THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE

All citizens have the right to participate in the life of their community:this is a conviction which is generally shared today. But right means nothing when the democratic process breaks down because of corruption, which not only obstructs legitimate sharing in the exercise of power but also prevent people from benefiting equally from community assets and services, to which everyone has a right. Even elections can be manipulated in order to ensure the victory of certain parties or persons. This is an affront to democracy and has serious concequences, because citizens have not only the right but also the responsbility to participate and when they are prevented from exercising this responsbility, they lose hope of playing any effective role and succumb to an attitute of passive indifferences.