We are publishing «On the Threshold. 11 Challenges for the Future of Democracy»

How to imagine the democracy of the future? What are the challenges facing democracy? These are the questions we have put to Remedios Zafra, Fernando Broncano and Jaume Peris from the Futures Laboratory. On the threshold. 11 challenges for the future of democracy it is the answer they have given us, and it is published in the first issue of Poliniza, the new collection from Concomitentes Editora.

The authors clearly set out the dilemma in which we find ourselves: «The feeling is of finding ourselves at a threshold moment, as humanity's potential is ambivalent: there are possibilities of entering a dark age of violence and authoritarianism, but also of moving beyond the capitalist model of exploiting the world. We find ourselves at a moment when the edge between these two spaces of possibility can be glimpsed.» They identify three major areas of tension in contemporary democracies: the ecological, technological and cultural transitions. They agree that the common challenge is to continue placing agency at the centre, the possibility of intervening in that which modifies our lives, from the declaration of a nature reserve to the use of AI or technological sovereignty.

Without wishing to exhaust the debate, and with the intention of outlining the major challenges facing the future of democracy, the essay sets out eleven challenges: the care revolution and the democracy of interdependence; reinventing democratic participation; towards a common culture and a culture of the commons; beyond consensus societies; repositioning art and creativity; a constituent culture; education for the future; infrastructures for democracy; freeing life-time from the framework of productivity; despectacularising life; a future where the poor will also judge tomorrow.

This publication is not an isolated academic essay: it stems from the agreement between Concomitentes and the University of Alcalá's Futures Laboratory, and is part of the programme More democracy, with the support of the Commissioner for 50 Years of Spain in Freedom and the collaboration of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. With this, Concomitentes is launching Poliniza, a new publishing collection that aims to open up a space for collective reflection and to build bridges between artistic practices, territories and communities that would otherwise be unlikely to come into contact.

That it is Concomitentes driving this reflection is no coincidence: it is an organisation that works from art in the service of citizen agency, and this publication directly connects that fieldwork with the theoretical thought of three reference authors, closing the circle between participatory artistic practice and critical reflection on democracy.

Where can I get this fanzine?

On the threshold. 11 challenges for the future of democracy it can be downloaded for free here, or purchased in hard copy through the Concomitentes shop, a direct way to help sustain the organisation's work.