This week I received an email from a group promoting different forms of democracy. This group has an AGM and talk Wednesday 30 March at 7.30 and it will be all over by 9pm.
The speaker will be Max Rashbrooke and his address is labelled ‘Overcoming the obstacles to deeper democracy in New Zealand’.
Here is a copy of the email I received:
I hope all is well with you and that you have had more success than me at persuading authorities to use deliberative democracy!
I thought you might be interested in Trust Democracy, a new not-for-profit that a group of use have set up to raise questions about the state of NZ’s democracy and demonstrate other ways of doing politics.
So, on behalf of the Committee, I would like to invite you to attend Trust Democracy’s first Annual General Meeting, which will be held on 14 April 2021 from 7.30-9.00pm by Zoom video conference.
Please RSVP by clicking here. You will be emailed the Zoom link, joining-by-phone details and supporting information after you have registered.
A highlight will be engaging with Max Rashbrooke, one of New Zealand’s most prominent researchers and writers on democracy and wealth inequality. He has kindly agreed to give a 20-minute presentation on ‘Overcoming the obstacles to deeper democracy in New Zealand’ followed by a 20-minute Q&A session. His 2019 TED talk, ‘3 ways to upgrade democracy for the 21st century’, is closing in on a million views.
The agenda
- Presentation: Overcoming the obstacles to deeper democracy in New Zealand
- Minutes of the inaugural meeting
- Annual Report, Financial Statements and Committee disclosures
- Election of a new Committee Member
- Motion to amend the constitution
- General business
Please feel free to invite people who might be interested in attending. People are welcome to attend the whole meeting or to leave after Max Rashbrooke’s presentation.
The Trust Democracy Committee has yet to set up a formal system for membership applications and approvals. Given this, the Committee has passed a resolution to the effect that people who have supported Trust Democracy, either by signing the application for incorporation or by participating in subsequent Trust Democracy events, shall be regarded as members for the purpose of participation, voting and election to the committee at the April 2021 Annual General Meeting.
There is a single vacancy on the Committee and nominations are open for that position. Please send signed and endorsed written nominations and any accompanying candidate information to me at contact@trustdemocracy.nz by Wednesday 31 March. The rules are set out in Part 4 of the Constitution, which is available by clicking here.
Trust Democracy’s application for an exemption from residents withholding tax (RWT) was declined by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) on the grounds that the Society’s not-for-profit status needed additional constitutional protections, specifically around provisions for winding-up the society and for future amendments to the constitution. We propose changing the constitution as suggested by the IRD so that Trust Democracy is eligible for a RWT exemption.
Click here for the proposed constitutional changes, for the reasons behind the changes and the Committee’s recommendation.
We like to share books, reports, podcasts, conferences, events, etc that might be of interest to people in Trust Democracys networks.
- Aotearoa Climate Emergency (ACE) has organised a conference in Christchurch on 19 April to explore what a citizens’ assembly on climate in NZ might look like. Click here for further information and registrations.
- To find out about Helene Landemore’s ‘radical’ proposals for an ‘Open Democracy’, click here for a New York Times podcast interview. Landemore is a political science professor at Yale.
- To learn more about other ‘radical’ democratic initiatives, this webinar – The Frontier of Democracy: Audrey Tang on Taiwan’s digital democracy, collaborative civic technologies, and beneficial information flows – which will also feature Helene Landemore is worth taking a look at at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/tang.
Please RSVP for the AGM by clicking here. You will be emailed the Zoom link, joining-by-phone details and supporting information after you have registered.
Simon Wright Secretary
T: +64 21 204 1661 ❖ E: contact@trustdemocracy.nz ❖ W: http://trustdemocracy.nz
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