Carola Rackete: 'Politics is complex and often “yes” or “no” is not the answer'

Carola Rackete answers a question by Virginia Fiume, coordinator of Eumans, about the importance of individual responsibility and the combination of participatory democracy and other types of actions.

The video was shooted in Bruxelles on the 2nd of October during an event organized by Agir pour la Paix.

**Virginia Fiume - question**

You showed us how individual responsibility is super important. 
And what I would like to ask you is what’s your take on participatory democracy? 
I am personally coordinating two European Citizens Initiatives
Which is a kind of a weak participatory democracy tool in the European Union 
But as Carola was saying things are all together. 
So one ECI is on the rule of law for the respect of the rule of law and fundamental rights in the European Union (
And the other one is on Carbon Pricing and increasing taxes on emissions and then use the revenues for ecological transition (
So my question to you is what you think about initiatives led by the citizens 
And that can support the Commission and at the same time connect the citizens 
And that together with civil disobedience and other type of initiatives can create a change. 
What is your take on this type of actions


Carola - Answer

I personally think it is great initiative because I see in the so called democratic state there is not a great amount of possibilities for citizens to engage in a practical sense to form legislations. 
So very often we are just down to voting every four years. 
Whilst if you think about countries for example like Switzerland you are able to answer certain policies. 
But it is often a Yes or No question. And we all know that politics is complex and often “yes” or “no”is not the answer. 
So participatory democracy and deliberating complex problems with a group of people aided by experts which show you and really getting to talk through a topic over a longer time frame I think it is a very very good idea. 
I have been also thinking about that a lot when I was thinking about how we are going to manage the global commons. Because we are not going to see this problems working easily at a local level, maybe starting at a council or at a national level. But we also have to thing towards the future. And the world is globalised now. So if you think about the global atmosphere, who is going to manage this global commons. So engaging citizens into the actual structure and taking care of the planet is incredibly important.

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