A Parliament, as its name indicates, is a place where people go to parley. A place to have conversations. The possible implicit idea is that there are different ideas and a place is needed to meet, confront, talk about it, and seek points of agreement. A space where you can listen to others, a tribune where you can explain yourself to the rest. Everything seems to indicate that the situation has degenerated, and that right now in Parliaments everyone goes convinced of their ideas and with little desire to listen to those of others, and absolutely unwilling to change their mind. The images of our Parliaments are sufficiently pitiful: shouts, brawls, and even insults when your opponent speaks, and often ridiculous applause and euphoria when one of your own says something cutting.
The City Council is another model and its name also indicates it: it is a place to gather, a place to go together. A place where shared things are prioritized and those that separate us are set aside. We gather and focus on common causes. We can talk about them, we can discuss them, but we are together. United. In French, they call it Mairie, etymologically related to the concept of marrying, joining, cohabiting. In English, City Hall, the city's hall. Everyone's place. The common space.
City Council and Parliament are two etymologically different concepts because they refer to two different proposals for addressing what is shared. Parliament, to speak, may be a more appropriate model when it comes to administering and managing very diverse interests. On the other hand, the City Council, to meet, to coordinate, may be the most efficient when what is shared is clear, evident, and unifying. Surely in more or less small towns, the idea of a City Council continues to be quite natural and efficient; however, cities are acquiring a size and complexity that causes, in practice, their City Councils to already function as Parliaments: opposing blocs that have not only forgotten to collaborate, but have become parliamentarized and no longer listen to or respect each other.
Surely in more or less small towns, the idea of a City Council continues to be quite natural and efficient; however, cities are acquiring a size and complexity that causes, in practice, their City Councils to already function as ParliamentsIt is a shame that City Councils resemble Parliaments so much, who have entered into this dynamic of blocks, of majorities and minorities, of sums and arithmetic calculations to see who comes out ahead and who behind, who on top and who underneath, who rules and who is marginalized. Of deaf dialogues, of ill-mannered people who stomp and hiss at ideas, of technical tricks to delay deadlines and block the actions of others, of legal labyrinths to complicate everything and make unviable whatever someone wanted to do.
In a year there will be municipal elections. We will vote peacefully and exemplarily, and from there the people who will represent us will be elected, who will most likely do so in a less than exemplary manner. But I am not represented by someone who neither parlays nor knows how to get along with others.
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