How to Save Democracy

How should we understand the moment we're living in? Sarah Wilson is an author, podcaster and philosopher who argues we need to accept that this is a time of profound and inevitable collapse - and that while there is no hope, there is something else happening. Jon hosted Sarah at the Conduit in London for a live conversation that wasn't about elections or citizens' assemblies, but was absolutely about how we save democracy - by showing up, connecting with one another, living fully and beautifully, and building from there.

In April this year, Jon was invited to help launch a new community-centre-cum-democracy-hub in the city of Stavanger, Norway, with the brilliant name of The House Of Wonder And Disagreement - and of a world-first project to create a standing citizens’ assembly as part of a city’s governance from outside of government…

As part of the launch, Jon hosted a conversation with Jan Inge Reilstad of KÅKÅ, the organisation running the project, and leading Norwegian journalist Hilde Sandvik, to find out more - and ask whether democracy needs saving everywhere, even in the Nordics.

When the Eaton fire ripped through Altadena, Pasadena, in January 2025, a whole neighbourhood was virtually burned to the ground. One of the many to lose their home was Carola Secada. In this episode, we hear what happened next: the creation of Dena Heals, a mutual aid marketplace and wellness centre that has since supported over 7000 people from 1500 families as they have rebuilt their lives.

At the end of 2020, a combination of Covid lockdowns and “Black Summer” bushfires across the Australian state of Victoria meant that Melburnians were confined to their homes for weeks on end. But instead of staring into crisis, a group of citizens came together determined to start reimagining and rebuilding their city out of it. Jon sat down with Kaj Lofgren and Charity Mosienyane to hear the story of Regen Melbourne, an organisation born in that moment to catalyse work across the city towards three “earthshot” goals, including making the Birrarung river swimmable from source to sea.

Working with political theorist Jonny Benson, Omezzine has been looking back over her experiences in the politics of her native Tunisia - first as an activist in the Tunisian Revolution, and then as a politician in the aftermath. Their aim? To reflect on the role democratic innovations such as citizens’ assemblies might have played, and draw out lessons that could help the world. Jon takes the role of interviewer to see what they’ve found.

Jon has spent much of the last year based at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, as a Visiting Fellow on the “Reimagining Democracy” programme. As part of this, he published an essay calling for the creation of Departments of Citizen Empowerment at every level of government, everywhere in the world. In this episode, Omezzine interviews Jon about the ideas in the essay, with the help of our new friend from the University of Manchester, political theorist Jonny Benson.

Jon took the hot seat for this episode of award-winning comedian Robin Clyfan’s new current affairs podcast, Double Take Debate. This discussion pits the politics of deliverism, where politicians try to fix the problems of the world for us, against our vision of a more participatory democracy, where people hold the solutions to our own problems. The politics of England’s new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, get a mention or two along the way…

Our friends Flavio and Stefania have brought together stories of participation and democracy from across four continents. In this episode, they interview the pioneering Portuguese politician Graça Fonseca about her time as Deputy Mayor of Lisbon - and about that city’s participatory budget, which every years sees millions of euros directly allocated to citizen ideas by citizen vote.

Jon found himself in Perth, Western Australia, with the team from the DoingCo. This social enterprise supports a growing movement of “town teams” across the country and beyond: local doers coming together to shape their places, their way. This is a joyful, powerful movement - as you’ll hear from nightclub-promoter-turned-community-organiser Jimmy Murphy, and all-round citizen powerhouse Kendell Terrell.

We host legendary artist Brian Eno and his co-author Bette Adriaanse to explore the ideas in their book, What Art Does. Feelings are not luxuries, they're powerful forces that can nurture democracy or, in the wrong hands, unmake it entirely. Even at its most intimate and personal level, art invites us to imagine alternatives, experiment, and find grounding, a sense of stability, and forward momentum in a world of increasing uncertainty.