A popular assembly (or people's assembly) is a gathering called to address issues of importance to participants. Assemblies tend to be freely open to participation and operate by

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are repres ...

. Some assemblies are of people from a location, some from a given workplace, industry or educational establishment others are called to address a specific issue. The term is often used to describe gatherings that address, what participants feel are, the effects of a democratic deficit in representative democratic systems. Sometimes assemblies are created to form an alternative power structure, other times they work with other forms of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

As a government

Ancient Greece

Athens

Athenian democracy Athenian democracy developed around the 6th century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Although Athens is the most famous ancient Greek democratic ci ...

the

Ecclesia Ecclesia (Greek: ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') may refer to: Organizations * Ecclesia (ancient Greece) or Ekklēsia, the principal assembly of ancient Greece during its Golden Age * Ecclesia (Sparta), the citizens' assembly of Sparta, often w ...

was the assembly of all male citizens.

Modern times

New England

The

town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

is the traditional governing body of the

New England town The town is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in the six New England states. Most other U.S. states lack a direct counterpart to the New England town. New England towns overlay the entire area of a state, ...

, which in its traditional form is open to all adult residents to discuss and vote on the major issues of town government. It was founded in the colonial era as an outgrowth of church meetings, which then became secularized as a purely governmental meeting. Although larger towns have since moved to more representative forms of government, it is still widely practiced in smaller and more rural communities. The similarly named

town hall meeting Town hall meetings, also referred to as town halls or town hall forums, are a way for local and national politicians to meet with their constituents either to hear from them on topics of interest or to discuss specific upcoming legislation or ...

, where politicians meet with their constituents and discuss issues, is named after and meant to resemble the town meeting.

Mexico

At a local level, people attend a popular assembly of around 300 families in which anyone over the age of 12 can participate in decision-making. These assemblies strive to reach a consensus, but are willing to fall back to a

majority vote A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster federations A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

with other municipalities to create a region. The Zapatistas are composed of five regions, in total having a population of around 360,000 people as of 2018.

Syria

The autonomous region is ruled by a coalition which bases its policy ambitions to a large extent on democratic

libertarian socialist Libertarian socialism, also known by various other names, is a left-wing,Diemer, Ulli (1997)"What Is Libertarian Socialism?" The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 4 August 2019. anti-authoritarian, anti-statist and libertarianLong, Roderick T. (20 ...

ideology of

democratic confederalism Democratic confederalism ( ku, Konfederalîzma demokratîk), also known as Kurdish communalism or Apoism, is a Political philosophy, political concept theorized by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan about a system of democrati ...

and have been described as pursuing a model of economy that blends co-operative and market enterprise, through a system of popular assemblies in minority, cultural and religious representation. The AANES has by far the highest average salaries and

standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...

throughout Syria, with salaries being twice as large as in regime-controlled Syria; following the collapse of the

Syrian pound The Syrian pound or lira ( ar, الليرة السورية, al-līra as-sūriyya; abbreviation: LS or SP in Latin, ل.س in Arabic, historically also £S, and £Syr; ISO code: SYP) is the currency of Syria. It is issued by the Central Ban ...

the AANES doubled salaries to maintain

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

, and allow for good wages.

Examples

Curiate Assembly The Curiate Assembly (''comitia curiata'') was the principal assembly that evolved in shape and form over the course of the Roman Kingdom until the Comitia Centuriata organized by Servius Tullius. During these first decades, the people of Rome w ...

Bolivarian Circles The Bolivarian Circles ( es, Círculos bolivarianos) are political and social organizations of workers' councils in Venezuela, originally created by President Hugo Chávez on 21 December 2001.http://www.bauleros.org/TEMAS/PAISES/ARGENTINA/2001-1 ...

* European Assembly for Climate Justice 2010 *

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...

2011 *

15M movement The anti-austerity movement in Spain, also referred to as the 15-M Movement (Spanish: ''Movimiento 15-M''), and the Indignados Movement, was a series of protests, demonstrations, and occupations against austerity policies in Spain that began aro ...

assemblies 2011–present

Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002)

During the Argentine economic crisis (1999–2002) many Argentinian citizens started engaging and organising their actions through assemblies. After closure, the Chilvert printing press was occupied by workers who organised through an assembly. Within weeks of being reopened as a workers cooperative Chilvert printed a book calle
''Que son las Asembleas Populares?''
or ''What are the Popular Assemblies?'', a collection of articles written by renowned intellectuals , Stella Calloni and

Rafael Bielsa Rafael Antonio Bielsa Caldera (born February 15, 1953) is an Argentine Justicialist Party politician from Rosario, province of Santa Fe. Since 2020 he has been Argentina's ambassador to Chile. Early life and education Bielsa spent his child ...

as well as workers and participants in the assemblies. As with other workplaces, the print factory was saved from closure by the actions of a popular assembly. The military and police were blocked from entering the factory after the popular assembly of Pompeya called on barrio residents to protect the workplace. Individual police officers expressed their support for the workers and the popular assembly and successfully petitioned the judge to rescind his order to seize the factory. The assemblies movement is reported to have spiked in power rapidly and fallen from any major significance within months. It is reported that Grigera summing up his analysis of the asambleas states

no matter how progressive or "advanced" the social relationships, forms of decision-making and activities of asambleas are said to be, their small scale, lack of influence and flawed coordination between themselves and other movements render this movement unable to overcome very narrow limitations.

Cherán (2011–present)

The town of

Cherán Cherán () is a municipality located in the Mexican state of Michoacán, which is situated in the central western portion of Mexico, extending west to the Pacific Shore. Cherán itself lies in the northwestern portion of Michoacán, about west ...

in Mexico saw armed citizens kick out the corrupt police, drug cartels, and mayor in 2011. Since then they have adopted a system of popular assemblies to govern the town, which is somewhat independent of the central government.

References

"Throw them all out" Argentina's grassroots rebellion, ''Roger Burbach'', Spotlight, 2 July 2002
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External links

Peoples Assemblies - resources, news and calendar

Website for UK Education Assembly January 2011

Website for the European Assembly for Climate Justice November 2010

Via Campsenia - 1000 Cancuns

The Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca

Map of Canadian Peoples Assemblies on Climate Justice December 2010

* * Throw the bums out- Argentines seek break from begging loans, ''Roger Burbach'', 28 February 2002
Spotlight, The abyss in Argentina, ''by Roger Burbach'', 5 May 2002Popular Assemblies in Revolts and RevolutionsOccupy Movement, the Zapatista's and the General Assemblies

Beyond Resistance - Fight the Cuts build Peoples Assemblies ''by Gerry Gold & Paul Feldman'', 2010

Methods to make assemblies and meetings effective, participatory and enjoyable, ''Collaborative document'',

Connect with Occupy activists and community organizers who are coordinating trainings across the United States to build Popular Assemblies

Videos

Video
of The People's Assembly during COP15 outside the Bella Centre, Copenhagen - 16 December 2009
Peoples Assemblies Video ''by Dylan Strain''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popular Assembly Meetings Local government in the United States