2345 Years in Waiting
When you ask locals around Athens’ Acropolis about the PNYX or PNYKA, most have no idea what you are talking about. These historical sites, integral to the democratic legacy of ancient Athens, are largely overlooked by tourists and residents alike. Yet, nested on the hillside opposite the Acropolis, the PNYX holds a profound significance. This is where the Ecclesia, the assembly of male citizens of Athens, met to deliberate and decide over the affairs of the city, during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Random selection was at the heart of their system since the 500 citizens in the Boule - which administered day to day business and convened the Ecclesia - were chosen by lot and renewed every year. Chance was at the heart of ancient democracy.
It took 2345 years to revive this old democratic practice on the plateau where it was born, under the aegis of a pan-European project called the Democratic Odyssey, supported by the Berggruen Institute. This brings together the Citizen Assembly tradition of ancient Athens and the potentials unleashed by modern cutting age technologies including through the role of AI in enabling translation between our 24 official European languages. It was launched at the Berggruen headquarters in Venice, and its network of friends met for the first time at the PNYX a year ago to launch the project. This year we are bringing at the PNYX 200 citizens, randomly selected from around Europe and from Athens, to deliberate on European crisis and the future of citizens’ participation in navigating these storms.
Our world seems bleak these days as we learn again the meaning of war on our continent and in our neighborhood. But there is hope. On one side, the forces of darkness, authoritarianism, civil division, the trampling of women’s rights, disappearance of trust among citizens and between them and their politicians. On the other side, a hugely inspiring movement in Europe and around the world experimenting with radical democracy and citizens’ empowerment, of the kind that may help subvert autocracies from below and renew the old promise of self-government.
Imagine how modern Athens could help tip the scales in this epic struggle. Imagine a world where citizens are more than sporadic voters, where their voices resonate constantly in the corridors of power. And imagine the EU reinventing itself as a laboratory for a radical transformation of democracy beyond the state.
This is the vision that the Democratic Odyssey aims to bring to the European Union: A permanent Standing Citizens’ Assembly, an Assembly that would not meet in Brussels but would be a travelling assembly across Europe, meeting with local actors and representatives in the premises of national parliaments or other spaces. It would help plant more democratic seeds in the cities it visits, as the municipality of Athens is exploring with the creation of a youth council and neighbourhood participatory councils.
And to make a difference to policies and politics in Europe, it would be connected to both the EU institutional policymaking machinery and the broader public sphere, rooted in civil society and its participatory eco-system. In time, it would become a true fixture of the EU landscape, in constant dialogue with the European Parliament to bring together electoral and participatory representation. A new vision of citizen power is beaconing.