected by lottery are assigned to various citizen assemblies – is in. What might it feel like to serve in one of these well-facilitated and compensated assemblies with your neighbors? Imagine what it would be like to read media coverage of the deliberations that focus on a community’s attempt at finding common ground, rather than who made the most outlandish statements. What headlines do you see? How do politics feel in this future?
Become Informed - Learn from global citizen assembly experiments
To learn more about citizen assemblies, read <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-future-of-democracy/politics-without-politicians">the New Yorker essay</a> by Yale political science professor Hélène Landemore. For a deeper dive, read her book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181998/open-democracy">Open Democracy</a>. To see a citizen’s assembly in action, check out the <a href="https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/">Irish Citizens' Assembly</a> or the <a href="https://www.buergerrat.de/en/news/standing-citizens-assembly-in-paris/">permanent citizens' assembly in Paris</a>. Also check out Claudia’s organization, <a href="https://demnext.org/">DemocracyNext</a>.
Publicly Participate - Get involved with DemocracyNext and direct democracy powered by everyday people
Subscribe to the <a href="https://demnext.substack.com/">DemocracyNext newsletter</a> - they'll be launching a global community of enthusiasts wanting to learn more and help build this next democratic paradigm.
And if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and start practicing democracy this way with others, look to the non-profit org <a href="https://democracywithoutelections.org/">Democracy Without Elections</a> for resources to get started locally. 
 
SHOW NOTES 
Check out our <a href="https://www.howtocitizen.com/episodes/its-all-greek-to-me-with-astra-taylor">episode</a> from season 2 with writer and organizer Astra Taylor for more on this idea of citizen assemblies as envisioned by the Greeks.
Find How To Citizen on <a href="https://baratun.de/howtocitizen-ig-shownotes">Instagram</a> or visit <a href="https://baratun.de/howtocitizen-dotcom-shownotes">howtocitizen.com</a> to join our mailing list and find ways to citizen besides listening to this podcast! 
Please show your support for the show by reviewing and rating. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords and helps others like you find the show!
How To Citizen is hosted by Baratunde Thurston. He’s also host and executive producer of the PBS series, <a href="https://baratun.de/americaoutdoors-shownotes">America Outdoors</a> as well as a founding partner and writer at <a href="https://baratun.de/puck-shownotes">Puck</a>. You can find him all over <a href="https://baratun.de/linktree-shownotes">the internet</a>. 
 
CREDITS
How To Citizen with Baratunde is a production of iHeartRadio Podcasts and Rowhome Productions. Our Executive Producers are Baratunde Thurston and Elizabeth Stewart. Allie Graham is our Lead Producer and Danya AbdelHameid is our Associate Producer. Alex Lewis is our Managing Producer. John Myers is our Executive Editor and Mix Engineer. Original Music by Andrew Eapen and Blue Dot Sessions. Our Audience Engagement Fellows are Jasmine Lewis and Gabby Rodriguez. Special thanks to Joelle Smith from iHeartRadio and Layla Bina. 
Additional thanks to our live audience voices Robert B., Sara H., Liza W, and Nick C.

How To Citizen with Baratunde reimagines the word “citizen” as a verb and reminds us how to wield our collective power. So many of us want to do more in response to the problems we hear about constantly, but where and how to participate can leave us feeling overwhelmed and helpless. Voting, while critically important, simply isn’t enough. It takes more to make this experiment in self-governance work! Listen in to learn new perspectives and practices from people working to improve society for the many. Join writer, activist, and comedian Baratunde Thurston on a journey beyond politics as usual that will leave us all more hopeful, connected, and moved to act.

How To Citizen with Baratunde

Democracy without Politicians (Claudia Chwalisz)

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/ee7be8d4-52e5-4d89-ba74-af9000e9824d/transcript

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