Cuban Democratic Representative System - Written for Free to Thrive by Sergio Lub – April 7, 2023
Visiting Cuba with friends some years ago, I was told about their unusual version of democratic representation in which all participants get to know and work with each other.
What I understood is that each family appoints one of its members to be their spokesperson in their neighborhood (their street in a city, or a sector in rural areas), to gather monthly for a potluck meal with about 20 other family representatives to discuss problems that need to be addressed communally.
This way each representative gets to know and learn the viewpoint of their neighbors.
These informal meetings can be observed by other family members (normally elders), who can in turn advice their representatives.
They conclude each gathering recording their reported problems, proposed solutions to address them, any novel initiatives suggested, and their group transparent votes on each issue: Vetoed (-2), Opposed (-1), Needing More Details (0), Supported (+1), Offered to Help Implementing It. (+2).
Decisions are mostly by consensus and one veto postpones the issue and invites it to be reintroduced with changes in the future, thus encouraging conflicting details to be explored out of the meeting.
Those representatives offering help to implement a group decision gather later with other supporters to start tackling the approved job to be done and select a coordinator to report their progress in future meetings.
This Level One of representative democracy also elects (or reaffirms), among its members a Secretary to convene its gatherings and record its work, a group Overseer to monitor the implementation of its decisions, and a Representative to Level Two to address the issues that affect other nearby neighborhoods.
This process is repeated for their town, city, county, region, province level so by their 7th Level decisions are taken at the national level with minimum friction, by people that know and trust each other, without the need for fundraising efforts, influence from lobbyists, electoral propaganda, or posturing by divisive political parties.
I understood that some state funds supported this system but I do not know at what level the representatives pass from volunteer to being compensated for the increasing demands on their time.
I liked the assuring features that every representative knew the details of each issue they were voting on, and that they could be promptly recalled by either of the groups that elected them. As a practical example I was told how this prevision removed a national representative that was recalled by his family after his wife found out that he was having affairs while in Havana.
It would be interesting to find out more details about the Cuban experience and other similar examples, so we may make them available to those groups that wish to test how they may help in resolving their practical governance issues.
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