Citizen future: Why we need a new story of self and society
私たちは皆、かけがえのない存在であることを自覚することが肝要です。豪華な別荘も火星への旅行も必要ない。強いリーダーも、監視社会も必要ないのです。確かに貴族社会は崩壊し、市民社会が確立されました。今回は、静かな革命が必要なのです。私たちは何を恐れているのでしょう？そして、最悪の世界とは何ですか？また、何が私たちを幸せにしてくれるのでしょう？そして、最高の世界とは？普通の人が普通に生活していること、それはどんなに素晴らしいことなのか気づくべきです。さぁ、今日は新しい市民の未来を見ていきましょう。(English) It is essential to realize that we are all indispensable people. There is no need for luxury holiday homes or trips to Mars. We don't need strong leaders or a surveillance society. Indeed, the aristocratic society has broken down, and citizenship has been established. We need to have a quiet revolution this time. What are we afraid of? And what is the worst world of all? On the other hand, what would make us feel happy? And what is the best world? How wonderful it is that ordinary people can continue to live their everyday lives. Today we look at a new civic future.
Citizen future: Why we need a new story of self and society
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Are you a 'subject,' a 'consumer,' or a 'citizen'?
The author Alexander argues that our societies need a new narrative.
And it starts by ditching the stories sold by authoritarianism and consumerism.
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The doom-laden headlines of our times seem to indicate two futures on offer.
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In one, Orwellian authoritarianism prevails.
Fearful in the face of compounding crises - climate, plagues, poverty, hunger - people accept the bargain of the "Strong Man":
Their leader's protection in return for unquestioning allegiance as "subjects." What follows is the abdication of personal power, choice, or responsibility.
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On the other hand, everyone is a "consumer," and self-reliance becomes an extreme sport.
The richest have their boltholes in New Zealand and a ticket for Mars in hand.
The rest of us strive to be like them, fending for ourselves as robots take jobs and the competition for ever-scarcer resources intensifies.
The benefits of technology, whether artificial intelligence, bio-, neuro-, or agrotechnology, accrue to the wealthiest - as does all the power in society.
While it sells itself on personal freedoms, the experience for most is exclusion: a top-heavy world of haves and haves-not.
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Yet despite the bandwidth and airwaves devoted to these twin dystopias, there's another trajectory: we call it the "citizen future."
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We propose a more hopeful narrative for the 21st Century.
In this future, people are citizens rather than subjects or consumers.
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As citizens, we look around, identify the domains where we have some influence, find our collaborators, and engage.
And critically, our institutions encourage us to do so.
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While writing our book, we encountered myriad examples of the citizen perspective.
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The city of Paris has just approved the creation of a standing Citizens' Assembly that guides policy and has committed to distributing more than €100m (£84m/$101m) a year through participatory budgeting.
Mexico City has crowdsourced a constitution for its nine million people.
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Perhaps most impressive, Taiwan showed the world a way through the pandemic, building its response around three principles - Fast, Fun, and Fair.
It led the Taiwanese government to open its data and run challenge prizes for apps to track facemask availability.
They trust people enough to restrict movement based on "participatory self-surveillance."
As a result, One of the lowest case-fatality rates in the world, without ever imposing a lockdown.
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Also, many businesses now aim to create "stakeholder value," not just "shareholder value."
Some of the biggest and fastest-growing companies in the world are experimenting with crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.
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The citizen future is also taking shape in the nonprofit sector, as organizations reimagine themselves as enablers of citizen-led movements.
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At the same time, community groups are rejecting the old models of aid and charity and finding local solutions instead.
In England, an East Marsh United group has just completed a community share offer that will enable them to buy ten houses and create local jobs to refurbish them.
And then let them out as a social landlord, creating a sustainable revenue stream for the rest of their operations.
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For example, it is Kennedy Odede: a man who started with a football and street theatre in one of the slums of Nairobi and has grown his organization to a scale that enabled over two million slum dwellers to support one another through the pandemic.
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The challenge is not that the citizen's future is difficult to find or complicated to articulate. On the contrary, it is simple, rooted in profound truth, and emerging everywhere.
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We propose that one of the most pervasive deep stories is the "consumer story."
Every organization and institution, from businesses to charities to government, exists to offer these choices.
This consumer story is how we get to Future B, the future Martian escapes, billionaires with disproportionate power, and extreme inequality.
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About Future A, this future corresponds to the return of 'subject narratives' such as 'The King's Subjects.'
In this story, the leader knows best, charting the way forward and declaring our duties.
The rest of us are innocents, ignorant of essential matters.
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Already in China, the consequences of this story are clear.
The country's Skynet project has more than 400 million surveillance cameras.
The government knows almost everything its citizens are doing, from purchases to driving behavior to social media posts to the amount of time a person spends playing video games.
One already widespread punishment is to be banned from purchasing flights.
Other punishments reportedly include automatically reduced internet speeds or having your pet confiscated.
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The subject story preceded the consumer story.
It was the dominant story for centuries, shaping the interactions of the majority of humanity, from at least the 1600s until it crumbled for the two world wars of the 20th Century.
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The consumer story seemed to promise a golden dream, with its broader distribution of resources and wealth, its replacement of aristocracy with meritocracy.
But now, the consumer story is cracking. It is collapsing under the weight of its contradictions, threatening to take us down with it.
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The citizen story can replace the consumer, as the consumer returned the subject.
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As the particular world is replaced by significant uncertainty, the risk is that we cling to what we know more than ever.
Otherwise, anxiety flips into anger, and people lose trust and faith in one another and their institutions.
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It is why the essential work in this time should reimagine what leadership is.
They create opportunities for us to participate and contribute.
As the philosopher and activist Adrienne Maree brown puts it: "No one is special; everyone is needed."
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We must see ourselves as citizens.
Crucially, the leaders of our institutions must also see people as citizens and treat us as such.
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If we can step into the citizen's future, we will be able to face our myriad challenges: economic insecurity, ecological emergency, public health threats, political polarisation, and more.
We will be able to build a future. We will be able to have a lot - together.
My postscript:
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For example, it is Kennedy Odede: a man who started with a football and street theatre in one of the slums of Nairobi and has grown his organization to a scale that enabled over two million slum dwellers to support one another through the pandemic.
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As the philosopher and activist Adrienne Maree brown puts it: "No one is special; everyone is needed."
I like these two stories.
Can we change the world like this?
It is essential to realize that we are all indispensable people.
We respect each other. We care for each other. We live together.
There is no need for luxury holiday homes or trips to Mars.
We don't need strong leaders or a surveillance society.
There is food, clothing, and a home that we need there.
There is family and friends and a place to enjoy.
Every day there is peace, dreams, hopes, and caring to help each other.
Indeed, the aristocratic society has broken down, and citizenship has been established.
We need to have a quiet revolution this time.
Doing the right thing is not flashy news.
We cannot overlook the tremendous social changes ordinary people make.
We need to discuss more important things with each other.
What are we afraid of?
And what is the worst world of all?
On the other hand, what would make us feel happy?
And what is the best world?
How wonderful it is that ordinary people can continue to live their everyday lives.