Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, specifically in the Salone del 500. I love the historical continuities and discontinuities of talking about that here.
The room was first constructed under religious fanatic Savonarola, decorated by Leonardo to glorify the Florentine Republic then repainted by the Medici dukes when the palace became their principal residence after they destroyed the Republic.
It feels like civic and local democracy, and some of those civic republican traditions, are a better starting point for the reconstruction of European democracy than the narrative of nation-states.
Going back to David Runciman on @TPpodcast_ the other week, this feels like a day where the long-story, medium-story and short-story democracy are close together.
It’s also positive (says this eternal optimist) that the conversations in the last two days have not been “we’re doomed” but “we’ve got to do things differently”. Yes. The momentum is building, but institutions like the EU, and organisations like ours, still aren’t ready.
We need sustained action and support to grow skills and capacity, to open civic space, and to ensure that the offer to citizens isn’t just about the what Europe is going to do for them, but how Europe is going to do it. #sou2019
Originally posted as a thread of 6 tweets on Twitter on 3 May 2019. View the original thread.