Democray and the left in world history
Hartford Web Publishing is not
the author of the documents in World
History Archives and does not presume to validate their
accuracy or authenticity nor to release their copyright.
I here use the term “left” here to refer primarily to
mass democracy. When that word refers specifically to working-class
struggle, see under Political
struggle of the world's working class.
- Al Qaddafi's Response to
“Democracy”
- By Mu`ammar al-Qadhafi, extract from The Green Book,
The Solution of the Problem of Democracy, 1975. A
critique of parliamentarianism as being un-democratic.
- On Saving Democracy
- By Richard K. Moore, 17 August 1996. Our
“democracies” have been deeply corrupted by
corporate power. Not only is the current situation contrary
to the interests of humanity, but all the trends are in the
direction of even worse times. Discusses a revival of
democracy.
- Turn Formal Democracies into Living
Ones
- By Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 14 January
1997. Globalization's weakening of the state institution
undercuts the growth of democracy in the world.
- The Idea of Democracy and the Ideal of
Socialism
- By Cliff DuRand, October 1997. There are many different
concepts of democracy, but the differences come down to
different means to achieve the idea of democracy. The hard
core of the idea of democracy is the possibility of
collective decision making about collective action for a
common good.
- The Link Between Global Poverty And
Democracy
- By Lewis Machipisa, IPS, 7 June 2000. Forum that
addresses the problem that global poverty is on the
increase despite there being more democratically elected
governments in the world, more dollars being pumped into
development projects and more commitments being made by
world leaders to reduce global poverty.
- King Mohammed VI Speaks Out On
Democracy
- Panafrican News Agency, 6 August 2000. Moroccan King
Mohammed VI declared that all peoples have the right to
choose the type of democracy which conforms with their
history and level of economic and social
development. Exporting the Western model.
- Frankly, I don't give a damn
- By Nick Cohen, New Statesman
(London), 18 December 2000. Voter turnout is at an
all-time low, but don't blame it on apathy. The
electorate has turned cynical. Focuses on the UK. Whether
the triumph of western democracy brings the collapse of
democratic participation because needs are satisfied;
whether the values of consuming have conquered the virtues
of citizenship. The “lesser evil” argument. What
is to be done?
- Grassroots Economic Organizing
- Three statements, smygo group, 1 August 2001. Sigmund C. Shipp:
The willingness of individuals to participate in a
cooperative depends on their ability to want to achieve a
common purpose. Ewald Engelen: The concept of economic
citizenship is an attempt to create an alternative to the
one-sided view on own-ership, property rights, managerial
prerogatives and the corporation predominant within the
political economy of classical liberalism. David
P. Ellerman: Absentee ownership is the problem. The market
is not itself the problem. The problem is the employ-ment
relationship that treats people as being rented or employed
by a company (which then allows absentee control) instead of
being members of the company.
- War-makers, bribees, and poodles versus
democracy
- By Edward S. Herman, ZNet, [21 February
2003. The dichotomy between governments and people as
regards the Iraq war-massacre is a global phenomenon,
reflecting both the power of the United States to coerce and
bully and the fact that democracy in the New World Order is
increasingly an undemocratic facade.
- Democracy that dismisses the electorate:
Government without the people
- By Anne-Cécile Robert, Le Monde diplomatique,
November 2003. Rather than blaming ‘populism’
for the lazy and ignorant election of unacceptable rulers,
we need to revivify real and active democracy nationally and
internationally.