Beyond participation in politics

Abstract

In recent decades, the Catalan philosopher Marina Garcés has been carrying out a peculiar approach to the phenomenon of political participation from a position that is very critical of the established system; probably, the interest of her theoretical reflection lies in the contribution she makes of a personal element of committed activism combined with the academic analysis of this issue. In this article I dissect the nuances with which Marina Garcés understands that citizen participation in democratic institutional avenues is not enough to develop the meaning of politics (and with it, the meaning of one's own existence, which citizens must re-appropriate in order to take the capacity to decide for themselves). Beyond participation, which hides a passive consideration of the voter as a mere elector among the offers available in the voting market (thanks to the equation between capitalism and democracy, between market and politics), Garcés outlines the need for active involvement, for a commitment based on the consideration of the common good as a project of solidarity transformation in which we are obliged to put all our capacity for knowledge, affection and imagination to transform relations between human beings by using the powerful instrument that is education.