On 30th of August 2023, we hosted our first ever event at Parliament - to discuss the challenges and opportunities we face as we consider the current state of Democracy in Aotearoa.
Our MC Finn was joined by the amazing Max Rashbrooke, Kassie Hartendorp, and Nīkau Wi Neera. We were also lucky enough to be joined by our host for the evening, Chloe Swarbrick, and 50+ amazing attendees!
This is meant to be your toolkit for building your spot on Democracy Street. Whether you picture a home, a library, a store, a community hall - the hope is this can be your kete to get you started on that journey.
We had some AMAZING whakaaro on the evening - huge shout out to our panellists Max, Kassie, and Nīkau for their stunning insights and contributions! And an equally big shout out to our attendees for their engagement and energy. There were some awesome concepts discussed - from how we can automate and decentralise some of these systems, to how we can increase accessibility, improve the quality of information citizens engage with, and much, much more.
What you can do
Continue & progress the korero
The best way these ideas can evolve and come into reality is if we keep chatting. We've made a Facebook Group you can join if you’re keen to keep talking about this, and you can reach out to Finn to grab a coffee, drink, or just go for a walk whenever! We barely touched the surface on the evening.
Engage with the resources that are out there currently
There’s some fantastic work happening both locally and globally in this space - check out the full list I’ve curated
Books
Government for the Public Good by Max Rashbrooke - Buy here
Citizens by Jon Alexander - Buy here
Better Work Together by Enspiral - Buy here
Brave New Work by Aaron Dignan - Buy here
Podcasts
Democracy without Politicians // How to Citizen with Baratunde - Link here
Building Networks in Uncertain Times // The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens - Link here
Initiatives
Action Station is doing amazing mahi in supporting Democracy through Activism - check them out here
The WCC is running a Citizens Assembly for the Long Term Strategy 2024/34 - learn more here
The Wellbeing Protocol is doing great work in applying technology to group decision making - take a look
GO AND VOTE
As much as we all want to see deeper engagement and better opportunities to engage with democratic systems, we can only ever build the systems of tomorrow with the tools of today. Voting in our general election is our tool of today, and as Kassie highlighted - this election is likely to be pivotal. So go and vote - and encourage and empower your friends and whanau to exercise their democratic rights too.
Thank you to everyone who attended this event - let's keep moving this forward!
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