Deliberations on Democracy

What with the UK’s EU referendum and in the aftermath of the attempted coup d’etat in Turkey, the word ‘democracy’ has been bandied about lately. I thought it was a good time to delve into its linguistic and semantic characteristics, past and present.

My understanding was that democracy (demokratia in Greek: the strength or rule of the people) referred to a political system whereby the rule of the people was effected by their elected representatives. However, what I had in mind is rightly known as representative democracy as is prevalent in western countries.

 When I first came to live and work in Greece, I remember a lady neighbor quizzing me about our political system in Great Britain. She proudly said that she lived in a republic and had a democracy while we had a royal family. The subtext seemed to be that we were most definitely a set of inferior, political animals. Her perspective was that a kingdom and democracy were mutually-exclusive political entities, that a monarch was some form of tyrant – originally meaning a member of the aristocracy in Ancient Greece, now defined as someone who seizes power unconstitutionally or who inherits such power. The other observation I made then was that for both of us, the issue was not simply one of semantics, but a highly emotive one as well.

Pericles (495 -429 BC) - largely responsible for developing the Athenian democracy.

Back to defining democracy. Direct or pure democracy describes a system whereby the people themselves participate – in practical terms, to a limited extent - in passing executive decisions, making laws, conducting trials. A referendum is an example of direct legislation.

 Representative democracy is similar but distinct from it in that it is seen to have six main features:

1.       representatives elected by the people to make laws

2.       elections held to elect these representatives

3.       civil liberties – where  citizens have freedom of speech, expression and information, etc.

4.       the rule of law – where the law is supreme and no one is above it

5.       independent judiciary – free from control of the executive or legislature

6.       an organized opposition party – to keep an eye on the policies and workings of the government

Now can I interest you in semi-democracy?  Just to further complicate things, this refers to a system that shares both democratic and authoritarian features. This latter classification would be a form of government characterized by strong, central power and limited political freedom. 

So rather than a nicely defined system we seem to have a political cline: the slippery slope of a sliding scale that goes from fully observed democratic practice to full-on authoritarianism.

Back then, my neighbour would have been confused to hear the British system actually being described as a crowned republic. But what our new-hatched understanding can tell us is that a referendum, within a representative democracy, could not supersede the rule of law. It is not in itself enough to generate major systemic change.

 It also tells us where ‘the say of the people’ is used to intimidate or coerce legitimate authorities, then what we have is mob rule. Yes, we may have leadership which was democratically elected, but wherever we see features of a representative democracy become restrained, dismantled, elected representatives being expelled, replaced by the non-elected, then we see the system deliberately and relentlessly being moved towards an authoritarian framework.

My final observation is this:  if we (?!) higher-order, cerebrally superior linguists and philosophers have been taxed by such taxonomic matters, how can we expect mere politicians (and I use the full force of pragmatic implicature here!) to grasp and commit to such complex concepts?

Craigard Hostel - Oban Reunion April 2016

So we left Inverary and Robert Burns, fretting over the Duke of Argyll’s behaviour.  Driving round Loch Awe we did meet some slight sleet showers as forecast, with lots of clouds bubbling up!

         

             

 

  

 As we arrived at our lovely sea-front Caledonian Hotel, we saw an overcast Oban. But ‘the gals’ – as ‘Foostie’, the matron used to call us – climbed up Craigard  Brae, albeit a wee bit slower than we used to, and, as we assembled in front of our old hostel , the sun shone down on us.

                

 

Sights for sore eyes: the assembled company and the beautiful view from the hill of Oban Bay and Kerrera Island.  Below we are all ready to dine together and this is a shot of friends and family: Eleanor, top left, our ace organizer, my sister, Marina, Marion from Campbeltown and Jean, all the way from Ontario.

   

 

 Below is a shot of past room-mates: Margaret, me and Ethel, whose well-known giggle resounded well after the 10.30 pm lights-out curfew. Ailsa, unfortunately, couldn’t come to make up the quartet, but I will make sure she gets a memento photograph. School-mate, but clearly not a Hostelite, Alec took time out from behind the camera to pose with Zissis.

            

 

Sunday morning, Marina, Jean and I step out in beautiful sunshine for an early-morning constitutional. This pretty fishing boat sets out for a day’s work, regardless of it being the Sabbath! Within ten minutes, the weather changed dramatically and we were being buffeted by powerful wind gusts and rain! 

                   

       

 

Now here’s a breakfast to behold : a perfectly poached egg, of firm exterior and creamy yolk inside, served on buttered toast; then a pork sausage and hearty haggis nestle on a rasher of bacon with a garnish of beans and cress. The Caledonian clocked up Best Breakfast Award of our trip. One more shot before we wend our ways: Ethel concealing her ‘stookied’ arm under the table, Margaret standing elegantly, towering above us all.

                      

 

At our last reunion, people confessed to being a little anxious about reuniting after all that time. This time I felt there was a genuine sense of enthusiasm about meeting up as old buddies – we had fun!

 I’d like to thank Eleanor for arranging the event - especially given the headache caused by the last-minute cancellation of the original hotel – very bad form.  

 Grateful thanks, too, go to Alec for giving up his time. Not only did he create a beautiful portfolio of pictures to record our reunion, but he arranged for them to be sent to us. Alec, you earned yourself an award: Official Craigard Photographer!

                                

 

Finally, thanks to cousin, Susan, the stalwart, for crossing with Cale MacBrayne’s in inclement weather conditions ( Foostie-speak once more !) to be with us. To celebrate her presence we downed a few large g’n’ts (John doesn’t decant small!) so she was fortified for the endurance return trip to Tobermory.           Just a minute – isn’t that ferry going in the wrong direction?!

 See you all again in 2020- it’s a date!

A Wee Trip To Prilep, FYROM

Here we are studying the map of FYROM, planning the route of our drive up to Prilep for a Cambridge teacher-training assessment: Zissis driving, me assessing. We reach the Greek/FYROM borders and pass through quite quickly, much to our relief. Further west lies Idomeni, the huge, unofficial encampment where roads and rail-tracks have been systematically blocked by refugees/migrants angry having the borders closed to them.

 

                              

On the overpass we see the FYROM national flag and …… an expression of the enmity (!) that can be felt between the two countries – especially at the inability to agree on a name for the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia that cannot cause confusion  with the area of Greece we live in.

                                

                 

 

We reach Prilep safely and take a stroll in the afternoon sunshine to the town centre. Here we see the famous clock tower and a mosque which bears witness to the local people’s subjugation to the Ottoman Empire from 1395 – 1913. Prior to that, the turbulent history of the area, once the site of the ancient Macedonian city of Styberra, meant it had been overrun by Romans, Goths, Bulgarians and Serbs. It formed part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1944-1991.

                                      

                           

Incidentally, the Macedonian language spoken here is a South Slavic language whose closest relative is Bulgarian. We admire the impressive statue of a man, venerated as a national hero. My attempts at decoding the Cyrillic script written below came up with Kral Marco – deceptively like Karl Marx, the famous revolutionary socialist renowned for his polemic. But from his appearance it was clear that this prince was not a man of philosophy, but a warlord not to be trifled with. There we were standing in what was known as ‘The Realm of King Marco.’

It goes without saying that we pay homage to our own local hero, Alexander The Great.

                                             

We settle in at our gloriously named Krystal Palas Hotel , enjoying  a pre-prandial glass of local wine.            

 

                                                                   

Before our departure we are taken on a tour of the traditional Macedonian House which serves as a restaurant and a folkloric museum! Inside we see beautifully maintained household artefacts, agricultural equipment – even stacks of tobacco leaves drying - and fascinating traditional costumes. We’d like to thank Vesna and Dragica for their warm welcome, kindness and hospitality – we really enjoyed meeting you both! 

 

                    

As we drove south through the Pelagonian plain, we realized we were lucky in seeing it at this time of year to enjoy the luxuriant greenery of its tobacco crops  and its sprawling vineyards.

Recently we observed World Refugee Day, so it’s fitting to observe this, again unofficial, refugee encampment over the border, by the Greek roadside.      Little did we know then what lay ahead!