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Topic Discussion III
Participation in
Democratic Decision-Making:
The Vital Voices of Women, Civil Society and
Pluralism
Room 3
(5 of 16 pages)
Manfredo Maraquin: Thank you. I would like to present ideas in general
that might apply to all countries. In the first place, we should consider the context in which the concept of civic
participation is being brought up. This context is dominated by authorities of all kinds. Naturally, we are a poor
country and we suffer the problem of unemployment. The percentages are very high, reaching 80% which is an obstacle
that hinders the participation of the great majority of our population and this sector devotes importance to obtaining
the minimum livelihood and basic needs. They do not have the physical energy to devote attention to the greater
challenges that are of concern to the whole country and this has led to excluding certain sectors from the political
domain, particularly in countries that are in the stage of transition to a democracy. These are democracies that
still tend to exclude the opposition and we are speaking of an exclusion of an ethnic, or of a cultural nature.
I want to appraise the issue from this angle in order to highlight the major challenges of concern to us all, to
secure civic participation in all domains. Thus I believe that the message of civil society and its supreme objectives,
should be to do away with all forms of exclusion that our societies are subjected to. I believe that the way that
is being presented for our civil society, in all its different aspects and as has been said in this session, be
it in the form of poltical parties or groupings, institutions, trade unions, the press, the NGOs and other institutions.
Civil society thus should be demonstrating the implementation of the practice of the independent authorities and
to do away with all the constraints that are being faced and these are reasons that obstruct the true application
of democracy. And what is happening is that new kinds of exclusion are being created, in fact, and the way before
us is a hard one and it requires the overcoming of numerous problems involving civil society. In many countries
we do not have the necessary effective channels in order to fulfill or to cater to all these requirements of civil
society. The political parties, that at least theoretically should be the natural channels to direct such popular
demands for resolving the various crises and which are based on some kind of representation are, in fact, based
on a policy of selection or election for citizens through a form of representation of different political parties.
But this is no longer sufficient for this overlap in civil life, which is more complex that to be represented merely
by this level. Thus we find in many of our countries this lack of recognition of civic participation. This requires
that this representation through election should have other forms of representation in order to be able to find
a positive solution to the problems that our societies face. In this context, I suggest that a meeting take place
between what we call civil society and the state, or those organizations and institutions that represent us in
the state or before the state and thus establish channels where interaction takes place and communication is achieved.
There is also a need for reform of political parties so that such political parties may play the role of channels,
or being one of the channels, to assist in meeting the requirements of civil society. We cannot aspire to achieve
a democratic society if we do not encourage a democratic culture and how can we achieve that and promote such democratic
culture. I believe that we should have responsibility placed on the state to finance political activity. This has
taken place in several countries, but this shortage that we find in many of our countries, meaning to fund the
political parties to enable them politically to partake of their role in society, this shortage of funding has
created a shortage in political leadership that could, in fact, represent the people and I think it is one of the
primary tasks of citizens or members of political parties to raise this responsibility that falls on our shoulders
as a civil society in funding these political parties. How do we provide material resources in order to nurture
our society and to avoid the problems that we have heard about and faced in so many meetings, that we are in the
process of participating in an electoral process, but in fact we are selecting rulers who are in many senses tyrannical
and this is not a democratic process on the whole. I believe that this is a responsibility of political upbringing
and nurturing and it should be in the hands of the young, the new generations in the political organizations, for
the youth and the young have new ideas and greater commitment to improve their societies. Thus I believe that at
least 50% of the representation of funding of political parties should be devoted to educating a new class, a young
sector of the ranks of these parties. I believe that organizing the management of authority along these lines and
striving to do away with the processes of exclusion that are currently in existence, should allow us to get objective
and truthful information about the practices and measures taken by the authorities.
I am speaking of supervision of the activities of the executive powers in the country and I'm also referring to
the distribution of the public wealth and the funds dispersed by the government and public authorities and in this
context, we are in need of supporting a professional, free and independent press. The press should not be seeking
flashy presentations and agitation. It should be more oriented to guiding the executive authorities in accordance
with the law. These are the major challenges that are posed by the broader theme of civic participation in authority
and in power. There are, of course, further issues that could be brought up in the discussion but I am raising
these ideas for they might constitute a sound basis for discussion.
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