PT's digital platform revitalizes democracy.

At a time when representative democracy is going through an unprecedented crisis worldwide, the Workers' Party is pioneering the launch of a fundamental tool to stimulate direct citizen participation in the formulation of public policies – the digital platform "The Brazil that the People Want". The June 2013 protests made it very clear that the population no longer wants to be invited to participate in the "democratic celebration" only at the time of voting. They want to be active in guiding the country's destiny.

And the PT's digital platform represents a fundamental step towards enabling this participation. Contributing is very simple. Just access the website brasilqueopovoquer.org.br and give your opinion on the proposals under discussion, or submit suggestions. There are seven thematic areas, and all proposals will be debated in face-to-face meetings with intellectuals, scholars, artists, specialists, activists, and social militants.

After being consolidated by analysts from the Perseu Abramo Foundation, the debate will serve as the basis for the elaboration of the Workers' Party's government program for the 2018 elections. For the first time, all citizens, and not just party members, are invited to actively participate in the development of public policies that will determine the life of the country.

The PT, in fact, is reviving with this instrument a practice that is already traditional in the party. As soon as it won its first mayoral elections across the country, the PT implemented the participatory budgeting process, which originated in the city of Porto Alegre (RS), back in 1989, during the administration of comrade Olívio Dutra. This is a practice in which the population directly decides how public resources should be used.

The initiative became a model for popular participation, received international awards, and was adopted in hundreds of other cities in Brazil and abroad.

In the complex societies in which we live, the possibilities of direct democracy are becoming increasingly remote and difficult. Therefore, the internet is emerging as a new virtual arena with the potential to promote the debate of ideas in a healthy and productive way. Social networks, in fact, already offer this space, but unfortunately, opinions are not always channeled in a way that yields positive results.

The new tool created by the PT aims to fill this gap. Once again, the party is taking the lead and making it clear that it believes only the active and sovereign participation of the people can put politics back on track and restore the prestige lost by parties and politicians.

No one questions anymore the need to connect voters and elected officials, to make politics increasingly commonplace. Only in this way will it be possible to promote the revitalization of representative democracy. And the PT (Workers' Party) is the first to recognize this.