Achieving Political Inclusion - Part II

                             Everyone already know that I have been excluded from elections since 2012, when I wanted to be a candidate and the party said to me that they had enough candidates, there was not place for one more.  I don't know why they have denying me this right, since the population here where I have been living since I was born seems to want me as a politician. And now I feel that support for my political rights coming from everywhere else. I'd like to thank all demonstrations of support here in Brazil and abroad. United we are stronger for the common good. The governance of a country, state or city is a very important issue, because directly or indirectly affect all of us. We all should get involved and give our opinions in order to improve our life's conditions now and in the future. Due to increasingly polarization in politics, nowadays there is a lot of personal attacks instead debates of the many policies required for a better country, state or city. Some issues should unite us all, for example: the fight against human rights violations, including homicides and other most basic rights, the fight against corruption, The fight against political exclusion, the fight for a better education, and of course, the fight for a better democracy with freedom of expression and governmental transparency.   This week, the second part of the book with the title above published at   https://www.gmfus.org/sites/default/files/achieving_political_inclusion.pdf

               Every citizen have the opportunity for their vote to be counted and also to make sure that the suppression of diverse voices and diverse voters becomes a thing of the past. We have a lot of work to do. We should make sure that all people are included, respected and valued thus allowing us to develop a culture of community that inspires all of us to work together to safeguard democracy. Voting rights advocates have been clamoring for years about the crisis we face with the use of old and outdated voting equipment. When we talk about our system being broken, one thing that comes to mind is voting machines that do not have paper backup as well all witnessed in Florida during the Bush Gore election of 2000. A Pew Research Center report finds the American public have expressed declining confidence and trust in our institutions, our media, our government. We have to understand that this system is still one of the best in the world. It is everybody's right to say, I am going to vote, I want my vote to be counted, I want to be educated about the issues and how to vote so that we can continue to have confidence in the system. Since confidence is fundamental to supporting freedom and democracy. It is vitally important we have inclusive, democratic institutions and political parties. A key element in this challenge is senior political leadership. What do we mean by senior leadership? Two things: first is for leaders to acknowledge and own the uncomfortable truths about democratic deficits and lack of representation. Without this acknowledgement, you can not deal with the problem. It is such an important step. The second is for senior leadership to have a comprehensive plan to address this deficit, and to gain buy-in from other leaders. The second aspect is a bottom-up approach. That is the civic and political empowerment of communities. The danger of having only bottom-up is that you get political enclaves that do not see beyond their own group. The danger of just having top-down is that you end up with patronage politics in which the leader will hand pick a few minority candidates who do not represent the community. It is critical to engage in both top-down and bottom-up with a philosophy that diverse views are beneficial to the whole of society. Representation is the greatest catalyst to inclusive policy making and achieving change in politics and society. Who should occupy which positions is the great employment question. If people are excluded from that question, can we say our government is truly democratic? If people are in their bubble and always meet the same people, then it is easier to discriminate. At times, even without thinking that you are discriminating because you are unaware. Civic engagement is about making people feel empowered, knowing that through their voice and actions that can make a difference in their communities and the wider world. Increasing civic participation is about working with people demonstrating how they can be change makers in their society. A campaign called GetInvolved, teaching underrepresented young people  in the U.K. why politics matters. One of the missions on the GetInvolved programme is to highlight to young people the importance of being politically active and how they can partake. Following training, the program paired participants with political representatives in their area so they could put new skills into practice. The results were staggering. In addition to graduates working in cabinet, cityhalls, parliament, and standing as candidates, we have proudly produced 5000 new activists while also successfully registering thousands of new voters. Civic education is one key to reversing a mindset of disempowerment. Developing and sharing on pertinent issues and the impact they have helps give people the impulse to be politically active. Civic engagement is not taught enough in our schools. How can we hope to achieve inclusion when we do not have the same access to political life and then do not receive information on how to contribute effectivelly in our political system. Online tools and social media provide powerful mechanisms for the public to participate in political action and share information concerning politics, elections, and major issues facing their communities. This only works if everybody is able to fully participate without fear of being attacked, and if the information is reliable. By their nature, tools like Twitter and Facebook allow conversations to happen instantaneously across borders and divides that have historically created challenges to organizing. Social media has become an essential component of public debate. However, harassment and discrimination has become a feature of many of the major platforms. Efforts to combat these hateful activities include direct support for targets of attacks through organizations like TrollBusters and policy proposals to address the systemic issues of platform governance.