Emerging populace advocates for a public assembly, referred to as the People's Parliament.
In the heart of Europe, a new movement is gaining momentum. Over the past five years, more than 70 citizen councils have sprung up across Germany, according to the Bürgerräte database. This grassroots movement, known as the Parliament of the People, is a response to the perceived disconnect between politics and the real world.
Activists from the "New Generation" (formerly Last Generation) are organising a second Parliament of the People in Berlin for early October. Interested parties can enter an online lottery to participate until August 24.
The Parliament of the People is intended as an alternative to the Bundestag, often referred to as the "Parliament of Lobbyists." The activists hope that over time, more and more people will participate, and the Parliament of the People will "step by step approach a representative mini-Germany."
The aim is to represent the diversity of people in Germany. Participants will be determined randomly, considering factors such as age, gender, educational background, and migration history.
Lina Eichler, co-founder and spokesperson for the New Generation, invites all citizens to share their experiences with corruption and political system failure. The New Generation's motto suggests a temporary existence of the councils parallel to the established political system, but Thelen speaks of building a "democratic alternative" for the time after the revolution.
The gathering aims to discuss why political failure hinders climate protection and what can be done against it. The most prominent citizen council was the "Bürgerrat Klima" led by former Federal President Horst Köhler in 2021. Many of the recommendations from past citizen councils, including the "Bürgergutachten" from the Bürgerrat Klima, are still relevant and important today but remain unimplemented.
The Parliament of the People first met in June and discussed reducing the influence of money on democracy and society. The results of the first meeting show a majority wish for a politics that protects livelihoods, takes responsibility for the future, and enables direct democracy.
In the broader recent context of German democracy reforms, the 2023 electoral reform fixed the Bundestag size and changed seat distribution rules to prevent overhang seats and ensure proportionality strictly by second vote shares, aiming to improve proportional representation and electoral fairness, which supports democratic legitimacy.
The Parliament of the People is not intended to be a one-time event, but rather a movement for people to gather in every city and village to live democracy. The collected experiences will be used to create a "system crash report" by the participants of the Parliament of the People.
The New Generation aims to use their popularity and public campaigning skills to make the Parliament of the People impossible to ignore. The ultimate goal of the Parliament of the People is not entirely clear, whether it is to give more publicity to the voices of citizens or to create an alternative political system in the long run. However, based on the context and typical aims of similar movements focused on democratic reform, the Parliament of the People likely aims to increase citizen participation and make the German political system more directly representative and accountable.
[1] Source: Bundesverfassungsgericht, Urteil vom 24. März 2023 - 2 BvR 959/19 - Wahlen zum Deutschen Bundestag (Electoral reform of 2023)
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