Silent Participation in Europe’s Elections
Francesca Paci*
“Freedom is not climbing a tree, not even having an opinion, freedom is not an open space, freedom is participation”.
Italian artist Giorgio Gaber sung these words in 1972. Words that were used many times in the slogans of the pacifist movement that, after gathering millions from around the world against the war in Iraq, claims its role on the international scene. Words that are bitter after the disappointing results of the European elections; a moment of truth that short-circuited politics and society, when only 45.5% of voters actually voted, a percentage which, in the 10 new countries of EU fell to 26.7%. Apart from Italy, where 73% of voters participated, which can be explained by the strong internal polarization that transformed the elections into a referendum for, or against, Silvio Berlusconi’s government.
The general situation does not change: 450 million citizens, more than the population of the USA, have said to their leaders that this European policy does not work, that the parliamentarians seated in Strasbourg do not represent their respective populations, and that an unacknowledged assembly betrays democracy’s principles. Bu what if general dissent was considered as a form of partecipation? Take Poland, for instance, where 80% of voters deserted the polls. A year ago, the possibility of joining Europe fascinated the citizens of Varsavia and Vcracovia three times as much: 60% were divided between opposing and supporting integration, until those in favour were victorious.
Or the local elections, very popular everywhere, with candidates fighting for the very last vote. Sociologists and opinion pollsters are now analysing the causes of the abstention. Politicians are focussing on its consequences. The past and the future. Where is the present? Where nobody is looking: in our cities, amongst our friends, in our work places, amongst the people who continue to debate about globalization, terrorism, other possible worlds that could be better than this one, voluntary work, aspiring to happiness.
Do you really believe that the political era has ended? That post-modern aesthetics, based on juxtaposing fragments, on self-reference, have shaped our conscience? Are we what we see in television? My opinion is that the desertion of the European polls is a form of participation, rather than a lack of interest in public life. On the contrary, it is a sign of dissent. The electoral campaign, that which is post-modern and self-referenced, has failed to engage the population. The result was mass abstention.
Participation is the soul of representative democracy; that which the New York Times’ leader writer, Thomas Friedman, calls “democratic software”. Friedman claims that many countries, such as India, have “democratic hardware”, meaning free elections. But only a few also have the “software” - responsible governments, transparent, reliable, able to limit, through the continuous exchange between society and politics, the popularity-seeking and mass temptations to which Europe and the rest of the Western world, as sons of the Enlightenment, are still subject.
The problem is not to awaken citizens’attention for the res publica, but it can be identified by giving voice to the objections, proposals, questions, and policies that still find room in citizens’ private lives. That is why we need to capture the hidden suggestion behind the abstention.
The Institute of Contemporary Art of Philadelphia at this moment is devoting an exhibition to “The Great Nothing”, featuring artists from Yves Klein to Ray Johnson, who simply say “No”. Communications theory, raided by marketing executives, teaches us that the blank, the silence, a pause, the absolute negation, are the ideal amplification for the following message: “Let’s open our eyes and ears”. What are 450 millions European citizens asking that their leaders cannot grasp, distracted by the background noise that interferes with the message? The answers to this, absent from political TV programmes and major newspapers, are the undelivered vote of 12 June 2004.
Rome, 25 June 2004
* Francesca Paci is a journalist of the Italian newspaper La Stampa since 2000. Her professional interests are on immigration, Middle East, human rights and women rights. She holds a degree in Modern Literature at the University of Rome, a European Master in multimedia communication and a specialization Master in peacekeeping management at the University of Turin. She is author of the book “L’islam sotto casa, l’integrazione silenziosa” (Marsilio 2004) and co-author of Vision’s collection “Il Sonno della Ragione” (Reset 2004).
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