Democracy Forward: A Day to Reimagine Democracy in Brussels
Democratic innovation
On 15 September, International Day of Democracy, What about Dem was participating at the Democracy Forward - Inspiration Festival, organised by the National Lottery Fund for Democracy, and managed by the King Baudouin Foundation and in partnership with BOZAR, BELvue and the City of Brussels. The day was dedicated to answer one of the most important questions of our time: how do we keep our democracy strong, resilient and relevant in a rapidly changing society?
BELVue: A Museum Looking Forward
A symbolic choice of venue
The Alderman of Brussels, Frederik Colemans, jokingly mentioned that he had one of the busiest schedules of the year on that sunny September day. The Democracy Forward Festival was kicked off at the BELvue, a museum right next to the Royal palace, an intriguing choice of location to some: was the future of democracy to be discussed in immediate proximity to the architectural representation of the Belgian monarchy? Or was it in fact symbolizing the inherent tension between the concept of hereditary power vs. democratic legitimacy?
But it was not the history of Belgium and its political system that were on the order for the day. Instead, it seemed like the City of Brussels, together with the National Lottery Fund for Democracy and the King Baudouin Foundation, had only one direction for Democracy in mind: forward.
Surrounded by artefacts representative of the long way “we’ve come”, an inspirational speech by Prof. Dr Rob Heyman, tried to connect this past to a future promise: that regardless of the dystopic associations of today’s day and age, associations à la 1984 and Frankenstein, the future remains unwritten.
An unwritten future
The recognition of the future as full of promise, and innovation as the key to unlocking its potential (a liberal tale in the past more associated with the United States than dusty European political systems and ways of life), encompassed the overarching theme of this day and created a rather hopeful energy transported throughout the entire program. The same energy is projected to translate into action for the coming year, when Brussels is the European Capital of Democracy.
But how exactly was democracy to be reinvented? The terms “deliberation”, “citizens participation” and “assemblies” floated around in an abstract, yet to be determined direction of the current system. But nonetheless, it seems clear that Brussels has come to realize the biggest resource remains with the people : those who play lotto and those who have for years been engaged in projects to protect and expand the pockets of democratic innovation.
Taking youth seriously
Taking the future seriously means, first and foremost, taking the youth seriously. And so amongst the roundtables of discussions, organised after a quick introduction by An Lavens, Jannie Haek, and the above mentioned AI-Inspiration, a more inclusive approach to democracy was on the order of the day.
Including the youth, empowering minorities and engaging local communities represented the cornerstones of the Democracy Forward - Inspiration Festival. In five interactive sessions the participants were invited to collectively tackle questions and to envision what a future democracy could look like.
Bozar: Two conversations, one question
After the afternoon in BELvue, the day continued at Bozar with a series of discussions around two major thematics:
How can democracy continue to renew itself and adapt to the challenges of the 21st century?
What future for the independent media and reliable information in an age of algorithms, economic pressures and disinformation.
Democratic renewal: from the right to vote to the right to voice
To answer the first question, David Van Reybrouck, Belgian cultural historian and first director of G1000, was interviewed by Annabelle Van Nieuwenhuyse about the challenges facing our traditional representative democracy, and about this new way of integrating citizens into the heart of the deliberative process.
He opened by pointing to a troubling but true trend: citizen’s satisfaction with democratic procedures is dropping. Yet, as he was quick to clarify, this doesn’t mean people have given up on democracy itself, but quite the opposite. “The democratic hunger is still not satisfied”, he explained, arguing that citizens aren’t disengaging from democratic life, but rather from the mainstream, outdated ways it’s currently practiced in our society.
For Van Reybrouck, the solution lies in sortition which is the random selection of citizens to take part in governance. With the G1000, they want to abolish the Belgian Senate to create a permanent Citizens’ Council, allowing randomly selected citizens to contribute structurally to major societal decisions, alongside the traditional elections. “We are losing people because of the traditional form of democracy,” he said, comparing today’s democratic experience to sitting through a boring movie: technically still democratic, but no longer capable of holding people’s attention or trust.
He also pushed back against the idea that a calm start to a deliberative process is necessarily a good sign. Some frustration at the outset, he argued, should be welcomed rather than avoided. As long as people are still angry, it means they still care. Apathy, he warned, would be a far more frightening outcome.
This reflection led him to one of the evening’s most memorable formulations: the need to move from the right to vote toward the right to voice. In that spirit, he presented the preferendum as a concrete new tool allowing citizens to move beyond the binary logic of a yes/no referendum, towards a chance to express nuanced positions across a range of proposals. What about Dem, with Notre Altitude 100 citizen assembly, is coordinating this same approach on a local scale, from sortition of the deliberative panel to a preferendum asking the Forest's citizens to vote on the proposals it produced.
The future of independent media
The second part of the evening focused on the role of the media in democracy, in the context of the growing influence of major technology companies. Participants in the debate include Rosie Parkyn, Executive Director of the Guardian Foundation; Karen Donders, Director of Public Service, Talent & Organisation at VRT; Thomas Leysen, Chair of Mediahuis; and Erik Roddenhof, CEO of DPG Media.
