Politics as usual is broken. We are on a cusp, we can choose to deepen our democracy through more participation and deliberation, or we can choose the darkness of authoritarianism.
At Stardust Academy, part of our vision for a new way of doing things includes more inclusive, participatory decision-making. At the level of government, we see a growing chasm between politicians, parties and people. Even when polls show we agree, we feel like we’re tearing apart with polarisation, misinformation and social media vortices driving the madness.
Yet, we know it doesn’t have to be like this – and the solution is simple. We need to talk to each other and we need to listen. Experiments like America in One Room show that partisan divides are stoked by not talking to people who are different from us, but that when we’re given the opportunity to talk to others and hear WHY they hold the views they have, and try to find the common ground where we can meet, positions change, people connect and people find there is more that connects than divides us.
We believe in institutionalising these processes through citizens’ assemblies; through workers’ co-operatives; through sociocratic or holocratic meeting and governance practices. And full transparency – Sonia is involved in both Sortition Foundation and the Coalition of Everyone who are pioneering these in Australia and across the globe.
Our work is also rooted in respect for human rights, coming in part from personal experiences of abuse. As a former journalist, and part-time media studies scholar and activist, Sonia also brings a history of engagement in freedom of expression and information, community media and media freedom to what we do!
