Tracking Direct Democracy in Southern Brazil
              (by Émanuèle Lapierre-Fortin)

The Brazilian city of Porto Alegre has surprised the ranks of academia by undertaking a spectacular and unexpected return to grassroots direct democracy after a long tyrannical rule. Many answers to the problems of the a ill-adapted Western liberal political model are being successfully addressed in one of the most unequal countries of the world.

Long before the promising ascension of the tumultuous yet constrained Lula to the head of the Workers’ Party (PT), the party engaged municipal and local administration along new lines. Winning office in 1988 in Porto Alegre, state officials immediately took to the streets of the three million person capital city of Rio Grande do Sul to engage communities in a newly created and soon to be famous citizen-driven institution, called participatory budgeting.

Under this framework, a substantial fraction of municipal monetary resources are moved to a collective fund whose allocation is voted upon by representatives of the people in each neighborhood. First considered with a dose of skepticism, the innovative policy gradually smoothened doubts in the minds of critics from all socio-economic backgrounds, as beneficial results came about quickly. The provision of tangible infrastructure and services was granted to the poorest and most remote parts of the city as their inhabitants organized, chose a leader, set up a list of priorities, and geared up to discuss them in an open tribune.

Here, the psychosocial effects on marginalized groups of making the public sphere more inclusive and accessible reach the same level of importance as any material improvement. Based on the methods of famous educator Paulo Freire, who spent his life disseminating the very type of civic knowledge poor people need to emancipate and empower themselves, this state-sponsored stimulation of civil society builds human capital in many fashions. It has been observed that, as time goes by, democratic values such as the spirit of compromise, the desire of participating in a structured discussion and the concern for fairness have been incorporated by segments of the population that are usually deemed as 'illiterate' and 'backwards'.

But how is that all possible? It necessitates a solid structure; exactly what the 18 million-people megapolis of Sao Paulo developed, for many cities in Brazil now have a participatory budget. As explained by Vadao Tagliavini, an informant working on the training manual for representatives, each city is subdivided in districts, and each district sends delegates (whose number go over 1000 in the Brazilian metropolis) to small sections providing interactive and open courses on issues relevant to the public interest. Everything takes place during the weekends for a total of 15 weeks. Simultaneously, a group of elected counselors, the ones ultimately dealing with city officials to defend their geographical district, undertake a more specialized thematic curriculum, in partnership with government workers and academics. Unfortunately, this whole process is very fragile and can, as in the case of Sao Paulo, be dismantled as soon as the PT stops being the ruling party.

That said, participatory democracy is not made to replace representative democracy, but it nevertheless stands as a worthy complement. Despite the predictable difficulties encountered when one strives to change a region's political culture, the unequaled degree of transparency made possible by the involvement of so many people in public affairs fostered "the total elimination within the municipal budget of the corruption and clientelism that are entrenched in most of Brazilian government and that corrode budget decision-making in particular" as put by Rebecca Abers, Ph. D. specialist on Porto Alegre. It could be argued that there is great importance in making this idea more durable.

Individuals around the world make the goal of popularizing this type of governance their own mission statement; the appeal diffused by the success of Porto Alegre, notably, has translated into a domino effect of stories of implementation of participatory budgeting schemes in places as diverse as Sevilla, Uruguay, and Florence. In Canada, the progressive city of Guelph overviews a budget system nearly independent from government funding, Montréal MPs are enthusiastic and supportive of the idea, and researchers in Toronto are lobbying the mayor for making ten per cent of the budget participatory by 2010. With the World Bank now using the buzzword of 'participation' and with most NGOs in agreement, chances are this initiative will soon reach you, wherever you are.

Sources

"Participatory Budgeting Resources." The Centre for Human Settlements. 28 Oct. 2004. 29 May 2005 <http://www.chs.ubc.ca/participatory/resources.htm>.

Schugurensky, Daniel. "Participatory Budget: A tool for democratizing democracy." Toronto. Metro Hall, 29 Apri. 2004.

"The Paradox of Democracy." The Centre for Human Settlements. 29 May 2005. <http://www.chs.ubc.ca/participatory/docs/Paradox%20of%20Democracy.htm>.

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