IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 9 ENGLISH | Page 56

in Greece, the Swiss cantonal
assemblies and even some proceedings
in primitive African communities.
The system is also usually adopted by
collegiate bodies of some large
universities for encouraging discussions
between elected representatives, experts
and public opinion committees. Just at
the opening of the fifth meeting, the
Director of the Program for Deliberative
Democracy at the Carnegie Mellon
University (Pittsburgh, PA), Robert
Cavalier, narrated how the City Mayor
had established the model. It functions
so well that Pittsburgh became center of
reference for the exercise of deliberative
democracy.
Cavalier specifies that "people do not
come together to debate. Whenever we
speak of debates, it means there is a
winner and a loser, but these events are
designed for sharing experiences.
Normally what is done is to bring
people together with their different
views, six to eight persons around a
table, with a previously trained
moderator who should ensure that no
one could dominate the conversation
and that everyone feel comfortable and
free to express ideas. At the end of the

conversation; a survey is made among
the participants to collect all the
opinions".
In Cuba, the contributions range from
the effort to empower underserved or
overtly marginalized sectors (African
descendants,
women,
LGBTI
communities and others) to the civic
education of the people, the recovery of
important traditions and the launching
of relevant projects such as the review
of the Constitution.
From the very first popular workshop
on Deliberative Democracy organized
in Cuba until today, the magazine
Identities —published by the Cuban
Integration Platform— has been the
project mainstay for implementing the
model of Deliberative Democracy. The
magazine serves not only as resource
base and printed spokesman. It also
paved the way to better understanding
through free circulation across the
island with information and opinions on
the fight for race, class, and gender
equality, as well as for democratization,
constitutionalism and perspectives of
the independent civil society to address
political, social, cultural and historical
issues.

Analysis session with the magazine Identities in Mantilla, Havana

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