Regeneration or irrelevance: The social network is already here.

“Elites and dominant structures will be overwhelmed by new social movements, which base their legitimacy on authenticity and transparency.” Manuel Castells 2002

In the recent municipal elections, Spaniards overwhelmingly expressed their willingness to change the current two-party political system for a new way of doing politics, one that is more participatory, more plural and transparent and, therefore, more in line with the diversity of a hyperconnected society. Social redarchy is already a reality in our country.

The results of the municipal elections, with the emergence of two new political parties, Podemos and Ciudadanos, show a new political era and the decline of the two-party system. The great paradox is that we do not yet have an alternative model and that a large part of the structural solutions to the challenges of globalization are not at the country level, even though this is the area where participatory democracy materializes.

One of the most significant features of the changes we are experiencing is the active participation of young people in political action. This is the first generation of digital natives, for whom the internet, social networks, Facebook or Twitter are not a mere technology, but their own operating system, so to speak, a key piece in their way of interpreting the world, which, without any doubt, will have a radical impact on their values and expectations for the future. Far from ignoring social reality, young people have shown solidarity with those most disadvantaged by the economic crisis and have shown that they are willing to do everything possible to ensure that politicians keep their promises, listen to them and allow them to contribute in open organizations, instead of opaque party apparatuses dedicated to maintaining the status quo.

This weekend with their vote, a large majority of citizens have made it clear that they consider the disappearance of absolute majorities and the emergence of new parties to join those in power that have been in power for our democracy. Let’s hope that the leaders and the political parties take good note of what is happening, the elections have not only shown a generalized social rejection against the traditional parties, but have made clear in the case of Izquierda Unida and UPyD, the two options that they have for the future: regeneration or irrelevance.

Social Networking: The New Emerging Order

The municipal elections have been the chronicle of a change foretold. The 15M Movement It was a clear first example of an emerging social redarchy, a new cultural and technological paradigm and an innovative way of organizing in community without a specific ideological approach that nevertheless spread at an accelerated pace, driven by the transparency of global networks, which have left the gap separating the expectations of citizens and the vested interests of the dominant political elites in plain sight to the whole world.

The new ways of doing politics, decentralized and participatory, are the model of the future. These newly emerging social movements adopt different forms, values, and beliefs according to the specific needs of the cause that gave them their reason for existing. They are, in other words, authentic black swans who, regardless of whether they show outrage at political corruption, mobilize to stop an eviction, defend a fairer world, demand decent work, reject global banking or propose new alternative ways of life, have a clear common goal: to transform society and question the status quo of political power as an extractive elite.

The citizens’ commitment to the new emerging parties represents the end of a long period of opacity and lack of participation, in which citizens have felt how institutions and political leaders were increasingly distant from social reality, and only remembered them in the elections. For this reason, the emergence of this new way of doing politics is a hope and a real breath of fresh air. The tools for participation are now fully operational, and available to leaders and parties who are willing to open the doors and windows in their organizations. It remains to be seen whether they are prepared to renounce the iron grip and opacity that have traditionally guided political action. Because transparency and real opportunities for direct participation are the best antidotes to the distance and indifference of citizens.

New parties for new citizens

The new citizens, the new generations of digital natives, live connected, learn, process information, innovate, collaborate, mobilize and do things in a substantially different way than previous generations. That is why they do not understand the closed and opaque structures of today’s political parties; They wonder, not without reason, why they don’t coordinate the collective effort based on structures that are more open to participation, such as those they themselves use on the social web every day.

The elections have shown that it is not true that there are no real alternatives to our political system, the party of Pablo Iglesias and Albert Rivera in a matter of months have captured the will of millions of citizens with hardly any territorial organizational structure and without the resources provided by experience in power. The problem is that there is no political will to do what needs to be done, which is not a few small “reforms” in the political parties or minor changes in their governing bodies, but a true reinvention of our institutions as a whole based on new values such as transparency, openness and citizen participation. necessary to regain lost credibility and reconnect with real society.

The new emerging parties are three-dimensional: they have in common a network dimension that has to do with the set of nodes and links that facilitate relationships, a community dimension that makes possible the development of a collective identity and a dimension of values, focused on solidarity, authenticity, transparency and the fight against corruption. The mere fact of collaborating and sharing on an equal footing generates interactions, proposals and innovative solutions, and allows citizen mobilization to be transferred, in a natural way, to the issues that really concern citizens and add value to society. This is the essence of social redarchy.

Social redarchy is not a question of technology, but of ethics, values, culture and leadership. The Redarchy, as the engine of the necessary changes in political parties, allow us not only to open up parties to society, but also to create new frameworks of contribution for militants, to promote the emergence of true activists who defend change who oppose the current status quo, to reduce fear of change and to increase confidence, the collaboration and collective innovation needed to meet the challenges of their transformation.

Citizens have spoken and made their expectations clear: the fight against corruption, policies against inequality and democratic regeneration. Now come the negotiations and the possible pacts between parties, thus opening a second transition in Spain in which bipartisan schemes are left behind to make way for new protagonists. Just as in the most difficult moments of the previous transition we were able to find the collective will to overcome differences, in these moments we need to regenerate our democracy again, and connect with the collective will of a society that requires efficiency, solidarity, transparency, and ethics in its institutions. Then the collective dream was the transition from dictatorship to democracy, now the collective dream is the regeneration of our democracy through the action and political participation of citizens.