Web-democracy without borders ” “

Young women from world countries speak of Information and Communications Technology, ICT), e-governance and democratic participation. The web – offering interesting information opportunities, capable of generating consensus and mobilization, provided that it is not reduced to the construction merely of a virtual public sphere – should be treated by the institutions, also at the EU level, as a policy-making integration tool. That is what emerged from the second edition of the World Forum for Democracy “Retisser the démocratie: connecter avec les institutions les citoyens à l’eras du numérique”, which ended November 29 in Strasbourg, promoted by the Council of Europe. Among the various projects presented, the participants – more than a thousand from 130 world countries – awarded the “Prize for democratic innovation” to the ‘Women Of Uganda Network’. Civic formation. The Ugandan network www.wougnet.org was presented by Otika Brenda Akite e Goretti Zavuga. The purpose of the initiative is “to boost awareness on the need of good governance and services among local communities and organizations throughout five districts in the north of the Country”, to improve ICT knowledge and skills, so as to enable the local populations to collect, process and convey information on widespread corruption and poor public services to the general public, thereby increasing public awareness to this regard. Mariam Memarsdeghi, Iranian, co-founder and co-director of the Tavaan E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society (www.tavaana.org), made known that “Tavaana in Persian means ‘capable'”. Launched in 2010 with the mission of supporting active and civic leadership in Iran through a platform on civic education and solidarity, to date, the program has trained more than 1,800 Iranians on digital security, overcoming trauma, and women’s rights. Through the TV, every week it reaches over nine million citizens. Local digital democracy. Vivien Rae Maidaborn (New Zealand) illustrated the Loomio Social Enterprise, www.loomio.org, an online platform “for governance and community decision-making processes”, developed by a social cooperative in Wellington. “Over 3 thousand users in hundreds of groups in over 20 countries – the speaker said – are already using Loomio in beta”. These include businesses, organizations, local communities, local and national institutions. Loomio works “closely with the local government and is a valuable instrument of collaboration between citizens and the Wellington City Council”. Mexican born German citizen Aleida Alavez Ruiz spoke of the “liquid democracy” platform “Piratepartei” (www.piratenpartei.de) with thousands of members. A key aspect is “the integration of traditionally separate understandings of representative and direct democratic participation”. Open Parliament. The independent platform Popvox USA (www.popvox.com) has been involved with civic commitment and legislative information, which took off following the pending laws at the Congress, said Marci Harris, co-founder and CEO, giving visibility to the statements of pressure groups, associations and other organizations. In fact, a digital message written to the Congress will be submitted via certified shipping to the competent office by Popvox. The virtual agora illustrated by Catherine Howe Democratic Society (www.demosoc.org) will be operative in the United Kingdom. “This laboratory – said the speaker – will analyze the use of existing free tools in order to create connections and dialogue between the government, activists and bloggers, presidents of school associations and parish groups members. It will focus on the work of the Democratic Society and of the Lewes District Council, in a rural-urban district with approximately 100 thousand people that includes 41 villages and towns”. Cinema and society. Taking part in the debate on the future of Tunisia, producing documentaries and docu-fictions on the various scenarios of the evolution of Tunisian society along four axes: Islam (radical vs. moderate), technology (freedom of expression on the internet vs. Police State), democracy, geopolitics: it’s the commitment of Tunisie4.0 (www.tunisie4.org), as described by Syhem Belkhodja, choreographer, director of artistic festivals. To date, as many as 40 documentaries and 20 docu-fictions have already been produced, with 2.500 daily visits to their website. www.youngvoters.eu/eu is the League of Young Voters which, said Jenny de Nijs, (Luxembourg) on the basis of European youths’ high absenteeism rates in political elections, is aimed at promoting an initiative for their involvement in view of the European Parliament elections (May 22-25 2014) while at the same time encouraging political parties and candidates “to take into account the concerns of the youths”.