Abstract:
In the context of global democratic crises and pervasive neoliberal policies, civil society organizations (CSOs) play a critical role in promoting democratic processes and advancing social change on local, national, and transnational scales. However, such organizations also (need to) grapple with how they themselves put social justice and democratic principles into practice, and resist coloniality within. This article examines these questions in the case of People Powered-Global Hub for Participatory Democracy, a recently found transnational CSO that advocates globally for participatory democracy as a mechanism for social change and employs these principles in its own governance and operations. The analysis focusses on the creation of People Powered and its first year of practice. Drawing upon decolonial frameworks-and based on our own experiences as founding members of People Powered and our reading of interviews and documents-we identify concrete practices through which the organization seeks to enact epistemic justice, shift power, and emphasize relationality. We argue that People Powered\'s decolonial roots, collectively articulated values and commitments, radical transparency, and its consistent employment of meaningful participation and reflexivity have built and are likely to sustain this transnational solidarity for social change. At the same time and perhaps critical for fostering solidarity and social change in the long term, People Powered embraces, rather than evades, tensions and contradictions that emerge in these efforts.
摘要:
在全球民主危机和普遍的新自由主义政策的背景下,民间社会组织(CSO)在促进民主进程和推动地方社会变革方面发挥着关键作用,国家,和跨国规模。然而,这些组织也(需要)努力解决他们自己如何将社会正义和民主原则付诸实践,抵制内部的殖民主义。本文探讨了这些问题的情况下,人民动力-全球中心参与式民主,一个最近成立的跨国民间社会组织,在全球范围内倡导参与性民主作为社会变革的机制,并在自己的治理和运作中采用这些原则。分析的重点是PeoplePowered的创建及其第一年的实践。借鉴非殖民化框架,并根据我们作为“人民力量”创始成员的经验以及我们对采访和文件的阅读,我们确定了该组织寻求实施认知正义的具体实践,换档功率,强调关系。我们认为,人民力量的非殖民化根源,集体明确的价值观和承诺,激进的透明度,以及它一贯利用有意义的参与和反身性已经建立并可能维持这种跨国团结以促进社会变革。同时,从长远来看,这可能对促进团结和社会变革至关重要,人们的动力拥抱,而不是逃避,这些努力中出现的紧张和矛盾。