How to Imagine a Better Future for Democracy | adrienne maree brown and Baratunde Thurston | TED

Summary

このスクリプトは、市民という言葉の力とそれに関連する人々内にある潜在能力について語る対話です。Baratunde Thurstonは「市民」を動詞として扱い、その4つの基本原則を紹介します。Adrienne Maree Brownは「分形」という観点から市民を考え、地球の様々な現象と共通する構造を指摘します。彼らは変化が必然であると同時に、変化の中でどのように協力し、問題解決に貢献するかについて議論します。また、市民としての経験と、それを改善するための新しい民主主義の形を模索することの重要性を強調しています。

Takeaways

• 🌟 「市民」とは行動を意味する動詞であるという考え方。市民になることは、登場し、自分が役割を果たすことを意味する。
• 🔍 市民になるには4つの基本原則がある。登場し、役割を果たすこと、権力を理解し、そのリテラシーを持つこと、個人だけでなく集団の自我にコミットすること、そして自分自身、他人、そして周りの地球との関係に投資すること。
• 🌱 「市民」とはまた、より大きなものに属する「フラクタル」であるという視点。国境を超えた集団、土地、自己、コミュニティへの属する感覚を大事にし、正義や未来への属する感覚を大切にする。
• 🌐 変化は定義であり避けられない。市民は変化と共にあり、変化と正しい関係を築く必要があると感じる。
• 🤔 市民は政府が求めるものと異なるものを求めることがあるという問題に直面し、どのようにして異なるものを求める市民のニーズに応えるかを問いかけている。
• 🌍 市民はグローバルなパターンの一環として自分たちを見つけ、他の場所からの学びを生かして共通の問題に対処する必要がある。
• 📱 ソーシャルメディアは直接コミュニケーションを可能にし、世界中の人々が直面する問題に対する共感と責任感を高める。
• 🤝 市民は互いに信頼し、集団として協力し、問題解決に向けて協力する必要がある。
• 💭 想像力の練習が重要で、市民は自分たちが生きたい世界を想像し、そのような世界を創造することができる。
• 🌱 ケアと修復の練習が市民として重要な役割を果たし、人々が互いにケアし、修復を提供し、信頼と共存を築く必要がある。
• 🎉 市民は新しい民主主義の誕生と新しい市民としてのプラクティスを通じて、新しい社会を創造し、参加する喜びを感じることができる。

Q & A

「シチズンシップ」とはどのような意味を持つ言葉ですか？

「シチズンシップ」は動詞として捉えられており、4つの基本原則に基づいています。それは現れ、役割を果たすこと、権力を理解しそのリテラシーを持つこと、個々の自己ではなく集団の自己にコミットすること、そして自分自身、他人、そして私たちを取り巻く地球との関係に投資することです。

adrienne maree brownはどのようにして「シチズン」という言葉を定義していますか？

adrienne maree brownは「シチズン」を「フラクタル」として捉えており、自分自身がより大きな何かの一部であると感じることが重要だと考えています。これは国境よりも大きな関心事を持つポストナショナリストとして定義されています。

変化が不変であるという考えにどのように関連していますか？

変化は不変であり、避けることのできないものとされています。生き残るすべての種は変化と適応し、正当な関係を築く必要があります。

adrienne maree brownはどのようにして集団とつながる新しい方法について考えていますか？

adrienne maree brownはソーシャルメディアを通じて人々が直接的なコミュニケーションを取り、それにより感情的な責任を負うことができ、グローバルなパターンに自分が属していることに気づくという点を挙げています。

民主主義が機能していないと感じる場合、どのように変革を促すことができますか？

変革を促すためには、まず自分自身を変え、価値観を体現し、システムが変革を促すように求める必要があります。同時に、システムも変革を必要とし、それによって私たち自身も変革を経験します。

シチズンシップの経験としてどのような感覚を望ましいとされていますか？

シチズンシップの経験としては、挫折、怒り、無視、緊張感を望ましくないという点に加えて、聞かれ、属する感覚、他人に見られる勇気、そして信頼感を持ちたいとされています。

私たちが直面している問題に対する解決策として、どのようなアプローチを提案されていますか？

提案されているアプローチは、ケアと修復です。問題が発生した際に修復が可能な社会を築き、人々がケアを提供し相互に信頼し合える社会を作ることです。

現在の民主主義の危機に対してどのように対応するべきですか？

現在の民主主義の危機に対しては、受け入れと新たな民主主義の誕生を同時に認識し、新しいプラクティスを模索しながら、過去のシステムと別れの儀式を行っていく必要があります。

adrienne maree brownはなぜ「ケア」が重要な要素とされていますか？

adrienne maree brownはケアを通じて集団に対しての関心と支援を示すことが重要であり、それが社会的に築かれたケアの形として健康保障、教育、生活と死亡へのケアに反映されると述べています。

adrienne maree brownはなぜ「修復」を重要視していますか？

修復は過去の過ちを癒やすプロセスであり、社会的に正義と平和を回復させるために必要不可欠です。修復が行われなければ、暴力や不正義が日常生活に慣れてしまうことになります。

未来の民主主義を創造するために、どのようなアプローチが必要とされていますか？

未来の民主主義を創造するためには、多様性を持った多くの「葬式」と「赤ちゃん Shower」が必要であり、個々が抱える悲しみを共有し、新しい世界を助産する必要があるとされています。

Outlines

00:00

🤔 市民としての力と責務

Baratunde Thurstonは市民という言葉から始まり、市民を動詞として扱うメディア運動「How to Citizen」について話します。市民になるとは、参加し、役割を果たすこと、権力を理解し、リテラシーを持つこと、個人だけでなく集団の自我にコミットすること、そして自分自身、他人、そして私たちを取り巻く地球との関係に投資することです。市民は招待されていない人々からの期待を超えた行動を求めるものです。adrienne maree brownは、市民についてフラクタルという観点から考え、市民は自分自身よりも大きなものに属するフラクタルであり、国境よりも大きな問題に対処するポストナショナリストの立場を持つべきだと述べます。

05:01

🌐 変化と共に生きる

二人は変化が定着し、加速していると認識し、それに対応するために人々はお互いに依存するべきだと語ります。彼らは市民としての経験について尋ね合い、どのように感じたいかを共有します。彼らは変化の中で安定感と信頼を得るために、互いに問い合わせ、新しい価値観を共有し、それを具体化する必要があると結び付けます。

10:02

🔧 ケアと修復の重要性

brownはケアと修復の概念に焦点を当て、米国が植民地主義的行為を通じて建国され、その後もその傷を癒すことなくさらに傷つけたと批判します。彼女は深い修復が必要なと主張し、ケアと修復を実践することで社会にケアが根付くと信じています。Thurstonは問題を解決するためにはリーダーだけでなく、全員の才能と経験が必要であり、調停者として機能する人々が必要なと同意します。

15:03

🌟 想像力の力

二人は想像力の力について話し合い、新しい民主主義の誕生と新しい市民の集会、投票方法、直接民主主義、審議民主主義、地域住民が運営する庭園などが新しい形の市民活動として提唱されています。彼らは民主主義の危機を認めつつ、新しい形の民主主義の誕生を祝うべきだと結び付けます。

Keywords

💡市民（シミン）

「市民」は、このビデオの中心となる概念です。バーアトゥンデとアドリエンヌは市民を動詞的に捉え、市民になる行為として4つの基本原則を提唱しています。彼らは市民になることの意味を探求し、人々が社会に参加し、役割を果たすことの重要性を強調しています。

💡変化（ヘンカ）

変化はビデオの重要なテーマの一つで、アドリエンヌは複雑性科学からインスピレーションを受けています。変化は定常であり避けることのできないものとされ、市民として変化と関係を築く方法を模索しています。彼らは変化の中でも何らかの安定性を見つけるために互いに頼り合うことが重要だと述べています。

💡分形（フラクタル）

アドリエンヌは「分形」という言葉を使って、市民がより大きな何かの一部として存在するという考え方を示しています。分形は小さなスケールから大きなスケールまで同じ構造が繰り返される性質を持つと説明されており、市民はそのような繰り返し構造の一環として行動するべきだとしています。

💡集団的自己（シュウダンテキジコ）

バーアトゥンデが提唱する市民の原則の一つに「集団的自己」があります。これは個人的な自己だけでなく、集団の自己にもコミットする考え方を指しており、個々人がより大きな集団の一部として考えることの重要性を強調しています。

💡関係（カンケイ）

関係はビデオの重要な概念で、市民になる行為は自分自身、他人、そして周囲のplanetとの関係に投資することとされています。彼らは関係を築くことの重要性を強調し、それが市民として関与する上で不可欠であると述べています。

💡権力（ケンリョク）

市民になる行為の中で、権力を理解し、その中のリテラシーを持つことが重要だとバーアトゥンデが述べています。市民は権力の構造を理解し、それを通じて社会に積極的に関与する能力を持つべきだとしています。

💡ケアと修復（ケアトシュウフク）

アドリエンヌはケアと修復の概念を取り上げ、市民として社会の傷を癒やすために行動するべきだとしています。ケアは他人への関心と支援を意味し、修復は問題を解決し、和解を促進するプロセスです。彼らは市民がこれらの概念を実践し、社会の疎通と癒着を促進するべきだと主張しています。

💡想像力（ソウゾウリョク）

想像力は新しい社会を創る上で重要な役割を果たし、バーアトゥンデとアドリエンヌは市民が新しい社会を想像し、その実現に向けた行動を取る力を持っていると述べています。彼らは想像力を通じて市民が社会を変える可能性を示唆しています。

💡協力（キョウリョク）

協力は市民として関与する上で欠かせない概念で、ビデオでは人々が互いに協力し、問題解決に向けた集団的なアプローチを取るべきだと述べています。彼らは協力が市民として関与し、社会を変える上で必要不可欠であると強調しています。

💡民主主義（ミンシュシギ）

民主主義はビデオの重要なテーマで、バーアトゥンデとアドリエンヌは現在の民主主義の危機と新たな実践の誕生について話しています。彼らは民主主義の限界を認識し、市民が新たな形の民主主義を創り上げる過程に関与するべきだと述べています。

Highlights

Baratunde Thurston introduces the concept of 'citizen' as a verb with four basic principles.

Citizenship involves showing up and assuming a role to play.

Understanding and being literate in power is key to being a citizen.

Committing to the collective self is emphasized over individual self-interest.

Investing in relationships with oneself, others, and the planet is a core aspect of citizening.

adrienne maree brown discusses the concept of 'fractal' in relation to citizenship.

Being a fractal means belonging to something larger than oneself, beyond national borders.

Citizenship is about being a part of the global community and addressing global problems.

Social media allows for direct communication and emotional responsibility on a global scale.

The importance of learning from others and practicing humility in the face of global challenges.

The idea of change as a constant and inevitable aspect of life and society.

The need for a new approach to democracy that includes satisfaction and a sense of belonging.

The concept of 'care and repair' as a fundamental practice for a better society.

The necessity of deep repair to address historical and ongoing injustices.

Facilitation as a method for caring for a group and a potential role for leaders.

The recognition that our problems are too big for one leader to solve and require collective effort.

The need for both a funeral for the old democracy and a baby shower for the new democracies being born.

The importance of practicing imagination and creating a world that we want to live in.

The call to action for everyone to participate in the birthing of a new world.

Transcripts

Baratunde Thurston: I want to start with this word, citizen.

And we've both been doing work

around tapping into the power of the people,

the power within people.

And context for me is that I've been co-creator and producer

and partial voice of this media movement called How to Citizen,

where we take citizen to be a verb.

It's something you do.

And there are four basic principles behind it.

To citizen is to show up

and assume you have a role to play.

To citizen is to understand power and be literate in it,

as Eric Liu would say.

To citizen is to commit to the collective self,

not just the individual self

and thus we can still be selfish.

We just have to expand the self circle.

And finally to citizen is to invest in relationships,

with yourself,

with others and with the planet around us,

because there's no separation among all those things.

And for us and for me,

this was born in part out of a lack of invitation

to do more on the part of the people,

give me your money, vote for me.

And kind of stop there.

How do you think about this word, citizen,

what it means or what it can mean?

adrienne maree brown: First of all, I really like four pillars.

I mean, I really like when there's, like, a clear lineup.

I'm not going to give you that.

(Laughter)

I love it.

BT: That's why we have different people on the stage.

AMB: That's why I love it.

So for me, I think of the word fractal.

You know, a few years ago, I got deep into emergent science,

complexity sciences.

Because I wanted to understand

how does everything in the world actually work

and everything works through changing.

I just wanted to understand everything.

And I was like, change is constant, change is inevitable.

And so it means every species that survives on Earth

gets in right relationship with change.

And then inside of that,

it's about being a fractal of something larger than yourself.

So fractal is the fact that things go to the very smallest scale

and up to the largest scale,

and you can see the repetition,

you can see the selfsame structure, broccoli, ferns, dandelions,

you know, looking at a delta and looking at our lungs, right?

You can see that these patterns repeat.

So to me, citizen is being a fractal of belonging to this species, right?

And I don't think of it as nation.

I think of myself as a post-nationalist

because we have these larger concerns than just what's within a border.

But so far humans have said within each border,

now we're going to try to operate a certain way.

So for me, I'm like, how am I a fractal of belonging?

How do I belong to the land, to myself, to community?

How am I a fractal of justice inside of my community,

or a fractal of the future

that I really want to see come into being, right?

And so that's how I live my life.

Every day, I'm like,

maybe we don't live in the world that I envision,

the world that feels just to me yet,

but I can be a fractal of that world now.

That's to me what a citizen is.

BT: Be a fractal.

The idea of change is a really important one,

and I think that change is inevitable.

And accelerating.

And so we are living in this confluence of many changes at once.

The climate is changing, the economics are changing,

the technology that allows us to relate or not is changing pretty constantly.

So we've got to find something else to hold on to amidst that change.

I propose each other

as an answer to what we could rely on

when everything else seems to be undergoing change.

There's a series of questions

that we could be asking ourselves in this time

about what are other ways we can process,

talk about, think about citizening,

as a verb.

What are some of the questions you're carrying?

AMB: Well, I mean, we've got some problems.

And I think one of the biggest ones for me

is how frequently we see people wanting one thing

and the government doing something else.

And this is in places that are supposed to be democratic, evolved,

with representational governments, right?

And it's not new, right?

It seems to be like a very old problem.

And we've seen this cycle happen over and over again.

So, you know, we can say it's the climate change.

I call it a climate catastrophe.

I'm like, we're past the time when we need to pay attention.

Changes are now turning into something catastrophic.

We're in a period of war,

we're in a period of genocide, we're in a period of harmful pain,

we're in a period where apartheid still happens, slavery still happens.

And these are things that --

I've never met any people who are like,

"That's what I want.

I want my government to go out and destroy the climate, harm people."

That's not what I want.

But people are like, "I do want you to keep me safe,

and I do want to have a place to be."

How can we get there?

So the big question I have is, if what we are doing is not working,

how do we together change to something else?

And how do we do it in a way that connects us?

Because our problems are global.

So how do we get into a sense of global community

that is answering those problems?

BT: Do you have an answer?

AMB: You know I do.

(Laughter)

I think that we are in this really magical moment of organizing

and social media.

You know, social media has a lot of drawbacks.

But I think one of the things that we're seeing in this moment

is it has the great benefit of allowing us to be in direct communication,

and this, thus direct emotional responsibility

for so much more than we ever had to be before.

But that also shows us that we're in patterns

that are larger than my town,

my school, my community.

I'm like, oh, I'm in a global pattern.

I'm not the only person who feels oppressed inside my nation.

I'm in a pattern of people who feel that way.

If we all connect,

what can we practice that we're learning from other places, right?

And for me, I really look,

I remember this, as things were arising in Ferguson

and being like, oh,

how do we handle what's happening in Ferguson?

How do we handle the need for Black life to matter?

And I remember turning and looking at Palestinians

and them sending us wisdom

and being like, oh, we're facing some similar struggles,

and we're not the only ones.

There's people all over the world who are facing these struggles.

Right now, the climate crisis is impacting anyone who lives near the water already.

So there’s communities that are already figuring out, how do we move?

We're not going to be the first to figure that out.

I come from a politic that we're never the first ones

to try to face the problem.

We're never the first, and we will not be the last.

Our job is to move it along.

And there's a humility.

This is not the answer that anyone wants,

but there's a deep humility of being able to say, "We don't know."

And I think that as Americans,

we almost never say that.

Our internal empire is always so strong

that we're like, we know what to do,

and we're going to tell everyone else what to do.

I'm like, what if we don't?

What if we are failing at democracy

and we can't export that to anyone else?

What if we have to learn about it from others?

BT: I am holding space for what you just shared, thank you.

And ...

On this question, the fractal comes back a lot.

And I think this gap between what a government does

and what people want

in so many ways, being so large, is also this loop of an opportunity

where sometimes what needs to change is us

in order for the systems that we produce to change.

But we also need the systems to change so that we can change.

AMB: And it's a crisis, it's urgent.

BT: So it’s this Möbius strip of like, parallel changes required.

AMB: That's right.

BT: And it's not just demanding you be different

and live by these values.

It's expecting myself to do the same.

To be and embody these values.

AMB: That's right.

BT: And I think on the citizen front,

I'm thinking a lot about what it means to be satisfied

in the experience of citizening.

Like, how do we want to feel?

I know how I don't want to feel.

AMB: I’m very familiar with that.

BT: I don’t want to feel frustrated,

and angry and unheard and tense.

I want my shoulders to drop.

I want to feel heard.

I want to feel belonging.

I want to feel like other people see me

and that I'm not afraid to see them.

I don't want to feel afraid at all.

I want to feel trust.

And so if we can articulate that and give voice to that,

not just who do you want to be elected or what policy do you want to shift,

but what's the experience of being together

that you want to be a part of?

And then design from that.

AMB: That's a good idea.

(Laughter)

I like that, I love that.

This satisfaction piece to me too,

I think we've gone through so many cycles of being dissatisfied,

and not being able to create the changes we wanted

so that it becomes normal, right?

It becomes like, oh, that's just what it is to be.

That's just what it is.

I'm like, that's what it has been.

And that's because we're living inside the imagination of people

who did not benefit in any way from us changing things, right?

So to me,

part of the satisfaction is also saying I get to imagine

and you get to imagine and you get to imagine,

and disabled people get to imagine,

Indigenous people get to imagine,

you, especially.

Nice hats, everybody.

And whoever's watching this, also, you get to imagine, like, imagine.

It would be so satisfying to me to say,

I imagine a world in which the children that I love are safe,

and I can make that happen.

Oh, that's so simple.

But it's so what I want.

BT: There's an expansion possible here.

And, you know, the practice of citizening

and belonging and mutual care for each other,

I think our muscles have atrophied a bit, but it's never too late.

AMB: I'm like, wait, practices?

I wrote that down.

(Laughter)

BT: How do we continue to practice?

AMB: OK, I have one main thought I'll come to, OK?

BT: I like the countdown.

AMB: So I think it's all wrapped up in this ball of care and repair.

I think really what it is, is care and repair.

If we are in a practice where, when things go awry,

we know we can repair them,

and we think about repair and we have mediation

and we have facilitators who are like,

"Oh, my job is to bring some repair into the circumstance."

I think that then means we can believe it when people say they care

and offer care to us.

So, you know, I think we're living on an open wound right now.

You know, I'm critical of the United States

because we were founded through a genocidal colonial act,

and we never actually repaired it.

And then we kept building on top of it with more harm.

I'm here because of harmful acts,

and we kept building and building on top of it, and we never repaired.

And so without that repair

now, it's normal to live in an extremely violent,

extremely unjust world

because that's what we created, that's what was founded, right?

So I think we need deep repair.

And then I can believe,

Oh, this place actually cares about my existence.

And then care is built into our society.

Healthcare, educational care,

like, care for how people live and die,

care for how people feel.

I'm like, I don't want to feel

like you're just manipulating me with acts of care.

I want to feel like you really see me from birth to death

as something that belongs to you, and you belong to me.

And if things go awry, I will repair them.

And I can care for you.

And you can believe me, because I show you in my actions,

not just in my speeches every four years,

but in everyday actions, you see my care.

BT: So you're practicing care.

AMB: You're practicing care, and I'm a facilitator.

So to me, it's like facilitation is the way you care for a group.

I would rather elect facilitators-in-chief.

I would rather have facilitators running every town.

I'm like, I'm tired of pontification.

I want people who care and who know how to hold people with care.

BT: I really feel that.

And I think there's a mathematical obviousness to the fact

that our problems are too big for one leader to solve.

AMB: Say it.

BT: We need all of our talents, all of our experiences,

all of our failures to be brought to bear

on our problems and our opportunities.

We need a facilitation, a facilitator,

a way to bring all this together and coordinate it

so that we can unlock this greater strength

that we have only together.

And the other path is predictably unsatisfactory.

AMB: We're never going to get there.

BT: But it's alluring.

AMB: I think orgasmic yes, right?

BT: Orgasmic yes!

AMB: Orgasmic yes,

I'm like, a democratic place should be an orgasmic yes.

Where you're like, I can go out and say what I want

and we can co-create that.

I think, that's what the intention was once.

I think that's what it needs to be now.

I love the idea that we get to create it through our practices now.

BT: I want to close this on the practice of imagination

and some of the acknowledgment you have brought up.

And one of the ways I categorize where we are

is holding two truths at the same time.

Democracy is dying.

It is in crisis.

The version we've inherited, some of it needs to die.

It was not designed for all of us.

It is not fit for the current circumstance as implemented.

We can acknowledge that end

and we need to have ceremony around that.

And we can acknowledge the new democracies that are being born,

the new practices,

the citizens assemblies, the new polling methodologies,

the direct democracies, the deliberative democracies,

the community-operated gardens

that are giving us ways to see each other,

care for each other and practice citizening together.

And so we have to have a funeral and a baby shower.

AMB: That's right.

BT: At the same time.

AMB: I really love this.

And the only thing I would add to it, right,

because I keep thinking about how there's not one way

and I think as humans,

we're supposed to let go of the idea that there's one way.

I think we need to have many funerals and many babies born, right?

So there's a lot to grieve,

and only you know which part of the grief you're carrying,

but everyone's got a part of it.

And if you all get to lay it in the ground

and then we all show up for each other,

I'm going to show up for yours, you show up for mine,

and then we all get to doula the next world into being.

I mean, it's a really great job.

I don't know if you've ever been at a birth,

but can you imagine birthing a world we wanted to live in

and that wanted us there?

Let's go, let's do that.

BT: Let's go and then tell that story so we can live that story.

AMB: Let's do it. I'm in.

BT: I'm in with you.

BT: Adrienne.

AMB: Baratunde.

BT: Thank you.

(Applause)