Top ten best sortition videos

Here's my selection of the top ten best short videos that showcase sortition: what it's about, how it could work, and why we should transform democracy and replace elections with stratified, random selection.

 

Of course I'm biased, but I have to get my own TEDx video out of the way first:

The TED-Ed video by Melissa Schwartzberg, What did democracy really mean in Athens? wins the view count award - it's a great video as well!

In terms of inspiring message I think Democracy in Practice wins with Experiments in Democracy and Education.

And David Van Reybrouck's Against Elections wins the award for most slick production:

And this is a great video on the Irish Citizens' Assembly by journalist and documentary-maker Patrick Chalmers:

Then there is the (now getting a little dated) Sortition Foundation animation: A real democracy would use sortition

Or if you're looking for celebrities on comedy channels promoting sortition you should check out Stephen Fry (back in 2012, I think!):

And this one (Citizens Jury: Health Data on Trial. The Results) isn't the most exciting (talking heads mostly) but has some great quotes, like this one: "If you try to get to where you want to be just by ignoring people it doesn't work..."

As for national campaigns for sortition, even though my French is terrible, this Sénat Citoyen video is easy to understand:

And here is Luca Belgiorno-Nettis on why Citizen juries are a better way to do democracy:

Finally, last but not least, the animation about my book, The End of Politicians: Time for a Real Democracy

So, yes, that's eleven videos, but there are too many good sortition videos out there! Suggestions to add to the list are welcome!


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