Is politnetz.ch the next "Arena"?

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Last night we hosted the first ever Politikforelle, a new, regular meetup of people interested in politics and the online world living in Switzerland. The Politikforelle (the political trout, don't ask ...) wants to find answers to the question, how the virtual world is changing the way in which we participate in political processes down here in Switzerland (and elsewhere). First special guest was Andreas Amsler of the Swiss deliberation site politnetz.ch.

After a short presentation we had a very intense and thorough discussion of how people exchange (political) views, how they organize according to interests and what the future role of political parties will be. While some of us believe that political parties will be around for a while, if maybe not in the shape we know now, others see more single charismatic leaders in the future.

As for politnetz.ch there were a lot of ideas for more direct deliberation, easy participation in discussion processes and the role the site can play in arranging political agendas. Some even saw politnetz.ch as a rightful successor to the popular Swiss TV show Arena, a political debate program which has become somewhat rusty over the years. – All in all the first Politikforelle was a great success and we are very much looking forward to further installments! Stay tuned!