Can we all govern?

The documentary Us Now, produced by Banyak Films (England), shows how self-organizing online networks are generating transformations in governments and challenging predominantly vertical hierarchies. The documentary presents real experiences of the culture of participation that prove that there is a new emerging model where we can work together, seeking ways to question the role of government, and even to participate in it.

Governmental hierarchical structures are being criticized for holding the power and the information, and for making it difficult for citizens to take initiatives and seek solutions for themselves. With the help of the internet, the founding principles of transparency, participation and openness are coming closer and closer to the mainstream of our social and political lives, in which technology catalyzes and permits new and alternative models of behaviour.

Ivo Gormley, the director of the documentary that investigates the culture of participation

Us Now takes a look at how this type of participation can transform the way that countries are governed.  It tells the stories of the online networks whose radical self-organizing structures threaten to change the fabric of government forever. The experiences presented on the film range from the fate of Ebbsfleet United, a football club owned and run by its fans, to Zopa, a bank in which everyone is the manager and Couch Surfing, a vast online network whose members share their homes with strangers. New technologies are fundamental parts of these transformations. However, it is important to understand that a revolution does not happen when a society adopts new tools, but when it adopts new behaviours.

One of the experts that participated in the documentary explains that “the great change that has been happening is the idea that everyone is available for group action. That does not mean that everyone will participate in the group action, but all can be involved.”

The more people participate in this new way to collaborate and share, the more fascinating the phenomenon of the culture of participation becomes.

Watch the documentary Us Now

André Blas