Mind the Gap: Democracy Ltd

Austrian director Robert Schabus makes a timely and insightful investigation into the crisis of democracy around Europe and the seemingly unstoppable rise of populism. He finds a chorus of dissatisfaction across considerable sections of society which are not reflected in political representation and are at the mercy of the marketplace. Laid off French factory workers bemoan the outsourcing of labour, German jobseekers have to take poorly paid jobs because of market reforms, the decline in British national industries fuels Brexit and Greek austerity programmes are punishingly harsh for local economies.

‘We have to talk to each other a great deal more. People who are at the bottom of society are not taken seriously. The point of a democracy is not only that you can vote every five or six years. Democracy means creating an open area for debate where everybody can contribute, everybody is taken seriously and all opinions are represented. That’s where things have to be negotiated. Unfortunately, these days that only happens to a restricted extent, in comparison with the past. However, there are encouraging signs. In Ireland, where I filmed – although in the end I didn’t use the material – there are what’s known as Citizen Assemblies, which were founded after the financial crisis when nobody trusted the political class anymore and even politicians realised they had to come up with something.’

Robert Schabus, Director