The word democracy comes from the Greek demokratia, where demos means “people” and kratia means “power”—so its literal definition would be “power of the people.”
However, in the Greek society of the time, only a small core of citizens could participate directly in decision-making.
Neither then nor now have we reached that real democracy.
Today, we are witnessing the consolidation of authoritarianism: 72% of the world’s population—that is, nearly three out of every four people—live under autocratic regimes, whether electoral or closed.
Politics is now directed by the economy, where the «real power» lies. The economic system operates through various mechanisms and lobbies that hold democracy hostage.
Most countries are heavily in debt and at the mercy of major creditors such as investment funds.
When it comes to political organization, countries that call themselves democratic are generally governed by a representative system. The political responsibility of the sovereign people is reduced to one second every four years—the instant they vote. The rest of the time, we delegate power.
Representation is a sign of poor democratization, as those being governed have no say over the laws that are later imposed on them.
We also see many rulers who came to power “democratically” and then entrenched themselves there through constitutional reforms, despotic laws, and persecution of the opposition—even after losing elections by majority vote.
There are also abuses of government instruments. Many resort to exceptional legislation that allows them to bypass parliaments. For instance, in many countries, there is the figure of the decree-law, a measure allowed only “in cases of extraordinary and urgent necessity,” yet in practice, it is used excessively.
Even voting systems themselves are undemocratic. Parliamentary mandates often aren’t truly representative, since parliamentarians answer not to the voters but to their party leaders.
To sustain this structure, controlling the media is key—and so is the manipulation and appropriation of language.
One example: in today’s European Union, anyone opposing rearmament is accused of being “anti-democratic.” And since the word rearmament might sound too harsh, it’s been rebranded as “technological leap.”
A people is not free simply because it can choose its masters. We delegate responsibility in exchange for losing freedoms—because being free requires effort, while being a servant demands only blind obedience.
A people that is not politically educated becomes a danger to itself and to society as a whole; it is fertile ground for every kind of despot.
It is clear that we do not live in a real democracy—so we must build one.
Human nature itself always carries responsibility. We must take on our political role, and that requires education—so that we can build political awareness which, through collective effort, will allow our decisions to seek truth, the common good, and our actions to seek justice.
A society, a people that is well educated is a strong society, a strong people—with a state that limits itself to performing its proper subsidiary role.
Let us work for a real democracy—for a truly sovereign people.
