[Brazil] The Role of Online Petitions

Renan Calheiros

There is Brazil a very curious wave of online petitions. The most popular one is currently calling for the resignation of Senate President Renan approaching the minimum number of subscriptions (1.3 million!), but other online petitions are also very active and growing: in the case of a petition NGO Peace River that already has over 400,000 signatures.

What is certain is that these petitions may produce no practical or legal effect, but there is an effect that is working and working very well: the media aspect. It may seem little, but bring a cause for the media agenda is not easy and in fact, the petitions have proven, in Brazil and Portugal, they can occasionally break this blockade.

The online petitions are a form of participatory democracy. Are not without difficulties (not always possible to gather a significant number of signatures are obtained or practical effects or even media echoes), but are a simple and feasible to introduce participatory tools in current Representative Democracy, drained and blocked by lobbies and the partidocracias.

source:
http://www.oene.com.br/o-que-podemos-aprender-com-a-onda-de-peticoes-online/