INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY DAY
an expression of care for others and a commemoration
I sit on the rocks as the tide’s foam folds in and out
each time creating, discovering, offering a new world
of seaweed and shells, of tiny mussels and of course, shards of plastic.
I enjoy the perfumes of the sea and fish and lobsters and bracken
and those carried on the breeze,
mythical rain drops from far away mythologies,
from stories of long lost heroes,
from struggles across the centuries,
of our own family members who dreamt of
and created the foundations for our freedom
of thought and actions.
My mind freely travels,
embracing others, revelling in ideas as it imagines monsters
roiling in the cloud banks,
those who would have destroyed my uncles and great grandmothers.
I can think this because I am, in many ways, free,
possessing a freedom often unavailable to others.
People died to gain the freedom I now have.
Ask yourselves, is freedom that important?
Given that people dream of it within their relationships,
in their villages and towns,
in their places of work,
in their minds and hearts,
I think, ‘yes’, it is that important.
Artists dream of it for the rest of us,
offering gifts of culture they bring back
from the emotional hinterlands they explore.
I constructed this architecture below of freedom several years ago.
See that however you read those 8 lines,
depending on which way you read them,
all else either begins of ends with freedom.
There is no democracy without freedom;
there is no freedom without equality;
there is no equality without justice;
there is no justice without truth;
there is no truth without knowledge;
there is no knowledge without curiosity;
there is curiosity without empathy;
there is no empathy without kindness.
If you are to believe the above,
you accept that freedom is uniquely related to democracy.
What does this mean?
How does it relate to you and your life?
Do you care?
The word “democracy” stems from the ancient Greek words
"demos", meaning “people”,
and "kratos" meaning “power”.
The concept of “democracy” can be thought of
as the "power of the people".
It implies a way of governing which depends on the will of the people,
which implies they are free.
So, we in the Anglo-American world must ask,
are we truly free within this?
Can we make choices that enhance our lives?
Do things change in substance after we have voted for those changes?
Many of us know the answers to the above are negative.
Why?
What and who are the inhibitors, the problems, the people
which injure or kettle our freedoms?
There are several,
and I am going to address these over the next few essays.
Perhaps the three greatest problems are these:
•being enclosed by the narrow conformity
and often crippling attitudes of one’s society,
class, friends, teachers, preachers, and general culture;
•living in a society in which neoliberals grasp all wealth,
fascist thugs grasp political, cultural and financial power,
and liberals including social democrats,
refuse to confront either of the above
and all of whom blame immigrants, minorities and other races
for the problems created by those actually in power;
•and the conflict between democracy, which is a political/cultural/social system
and capitalism which is a flawed economic system,
in many ways contrary in its interests
to the best ideals of democracy.
Democracy is not an ideology (a system of beliefs) imposed on you,
it is a living thing needing polishing everyday by every free person.
It is like a loving relationship which needs day-by-day caressing, helping
and an expression of your love.
So, please come with me on this journey.
HERE
you can see (for free) my latest film
about young people’s views on much of the above.