| Brian Holmes on Mon, 6 Jun 2016 20:56:05 +0200 (CEST) |
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| Re: <nettime> Mexico City is crowdsourcing its new constitution |
Mexico City is at once one of the most difficult and one of the most vibrant urban regions in the world. The spirit of the early 20th century Mexican Revolution, relayed by 1968, continually clashes with the massively corrupt political-economic oligarchy, itself both entangled in and threatened by the narco cartels, which are street-level gangs fractalizing into murderously efficient transnational supply chains. In my view, the destiny of North America is being played out in Mexico. Can that country's capital govern itself as a democracy? What an audacious thought!
Please note, this is not a referendum. Ideas are being crowdsourced, via a dubious corporate platform to be sure, but they are the raw material for the deliberations of the 27-member constitutional commission. "Among its functions," reads the official platform, "is the evaluation of citizen's opinions according to the criteria of legality, quality, viability and social benefit." So we are not talking about direct democracy, nor about some potentially out-of-control electro-populist nightmare. This is a high-level mainstream attempt at achieving substantial mega-city democracy, driven by a PRD mayor representing the left side of Mexico's official political spectrum. I reckon there's a real chance it will go beyond the simple beautification of the historical districts carried out by past administrations, towards addressing some of the staggering problems faced by this colossal agglomeration. Let's see what happens!
BH On 06/05/2016 05:25 PM, nettime's consitutional hobbyist wrote:
Mexico is launching a big experiment in democracy that promises to turn people’s ideas into the new law of the land. By Rafa Fernandez De Castro http://fusion.net/story/298572/how-mexico-city-is-using-the-internet-to-crowdsource-its-new-constitution/ In January President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a reform that made Mexico’s capital, which has always been known as Distrito Federal or Federal District (similar to Washington, D.C.), its own sovereign city. Now the local government is getting more autonomy, which means local lawmakers will be able to approve the city’s budget and draft their own constitution, among other measures.
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