Civil Society Mobilization and Democracy by Santiago Sordo Ruz June 15, 2012 Abstract What does the recent worldwide surge in civil society mobilization tell us about modern democracies? From well-established, longstanding democracies to young and consolidating democratic regimes, the world experienced an important and ongoing amount of popular upheaval in the past months. Why have these movements not chosen institutional mechanisms to channel their demands? Do these mechanisms even exist? Are these manifestations of popular discontent an intrinsic trait of modern representative democracies or is this a symptom of some deeper systemic failure? In this paper we explore possible answers to these questions. We analyze some of the recent instances of civil society mobilization ('Los indignados' movement in Spain, the 'Occupy' movement in the US, the student riots in Chile and the 'Movimiento por la paz con justicia y dignidad' in Mexico) and try to unearth the dynamics of mobilization and their implications for our modern conception of democracy and the sufficiency of its institutions. Keywords: civil society, mobilization, protest, representative democracy Introduction 2011 has been dubbed the year of global indignation. It all started in the last days of 2010 with the spark that ignited what has come to be known as the Arab spring. The immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010, the 26-yearold street seller that set himself on fire after being humiliated by police one last time, catalyzed the revolution that ousted so-called President Ben Ali in Tunisia after 24 years in office 28 days later. In the months to come, the Arab world would experience intense civil society mobilization of variegated flavor, breadth, regime response and outcome; civil society massively took to the streets to speak out in nearly every Arab country. In some countries of the region, what first manifested itself as massive popular protest quickly turned into armed conflict with disgraceful civilian tolls and violence. In Libya, popular upheaval calling for the end of the Gaddafi regime that dated back to 1969 was violently crushed, stirring a full-scale civil war that resulted in the demise of the dictatorship and Gaddafi s own death. In Syria, protesters took to the streets to demand the end of nearly 5 decades of rule by the al-assad regime prompting the ongoing deployment of the army against opposition and which has resulted in a series of attacks on the of civilian population that are still awaiting international response. In Yemen, ongoing mobilization with violent stints that included a failed assassination attempt against president Saleh has already yielded his resignation.
In other counties, effervescent, yet less overtly violent 1 upheaval has toppled autocrats and continues to shake long-standing authoritarian regimes. Perhaps most outstanding among these was the Egyptian revolution where, in a similar fashion to what happened in Tunisia, 18 days of taking to the streets and public space appropriation, most notably Tahrir square in Cairo, brought down the regime led by Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years of uninterrupted rule. In Bahrain, pro-democracy protests that broke out across the country in demand of greater freedom for the Shia majority under Sunni rule have been systematically cracked down by the government but endure. In Algeria, lack of liberties, prohibitive food prices and unemployment were among the concerns that led to unrest in demand of reform. Lebanese protesters demanded the modification of a political system that, in their view, perpetuates sectarian conflict through confessionalism. In Morocco, demonstrators demanded the resignation of cabinet members and reforms to decrease King Mohammed VI s powers resulting in a series of reforms approved by referendum. In Jordan, food prices and inflation took protesters to the street; the usual response of King Abdullah II, sacking his cabinet, did little to quell unrest and mobilization demanding authentic reform has endured. In Iraq, corruption, a bad economy and better services were among the demands that drove protesters to the streets. Other countries like Oman, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are also seeing their share of multifaceted civil society mobilization. Despite its variance in intensity and outcome, the upheaval in the Arab world shares an interesting common trait. Of all the abovementioned countries, only Morocco and Lebanon are rated as Partially Free in Freedom House s Freedom in the World 2011 report. Not that rankings like Freedom House s have any sort of final say about the democratic performance of countries, but it certainly is an interesting effort and reference. The rest of these countries have a Not Free rating (see Table A below) and none of them, whether Not Free or Partially Free are considered electoral democracies by the report. It seems clear that the Arab spring is all about a cry for the widening freedom and access to democracy. Table A Freedom rating of selected to Arab countries Country Freedom status 2 Tunisia Egypt Libya Syria Saudi Arabia Jordan Iraq Algeria Bahrain Yemen Morocco Partially free Lebanon Partially free 1 Sadly enough, less violent but not without civilian tolls. 2 According to Freedom House s Freedom in the World 2011 report. Ratings consider events from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2010.
But indignation was not restricted to the Arab world in 2011; in fact, quite on the contrary, it went viral and it certainly feels like the Zeitgeist of the era that begun with the subprime mortgage crisis. Reminiscent of the generalized upheaval that the World experienced in 1968, protests erupted virtually everywhere around the globe (see Figure A for an illustration of this point). Moreover, Indignation was not restricted to countries with authoritarian regimes either. From well-established, longstanding democracies to young, transitioning and consolidating democratic regimes that may be classified at least as electoral democracies, civil society has mobilized in the democratic world. Protests have erupted in countries like Greece, Mexico, India, Chile, Russia, Iran, the UK and the United States, to name a very few. Figure A Protest around the world 3 Unlike the demands protesters had in countries of the Arab spring, in the case of most representative (electoral) democracies, the demands put forward by protesters were not directly targeted against the regime, i.e., they did not seek its removal. Rather, in countries where free elections are celebrated to elect officials and representatives, what is sought is an expansion of substantial democracy in the form of a broadening and defense of rights and better living standards. To put it in other words, once a basic democratic floor has been established, protest aims at the expansion of substantive democracy. Civil society mobilization is desirable, if we abide buy the basic tenet of the so-called civil society argument, a dense network of civil associations is said to promote the stability and effectiveness of the democratic polity through both the 3 proteworldatprotest.com. The map shows countries where protests, demonstrations and rallies have been reported by the media. The map is presented for illustrative purposes only and is not exhaustive. Red indicates countries with the higher reported upheaval. The map corresponds to dates from January 2, 2011 to June 15, 2012.
effects of association on citizens' habits of the heart and the ability of associations to mobilize citizens on behalf of public causes 4. In spite of its desirability, civil society mobilization may also be interpreted as a manifestation of the insufficiency of the interest representation mechanisms of modern electoral democracies. The argument is that electoral democracy and its representation mechanisms and institutions are supposed are supposed to constitute conflict resolution and volonté générale integration devices. If these institutions are in place, they should be able to channel civil society demands. The breadth of protest in 2011 speaks not only of discontent but also of the inadequacy and the limitations of the representation mechanisms that are in place in modern electoral democracies. So, what does this surge in civil society mobilization tell us about modern democracies? Why have movements not chosen institutional mechanisms to channel their demands? Do these mechanisms even exist? Are these manifestations of popular discontent an intrinsic trait of modern representative democracies or is this a symptom of some deeper systemic failure? In this paper we explore possible answers to these questions. We analyze some of the recent instances of civil society mobilization ('Los indignados' movement in Spain, the 'Occupy' movement in the US, the student riots in Chile and the 'Movimiento por la paz con justicia y dignidad' in Mexico) and try to unearth the dynamics of mobilization and their implications for our modern conception of democracy and the sufficiency of its representation institutions. Civil society mobilization: four instances In this section we provide a brief sketch of the shape of the four movements we study to reflect on the questions we have posed on the introduction 5. The purpose of the section is to clearly state the demands, means and outcomes of the movements thus far. It is important to note that as we have tried to state, what distinguishes the four cases studied in this paper is the fact that, unlike the majority of the cases in the Arab spring, the demands of these mobilizations were not targeted against the political regimes in place. Rather, the four cases consider countries where, at least according to the aforementioned Freedom House report, electoral democracies exist. The cases of the USA, Spain, Chile and Mexico 6 all take place in, despite their many stark differences in many dimensions, countries where fair and free elections take place. Los indignados 4 Folley and Edwards. The Paradox of Civil Society. Journal of Democracy 7.3 (1996) 38-52. 5 We choose the USA and Spain because of their particular notoriety in the media. The choice of the Mexican and Chilean cases has more to do with the author s personal bias should does not make any difference in the argumentative structure of this paper. 6 Mexico s Free status was downgraded to Partially Free in the 2011 edition of the due to the targeting of local officials by organized crime groups and the government s inability to protect citizens rights in the face of criminal violence.
On May 15, 2011 7, in the first of a series of protests across Spain that would later spread throughout Europe, much like what Tunisia was for the Arab world, Spanish citizens took to the streets under the motto No somos mercancía en manos de politicos y banqueros (We are not commodities in the hands of politicians and bankers) to protest against the actors which, in their view, were responsible for the Spanish economic crisis. Spain was particularly badly hit by the shock waves of the world financial crisis, with nearly one fifth of the population unemployed in 2010 8 and employment conditions worsening. The demands of the movement may be summarized by the following excerpt from the who we are section of their website 9 : We the unemployed, the badly paid, the outsourced, the precarious, the young want a change and a decent future. We are fed up with antisocial reform, with unemployment, with banks responsible for the crisis raising our mortgages and foreclosing our homes, with laws that limit our freedom and benefit the powerful being imposed upon us. We hold political and economic power as culprits of our precarious situation and demand change. Their specific demands revolved around 8 themes: strip politicians of their privileges, unemployment, housing, quality public services, control over the banking sector, fiscal reform that protects the citizenry, expansion of freedoms and participatory democracy and military spending reduction. Besides mass mobilization, indignados systematically resorted to public space appropriation. Perhaps the most important example of this was what happened in the Puerta del Sol plaza, with protesters camping or occupying the plaza until as late as August 4. The most important achievement of the movement has allegedly been the positioning of some of their demands in the public agenda. Among the most significant of their points that have reached public discussion and even consideration in Congress we find electoral reform and the issue of nonrecourse debt 10. The Occupy movement: We are the 99% Among the myriad instances of civil society mobilization that made 2011 the year of global indignation, perhaps the most interesting case is that of the United States. This is not to suggest that protest is unusual in that country. Nevertheless, instances of the movement, most notably, Occupy Wall Street, was somewhat surprising given its duration and the utilization of public space appropriation as its banner in a country with zealous and blunt laws about private property trespassing and public property usage. Somewhat paradoxically, New York City s Zucotti Park, 7 Known as 15-M in Spain 8 Eurostat 9 http://www.democraciarealya.es/quienes-somos/, the translation is mine. 10 http://www.publico.es/espana/391468/el-15-m-deja-huella-en-solo-tres-meses-de-vertigo
the public space appropriated by the movement, happens to be private property and this fact prevented police to immediately act against the occupation. Not les paradoxical is the fact that Occupy Wall Street was started by controversial criticized for commoditizing counterculture- Canadian magazine Adbusters via an entry on its blog. The post invited its readers to peacefully occupy Wall Street by asking Are you ready for a Tahrir moment? 11 on September 17, 2011. Ironically enough, the post had a powerful response and ended up becoming a genuine civil society movement. These two accidents perfectly aligned to bring together the discontent and indignation that became one of the most important protest movements in the USA since the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization. What started with the appropriation of the park on September 17 soon spread to almost every major American city to become Occupy USA. Protesters gathered to voice their indignation against the privileged 1% of the population that had sunk the country and the World in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Protesters adopted the original Adbusters proposal to demonstrate against corporatocracy and demand democracy. In their own words, the movement is against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future 12. Widely regarded as the American version of los indignados, the movement s achievements have also been about informing the public agenda. The most significant issues set forth by Occupy have been income inequality and predatory and abusive practices used by the mortgage industry and the banking system in general 13. The quest for a social agreement for Chilean education A struggle dating back to La revolución pingüina 14 of 2006, the 2011 student protests in Chile is a mobilization that seeks the dismantlement of an education system engineered in the days of the military dictatorship. The student led movement demands the end of educación municipal, a system favoring privately owned, tuition-based schooling. In their own words the movement is [ ] brought together by the strong belief in education as an essential component to achieve a new version of the much-desired Historical 11 http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/occupywallstreet.html 12 http://occupywallst.org/about/ 13 http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/03/19/447087/after-six-months-a-look-at-what-occupywall-street-has-accomplished/ 14 The penguin revolution in reference to the uniforms used by the middle school students of the protest.
democratic Development Project and to overcome the outrageous inequality gaps that we witness today. Thus, we have posed the urgent need to recover education as a universal human and social right that must be granted by the Constitution that must be structured around a new and high quality National Public Education System that is free (gratuitous), democratic and financed by the state at all levels. The new system must be autonomous and democratic in order to be able to avoid private interests of any kind, be it political, religious or economical, with an internal organization capable of administrative, governance, academic and financial self-determination. To achieve this it requires democratic procedures as a means to grant the right to participate and freedom of association but also the empowerment of the community for the purpose of policymaking that is independent of the incumbent government 15. As we can see, despite the fact that the movement s concrete demand is the revamping of the public education system in the country, it is against a democratic backdrop that they demand this restructuring. In short, they want to socialize education and to democratize it; cliché aside, they are pushing for an education system for the people (not for profit) and by the people (not by interest groups). The movement s main tactics have been mass mobilization and school occupation but they have also allied with labor movements to go on strike. The movement has been successful in pressuring the government to the point of the Education Minister being removed 16. Most importantly, it has managed to force the government into negotiations that have produced three reform proposals on behalf of the government so far. The proposals have been deemed unsatisfactory by the movement so far and the struggle continues. Peace with justice and dignity On March 28, 2011, organized crime gang members murdered Mexican poet Javier Sicilia s 24-year-old son. The tragedy, one among more than 60,000 others that have resulted from the war on drugs that the federal government has undertaken, prompted Sicilia, a renowned poet, to organize a movement that united victims, their families and outraged citizens. After a series of demonstrations in his hometown of Cuernavaca, the Movimiento por la paz con justicia y dignidad (Peace with justice and dignity movement) was assembled following the publication of an open letter to Mexico s politicians and criminals. Weeks later, Sicilia called for a national march to protest the war. The march seeks to mobilize Mexicans to speak out and demand action from the country's government 17. As with the cases we have analyzed thus far, the 15 http://elchileno.cl/world/nacional/1071-bases-para-un-acuerdo-social-por-la-educacion-chilenatexto-completo.html 16 The minister was not sacked but reassigned to a different ministry. 17 http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-05/world/mexico.poet.activist_1_mexican-publications-javiersicilia-poem?_s=pm:world
objective of the mobilization has been to put a particular issues in the public agenda; in this case the war on drugs and the devastating effects upon Mexican society. The specific demands of the movement are solving the totality of murders and disappearances in addition to the identification every victim, putting an end to the war on drugs, the combat of corruption and impunity, the combat of the economical roots of organized crime, emergency support of the youth and social fabric reconstruction and an actually participatory democracy 18. In addition to the reactivation of investigations for over a hundred cases, the liberation of an undisclosed number of victims and raising awareness about the human costs of the war, the movement has achieved a rather unusual feat. On June 23, 2011 the movement managed to meet with federal officials and the president himself to voice not only its grief but also its demands. Unfortunately, a year after the meeting there seems to be little improvement in the overall situation of violence in the country and the movement has somewhat dwindled. More recently, the movement sat with presidential candidates to express its concerns and demands hoping to keep the movement alive into the new administration. Civil society mobilization and democracy Lets recall the five questions we posed in our introduction and try to shed some light into possible answers by considering what the four cases we have briefly presented. What does the recent worldwide surge in civil society mobilization tell us about modern democracies? Modern democracies have at least two common denominators: free and fair elections and representation mechanisms. The four movements we have briefly outlined in the previous section are quite different in their scope, contexts, constituencies and demands, but as instances of social movements they have all used the instrument that seems to be the only one at hand to voice their grievances: mass mobilization 19. Going back to the civil society argument, civil society mobilization looks like a boon in democracy. People associate informally, in this case- and join forces to advance a cause. In the process, they are supposed to have experienced plurality, learned to reach democratic decisions via the majority rue, created social capital and so forth. This may be true, but the central argument of this paper that the fact that civil society has to take on mass mobilization and use it as a means to voice their demands should be regarded as a sign of the insufficiency of the institutional mechanisms that their respective electoral, representative democracies offer. As we have seen, the year of global indignation was an extremely active year in terms of civil society mobilization. So much so that Time magazine chose the protester as its 2011 person of the year. This should be regarded as an achievement in the case of polities where achieving the institutionalization of uncertainty in electoral outcomes and thus real political representation is an ongoing struggle. On the other hand, what this should tell us about modern 18 http://movimientoporlapaz.mx/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/pronunciamientoreferentesnacionalesmpjd.pdf 19 This includes public space appropriation.
democracies is that the representation side of the basic democratic formula is failing. We should regret rather than celebrate such instances in countries where representative democracies exist. We should celebrate the fact that in the face of oblivion, civil society has the courage and capacity to assemble and represent itself before officials to demand their rights and voice their grievances; we should regret the fact that the have had to resort to mobilization and interpret this as a failure in the representation mechanisms currently in place. Why have these movements not chosen institutional mechanisms to channel their demands? Do these mechanisms even exist? According to the feature article about Time magazine s person of the year, protest has been (t)he natural continuation of politics by other means 20. Protest seems to be the only means in town to engage in politics for the vast majority of civil society; why else would the public engage in the painstaking activity of mass protesting? A system where civil society has to engage in mass mobilization so intensely and where taking to the streets is the only rather than the last resort to voice grievances 21 should be regarded as insufficiently democratic. Despite the existence of representational mechanisms in the four cases we briefly analyzed, all of them chose to channel their demands through mass mobilization instead of using institutional mechanisms. All of them chose to represent themselves before authorities to make their points Finally, are these manifestations of popular discontent an intrinsic trait of modern representative democracies or is this a symptom of some deeper systemic failure? Disruptive mobilization and public appropriation may be regarded as forms of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is, by definition, an exception rather the rule. We should see a problem where contentious law-braking becomes the norm. Even in the case of Mexico, where mobilization was mostly non-disruptive, the very fact that the mechanism of choice was persistently mobilization should be regarded as a sign of the insufficiency of representation mechanisms if not of systemic failure. Should the 2011 protests be regarded as empirical evidence of the insufficiency of the representative model of democracy? Perhaps it is too blunt to assert that this signals some systemic failure in so-called political representation but it also seems reasonable to claim that the trustee model of political representation has not delivered its promises and is closer to a fiction than anything else. The fact that civil society has to take to the streets and engage in civil disobedience to forward its demands instead of channeling its grievances, concerns and demands through a system 22 that is in place to provide exactly should be ringing some bells. 20 http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102132_2102373,00.html 21 Yes, some protesters may have contacted their representatives but chances are this had no actual effect whatsoever, and yes, this is only speculation but very feasible speculation. 22 Systems with very financially onerous infrastructures, in fact.