Revolutionary love. Civic love. Love.

For Maria Bárbara

Hélène Landemore’s “Politics without politicians: The case for citizen rule” (2026) was a fascinating read, for which David van Reybrouck’s “Against elections” (2016) had opened the way for me. Both share with us recent experiences (in the last three decades) where, inspired by the principles of ancient Athenian democracy, different societies (in Iceland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Canada, the US) tried to reinvent the democratic system of ruling by involving every day citizens in decision-making through sortition.

Cultures and values in Europe

Last month, two events separated by one day marked the EU agenda.

On 17 June, the European Parliament voted to increasing deportations of undocumented people. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a number of right-wing MEPs celebrating the outcome of the vote with raised fists and chants of “Send them back”. According to the Guardian, Amnesty International France described the plans as “absurd, cruel and discriminatory” and 16 UN experts outlined the ways in which the rules could contravene international human rights. The chants heard in the European Parliament bring cruelty and barbarism to a new level. It cannot be normalised. [Only in early July did I see a response from Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament.]