Analysis : Martine Aubry, Mayor of Lille: "There Is No Single Model of Society"

Martine Aubry, mayor of Lille and former Minister of Solidarity of the French left-wing Government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, made an energetic speech on the closing day of the World Citizens Assembly.
Martine Aubry was adamant in denouncing the gap between the North and the South, a gap that is all the more intolerable that it seems to be widening as the total wealth of the planet increases. She also had some very harsh words for a diplomacy that has never been capable of solving the explosive problems of the Middle East, and, while clearly condemning the attacks of September 11, she reproved an erroneous American policy. "There is no single model of society," she insisted.
But Martine Aubry also made some proposals, among which the cancellation of the debt of the poorest countries, a prerequisite to reaching a fair international balance. The strong applause that punctuated her speech said a lot about the expectations of the developing nations on this issue.
Finally, Martine Aubry could hardly conclude a citizens' assembly without mentioning her experience in Lille. In her city, she is trying, she explained, to set up a real participatory democracy, which gives civil society all the importance it should have. "There is not a square, a school, or a street in Lille that undergoes any changes without previous dialogue with the inhabitants or users," she assured. In France, where democracy has a long history, the participation of inhabitants is a new stage toward more transparency and even more democracy. Before an audience made up in majority of representatives from countries where some of the most elementary human rights are violated daily, this demonstration might have seemed somewhat surreal, or at the very least, out of left field. Yet, it is in a developing country, in Porto Alegre (Brazil), that the most accomplished experience in participatory democracy is under way. The Brazilians of Porto Alegre are even distinctly more advanced than the population of Lille in this field. So anything can happen, and this is probably why the Mayor of Lille's speech struck a sensitive chord.

Also present for this last day was the French secretary of state for an Economy of Solidarity, Guy Hascoet, who called for a "plural" economy. "The market cannot take care of everything," he reminded the Assembly, "and we must recognize the pre-eminence of initiatives. The law and the rules must not hinder citizens' capacity for initiatives."